Persuasive Games

http://persuasivegames.com

I love the idea behind persuasive games! I think that the things that the games teach should be something people are already aware of, but since that is sadly not the case this teaching tool is a great idea. I think that the general population would be much more informed if they played these games. These games have the ability of making what might not seen interesting to the average person not only interesting, but fun, and accessible. This website challenges the idea that video games have had nothing but a negative impact on society, these games are a call to action, to make people more aware and more educated. 

A Clock Work Orange and Singing in the Rain

The song, Singing in the Rain, would not be what you would expect to hear in a movie such as A Clock Work Orange. With ultra violence, rape, and crime, the song does not seem to go hand in hand with the movie itself. But the director choose to keep the song, and it was a very interesting decision. In the clip, the main character, Alex, and his gang are destroying a house and raping the woman of the house just for sport. All while this is going on Alex is belting out Singing in the Rain. This may seem random but it is actually the only song that the actor playing Alex knew all the way through by heart. The actor knowing the song by heart meant that he would not have to concentrate on remembering the lyrics of a different song, while also acting out a challenging scene. The overall casualness of the song lyrics and melody, contrasted with the violence of the scene also give the audience an extremely uneasy feeling while watching.

Electroacoustic Music and Multimedia Concert

Mark Snyder's music was very interesting. I would not say that I found the first part of it particularly engaging, I often found myself fighting with my eyes to stay open. My favorite part was the end when he included a harp and some vocals. That portion I found very beautiful. What Mark's music reminded me of was eerie background music in a horror movie. I think that the electronic portion of the music is what added to this kind of cinematic element. All in all I found the concert interesting, but not something I could find myself listening to on a daily basis.

Flip Book

A Trip to the Moon

A Trip to the Moon mostly reminded me of watching a filmed play rather than a movie. It was still amazing though that for the time period they were able to include basic special effects. The scenes were designed to create a false sense of depth. I could imagine how the audience would have been wowed at the time, with relatively smooth transitions and effects where the film was cut and something on stage changed looked somewhat believable. I think this, for the time, is very whimsical and forward thinking film for science fiction. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FrdVdKlxUk

Wicked! Behind the Emerald City

   As someone who has seen Wicked three times this documentary was very interesting for me to watch.  What was very intriguing was the emphasis on collaboration. The play needed multiple leaders to come together and take charge of the various aspects of the work in order for everything to work cohesively. I can only imagine how it would have been to be Joe Mantello, who had never directed a a play of this size. The pressure could have been overwhelming, but the approach he took to the directing process was unique and successful.  I found it especially interesting that he tried to come into each day with a clean slate. So that he was unbiased from the performance from the day before, and took the directing from there. It becomes relevant that in order for a musical of this magnitude to be successful it is a whole effort, that everyone in the production, and every element of the final product have to be working together.

South Pacific, The National Anthem, & Why Racism is Still a Problem in the U.S.

Every year one of my favorite parts about watching the Super Bowl is getting to see all of the commercials that are being putting out during it. There were many commercials that had me laughing and some that were very touching. But when I saw the commercial by Coca Cola, featuring the National Anthem, sung in many different languages in everywhere across the nation. I found this commercial extremely moving and beautiful, something more advertising should try to display. It came as a shock to me when we were told in class that this commercial had been receiving negative feed back. It is amazing to me that people can remain so narrow minded in a country that takes pride in over coming racisms and being open to all people. The comparison between this commercial and the 1949 musical South Pacific are vast. South Pacific took a bold leap for it's time in pairing interracial couples and mixed ethnicity children. Audiences were shocked, but sometimes shock is what people need. This Coca Cola commercial is the first to have the country's anthem sung by an array of languages and featured all types of people, even a featuring gay parents, a boundary pushing move for today. The responses to the commercial were vast, some, like myself, praised the commercial for being beautiful and moving, while some, criticized it and bashed it as un-American. The idea that if you live in America you should speak "American" is just ridiculous, and people should not be allowed to live a life with such a narrow view. It is mind sets like these that hold this country back, while other countries encourage and even require their children to be educated in multiple languages, while here in America there a people encouraging a lack of world view and narrow mindedness.