Author Archives: carnettkw

It’s 2020…Come On…Get With the Times…

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I want to begin with the final question that our instructor proposed. How in the internet changing at this moment in time? This moment in time meaning the current quarantine and Covid-19 pandemic.  

I do not necessarily see a change in the way the internet is being utilized, what I see is people changing to adapt to a new situation using currently available technology. When a person that can’t leave their house due to uncontrollable factors, they are forced to use the internet to connect with the people that they would normally connect with on a daily basis. Every walk of life is affected during times like these, but for the sake of our class, I will stick to talking about how I see the university school system changing, or at least evolving into a more modern system for all.  

The existence of programs like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, One Note, Skype and Discord has been around for a long time now. However, I feel that up until this point they have been under-utilized in schools and universities since their creation.  

Being present in a physical brick-and-mortar classroom does have its advantages to the individual that is learning; but for some of us, and I will go as far as to say that for most of us who don’t live in the dorms, it is actually a major inconvenience. Personally, to go to school at CofC with the goal of getting a degree that is actually respected, rather than an online degree from some random university… I drive a minimum of 100 miles a day to attend even just one class. Luckily, I am a Veteran and have many things provided for me, but could you imagine the other adult learners who don’t have the same luxuries available to them? How could one support a family, have a job, daily personal responsibilities and then try to get a degree at a reputable university such as CofC?? 

They couldn’t without killing themselves and destroying their relationships with anyone other than the students in their classes and even then, time would still be very limited and it would be hard to make mutually benefiting connections.  

I’ve taken many “online courses” and still don’t know much about those subjects compared to what I would have learned in a traditional classroom, but with the internet and programs like Zoom, those online courses would be more like traditional courses with all of the same social contact, accountability and commitment  that is normally seen in a traditional classroom environment. I for one, am sad that our class did not vote as a majority to have our classes administered over Zoom. 

I truly hope that our current academic situation will evolve to add this format of classes into their system leading to the benefit of education for those who would not be able to receive it otherwise.  

 

As for my own viewing habits since the quarantine, they have not changed much. I watch some weird, but interesting to me things, mostly on YouTube. Last week, I watched a man who had dipped pond water out of his pond and created a sealed ecosphere to document the changes over a period of two weeks, which then led to more videos on more sealed ecospheres and their documentation. Things like that interest me. I’ve never been much of a fiction guy, I like facts and I like science. For some reason, it is very hard for me to sit and watch something that is not in some way based on facts or reality, it has just never interested me.  

Moment of Realization and Understanding

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This film did a good job of emphasizing; without glamorizing, the real life moment in everyone’s lives where one is faced head on with a reality that they cannot change or easily change without a lot of work that one necessarily does not want to do for a multitude of reasons. In this case the work was prostitution and extortion for a better life in the end far away from their homeland. The fact that they know what they are coming to Austria and other countries in Europe and choose this path because of how bad it is where they are originally from also magnifies this scenario. The film and the expressions on the actors face really did a good job capturing that emotion and moment of realization that in order to get out of this situation,  they must also accept it as reality for now and bear the weight of the struggle until the goal is reached. In this shot, the mirror and the reflection shows us; vaguely, the other side of the conversation and how serious her delivery is. This effect gives the viewer a more well rounded insight to the scene and the feelings the director is trying to convey.

Duty

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The journey of these people was made under brutally inhospitable conditions, and many were injured or died on the boat in an effort to start a new life. The journey, as taxing as it is, hold more of a promise and a brighter light for their futures that they are willing to endure it. This doctor devoted his time to not only helping these people, but also to influence others to do the same. This documentary accurately depicts his emotion and devotion in his mission and to these people with its up close shots and heartfelt testimony without seeming like his responses are tailored to fit an agenda. His vivid descriptions with the pictures on his computer monitor makes it feel like the viewer is actually in his office being motivated to help these people by the hard facts that the doctor is educating the viewer about.

Them! Us!

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I chose these two stills because they represent a common theme throughout the documentary. Climate change and evolution, down to a molecular and single celled level is constantly discussed. In the first still, the science fiction movie they are watching is dealing with evolved creatures that are now taking over the world. Much like the science fiction movie they are watching, life not visible to the naked eye is doing just that. Herzog really gets the viewer thinking about how we as humans evolved from single celled organisms and in the second still, the scientists discuss how this single celled organism is actually demonstrating intelligent processes by separating and gathering grains of sand to protect its flimsy body by forming a rigid exoskeleton. Herzog’s open ended questions to experts on the topics they are discussing leave much up to vivid interpretation by the viewer and is much more interesting to watch than a cut and dried, scripted documentary.  The comparisons between the science fiction and the wild, undisturbed wilderness and vast expanses of underwater scenery place the viewer in a position to really start to question their existence and the reasons for our day to day actions and choices in life.

Am I German Enough Yet?

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via GIPHY

Max Frisch said, “We called for manpower, and what arrived was human beings.” In this scene, Hüseyin is practicing speaking German in the mirror and is having problems with adjectives, his nephew hears his practicing in the mirror and corrects it. Hüseyin’s nonchalant reaction adds humors while showing the reality. By creating the film in this way, the movie delivers some real insight how arriving in Germany and assimilating within the new culture must have felt like. Language is just one of the barriers that were faced by the guest workers in Germany. Assimilation is hard and in this film, a lot of the negative aspects of the Turks trying to fit in are seen by the viewer as fun, happy and even glamorous at times instead of the always depressive times they had to have been.

Always a Profit

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In this clip, the viewer catches a glimpse of the hardships that oppressed and targeted individuals of certain racial, cultural, ethnic or religious endure during unfortunate times of conflict. In the film Transit, the conflict is unknown; however, the struggle of the oppressed remains the same throughout history. A “cleansing” is taken place, and the hate of the occupying forces knows no bounds. It is unclear in the film of what traits the targeted people share that make them undesirable, as the woman with the dogs admits that she is a Jew, but the other characters each seem to be from totally different races and cultures so I am unclear on just what places each character in the position that they are in. Nevertheless, there is a common theme throughout the film of those who are not targeted and those who are residing legally in these areas of transit profiteering off of the misfortunes of those displaced people. In this scene the innkeeper is blatantly taking advantage of Georg and his plight by charging him a ridiculous amount of money for the room, they both know that she will notify the authorizes in a few short days in an effort to reap the benefits and promptly rent the room out for another few days for the price of a week up front until she calls for another raid on the hotel. It was all the money that he had, and I am sure that others would have and will take advantage of these people in transit.

Blind Loyalty

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I chose these two stills because they showcase the sort of blind loyalty and the “no questions asked” atmosphere that Adolph Hitler was able to construct in his country. This sort of obedience and loyalty was crucial to Hitler’s, the Nazi’s and the Third Reich’s movement in Germany and their areas of interest in their conquests. But how?… How was Hitler able to ensure that his followers maintained this level of blind obedience and loyalty? The answer to this question is highly complex and the ways in which he achieved this level of discipline and obedience was not only through fear, but also through his effort of making those who followed him blindly feel very well cared for and playing on the natural human trait of wanting to feel like one is better than another. Hitler would make sure that those who followed him and took up his ideas as their own were very well taken care of. In the scene where Professor Siletsky is trying to persuade Maria Tura into being a “spy” for the Nazis, he promises her increased rations and her comfortable life back if she would come to the Nazi’s side and proclaim her allegiance to Hitler. By  promising great things and by making people feel superior to others, Hitler was able to create an almost god-like idealization of himself that his followers looked up to so much that they would even jump from an airplane to their death with no questions asked.