The Impact of Electronic Media

Abby: Gahh!! This is our last post! What am I supposed to do now?!

Me: Umm... what do you normally do when we're not talking?

Abby: Wait for you to get back.

Me: It's interesting seeing the influence of electronic media today.

Abby: What do you mean?

Me: Do you remember a time before the Internet or television?

Abby: Not really, no.

Me: Me neither. The Internet has been so ingrained into our lives. I can "attend" a class online, watch videos of people from the other side of the world, send a message instantly. Teachers have lately been implementing web-logs or "blogs" to get students more involved with writing. You can't attach a video or a link on a paper essay, but blogging gives you that opportunity.

Abby: Life with electronic media sure is nice!

Me: Well, it does have its disadvantages. Obviously, there are hackers, cyber-bullying, an invasion of privacy. And if you don't have access to a computer and Internet, it is harder to participate in these mandatory class assignments. Think of this blog, for example. If one doesn't have computer access, they can't write a blog and may not get the 100 points for this project.

Abby: So what was you overall opinion on this assignment then?

Me: I felt that it was more "free-form."As stated earlier, I can put videos and pictures on this, which I cannot do in a formal essay. However, it was a little difficult blogging 2-3 times a week, since I would often run out of ideas to talk about.

Abby: I'm going to miss our talks.

Me: I'm sure you are.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Author's Note:
Thanks for taking the time to read my blog! My inspirations for some of these posts are from educational short films, songs, my Intro to Sociology class, my Intro to Film Analysis class, my Abnormal Psychology class, and just life experiences. The "Abby" character is based off my dog who is part Lab and Golden Retriever. She unfortunately passed away a couple years ago due to cancer. She was always positive, but sometimes oblivious, which inspired me to create her character for this project. I currently live with two new puppies, Thor and Loki, that usually take up a lot of my attention.

Works Cited

Anthologized in Michael Meyer, ed. Literature to Go. Boston: Bedford/St. Mortins. 2011. Print.

Anthologized in Robert Scholes, Nancy R. Camley, Carl H. Klaus, and Michael Silverman, ed. Elements in Literature, 4^th ed. New York: Oxford UP. 1991. Print.

Mansfield, Brian. "Exclusive 3-song Sampler from Vienna Teng." USA Today. N.p., 12 July 2013. Web. 13 Nov. 2013.

Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis. New York, NY: Pantheon, 2003. Print.

Vienna Teng. The Hymn of Acxiom. Cason Cooley and Vienna Teng, 2013. MP3.

"The Walking Dead." Telltale Games. N.p., 2013. Web. 10 Oct. 2013.

What Is the Shortest Poem? Perf. Michael Stevens. YouTube. Vsauce, 22 June 2013. Web. 8 Nov. 2013.

"The Wolf Among Us." Telltale Games. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Oct. 2013.

In Memory of Abby Lennon

June 10, 2000 - April 26, 2012

Transferring a Play to a FIlm

Abby: Hey Sara, do you have any awkward videos you want to show to your whole English class?

Me: Why yes I do! It's an adaptation of David Henry Hwang's play Trying to Find Chinatown. 

(Please pardon the video quality. I originally shot it in 1080p, 60 frames of 1920x1080 pixels per second, but Blogger couldn't handle the size of the video so I had to "dumb it down" a bit so it would be under 100mb.)


Abby: What did you learn while making this?

Me: I feel like I have to turn a paper in about this question, but anyways I learned about the difficulties of transferring a play's script into a movie. I learned a little about this process in my Introduction to Film Analysis class, but now I feel like I have more "hands-on" experience.

Abby: How hard could it be? The script's already laid out for you.

Me: True. But live theater is much different than film. For instance, the stage in theater is 3D and more lifelike. What matters in this medium is the words of a work, not necessarily the visuals. When there is action, the actors often talk about what they're doing. The stage in a scene is also stationary for plays. When performing the play in front of an audience, the actors and tech only have that one chance to impress the people watching. They can't redo a scene in the middle of the performance. Film, on the other hand, provides the audience with a flat 2D image. The use of cameras provides more freedom and makes the scene less confined to one set. The actors don't have a chance to "interact" with the audience. Film is more of a visual art that can be manipulated and edited after the performance. Movies can tell the story using different angles and shots, without relying heavily on dialogue.

Think of transferring entire Shakespeare plays into film! While the script is already written, the director has to determine how to convey the messages of the play by using different shots and visuals. The whole movie can't just be people conversing on the same set or else it wouldn't be interesting.

Abby: So what did you think of your movie?

Me: Well, the play is mostly dialogue, so visually I couldn't do much. I had some establishing shots of the city, but most of the film is just us talking. I threw in some audio tracks in the background to produce a "city-like" atmosphere, even though it was shot by De Anza's Media Learning Center. This project gave me a lot more insight of creating movies based on plays.

Abby: I can't wait to watch it!

"If genes don't determine race, what does?"

Abby: We're nearing the end of the quarter, which means our talks are coming to an end soon!

Me: Gee, what a nightmare.

Abby: We must converse about something before it's too late! What did you think of the message of David Henry Hwang's Trying to Find Chinatown?

Me: I found a bit amusing how the Chinese-American character was the more racist of the two. I suppose Hwang was trying to be ironic or something.

Abby: I think Ronnie had a bit of a point though. Genes do determine the color of your skin, eyes, height, etc. I mean, I'm part Golden Retriever and Labrador, so I have characteristics of the two breeds.

Me: I agree that genes determine how you look on the outside, your phenotypes, but I don't think they determine your race.

Abby: But isn't your race how you look? You're dark skinned and of Asian descent, so don't you consider your race to be Filipino?

Me: I think you are born with certain genes of an ethnicity, not a race. For me, I'm 75% Filipino and 25% Irish. I consider that to be my ethnicity. However, I do not believe my race is Filipino or Irish. Because I was entirely raised in environment of American culture and practices, I consider my race to be American.

Abby: Why do you keep putting "race" and "ethnicity" in italics? Aren't they the same thing?

Me: To me, no. I feel like ethnicity is in your genes, but race is based off your environment you grew up in. It bugs me whenever I fill out a survey for school or something, they ask me for my race. I do not think that my mostly Filipino "race" should be considered as legitimate data when comparing my performance in school to other students' races. I understand that De Anza is filled with over 1,000 international students, however, I don't think I fit under the same category as students from the Philippines. I feel more connected to my American side than my Filipino and Irish roots.

Abby: But you look Filipino! You can't deny that!

Me: Because I deviate from Euro-centric looks of "typical" Americans, I don't have the luxury of hiding my ethnicity. Fortunately for Benjamin in Trying to Find Chinatown, he has the option of revealing his ethnicity when he feels like it.

Abby: Does this mean I can choose my breed then?

Me: I don't know how race and ethnicity transfers over to the dog world, sorry.

Mrs. Wright's Mental State

Abby: Did you read Susan Glaspell's Trifles yet?

Me: Yeah. Maybe I'm too oblivious to notice, but I still don't understand Mrs. Wright's motive for killing her husband, if she even did kill him. I get that the bird is supposed to be symbolic of her character, I just don't understand why she would want to kill Mr. Wright. Her husband may have killed the bird, thereby killing Minnie Foster Wright on the inside, but was she "queer" before that incident? Judging by the state of her kitchen - the dirty towels, the untouched bread, the frozen fruit - she was not "all there" in the head. And the murder took place upstairs, possibly symbolic of her unwell state of mind.

Abby: So she was crazy before her husband killed the bird?

Me: Maybe. She may have had genetic vulnerability (diathesis) to a mental illness and then the added stress (like the murdered bird) caused her to fully express her disturbed mental state, causing her to feel murderous.

Abby: Huh?

Me: Sorry, I was just reading about theories of the causes of schizophrenia in my Abnormal Psychology class. So that thought was in my head.

Abby: Maybe Mrs. Wright just wasn't happy in her marriage and wanted to end it permanently.

Me: Well, judging by the other male characters in this play, Mr. Wright could have been a very sexist and controlling husband. The sheriff, county attorney, and Mr. Peters all seem to dismiss Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters' actions. Anything the women discover about Mrs. Wright is laughable to the men. If Mr. Wright was anything like the other men, I could understand why Mrs. Wright was unhappy.

Abby: But killing her husband just brought her to another cage!

Me: Like a bird, I suppose. Maybe this cage is more satisfying than the cage of her marriage.

Abby: So does that mean Mrs. Wright was crazy after-all?

Me: Once again, I don't know. Her mental state was "queer" when Mr. Hale visited her after the murder, but that doesn't mean it wasn't disturbed before the murder either. I guess it's for the readers or audience to decide.

The Relationship Between Byelinkov and Varinka

Abby: SA--

Me: Before you say anything, let me guess. You're gonna ask me about my day and then I'll somehow connect that to my blog topic and then you're going to say some stupid dog-related comment to awkwardly and abruptly end my blog post.

Abby: ...maybe.

Me: Well, I read Wendy Wasserstein's play The Man in a Case, which seems like the start of a dysfunctional marriage.

Abby: Since I probably need to drive forward this blog, I'll ask: why?

Me: The man Byelinkov, while seeming very educated, appears to not like the idea of change. His fiance, Varinka, on the other hand, seems very child-like and free-spirited. Byelinkov views marriage not really as a way to be happy, but rather as a social contract that provides a secure and "satisfying" future. Varinka obliviously believes she is a very lucky woman to be marrying a master of Greek and Latin.

However, Byelinkov does say that Varinka's girlish thinking is an "attractive attribute" so he may at least be somewhat attracted to her.

Abby: It doesn't seem that bad. Why don't you think this relationship will work out?

Me: Because Byelinkov says that he doesn't like change very much. I don't think he will adjust to married life that well. He even gets mad when he finds out his fiance rode a bicycle in public. Varinka seems to enjoy being progressive by symbolically "moving forward" with the bike. Byelinkov, contrarily, falls down and fails when trying to ride forward.

He vows that on one particular day of the year, he will place a lily in Varinka's hair. He even writes down the vow on paper. But when she leaves, Byelinkov tears up the paper and throws it in the garden. However, he does reassemble it and puts it in an envelope. Maybe he will keep his vow. Or maybe he just doesn't want a mess.

Abby: I don't get why you don't think this relationship will be successful.

Me: Well, I've only really been in one relationship that has been going on for like 8 months now, so I'm not really sure what "successful" could mean. I guess that Varinka and Byelinkov's marriage may last for awhile, but I don't think Byelinkov will really be "satisfied." Varinka's character seems too oblivious to care about what Byelinkov thinks of her, so I think she will be happy with the marriage. Ignorance is bliss, I suppose. Maybe she should read Ellen Fein and Sherrie Schneider's The Rules.

Abby: Wait, what?

Me: Nevermind. That's a whole other rant.

Ignorant 19 Year-old's Opinion on Poetry

Abby: So how was your birthday? What did you do? Did ya get me anything?

Me: Great. Went to my English class, went to a Switchfoot concert, came home, ate ice cream cake. I did not consider getting you anything, sorry.

Abby: That's okay! What did you talk about in your English class?

Me: We talked a little about poetry, which I don't really understand.

Abby: Why not?

Me: I'm not really sure. I guess I don't know what is considered a "poem." I can easily look up a definition in a dictionary, but I don't get what distinguishes a poem from another form of writing.

For instance, "The Colonel" by Carolyn Forche seems like a well written short story, but it is classified as a poem. I don't get what makes my blog considered a blog and what makes a poem considered a poem. Perhaps I'm just really ignorant I don't understand art or writing or whatever. Perhaps I just need to "open my eyes" to this medium to fully appreciate it. Or perhaps the author wants you to think their writing is deep when really it is only a few pretty sounding lines.

That brings me to another question: how short can a poem be in order to be a poem? Vsauce, an educational YouTube channel, discusses this question in his video "What is the Shortest Poem." The video briefly mentions Aram Saroyan's poem "Lighght" (purposely spelled that way). That word is the only word in his poem, yet he made $500 from it. There are even one letter poems, such as "Fit", where the letter is "n." While less can sometimes mean more, like Marjane Satrapi's illustrations in Persepolis, this sometimes makes me wonder when to draw the line for that rule.

Abby: Ever think you're over-thinking things?

Me: Actually I think I'm under-thinking things.

Overall Reaction to "Persepolis"

Abby: SARA!!! Whatcha doing right now?

Me: Oh, you know. Sitting in my room by myself, eating dark chocolate, hunching over my laptop while trying to think of something to write. The usual.

Abby: You could write about your reaction to Persepolis.

Me: That's not a bad idea. Let's see... Overall, I thought that this book gave deep insight into those living during the Islamic Revolution in Iran. I liked how Satrapi used very simple black and white illustrations to convey her thoughts as a child. The cartoon-like art style made it seem like the cultural revolution could occur in any country, not just Iran. In a way, the art made her country seem almost relatable.

Abby: I can see the pictures, but what about the actual content?! Like the words and stuff?!

Me: I was going to get to that, sheesh. You dogs seem to have a very limited attention span. Anyways...I think the content made me realize how lucky I am to live in America. Well, at least right now. It's crazy to see how the fundamentalists in Iran disliked anything to do with Westernized culture. It was also interesting to see how a child viewed the revolution versus how the adults viewed it. I found it impressive and slightly amusing to see how Satrapi stood up to any educational figures. That's very bold of a young girl.

Abby: How about the violent stuff, like the torture or bombings?

Me: Now that would have really scared me if I were her age. Knowing that my neighborhood could be bombed at anytime would always have me on edge. If I ever saw my friend's house destroyed with them in it, like Satrapi did, I'd probably be permanently scarred for life. I don't think I could handle knowing any family friends being tortured. The book just had me realize how safe I am living here, for the most part.

Abby: You going to anything now that you're done with the graphic novel?

Me: I'll probably buy the second book, Persepolis 2. I might watch the movie Persepolis as well, since I read about it in my film class the other day. It was nominated for multiple awards.

Abby: Oh, I was hinting at maybe giving me a treat.

Influence of Comics and Graphic Novels

Abby: Sara!! I haven't seen you in like 18 hours!

Me: Kinda busy right now. I need to somehow connect my English 1A presentation to my blog.

Abby: Well, what's it about?

Me: It's about the effects of comics and graphic novels on movies. They basically defined the modern genre of an action-oriented blockbuster film. Think of The Avengers. It grossed over $200 million in just 3 days in the US. Comic books basically set the bar for what is considered a blockbuster movie. Ironically though, comic books' sales have decreased since the 1990s. Lately, the comic book industry has been used as a character licensing business.

Abby: Do comics and graphic novels influence anything else?

Me: Thinking about it, lately some video games have been influenced by graphic novels. The Walking Dead, for example, originally started as a graphic novel series made by Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore. Since its release in 2003, several other forms of media based their style off these novels, such as the popular AMC TV series and Telltale Games' video game.

Abby: I get why transferring the novel into a show seems like a good idea, but a video game?

Me: Actually, Telltale did an excellent job at producing their Walking Dead game. It won several "Game of the Year" awards as well as "Best Writing" and "Best Adapted Video Game" in 2012. Telltale is also coming out with a another video game called The Wolf Among Us, which is being released into 5 different episodes. This game is also based on a graphic novel series called Fables written by Bill Willingham. The art style in these games seem very influenced by the typical graphic novel illustrations. There's also obviously the comic book influenced games such as DC's Injustice or Marvel's Deadpool. So clearly, comic books and graphic novels influence not just films, but also video games to convey a message.

Abby: You seem to know a lot about these games. Why don't you ever go outside for once?

Me: Good question.

Storytelling Through Pictures - Less is More?

Abby: Yay! You're back since your last update! What is our conversation going to be about this time?

Me: Oh, you're still here? Umm...I guess we can talk about last night's readings. The one about comics and the other stuff in Persepolis. What did you think of them?

Abby: So far I like these "readings." They have lots of pictures in them, so it's like a children's book. They're easy to understand.

Me: I wouldn't really say that pictures are associated with "childish" reading. It's just another medium to convey a message. Like McCloud's reading said: comics are a balance (or imbalance) between words and images used to tell a story. So comics can be so much more than just a "picture book."

Abby: But they're so simple to read! I'm a dog and I can tell what's happening.

Me: That is true, however, simplicity does not equal less importance of a message. Sometimes lack of fancy visuals can emphasize the actual content. Even though it's not really a comic, think of The Muppets. Obviously, Kermit the Frog is a puppet. The creators don't put that much effort into trying to make Kermit look like a real frog. He is clearly made of felt. Once you get over the fact that Kermit is not supposed to look realistic, you focus more on the content and dialogue of what his character has to say. You forget that he's a frog or a puppet for that matter, which in turn makes The Muppets a very witty and well written show.

Abby: And that's what you think about comics?

Me: In a way, yes. Persepolis is drawn very simplistic: just black and white comic strips. But that can make a big impact. One image that stood out to me was when Marjane Satrapi visualizes how her friend's dad describes prison torture. He describes how one man was chopped to pieces. As a child, she visualizes the image like how one imagines chopping a fruit. The actual torture was much more bloody. The simple image tells us much more about the imagination of a child than a realistic/graphic gore-filled picture.

Abby: So showing less doesn't necessarily mean it's less important?

Me: Yes, in some cases. Wait, why am I talking to a dog at 12:23 at night?

Blogging is Like Praying

Abby: Ooh! Another website to check often! This will be great!

Me: Yeah. Nothing like another username and password to remember. Why are you here again?

Abby: Because I'm required for this writing assignment. Don't you remember? I'm your Avatar, your alter ego, someone to push forward this dialogue.

Me: Aren't you a dog? Why are you talking? Or typing in my blog for that matter?

Abby: Actually, I don't really exist. I'm just here to personify the concept of thought.

Me: Well, that makes sense. What are we supposed to write about?

Abby: Stuff that has to with class, Persepolis, practically anything! What did you think of last night's reading?

Me: I actually found it interesting how religious Marjane Satrapi was as a child. What did you think?

Abby: I'm just a fictitious dog, so I may not completely understand everything. But wasn't it strange how the author could "talk" to God?

Me: Isn't blogging somewhat like praying?

Abby: I don't get it. But then again, I don't get why you humans don't sniff each others' butts when you greet each other.

Me: First of all, ew. But as I was saying... When people pray, they reach out. They try to talk to someone who might not hear them, they might not even exist. That's somewhat like blogging or posting stuff on the Internet. We write out our thoughts, post pictures, show our interests for people that might not even see them. You just hope someone cares enough to respond. Marjane Satrapi does the same thing as a child. She tries to branch out to someone, hoping they'll listen. Not that I'm comparing you to God or anything. It's just interesting how people bash "religious" people for their "pointless" praying when blogging is essentially the same thing.

*edited on 11/13/13*

http://youtu.be/0mvrKfcOnDg

This song "The Hymn of Acxiom" by Vienna Teng just reminded me of this post. It's basically about how people on the Internet have a deep need to be noticed, even though they may not admit it. I think that the song is sung through the point-of-view of technology. When interviewed about this song, Vienna Teng describes it as:

"At some level, as human beings, we have this deep need, this deep desire to be understood, to be seen, to have the sense that someone knows everything we do. Then there's the question of what that entity does with that knowledge. In religion, the message is that God loves you and embraces you while holding you accountable for being your best self. Whether Acxiom databases do that is much more questionable."

Here are the lyrics for this song if you want to check it out:

Somebody hears you. You know that. You know that.
Somebody hears you. you know that inside.
Someone is learning the colors of all your moods, to
(Say just the right thing and) show that you're understood.
Here you're known.

Leave your life open. You don't have. You don't have.
Leave your life open. You don't have to hide.
Someone is gathering every crumb you drop, these
(Mindless decisions and) moments you long forgot.
Keep them all.

Let our formulas find your soul.
We'll divine your artesian source (in your mind),
marshal feed and force (our machines will) 
To design you a perfect love—
Or (better still) a perfect lust.
O how glorious, glorious: a brand new need is born.

Now we possess you. You'll own that. You'll own that.
Now we possess you. You'll own that in time.
Now we will build you an endlessly upward world,
(Reach in your pocket) embrace you for all you're worth.

Is that wrong?
Isn't this what you want?

Abby: Wow. That's pretty deep. Wanna go for a walk?

(Me, my brother, and Tory Belleci from Mythbusters. In case you want to stalk us.)