EOTO

Motion Pictures

Video producer Craig Benzine said it best by describing film as being, "a universal language that let us tell stories about our collective hopes and fears, to make sense of the world around us and the people around us.”

In 1878 a man named Leland Stanford had bet with his friends involving how a horse runs. The differencing opinions were if at one point all four legs of the horse were off the ground or if there was always at least one. Twelve photography cameras were set up and in settling the bet, something far greater was discovered. When showing these pictures at a rapid speed, the motion picture was born.

Later Thomas Edison had his photographer, William Dickenson, find a way to make this process easier and with more film. He came up with a box that would run the film through it called the Kinetoscope, but one of the problems with it was only one person could view it at a time. That was until a german man named Ottomar Anschutz found a way to project the film. The first actual film was in 1888 called Roundhay Garden Scene, and film is a very loose term as it is only a few seconds of people in a garden. After this, film took off especially at the turn of the century with revolutionary motion pictures. 

Cupid Angling (1918) was a major step in the industry as it was the first film to be in color. Following that a few years later was The Jazz Singer (1927) which was the first film with sound. This art form now combined all art forms into one: photography, storytelling, painting, acting, poetry, theatre, music, etc.

And once it was seen this way, several artistic movements happened in cinema.

The German Expressionism movement of the late 1910s dealt with the more scary and somber aspects of filmmaking as many were inspired by the horrors and aftermath of war. This gave us movies like Nosferatu and Metropolis.

Later down the line, the French New Wave movement occurred in the late 1950s in which traditional filmmaking techniques were rejected and were more experimental. This is one of, if not the, most important movements in cinema. It had revolutionary artists making their own rules to make the films they wanted to see. Taboo subjects and editing techniques came from this movement, such as the idea of the montage.

America then had a New Wave of their own in the form of the New Hollywood movement of the mid-1960s. This gave young, fresh-faced filmmakers of the new generation the ability to come to prominence. Two films that kicked off this movement were The Graduate and Bonnie and Clyde, both released in 1967. These movies paved the way for big manes like Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, and George Lucas.

Antiwar

When you ask someone what they think of when they think of United States history, they will most likely mention a World War, Civil War, or Revolutionary War. These were all extremely crucial to American history because it is how we got to today. I think one of the main reasons why people do not talk about being antiwar is because it is hard to justify your views on that topic while still remaining in the United States of America and not trying to get that opinion heard. A big problem that we see every day is that people have strong opinions about America but they also live here and work here so they tend not to do much about it. Antiwar is a difficult opinion to have here in the United States. Another reason we most likely do not see more antiwar in the media is because having that stance as a media source would cause a lot of backlash. While you want intriguing headlines or first-to-the-scene stories, you do not want something so out of the societal norm that you end up losing readers or viewers. Here in the United States, we appreciate active duty military or veterans more than other countries. We celebrate them all the time and even more so on US holidays such as the 4th of July. It is hard to say that you are antiwar when every person in every state is celebrating it at least one day a year. 

Stable Change

The idea that a more open society is less violent and therefore more stable definitely has its pros and cons.  I do not think that giving angry citizens the opportunity to speak their minds would be less violent. If you think of anger like an addiction, it is clear to see that speaking about it in a healthy way is beneficial, but speaking about it in a negative way leads to the addiction once again. Addicts with serious substance abuse problems do not go out right away to talk about how much they love drinking and blacking out right after they get out of rehab or they will relapse. If you take this mindset into consideration of angry citizens speaking about anger, then it will most likely end up with more anger. To take it to another extreme, some serial killers do not realize their habits or way of thinking until someone else speaks about it and open their minds to that concept. On the other hand, if angry citizens were to speak their minds in a peaceful way that is asking for change rather than just complaining, then I could see where there is the chance for a less violent community. To a certain extent, the government will either be on everyone’s minds or absolutely no one’s minds. Those who are invested in economics and tradition will most likely always be willing to consider the government no matter what the issue is. Others will never trust the government because, no matter what party is primarily in charge, there is simply not enough trust there for someone to fully commit to the idea. Stable change is a difficult idea mainly because every single person is completely different. Everyone has different passions, different stories, different goals, and different motives. These factors play a big role in who we are and become. An angry citizen might very well have good reason to be angry in their own mind, but when considering if they should be able to be angry aloud to everyone, it is important to note that their reasons for being angry might be the exact same reasons someone is unconditionally kind. I do not think that a more open community will lead to a stable change. I am not sure that even a more open government will lead to stable change. I think it is a combination of both of those things as well as the willingness to truly learn that will bring change. Anger does not have to be the only emotion shown by an angry person. They can be passionate, hurt, loving, open, accepting, and more. We should not focus on anger, but rather focus on the other emotions that might be perceived as angry. Passion is one of those. We as a community and as a nation need to listen to people, not just hear them. We will continue living in the same patterns until people start realizing that nothing will change unless every single person looks within and finds what they personally need to change to make this world a better place. That might be a stable change, but when looking within, it is harder to find balance and acceptance with your true emotions.

Blog #3

The Six Freedoms of the First Amendment have been talked about more in the past year than it probably has been in the last ten years. Throughout the Black Lives Matter Movement, everyone has taken a side; for or against.  Those who are for it will talk about freedom of speech and the right to assemble peacefully. However, those against it will suddenly put all these restrictions on those “Freedoms” to fit their ideas more accurately. People or news sources might not directly say which side they are on, but they make it clear with how they speak of the topic. Those who are supporting Black Lives Matter tend to refer to it as a movement or activism. Those who are against the issue will most likely call it riots, destruction, or simply just violence. If you read an article from a media outlet that has a bias towards the extreme right, such as Fox News, you will see accusations of violence and cults. In an article Fox News did in September 2020, it says, “Black Lives Matter has become a major political force during this intense election year, getting favorable coverage in the left-wing media as its foot soldiers have been the center of violent riots, looting, protests and other unrest breaking out in recent months” (Smith). However, if you look at a media outlet that is skewed left, such as CNN, there will be more talk of activism, movements, and change. The same month the Fox News article was released, CNN released an article saying, “About 93% of racial justice protests in the US since the death of George Floyd have been peaceful and non-destructive” (Kaur). No one has the right to take away the Freedoms of the First Amendment, yet the media only likes to recognize those freedoms when it is useful to them.

Kaur, Harmeet. “About 93% of racial justice protests in the US have been peaceful, a new report finds.” CNN, 4 Sept. 2020, https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/04/us/blm-protests-peaceful-report-trnd/index.html.

Smith, Rob. “Rob Smith: Black Lives Matter doesn’t really care about Black lives lost unless group can blame police.” Fox News, 9 Sept. 2020, https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/black-lives-matter-protests-rob-smith.