Guy & Dolls

Yesterday in class we watched a documentary called "Guys and Dolls". At first I thought, "Oh wow this is going to be something about the play"... not what I expected at all. This documentary was about guys who purchase these life like dolls in order to have some form of companionship. For many these dolls were a way to have some form of company because they have been "rejected" by society. For others it seems like it is almost a way to get some form of revenge on the women that have deserted them, presenting a more threatening image.

It disturbs me how in both cases it seems like women just kind of become these objects that you can do what ever you want with as long as they do not disagrees or hurt you. I am glad that these people are happy with the life that they have chosen but are they really happy with their life or just living in a false sense of reality. Companionship is usually something that all people need in order to survive and feel needed, and as one person said, "I feel a connection when I look into her eyes and by just being with her." As humans we have the ability to be alone but I think we all might face that feeling of can we survive the loneliness and no human interaction. Even the people in this documentary will still go out in the world and view others but because they have that security blanket of the doll at home they feel that maybe people are judging them more but maybe they are just not putting forth an effort. In the end I think that this is just a convenient escape to trying to interact in the world and not have to deal with the idea of rejection.

Who's really in control...?

There always seems to be this reoccurring theme of who is actually seeing and in control of what people may find out about us online. Recently there was an article about Facebook and its user terms on Yahoo. In the article the founder of the site states, "on Facebook, people own their information and control who they share it with."

In a way this is true because of the many different privacy setting allowed on the site to block certain people from seeing things or deleting things that were maybe posted of you like that unflattering picture you were hoping no one would see. But in reality are we really in control? Anyone could really get that information if they want it that bad. Not only that but others can post whatever they want about you and no matter how many times you delete it chances are it is still out there on the internet somewhere.

I think now we need to be very careful of what it is we post and other people see on the internet. This can have many effects on different aspects of your life, for example, say you are looking for a job, that person may not hire you because they went onto facebook and see photos of you making an idiot of yourself. Bosses are not going to want someone on their team who could potentially be a detriment to their company.

Frankenstein man or monster?

Frankenstein has purposed the question of how do we determine when someone is a man or a monster. I guess it all depends on who is seeing the monster and interacting with him. His creator is someone who cannot even stand being near him but becomes one of the only people who the monster can have a conversation with. Everyone else who sees him gets frightened and either tries to harm him or runs away. But the reactions that he receives effects him emotionally and causes his mood to change very drastically. In a way the monster is seeing more beauty in the world that some "normal" people are.

He talks about the ways in which the seasons and how the sunlight and nature just uplifts his spirits, almost making him forget about the things happening around him. The monster is even friendly and willing to help people out when they are in danger. Then a whole different person occurs when he begins to be judge off of his looks. I feel bad for him because deep down he probably is this caring, nurturing person who does not realize his own strength when he does something wrong or hurtful.

We can think about this in our everyday lives. How many times have you walked around and made fun of how someone looks or their clothes or how they act? What if you were to find out that people were making fun of you? You obviously would not be happy about it, maybe even to the point of being harmful to them or even yourself.

Shepard Fairey

This past weekend I went to the ICA to view the Shepard Fairey exhibit. I never realized how much of an influence he has had on many people from political views to musicians to average everyday people. While viewing the exhibit I was very interested in how he made the art by using newspapers as his canvas and either stenciling or silk screening over images.

The messages he shows through his images are sometimes very radical if you stand there and just look at them. He depicts how in war there is this idea of hope, and the good things versus the bad. He uses this image of roses in guns which we see back in the 60s to show a kind of protest and how we have that option to take arms and fight or to try and create some kind of peace.

Othe interesting images that were in the exhibit were those of famous figures through out history. Some examples were of TuPac, Malcom X, Martin Luther King Jr., memebers of the band the Sex Pistols and more. His reason for creating these images was because he feels as though sometimes we take them for granted and do not completely give them the credit that they deserved and the accomplishments they have helped us to strive for. You can tell how much the punk movement played on him through the ways is which he talks about rising up against authority and his many different images of the Sex Pistols band members.

This exhibit was very interesting, before coming to it I knew very little about what his art was about other than he uses the image of Andre the Giant as propaganda and "obey". Now I better understand just what kind of message he is trying to depict.

The Importance of Art

Art is sometimes something in our world that we very easily tend to over look and not take the time to understand what it is we are looking at.  Yesterday we went to the MFA to examine the many different eras before us in art and how they have gradually changed from very clergy/ religious themes to focusing on the rich of society to still life and those elements in our daily environments.  Many paintings were used as studies to examine different aspects of a setting and to evoke some kind of emotion from the viewers.  

When we came to this painting of a monk done by El Greco there was something that stopped me and really drew my into the painting.  Maybe it was the abstractness of the elements in the painting or how it seems very mystical or it could have even been the way in which Greco draws down and lengthens the elements of the painting.  Either way the painter undoubtably gained my attention to examine what is happening.  I was able to be drawn into the painting because of the emotion that is being portrayed in it.  It made me step back and wonder.  Just by making a person stop and think about that painting means they have helped you to take a piece of something you may be familiar with and relate it to some other event that is occurring or has happened in the past.