Fireside Chat Artist Statement

          
            This week's Fireside project was one that helped us build unity and relationship through media. This development was done through several aspects relating to this specific experience. Up front, this was an opportunity to gather outside of a typical class setting, on a Friday which allowed for a different mindset to be present. We also were able to bring food and friends to come enjoy the experience with us as well. Therefore, instead of slowing trudging to school, we came awake, energized and excited to share something we had worked on. The Fireside chat would not have had the same energy if it was simply an in-class presentation. Also unique to this assignment, was the surprise effect of it all. Who knew Ammon could play the saxophone, or that Helen could dance like the Cougarettes on steroids? This assignment reminded me of Dan in Real Life when the family gathers for a “talent show.” They are all close, and their relationships with each other allowed them to have experiences of opening up, with out embarrassment, much like our night was. The applauding and appreciation components allowed for a warm atmosphere in which everyone was happy to share something personal to them, and that ultimately built a closer bond between us as classmates. Overall, the actual setting of the Fireside gave us the chance to grow closer through media.

          The creation of my own Fireside presentation was unique in its own way. I spent a lot of time trying to organize my thoughts, and find some important aspect of my life that I felt was worth sharing with others. This process forced my to think deeply about who I am, and what makes me, me. In other words, I began analyzing my personal life from an outsider's perspective. I knew fairly soon that whatever I would eventually choose to talk about would have to somehow relate to my family situation, since this seemed to be a component in my life that often distinguishes me from most others. Once I chose a specific aspect that had meaning to me, I then had to continuing developing my presentation with that outsider's perspective, trying to articulate what I learned from this aspect of my life that others might not know, or understand the in the same way. This process all in itself was a good experience in learning more about myself, what I believe, and how to share that with others.  

Concerned Citizen Artist statement

http://youtu.be/esame_238ZE

        For this project we decided to create a short documentary film about Chris Baird and his project called Serve Daily. Serve Daily is a unique monthly newspaper publication based out of Springville, which is largely dedicated to spreading the news of service activities and opportunities within the community. Our short film focuses on Chris working in a predominantly LDS culture (a very service-oriented church) to reach out and help further this idea of helping others. Through promoting local fundraisers and service opportunities in his paper, he encourages the act of service rather than the mere thought of it, and has dedicated his life to spreading this idea. The “your voice, your community” slogan and the fact that anyone can submit articles for this paper is another service in and of itself, because it gives a “voice to the voiceless”; an outlet where people can express themselves on a wider scale than they might otherwise have access to.

        Although this project has flourished into large scale collaboration between Chris and several other members who contribute to the process, it is also important to consider Chris’s personal contributions. He chose to step away from a “monotonous job,” to a career path that he felt would bless the lives of others. While this specific career may not be the most beneficial income wise, for Chris it was the most rewarding. He chose to break the commercial trend, and start something unique that would leave his community better off each month.

        In the reading, Goldbard says that “anyone who wishes to make significant headway on a social problem or opportunity must engage with people’s feelings and attitudes about it.” As film students, we know that media in all its forms can be a very powerful way of stirring peoples feelings and persuading them to act. Therefore, Chris’s choice of using local media to spread his love for service, is a powerful way to get to the heart of the issue. This specific form of media to spread a good message of service relates very closely to the recent media campaign of Mormon Messages employed by the LDS church. Mormon Messages is a campaign aimed primarily at spreading knowledge about the LDS church, almost all of its short videos relate to service, and the importance of building a strong community. Both Serve Daily and Mormon Messages utilize contemporary media sources to spread their Christian messages of the importance of serving one another.

Artist Statement

         This week's activity was an interesting exploration experiment into social issues. Taking it a step further than simply studying the issue, this assignment pushed us to also imagine the life of a character bound within the restrictions of this social issue. In other words, rather than simply examining what this issue was, we had to apply it to everyday living and provide ways to confront and overcome the various difficulties our issues presented. The specific issue I decided to examine was poverty among young adults.

         Although I recognize that mine is a very limited presentation of the depth behind this issue, I tried to adequately touch on several aspects involved in the lifestyle of individuals suffering from homeless a state. Rather than presenting up front any initial reason behind the character's homelessness as an underlying cause, I tried to present a series of collective set backs that would have perpetuated the character's negative situation. Using the information from the sources I collected, I selected several elements common of homeless individuals and tried to weave them into my short narrative game. The main elements I chose to present were mental illness, addiction and lack of family support. While some of these aspects are obvious contributors to being homeless, research also revealed different insights regarding the issue—such as lack of family support arising from children’s sexual orientation, and the large percentage of homeless individuals who claim to be members of the LGBT group. For example, one source quoted almost 40% of homeless claiming to LGBT members, and almost the same amount to be under the age of 18 (dosomething.org). One other news article explained that the national unemployment rate doesn't help their cause, making over qualified people take low level jobs before any homeless person can be accepted (http://www.streetpulsenews.org//‘why-don’t-they-just-get-jobs’).

The last article followed a homeless couple as they struggled to survive selling newspapers for long hours just to get by ((http://www.streetpulsenews.org//day-life-homeless-person). In almost every case, each new storyline ended up with the same outcome, just a different hardship that led the character there. This was to fully present the endless cycle of homelessness, that it often can't be broken by a simple fix.

         In the talk we watched this week Chimamanda mentioned the dangers of single stories. She explained, “to only listen to one negative story is to flatten the experience.” I feel like this applies to the this week's assignment since we often see one side of the issue at hand. Media often presents homeless individuals as lowly characters, in a negative form. Rarely do we ever see homeless protagonists. This project relates to a French film called The Intouchables. This film presented the difficult lifestyle of Driss, a poor man from the projects. The movie studied the rich man's initial negative perception of Driss, and how it changed over time as they got to know each other. Learning more than just the initial “one story” Phillipe gained respect for Driss and accepted him.

        This assignment helped me to personally branch out and consider more than one story. By examining various sources and presenting this story through a different point of view than the common perception, I offered a new insight regarding this specific social issue. 

Sources:
http://www.streetpulsenews.org/?q=articles/2014/02/20/‘why-don’t-they-just-get-jobs’
http://www.streetpulsenews.org/?q=articles/2014/05/17/day-life-homeless-person
https://www.dosomething.org/facts/11-facts-about-homeless-teens


Game: http://www.philome.la/ColtonElzey/roberts-life/play

World-Building Artist Statement

When we were given the task to create a world in which toes act as sexual organs, our minds immediately jumped to popular culture and fashion. What position would the toe have in this world’s advertising? Would people even walk around on their feet? Shoes and socks began to take on an entirely new meaning. The BYU Honor Code and other religiously-influenced rules and regulations would be different. As we delved deeper into our discussion, we began to see the extent to which our unique reproductive organs would affect our new world.

The most jarring social discovery we made during our world-building was how saturated with sexuality our media is. As we tinkered with the media we consume daily (i.e. television, advertisements, websites, literature, etc.) we realized most of what we came across, no matter how innocuous it seemed, alluded to human sexuality. These sexual references ranged from vague innuendo to combative measures against STDs to the “sex sells” mantra parroted by unabashed advertisers. Our society’s subliminal sexual messages (and let’s face it-- not-so-subliminal messages) connect with media consumers on a base, biological level; sexuality is the timeless, universal aspect of the human experience. Sexuality drives our politics and not merely by way of scandal. Many of the divisive political issues within governmental, religious, and social hierarchies center around gender equality and sexual objectification. Women are voted for and not voted for because of the internal placement of their reproductive organs; centuries-old religious customs are deteriorating as individuals question why anatomy must affect spirituality; a college student’s performance art regarding sex crime legislation gains international attention as she advocates local change.  We kept these hot-button issues in mind as we constructed our new world and quickly realized that altering the location of our genetalia does nothing to alter the spirit behind our reality’s ongoing sexual dialogue; in a world where toes are sexual organs, our eyelines, not our focus, changes.

In his essay entitled “Design Fiction: a short essay on design, science, fact and fiction,” Julian Bleeker discusses how products of design fiction can only present selections, or corners of this new, imagined world. The author goes on to explain that these objects complete these fictional worlds because they encourage imaginative thinking. These small “windows” spark our imaginations, and we naturally fill the social gaps they leave. Theodore Twombly’s (Joaquin Phoenix) world within the film Her (2013) is an excellent example of how design fiction products can reveal something about the social landscape they’re found in. Like our group’s fictional world, Twombly’s world is marked by its members’ needs for sexual fulfillment. A pocket-sized gadget that houses an Operating System provides thousands of men and women with companionship, but as the film reveals the scope of the humans’ dependence on these gadgets, it becomes clear that the Operating Systems are a symbol of the culture’s isolation and social deficiency.

As world-builders, we embraced Bleeker’s design fiction concepts by creating artifacts that drew attention to various facets of everyday life. These products introduced a world with a completely different interpretation of the term “modesty” and an even more insatiable demand for shoe donations than what exists in our reality. Although our artifacts represent only a sliver of what this new world has to offer, their pervasiveness makes them “totems through which a larger story can be told, imagined or expressed.”

Snow White and the Perfect Man

         The specific aspect of my identity that I decided to examine in this weeks project was that of my gender as a male. The media source I chose to remix and exploit was the classic animated film Snow White (1937). While this film has several interesting components worth examination and remixing, the particular element I chose was the film's presentation of the perfect Prince Charming. This project relates to this week's reading primarily in the author's discussion of how art can come alive, and contrive deeper meanings through the attention an audience gives it. The theme contrived from this remixed version of Snow White relates to the more modern media source of such television shows as “The Bachelor.” Overall, this assignment was an interesting way to discover and examine on a more in-depth level different aspects of my identity as a human being, and the way the world categorizes that aspect.

        The form and content of this short compilation of clips were aimed at presenting the theme that men are all dashingly attractive, smart, talented and charming, and that falling in love with them is but a simple task. All of the content involved came from the original film, and when combined with the form of using a quick montage of clips, this theme can be easily exploited. In other words, the movie itself did present this version of a male character, who not only saves the day, but is the immediate love of Snow White after only “one song,” just on a more subtle level than my compilation.

         This similar picturesque presentation of males is also seen in modern media examples, such as the popular TV show “The Bachelor.” Each male is exploited for his physical qualities, and seems to instantly win the hearts of several dozen women over the course of just a few days. We can see the effect of these media sources as mentioned in this week's reading. Just as with the boy and the Velveteen Rabbit, audiences can make artistic and media presentations 'come alive' based on the merit and attention they lend to them. As our society grows more open to social media and celebrity presentations, they give these presentations unanticipated significance. Therefore, young adult men will begin to base their romantic personages on the charming and seemingly perfect men as media presents them. While similarly, young adult women will begin to asses potential companions on these specific terms.

        This style of picturesque males as historically presented in the media is, however, very far from the actuality. While physical attraction, and talent are important elements in relationships, the media has focused on them too much. This leaves little room for normal men with acne, who don't ride horses through the forest singing perfectly in key to the hidden instruments while saving kingdoms and slaying dragons. The Average Joe deserves a shot too.  

Trek Wars

        Our project this week was a Webspinna battle involving several well-known scenes from both the Star Wars and Star Trek franchises. Since this style restricted the use of presenting video, our content solely relied on the use of audio to communicate each advance in the 'battle.' This style produced a form mixed with our own choreography to match each scene. Thus, we created something new, based on the foundation of something familiar.
          The Webspinna battle activity related directly to this week's reading specifically on the note of Jonathan Lethem's explanation of plagiarism. In his essay Lethem explains that “literature has been in a plundered, fragmentary state or a long time.” To this effect, people have been using and re-adapting archetypal themes for centuries. In one case, mentioned in the essay, William S. Burroughs incorporated several “snippets” of other authors' works into his own book titled Naked Lunch. Lethem explains that while at first glance many would have considered this an action of plagiarism, Burroughs does not. As Lethem details in his essay, there are many famous, replayed and reused themes that exist in space. Many of these are so well known, and so often alluded to that we have accepted theses repeats without the judgmental finger of plagiarism. In a similar aspect, our particular Webspinna performance was based on these types of familiar and instantly recognizable clips. Many of the clips we used have become part of our culture. This brings up the question: was using them then plagiarism? As Lethem states with Burroughs, we too were simply “interrogating the universe with scissors and a paste pot” to create something new and exciting out of something old and familiar.
          Memes can be viewed as the visual form of a Webspinna Battle. Some memes take images from well-known movies and their stars and edit them for comic effect. For example, soon after The Avengers and other various Marvel movies were released, several memes appeared and went viral on the Internet. To anyone who is not familiar with the world, these memes would not make any sense. Just as with our performance, there needs to be a familiarity with the subjects for the joke to be funny. One particular meme counts on the viewer knowing the Daft Punk song “Get Lucky,” as well as the Avengers world, for the joke to make sense. This is what makes the meme funny. The same follows for the Webspinna Battle: this prior familiarity with the sounds is what makes the new form fun and interesting.
         The form and the content of this assignment were particularly well suited to each other. In the case of Star Wars and Star Trek, many of the most recognizable features are quotes; these are very easy to share verbally. Since this was an audial battle, the various quotes and scenes were easy for the audience to identify, such as “Live long and prosper.” Therefore, this assignment's success was based on our success of “cutting and pasting” well known content, and presenting it in a form that the audience would be able to understand.