Tumblr and How it is Ruining Movies

The first time my friend showed me her Tumblr, went like this:

Me: Oh I love Audrey Hepburn!

Her: Me to!

Me: What’s your favorite movie she’s in?

Her: Oh I’ve never seen any of her movies.

Me: Oh…so why did you put all of these pictures on your blog?

Her: Because they’re cool…

Me: Well you should watch this movie it’s really good.

Her: Yeah I don’t really like watching things in black in white.

Me: Then why do you post about them in your blog?!?!

It was a very frustrating experience and when I looked at my other friend’s blogs I found the same things. Gifs and pictures from movies that they didn’t know and had no intention of watching. It made me angry at first and then I just felt sad, because they are going to miss out on so many amazing films.

Tumblr is a world in which people can express themselves through other people’s expressions and I think its ruining movies. So many of my friends will post pictures from classic films and instead of thinking: “Wow this is a cool picture I should find out what this is and watch it” they think: “Wow this is cool, people are going to think I’m so cool and watch such cool movies”.  I think this  is what is keeping so many young people from diving into film: they can get all of this attention for liking interesting films without actually having to put in any energy. That’s not what films are for and that’s not what they are about.

What if this was all you ever saw of "Breathless"? What would you think it was?

Films are not a way to seem cool and unique, they are works of enormous effort that make huge statements, and they should be appreciated as such. This is the mentality a lot of young people have today. It is all about image, not actual knowledge or experience.

What is most upsetting is that many of these people would love these films if they only took the time to immerse themselves in them. But when gifs and pictures are enough, there is no need to actually sit through a whole movie. This technology is made to share ideas and images of things that people love but instead it is allowing people to only care how films makes them appear not how films may influence their lives.

Who knows if Marilyn Monroe even said this? Does anyone on Tumblr care? NO!

After I talked to my friend at great length about this she decided she would only post about things she had seen and that if she saw something she liked she would research it and watch it and as a result she has become really immersed in a lot of films and directors and has come to really love and appreciate film.  I only hope other people can do the same, and we can have a lot more film lovers in the world.

THE PBS PARADIGM

As I have begun to consider a career in the film industry, I have found myself drawn to the fascinating  paradigm of the programming that gets done on Public Access/Public Broadcasting Service Channels in the United States. I have always been amazed at shows like Arthur, for example, which have been able to both appeal to a young audience with messages like this....

And this....

As well as appeal to the adult audience who sits with their kids to watch the show with things like this...

Which is a reference to Citizen Kane and it's titular sled Rosebud, something that no kid would understand but an adult watching would be able to peg down as a reference to pop culture, and this... 

Which is a reference to to the Charlie Brown Christmas special, something that has become quite a fixture in the popular culture zeitgeist, and something that most older viewers would be easily able to identify with, and this.....

In which this character is talking about something that has become a fixture in our generation: blogging. 

Additionally, this show has referenced adult-topics and pop culture references, including, but not limited to, "South Park,Jeopardy!, The Sopranos, Beavis and Butt-head, the Indiana Jones adventures, the James Bond series of films, The Adventures of Tintin, Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist, The Jerry Springer Show, Oprah, Law & Order, Charlie Rose, Antiques Roadshow, Mystery!, The Twilight Zone, Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds, Macbeth, and That '70s Show" (Arthur [TV Series], Wikipedia, 8/31/14). Some specific examples of these moments in episodes are....

1. Desert Island Dish: One of the characters holds up a cage containing a swallow and then holds up a coconut saying that the swallow had the coconut in mouth. This is a reference to Monty Python and the Holy Grail. 

2. Buster Baxer and the Letter from the Sea: One of the characters writes a message to what he believes is an Atlantean civilization and one of the questions that he poses to them is, do octopus really have gardens? This is a reference to The Beatles 

3. Meet Binky: In this episode one of the characters finds out that a band that another character likes is composed of holograms because the members of the band are not attractive enough to be seen onstage. This is a reference to the Milli Vanilli scandal from the early nineties.  

All of these pop culture references would be only likely to be picked up on by the audience of older viewers.

Ultimately, this kind of clever and subtle reference makes this kind of program both interesting and compelling to a multi-generational audience. One of the reasons that I would love to end up as a program director for PBS is because of the level of sophistication and skill that it requires to create content for both adults and children simultaneously. 

Hobo with a shotgun

THIS TRAILER is ridiculous. The movie is called hobo with a shotgun. It looks like such a strange movie but really cool at the same time. Also here is a link to the director's blog. It has some cool fan art on it.

Random Thoughts

Warning: This is more of a rambling of thoughts that I've had, and yes some things relate to SL, others not so much..

So, I sit here, on my computer with the understanding that we have about a month left this semester. And I thought about how when I first came into this class how excited I was. How I wanted to be in here, 1) Because people I knew just raved about SL and I had yet to be given an excuse to download it 2) I have had various expierences with virtual worlds, and was very interested in what made this one different. I came in to this class, not only wanting to widen my horizons, meet people from various degree backgrounds, but also have the ability to express myself.
And unfortunately I found myself in a very difficult place. Now understand, I still classify myself as being a young individual. And I think most would agree. I look around the room, and most of the people I sit with are not freshman in college. Even though people here are considered my peers, I do not feel like I am their peer intellectually. And many times this has stopped me from commenting in the class during discussion, and many times from posting or commenting on the blog as well.
And I regret that. I regret not taking the opportunity to step up and converse with those around me.

After such thoughts, I actually began to think about my interaction within SL. In terms of interacting with those that I might see in class, well, it seems as if I tried to avoid such things. As to other places in SL, I find it easy to start up a conversation with random people I meet, and I seem to have no problem with leading a conversation. And in real life, in any circumstance but our classroom, I seem to have no problems doing either of these things!
It just seems as for sharing, talking, and communicating within the class and on the blog, well I think feeling meek and shy may be an understatement.

And maybe all this has something to do with not really knowing as much as those around me. Or at least me feeling as if I don't know as much. Or maybe that sometimes I think that I really don't have much to say that would add value to the conversation.

I check the blog on a regular basis, and I think well, it would be nice just to post, post about thoughts, random as they be, some dealing with SL, others about news in technology and the world.

Hmmm. Well. I think that is enough rambling for now.
Hopefully later I'll get to post my machinama!!