Trivial Culture

Technology is a controlling factor worldwide. We can do so much with a couple taps on our iPhones. We are able to bully others without looking them in the eye or send nude pictures to our "lovers" without having sex. The world has evolved to only function with these electronic devices. Everyone has one and nothing is special. Huxley, the author of Brave New World, feared we would become a trivial culture. His fear has become a reality; technology made this a reality. We all have conformed to a society of IPhones and tablets. Who do we blame for the making of such a trivial culture? Many adults today blame the youth of the world for this. Although we are not the ones producing the electronics. We are not Steve Jobs. The next time you blame your kids for being on their phones all the time just know that Steve Jobs is the one to blame, because they probably have an iPhone.

Technology isn't the only thing that has made us a trivial culture. Lululemon, Northface, UGG, and Hunter Boots can also be blamed for making a generic culture. When walking around the University of Michigan campus in the fall or winter you see all the same person going to class. Black leggings, black parka from Northface, and either Uggs or Hunters are on 80% of the girls bodies during those seasons. No girl stands out from the rest.

School also has made us a trivial culture. When your mom drives around with a sticker that says, "My student is an honor student" on the back of her van, tell her that you aren't special. Everybody is an honor student at schools now. No one is accelerates because everyone is accelerated. Anyone can take an AP class. Students all over the United States take the same tests to see how smart they are with a no. 2 pencil and a scantron. Now can you say your student is an honor student.

Huxley predicted the future and it actually came true. We are a trivial culture and what we love is ruining us.

Maus II

        In Maus II page 115, so many different things are occurring that are illustrated all over the page. The first thing that stood out to me on this page was the setting that Vladek and Artie are in. In the room where they are talking there are many different patterns represented in the room. Each pattern does NOT match at all; From the wallpaper to the sofa to Vladeks coat nothing is going together other than Artie's outfit. Artie's outfit is very plain and basic so it matches with really anything. The room they are in is symbolic of the world surrounding Vladek. Vladek doesn't really feel connected or similar to anything or anyone. So all the different patterns around the room "clash" with Vladek other than Artie. Artie is the only person in his life that Vladek feels close to, which he should because he is his son. Another thing that stands out are the pictures all falling to the bottom of the page. The pictures falling to the bottom of the page are pictures of Vladek and Anja's family and friends that were killed in the holocaust. Most of the pictures are below the scenes of Vladek and Artie in a room talking and also the pictures are all outside of the frames too. The placement of the pictures is significant in that all of the people in them would not have "clashed" with Vladek like people do in the present. The people in the pictures could specifically relate to his experience unlike any other because the same terrible actions were taken against them. Nothing relates to Vladek unless it occurred in the past.

Under the Sea vs. Land

Have you ever wondered what people think of American society? This week we read and analyzed "Nacirema." This is about a group of people with strange traditions, which we finally figured out was exactly what we take part in our everyday lives. Nacirema is American backwards. This essay was particular interesting because when I read it, it sounded like crazy people that lived when the Mayans or Incas were around. There are so many things that are strange to other cultures and when you list this things out of context they are strange to us.

Similar to Nacirema is The Little Mermaid. Ariel is a mermaid and is fascinated with humans and our "stuff." She goes up to the shore and asks Scuddles, a pelican, what all these items that hae finds in a boat are. Scuddles gives her answers but they are all wrong; he calls a fork a "doodle-hopper" and a smoking pipe a music instrument. This items that she finds are extremely random and mean nothing to her life "Under the Sea." (Spoiler alert) When Ariel turns into a human she makes a fool of herself with the "doodle-hopper," also known as a fork, she starts fixing her hair with the fork and Prince Eric looks at her with a confused look. If an alien or mermaid watched you brush your teeth it would look like you are putting horse hair in your mouth with blue goo.

On a daily basis we do some pretty weird stuff that is just apart of our routine. How do these routines look to a mermaid?

Critique

As I sit in the Detroit Metro Airport, I think about how much stressed is poured into traveling via airplane. Passengers flying have so many "taxing" tasks to do before being able to board the glorious airplane, or the flying bat-mobile as my little brother would call it. We have to bag all liquids in a quart size bag, make sure our bags are carry on size, even though there are so many people on my flight with bags the size of me. Why do we have to go through lol these specific procedures to fly on an airplane? Okay, yes, that might be a dumb question but whenever I fly on an airplane it is so I can get away fro my everyday routine and experience something crazy and adventurous. You might say there are bad people in the world that could blow up the airplane. Yes I agree. But why does my 4oz bottle of lotion have to do with that. Precautions are needed, definitely. I believe before a crazy adventure should be stress free.


The fact that most people fly on an airplane, on average, at least once is shocking. About 30 years ago people wouldn't have dreamed of flying that many times in a year. We have evolved into intelligent human beings, not saying that people weren't very smart 30 years ago. Why haven't we used our intelligence to make the airports and airplanes stress free? Also the people that work in the airports are probably the scariest people I have ever come in contact with. They are dressed in uniforms with shiny, gold badges that has writing I can't even read on it. They make you take off your shoes and stand in a tube thing that looks like I am about to get a spray tan. It might be just me that is very stressed and feels anxious whenever I step foot into an airport but why do we do all these silly things to go on a flying bat-mobile, when most people in the world are good people? This is why, because we let the bad people in the world ruin and take over our lives. And airports are a first hand experience of this idea. The entire system is so overrated but people feel it necessary so we keep going along with it.

Just remember, it's just a flying bat-mobile. No need to stress. As long as you are a good person.  

The Hours spent with Mrs. Dalloway

 The Hours was intense to watch but extremely honorary because of all of the different plot twists throughout the movie and how it is based it three different time periods. Although there were many plot twists and some concepts that have deeper meanings it still had traces of the story line from Mrs. Dalloway like the symbol of beauty through flowers and a man with a severe condition. In Mrs. Dalloway, Clarissa was always doing something with flowers like getting them for her party. In The Hours, Clarissa is seen with flowers also which she gets herself in both the movie and the book. Another comparison of the book and the movie was how they both had a man with a severe condition. In the book it was Septimus and he had PTSD, which eventually led to him committing suicide. In the movie it was Richard, who was Clarissas husband in Mrs. Dalloway but not in The Hours, who had aids eventually causing his suicide.

 Throughout the movie many other traces of Mrs. Dalloway were shown, but the most impressive and honorary things I noticed was the timing of the movie and the settings. The Hours is shown from three different time periods. One period was when Virginia Woolf was writing Mrs. Dalloway. The next was Laura, Richards mother, living in her younger age in 1923. And the most recent time period of 2001, where Clarissa lived with Sally. The timing and setting of each period would have been really hard to film but also make it accurate to the time period and still connecting it with Mrs. Dalloway. In Mrs. Dalloway, time is one of the most reoccurring themes throughout the novel. Connecting that to the movie made it more complex in how everyone was acting. Time is a big part in all of our lives and it a force that is uncontrollable. We see how time affects everyone in Mrs. Dalloway and in The Hours in just one day. This uncontrollable object makes people do unexplainable things.

Pure Bliss

"They were perfectly happy now, she said, suddenly, putting the hat down. For she could say anything to him now. She could say whatever came into her head."(pg. 146: Mrs. Dalloway)

Rezia and Septimus become closer in this moment, even though it is as simple as sitting together. Rezia describes the mood as being "perfectly happy." Rezia finds trust in Septimus or else she wouldn't be saying "whatever came into her head." Also throughout Mrs. Dalloway, Rezia doesn't have a voice, or an opinion, in the book. She is always told what to think, especially when it comes to Septimus and his PTSD. The only person that will truly listen is Septimus. Rezia and Septimus are equal through out because Rezia is a women and Septimus has a disorder. Doctors don't listen to them at all, which is a mistake because all the doctors believed Septimus was fine after he said he wanted to kill himself and they didn't listen. Look where that got them.

I have a similar experience to Rezia. I can remember last summer in Colorado; I was laying under the stars in an open field at 10 o'clock at night with my best friends, whom I get to see once a year. I can recall exactly what was said in the moment, "pure bliss." I felt as if I could start talking about anything in my life and they would listen. I felt trust in them, as Rezia to Septimus. 

Human nature

When thinking about human nature what first comes to your mind? In "Mrs. Dalloway" by Virginia Woolf, Septimus is a veteran suffering with PSD. Woolf writes about his life pre-war and post-war. On page 89, Rezia expresses her desire of having children, more specifically a boy just like Septimus. Septimus doesn't share the same desire; this is shown through the diction Woolf uses to portray it. She expresses, "One cannot bring children into a world like this. One cannot perpetuate suffering, or increase the breed of these lustful animals, who have no lasting emotions, but only whims and vanities, eddying them now this way, now that."(page 89 Human nature in the perspective of Septimus is negative and without beauty. Septimus believes this because of all the tramatic experiences he has been through in his life. Septimus wants no one to live as he lives. When Woolf says, " have no lasting emotion" she connects this to Septimus because he can't feel anything. When his friend Evans dies, Septimus expresses in the book that he didn't feel any emotion toward the tragic event. The cliché saying is that, "Bad things happen to good people." Tragic events happen to most people in the world at least once. Some events more severe than others.