Favorites and least favorite

My favorite movie we watched in class was Get Out. This is a movie that stayed with me after I watched it for the first time. I was genuinely tense during the last act. I cannot remember the last time a movie made me feel like that. This is a movie with very smart writing and a lot to dissect. My favorite Italian movie was Bicycle Thieves even though I found the end a bit of a downer. The movie had light moments throughout though. I like the different characters that the main character came in contact with. My favorite was the psychic or whatever her job title was. She had the easiest job in post-war Italy. She somehow managed to get people to give her their hard earn money by insulting them, giving them non-answers and "predicting the future". I also like the father's interactions with his son. My favorite book was Difficult Loves. My favorite stories from the book were the first two stories in the Post-War Stories section. ''Theft in a Pastry Shop" and "Dollars and the Demimondaine". I found the characters in the first one the most amusing and I found the second one wild, chaotic and suspenseful. Besides those two stories, I enjoyed the book overall even though some of the stories in the first section left me wanting more. My least favorite text was Highway 61 Revisited. I don't know if it's because I am not familiar with Bob Dylan's music or if it's because I don't know much about musical instruments, a lot of times I did not know what the author was talking about with his analyses. If I remember correctly he wrote extensively about a guitar riff. I think he was trying to explain how unusual it was, groundbreaking and daring but I was more into the stories behind the album then his analysis of the album. However, the book was still a great example on how to analyze an album.

Stories of Love and Lonliness

These stories, more than any of the other stories in the collection, are about love and romance and sex. Most of these stories are told from the male perspective and these men seem to be quite fastidious--from Federico's routine while traveling on the train ("The Adventure of a Traveler") to Antonio's obsession with the perfect photo ("The Adventure of a Photographer") to Tomagra's torturous attempt to feel up the widow on the train ("The Adventure of a Soldier"). What do these stories seem to say about men in postwar Italy? What do they say about heterosexual love in that milieu? It seems to me that "The Adventure of a Bather" is the one story told from the female perspective. Is that the only difference between it and the other stories in this section? How are these stories different than the other stories in the collection? Why are they all titled "The Adventure of..." How do you define that word "adventure"?

Since this is our last week on the blog, I'd like you to also make some concluding remarks. What have you learned about postwar Italy by looking at a few of its pop culture texts? What have you learned about popular culture this term? Has the class made you look differently at any of the popular culture you consume in your daily life? For example? Which texts did you like the best? Which did you like least and why?

"Renzo and Luciana"

The short film "Renzo and Luciana" (from the omnibus collection Boccaccio '70 from 1962) was written by Italo Calvino (and directed by Mario Monicelli). How is this film a "Difficult Love"? How is it like (or different from) the stories we read this week?

Post war

I feel like the book  is well organized.the story sequence is well planned to me. It's taken you through some of ever day life back then. I don't it so interesting. Some things in the book are common to know. How people Rob because there poor and need food or money. No it's not to the extreme as before I would hope. But there are similarities. Every body does What they do for a reason. The live the way they did before the war calm because they were able to. They went through a harsh time there after because it was war and people were dying around. Some people stole because they lost everything during the war and times were tuff. Similar to some poor people now. Who have nothing and sometimes steal it try to get things the best way they can. Life circumstances guides some peoples choices and affects them. Post war stories let you know what it's like.

I see the kind of wars and some of what went on years ago.        The later stories are more peaceful, some were funny

Bicycle Thieves and Postwar Stories

What do Bicycle Thieves and Calvino's "Postwar Stories" have to say about the quality of life for many Italian people at the close of WWII? In what ways do they approach their subject matter differently? In what ways are they similar if at all?

Postwar Stories

1) How are these stories different from the stories in the first two sections?

2) Now that you've read several Calvino stories, how would you characterize them in general? What qualities do Calvino stories share?

Rome, Open City

Two of the scenes that stuck out to me had to do with the Nazis. The scene with the drunk high-ranking officer telling the higher-ranking officer he has seen people the Nazis deemed inferior showing great character and courage. Character and courage that the officer in charge attributes to the "master race". He was a drunk man having a moment of clarity. The officer in charge believed wholeheartedly that the Italian man was going to talk. In the officer's mind, he would eventually talk due to the fact that he was part of a "slave race". To him, Italian people don't have strong character or that much courage. If the torture did not break him, that would mean there is no difference between the "master race" and the "slave race". The final scene stuck out to me also because it shows a few Nazi soldiers having some humanity when they refused to shoot the priest.  Perhaps those particular soldiers respected the courage that he had shown and felt like they would be cowards to shoot a defenseless man of God.

war times

I felt Calvino really did a god job showing us all the different types of "War stories" to show us and help us understand better what was happening in those times. One of the stories that really caught my attention was " One of the Three is Still Alive ". even though that story was very Dark, it was on of my favorites i really felt and can visualize what was happening in that story. I felt so bad for the men that were thrown in that hole, as if they were trash. Calvino mentions that these three men were all naked, and how they were scared for their life i thought of slavery. being mistreated. when they were thrown in the hole and the the one that survived I felt bad that he was suffering and that was how he was going to die, it was probably the worst. i know he probably wish he would of died instantly than to live in that hole with all those bodies. these people had no humanity for throwing a person in a hole like that. what was also sad was that the three men didn't know what the word "death" and muttering prayers because they knew that, that wasn't a good word. it was terrible the how they were treated. i was relived in the end when the man found a way out of the hole, it was like his haven.

Another stories that I liked was "Hunger at Bevera". even thought Bisma was deaf that didn't stop him, he seemed to be the bravest among his people. he had a weak mule but that mule was a fighter. Bisma didn't know what was going on but he ended up being the hero for his people he was fearless of the Germans. it was ashamed his life ended, it didn't end by a German. it ended because he took a step back and fell to his death. it was sad but he was a good man that cared for his people and his disability didn't make him weak it made him strong and brave.

The comparison to War Stories and Open city the Germans tourchered people. they really wanted that person to suffer. but what i noticed what was different in Open City from the stories in War Stories. that the Germans targeted specific people and not everyone from the town. that was the only difference i noticed anyone that got in the Germans was in open city they, they killed. 

How to dramatize violence and death

We've seen variety ways of dramatizing violence and death since the last unit. Violence is related to crime (Hery Hills' story, mass gun shot murders), game (the Hunger Game), or war. The stories can be either fictions or documentaries. Violence is dark but it can be entertaining if it is outside of our real world (like video games and the Hunger Game). However, due to its physicality, the violence is mostly associated with its back ground, such as poverty, hunger, and hostility. Why does the war create such a mess? I think it is because of systematic involvement (countries and countries, people and people) and long term sufferer. The war involves too many people for relatively a long period. all factors (poverty, hunger, hostility) are included and these factors exacerbate each other during the war. In the early 20 century, the people were involved in the war almost for a half century since the WWI. The situation made the people crazier and darker. Calvino dramatizes the detail and expresses the violence as if he experienced it (or observed) by himself, or more than that. In "Mine Field", at the end of the scene, mine's explosion is described as "Sun" so as the readers imagine its flash and and the readers imagine the body flipped around into the air. In "Going to Headquarters", the readers can imagine the decayed corpse with his expression, "black with ants". This is more than the fact (gun shot in crime, video games) and it is almost an art. Long term oppression typically leads the people to the art. Rome, Open City, depicts intrigues involving the German generals, Italian rebellion, women and men. The main theme is about the Fascism (supported by the Nazi) and the rebellion. It is interesting to think about how the movie was made at the end of the WWII. I wouldn't be surprised if the movie was made after the WWII (like 60's or 70's). But it was actually made just within the war. I am wondering if the movie could be recognized as an art at that time. Catholic church represents 17 century's  art. The scenes where the priest prays for the lord and the kids are gathering the church show up between the violence and the violence in the film. If the movie implied an political argument, the directors and the casts might be tortured at that time. It is reasonable to think of this film as an art. Both Calvino's book and Rome, Open City dramatize the war as a part of the new arts.

Survival

War time stories show how people's psychology changes in terms of different circumstances. Binda was a healthy lad who is now chased by fear and uncertainty. War changed his daily schedule. It's all about struggle to save his village people and himself now.  Valley of Bevera's people wait for a volunteer from their group to go out and bring food for them. Old Bisma, finally, take the risk to collect food for all, accompanying his weak mule. These people might be thinking of something productive or entertaining in life if there was no war. War brought hunger and fear of survival to their lives. They only think of food and safety now. The unarmed man in the "Going to Headquarters" was suspicious of the armed man's purpose behind taking him to a destination without any direction. The guy thinks of escaping and again takes the risk to believe the armed man. The last thing he can do is to hope that they will not kill him and let him go. He holds on to hope till the end of his life, the hope to survive. The skill of the little kid is noticed by the German commander and is taken to the group in the story "The Crow comes Last". The boy seems to enjoy his life even in the war time. He just loves to shoot. As a young kid, he should be scared of the soldier and the gun. He acts indifferent of the consequences of stealing the gun from the group. This is one of those absurd moment when Calvino exposes the reverse psychology of human when they don't act regarding their situation. Same thing happens in "Animal Woods" where the guy goes behind the soldier to kill him instead of knowing his incompetency as a shooter. In "One of the three is still alive", people of the village acted in response to the tragedy happens to them. They were quick to take revenge and kill the people who burned their village. One of the three guy is seen to struggle to save himself from death. All stories reflect on survival. We take our life and all blessings in it for granted, but when we face any difficulty in life we realize the importance of each and every single thing we enjoy.

The title War Stories is a good title for these stories because they are speaking on times of war. Things that people ere going and foing through. Like the one guy who went to get bread for the whole village and took the mule with him. The mule to me protected him form the Geermens getting him. The Germans to me weren't working about the mule. The guy wouldn't go down without the mule and the im portance of them falling together is strong. Given the information in the beginning of the story. Also the story with the German man going into he woods and trying to get all those animals, that he may have never seen. The guy was going crazy with trying to praise(be hero) for his people and save there animals but he wasn't a good shooter but he still did whatcha was a post to. The Germans were running there lives. They were in there heads all the time.

War stories

The stories gave you a insight to things that may have been going on around the author. It gives you insight to the war times. The stories were dark. In the first story you were unsure wether or not the boy was going to make it to the commanders house to give him the message. He was unsure if he would make it there before the Germans. The movie was darker to me because you able to see what was happening  and see that They were torching the guy in front of him to make him give a statement and the female dropped dead and nobody helped her. The Germans were evil and just wanted what the warned. In both the book and the movie. The Germans are bad and doing bad things and killing people.

La Strada means "the road".

La Strada means "the road". There are always roads in the film, on which Zampano (Antony Quinn) and Gelsomina (Giulietta Masina) leave her home town, go to the city, leave the city, enter the chapel...Gelsomina likes to stare at the sea or the fire. Her property is like the property of a fairy, such as fire, wind, water, soil etc. It might represent the pureness that she has her inside. Once she's learned a music, she keeps playing it and her song is always admired by the people, but it seems especially by middle age women (the lady in the chapel or the lady drying a laundry). I don't see whether she likes Zampano but, at least, she feels sad if she is ignored by Zampano especially when he goes out with other girls. It may be because her role that she is given by her family, which is to work as Zampano's wife. However, the role of the wife is much different than nowadays. It seems like a helper or a servant for Zampano. A good servant may sometime become a good partner. Zampano may realize it at the end but it is too late. He could't tolerate her pureness (feeling of guilty about the murder) and he abandoned her. Gelsomina is too pure and weak like fairy and can't survive in this harsh era. In 1957, the Tokyo tower started its construction in Japan. This tower is sometimes referred as a symbol of Japan to recover from the WWII. La Strada was first released in 1954. Italy lost the war with Japan. Italy might still sink under anxious when the film was released. The title of the film may imply a hope or it may just simply represent that they were losing their ways (wondering their future).

War and Neorealism

This second week of post-WWII fiction and film is all about war. Roberto Rossellini's Rome, Open City (1945) and Calvino's "Wartime Stories" both capture in different ways what it was like to live in Italy during the war. Rossellini's film can be melodramatic at times, but it is also suspenseful and you can still see why it was a worldwide success. Rossellini started work on the film even as the Nazis were abandoning Rome at the end of the war. Like many neorealistic films, a lot of the actors are untrained, just regular people. Much of the camera work is handheld and almost all of it is on location, filming in the dust of the city and the aftermath of the fighting. Remember, Calvino fought in the Italian resistance (which is dramatized in Rossellini's film) and these are the darkest, most violent stories of the collection. That scene in "One of the Three Is Still Alive" where the naked man in the hole grips his wrist and can't feel it and then realizes he's gripping the wrist of a dead man (105) captures the darkness of these stories. Some questions:

• Compare these stories to the stories from the beginning of the collection. How are they similar? Different?
• Compare the tones of the stories w/ that of Rome, Open City? Which is more hopeful? Which is darker?
• How do these tales and this film dramatize violence and death? 
• There is an absurd humor to some of the Calvino stories. What do you make of that? There's a dreamlike quality to "Going to Headquarters." How come?

The Enchanted Garden

The kids in in the story get to briefly experience the life of the rich by walking around in a garden that belongs to somebody that is of a different class than they are. They can never fully enjoy the experience due to the fact they know they are not supposed to be there. They are taking flowers from the garden, they are swimming in the big pool and they are eating the cake that they found. However, they feel guilty throughout the story and that gets in the way of the excitement of the adventure. The boy that they observed, seemed to be anxious and worried also. At the end of the story, the main characters leave the garden and they can now enjoy themselves by doing things that do not cost anything. Maybe with this story, Calvino is saying that riches don't necessarily get rid of problems and that you have to enjoy the little things in life, friendship and companionship.

I felt like she had so many opportunities to get away and even go home. She chose not to go and to stay with him. She just couldn't get herself to get up and leave. He treat so bad but he was indenial about why he wanted to keep her. He couldn't even answer her question, he answered with smart remarks. She deserved so much more. I couldn't believe that he left her there by the fire on the ground and didn't even. Try to bring her home because he needed to make money. Then he finds out she dies and is hit with shock and his sad but he mistreat her badly and didn't show her any affection or try to be there more when she was down because he killed somebody that he should have just left alone. His anger is what stood in his way and why he laid/died on the beach alone drunk.

The enchanted garden

The both of them are trespassing on someones property and they know it. With that in mind of course they would feel uncomfortable  with the situation as they know they are doing some thing wrong and if they are caught they will be scolded. They are constantly pressured by this fear and it doesn't allow them to have fun even though they are in such a fun place.

Giovannino and Serenella were in love and she trusted him with her life, this line shows how much she trusted him "Whenever Giovannino said, Let's go there, or "Let's do this," Serenella followed without a word" (page16). They were both afraid of going into the deserted garden but they did anyways and they found them self into an amazing view with an open sky facing flowers beds filled with neat rows of petunias and convolvulus, and rows of trees and at the end a beautiful large villa with flashing widowpanes and yellow and orange curtains. It seen like the garden was magical but at the end they realize that the garden is not as good as it seem.

Enchanted Garden

They go into a garden that is not theirs, that they had no business being in. They picked up flowers and made bouquet. They felt they were there by luck and couldn't fully appreciate all the things they saw and were doing. Those things did not belong to them. Then they see a rich boy and wonder how could he be more anxiety and nervous then them. He had everything but was still nervous and anxiety. The little boy to them seemed misplaced and that the things that the little boy had was granted to him by mistake. Like the little boy felt no different then them with all this wealth and things around him. When they left they were more come and relax and happier outside the world of the rich boy.

The Garden

This starts off with a cute love story between two children and takes a more depressing and terrifying turn. The children start to become more mischievous in the enchanted garden. Going into the pool they weren't allowed to go in and playing with the ping pong table and almost getting caught. Yet, they're not enjoying it as much as they would have thought which leaves them and to the reader that they are scared of being caught. Yet, when seeing this boy who is assumed to be living in this enchanted garden with all of this around him with any beck and call hes even more worried and scared then they are. My thought is what exactly could be going through that child's head and what spell do they keep referring to? Maybe its the the thought of not being able to have the nice things in life and not appreciating what you have, maybe the boy was just longing for someone to play with and his fear of his parents captivating him in this "Enchanted Garden".

After reading the first chapter Rivera story's. I felt that Calvino stories have something in common. His charters have a relationship with one another. and they are all in different places or awkward situations. I also noticed that all his charters so far are young, in their teens. in the first story i thought it was weird how he tried to bring Maria and Liberso together. a gardener and a maid. i felt like he made maria very awkward. her character kept laughing at most weirdest thing, makes me wonder if that how he views women, shy and weird. another things i found in common with all the stories were they all had men play the leading role. and made the women look kind of weak & have no mind of their own. in one of the stories he speaks about a girl crying he says that she is "fat" which i thought was mean, he didn't describe any of the male charters as ugly or fat or anything really, to me he kind make women look stupid or embarrassed them.

I wonder how old these two children are? The store sounds a bit strange but peaceful. Am trilled at how everytime Giovannino says to do something Serenella just follows. It is so sweet how he pluck the floaers for her.

The Enchanted Garden

I like this story of children being up to no good, on an adventure. Serenella reminds me of myself when I was little, a tomboy hanging out with boys and playing in the dirt. I also like how there are no parents around; this is not something that would happen in today's world. It's interesting how they saw the "little rich boy". The author describes him to be looking sickly, but maybe it is because instead of roaming around outside, he is stuck inside with his luxury.

The Enchanted Garden is kind of like The Secret Garden, two little poor kids kept as help for chores around in a house, run away on a sunny beautiful day to indulge in what the day had to offer.
Following tracks on a path of which they know not where it would lead them, but the excitement and adventure in itself keep them going to explore the unknown.
Quite an adventure going through tunnels, walking underneath eucalyptus trees, all along the way
Giovannino and Serenella goes on their adventure with hesitation as if they would get punished for enjoying themselves. it seemed to them it felt as if the fun time they were having is to good to be true.
Swimming in the lake playing ping pong and having cake and tea although it really was happening it felt like an illusion to them.

The Garden is Enchanted 

The story is about two people in love and the trust they have implemented on one another. It seems to as if they have known each and been with each other for a while now. I say that because they sound as if they have done something like this before and feel like everything is going to be alright. Perhaps the Garden was so mesmerizing that nothing really else mattered to them at the moment.

Impossible to Enjoy

Giovannino's relationship with Serennella is very interesting. They are on the way to explore the railroad. Their journey turns into a dreamy adventure - walking on the railroad, finding a beautiful garden full of natural beauty and means of entertainment, trying to enjoy them with an uncomfortable feeling, learning about the owner of the Villa who himself was unable to enjoy any of the things he owns. Everything happened during their journey to find crab is nothing but a mystery and they don't have the explanation for it. If only it was a real dream they could have enjoyed everything. This might compare to human life. Perfect company, perfect means for entertainment but not being comfortable to enjoy it. Life is never perfect. There is always something that becomes the barrier to the perfect image of our life.

More questions than answers for The Enchanted Garden

Calvino opens up the story with another set of characters that are not unlike the first two in the beginning story. In the first paragraphs there's an overwhelming sense that the characters are the same, yet entirely different. Almost as if it's American Horror Story and its the same actors but under different character names. It's a little hard to understand the meaning and purpose of the Enchanted Garden. What does this out-of-place garden represent in the real world, if it represents anything at all? And why are the characters in this story so similar to the ones before it? The Enchanted Garden also reminds me of Hansel and Gretel; two children walk into a forest that is magical, but don't belong there. It also reminds me of Bridge To Terabithia in which another set of kids enter of a forest to find it magical and enchanted. The story reads very unsettling through the constant discussion of this overwhelming anxiety that the two kids have. As a reader, I felt anxious wondering if anything were to happen to these kids; it reads like the lead up in a horror movie right before the crazed killer makes a big entrance. Also, the little pale boy in the villa adds more questions to the story. Why is he so anxious? Was he another wondering traveler that then got stuck in this "magical place"? He expresses the same anxiety as the children even though he seems to be apart of the scenery.

Enchanted Garden

I love this story, love the stories in this first section of the book, esp. the stories about children. I love the "Ping!" of the telephone line snapping (and it catches the general disrepair that Italy suffering immediately after the war), the sense that amazing things happen and that if you don't pay attention you'll miss them. I think Calvino captures the innocence of childhood, esp. the way children sense injustice, that there are places in the world that they "don't belong" based just on the accidents of their birth. The garden seems to be "enchanted" to them, but the irony of the story--what we see that the children don't--is that this garden is typical and banal, a rich person's place wasted on the people who live there.

Unit III: Postwar Italy in Fiction and Film

The four films we're watching this unit and all of the stories were written/created from 1945-1962. Some background: Italy was a fascist country ruled by Benito Mussolini before WWII until about 1943. Germany occupied much of Italy after the fall of Mussolini until the end of the war in 1945.

Italy was devastated by six years of war. In addition, many of the artists who weren't allowed to express themselves under a fascist system were suddenly free to do so. The films that we're watching next week and the week after (Rome, Open City ('45) and Bicycle Thieves ('47)) were part of a cinematic movement that came to be called Neo-Realism, or the new realism. You can't overstate the effect that this movement had on world cinema. It led to the French New Wave, the German New Wave, the Hollywood Renaissance, and, of course, the Italian New Wave. La Strada ("the road"), directed by Federico Fellini was one of the earliest of the Italian New Wave films. In fact, Italy was one of the world's strongest film producers up until the mid-60's and Fellini one its most important directors.

Italo Calvino was one of Italy's most important writers, in fact, is one of the most important world writers (many say he should have won the Nobel Prize for literature before his death in 1985 at the age of 61). During WWII, at 21, he fought in the anti-fascist underground resistance in Italy. (His parents were taken captive by the fascists as a result.)

Both Calvino's "Riviera Stories" and La Strada deal with people from different worlds thrust together. They're simple stories that have complex subtexts, so I'd like you to spend some time picking them apart. They're about gender roles in post-war Italy and about class and how people survived in an impoverished country decimated by war. What kind of connections do you see between these literary texts and the cinematic one we screen on Wed. night? What questions do you have?

Hunger games

Katniss is such a responsible character in this scene it shows how she cares about her family and that she would do anything to protect her family. Since her father's death, Katniss to me has taken the role of provider for her family. Katniss even though to me she seems to resent her mother, she still cares for her. It's cold and dingy in the little shack that they live in but they make do with what they have. Katniss goes to great lengths to provide for her family.

Finishing up this unit...

As we finish up Unit II, I would like us to make some closing conclusions about violence in America as revealed in our pop culture. We've talked about both class and race/ethnicity and their roles in US violence, but there are many other ways (and other kinds of texts) that could have been explored. For instance, the recent fall of media stars (Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby, Bill O'Reily, Roger Ailes among others) b/c of sexual assault charges and the fact that Donald Trump was elected to the presidency despite the fact that he openly bragged about sexually assaulting women (and over a dozen of those women came forward). What do these incidents tell us about violence toward women in our country? Or we could have looked at violence toward the LGBT population despite the fact that same-sex marriages are now legal in our country. Feel free to apply these perspectives ("lenses") to any of the texts we've read/watched or any other recent texts that you've consumed. 

As far as finishing up w/ The Hunger Games, I think there are a lot of these issues that we've started to explore, but maybe haven't exhausted. We discussed economic class last week and I felt that our conversation was perhaps not as thorough as it could have been. As it was pointed out in class, the gap between rich and poor has grown exponentially in recent decades, reportedly the widest it's been since the Great Depression. As I finished rereading Collins' book this past week, I was struck again and again with what a nuanced approach to class she takes in the book. Not only do different people in District 12 exist in different classes (the mayor vs. a miner for instance), but different districts seem to be better off than others (11 and 12 seem poorer than 1 & 2). Even Peta and Katniss are in different classes (check out the exchange on pp. 292-293 concerning Thresh's decision NOT to kill Katniss). Why approach class in this complicated way? The main story seems to be the districts vs. the capital. Why complicate the story?

What other things have you noticed about the novel? What is lost in the adaptation to film? What is gained? 

Violence in America: Mass Shootings

I don't think Michael Moore reaches a definitive conclusion about why there are so many mass shootings in the US. Today in The Times, there is an interesting theory about why, perhaps obvious: We have so many guns. What do you think?

the hunger games

The beginning of the book paints a bleak picture. The people of the district are oppressed and poor. Katniss, at a young age had to become an adult and take care of her mother and her little sister. She risks her life by going hunting to provide food. The kids in the district have to live their lives knowing that their names can always be drawn to go kill or be killed. How can you be happy living like that? Your name or the name of a family member or friend can always be drawn. The kids are all disposable. You can always lose a loved one. Katniss had to volunteer as tribute to take the place of her sister who she lives for.

Hunger games

The hunger games beginning is so good. I love the details that let you see and feel like your there. I could see Gale and Katniss in the woods hunting together. The relationship they have is awesome. When the drawing was happening I was wishing that Katniss didn't get picked not thinking that her sister wood. I was shocked when she got picked and I was happy they Katniss stepped up to the plate for hee little sister. I think that would have been really hard on her mom. I love how brave Katniss is. I knew that Katniss would go far in the hunger games because she is brave and can not her own. The weird thing to me was the f act that her and Peeta had tok be together and pretend to have some friendship together and get along well. But I think it played a good part for them to get sponsures and Peetas interview was what drew me in most and made me think like maybe that's why Peeta was doing what he was doing and Katniss was not seeing it. The hunger games to me is just plane cruel. That is a terrible way to keep.districts in check. But so far a great book.

Hunger Games

Edwidge Duval

The Hunger Games


As the scene is being describe to capture your attention, I feel as if I'm there along with Katniss
and her family. The visual viewed in my mind is cold, dingy, not enough to eat nor warm clothing to wear. The family makes do with what they possess and make the best of the lifestyle they live.  There seems to also be some type of resentment that Katniss has towards her mother. The games are coming up close and somehow Katniss has manage to avoid the reapings.

The Hunger Games opening

The opening of The Hunger Games provides great insight for the characters and the eventual roles they will have in each other's lives. The language used to describe Prim and her mother through Katniss' eyes shows exactly how she loves most. Katniss compares her sister's face to a raindrop, which casually discussing her mother's features in the past tense and saying "she looks younger....not so beaten down." We can see right from the start that Katniss cares for her sister very deeply, enough for her to not kill Prim's cat and learn to live harmoniously with the animal. She cares about Prim first and foremost which is a subtle foreshadow to her volunteering as tribute in place of Prim. Also, it is her interaction with Buttercup that we also see a major key element in Katniss' character. Katniss references Buttercup as "just another mouth to feed." With this, we see Katniss as someone who is practical and not very affectionate, with the exception of her sister. Later on in the book, this practicality is what ends up keeping Katniss alive during the Hunger Games and becomes a strategic advantage. One of the reasons why she distances herself from Peeta is to avoid any connection she knows she would have to severe later one. This characteristic also translates into her "I owe you" mentality that appears later on in the book. Further along in the first chapter, we're also introduced to Katniss' father and the important role he takes in her life. She describes her father as her role model, since he's the one who taught her how to hunt and has crafted bows for her. Her ability to hunt becomes another advantage that she takes into the Hunger Games.

Hunger Games

The beginning of the Hunger Games sets the stage for action, death and pain. It describes a world of survival, order and routine.There's no time for pleasure. Food sources are limited and only the strong and alert will win the brutal game. 

 Hunger Games Introduction

     The beginning of this book is a detailed look at what the character, Katniss, is going through. It goes into a little detail of the day it is, the reaping where they choose the people being put into the hunger games. Not only what day it is but the nature of what she does. Shes a criminal of some sorts who leaves her designated place to go in the woods to hunt for food to eat. Even what happened with her father and his death. The author is painting a vivid picture and description of what it is that Katniss is doing and why. 

The entry of the novel

The entry of the novel gives me a picture how their world is different than my world. Her family isn't wealthy but, even so, we don't normally eat rats or squirrels because we know they are contaminated with some worms that are highly contagious and possibly impact our health. I thought, if their world is on the same Earth, this story could be about the story in early centuries but the fact is opposite. The entry leads me easily into the picture that I shouldn't be aware of. It is concise but very efficiently telling me about the main character, Katniss, and her family.

Unpredictable Image

The opening of The Hunger Games gives us the idea that Katniss have a very special kind of love for her sister, Prim. She praises her mom's beauty. She talks about her resentment for Prim's cat. She mentions reaping day but she doesn't immediately go into the description of the reaping day, rather she pauses along her explanation of things like what kind of a place is district 12, or how people are not allowed to trespass the wood, how her dad taught hunting, how good she is while dealing with bow and arrow, etc. and she gives more details about each topics. The opening is not foreshadowing the scary truth of hunger games that will be described by Katniss later when the story progresses. 

The beginning of The Hunger Games, is describing the living conditions Katniss and the village lives in. It also talks about how Katniss is responsible of taking care of her little sister and her mother. It also describes what she has to do to survive  

The Hunger Games Intro

In the introduction of The Hunger Games, we immediately find out the adversity that Katniss has overcome, and is still overcoming. We learn that Katniss was forced to provide (hunt, bargain) for her family from a young age, which has essentially prepared her for the Hunger Games. Having to forage in the woods, climb trees, shoot, clean, and cook her prey are all skills that will be useful to her in the arena.

The opening introduces who Katniss is and her family and what they do in order to survive. when i read that I was thinking to myself i wouldn't be able to live that type of life style. for example, when im hungry I would normally make something to eat or go out and buy something to eat from a local place. but Katniss has to hunt & make trades for food or for anything she needs. they dont talk about money to purchase the things they need.  when Katniss mentions how her mother and sister sleep, i can paint a vivid picture, they live uncomfortable but show love for one another, because of their situation. Katniss mentions her sisters cat and how much she despises of but keeps it because it makes her sister happy.the way katniss is portrayed is the provider for her family. She is the Man of the house, she makes the rules, brings home food and love & care for them.

The Hunger Games

I think an interesting aspect of the opening is that it's told in present tense. It's actually a pretty artificial way to narrate. (Do people really think: "I wake up. Now I am putting on my boots which are made of leather. Now I am going outside," etc.) However, it captures the immediacy of the events, the nowness of everything. She is still describing the Hunger Games, the tessarae, etc. for us as if we don't know what those things are, as if we are aliens from outer space and don't know the ways of this world. But we learn to go through the motions w/ her so that we find out what happens--it's a plot-heavy book. Also, it's very much about the media which is as immediate as things get. Things happen and they're filmed about and sent out into the world. Many of us knew about yesterday's terrorist attack in NYC right after it happened b/c our phones told us about it and even sent us pix. And people on the other side of the US and some even outside it found out at the same time as we did.

The Hunger Games and Bowling for Columbine

We'll have time to discuss the opening of The Hunger Games in class, but most of our discussion of Bowling for Columbine will have to be done on the blog. Columbine is a documentary which explores what was then (1999, doc released 2002) the deadliest school shooting in US history (the Sandy Hook shooting was deadlier). The film is specifically about this, but it's more generally about the role of gun violence in American life at the end of the 20th century. How might you connect the hunger games (in the book) w/ Columbine (the historical event)? I'd particularly like you to think about the surveillance footage, much of which wasn't released prior to the release of this film. Also, I'd like you to think about how Michael Moore uses humor in the film for this very serious topic. How is he a "character" in this film?

Another question I'm interested in is the exploration of bullying and teen culture more generally in both films. Recently, a kid tormented by bullies in his Bronx classroom, killed one of his classmates and sent the other to the hospital. It's suggested by reporting on the story that much of the bullying arose from homophobic prejudice. Likewise, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris who perpetrated the Columbine attack were victims of bullying and there has been much speculation about whether one or both of them, too, were gay or questioning of their sexuality. I think a lot of this bullying centers around simplistic ideas about what it means to be "masculine." In Goodfellas, Joe Pesci plays Tommy DeSimone who was actually a large man. However, it's not hard to imagine that if the real-life Tommy were Joe Pesci's size, that he might overcompensate in violent acts to prove how tough/masculine he was. I'm wondering if The Hunger Games explores ideas of gender and how that's related to violence? How about sexual appeal of minors? A lot is made of the beautifying of the "tributes" before they go into the arena. Why? And is it significant that the hero of this book is a girl and not a boy? That it's a girl who turns out to be the toughest and most dangerous person?

Moore has become somewhat of a public figure since this film, often being interviewed, and he recently had a limited engagement Broadway play called The Terms of My Surrender and just this past weekend got into a Twitter feud w/ our president. Based on the film, these comments, and anything else you know about Moore, what do you think his politics are and how do you arrive at this conclusion?

What a Wiseguy

You know for a guy who was around that “life” for as long as he was, he should’ve known and been more prepared for the worse. A true Gangster knows that if you have to go there are only 2 options: death or prison. He knew he messed up badly when he was arrested that last time because he knew everybody in the mob was going to turn their back on him because they couldn’t have any association with what he was doing or it was going to mess up everything they already had. In the end when he says that now he had to live life like a normal person he realized what that meant. He realizes that in life in order to live normal, you have to do the “right thing” and for Henry Hill it meant doing the worst possible thing you can do as a mobster and that is being a snitch. He hated the fact of what being normal meant.

                                                                            Average guy

                 Henry was always around the gang lifestyle so much so that he knew it in and out, what to do and what not to do. For him not only was the gang his life but it was also his interest. So to go from being partially the boss of the whole thing to just be another nobody and a puppet for the police must hurt him deeply. How he basically describes the average person as a shmuck, in his mind this is what he was forced to become a nobody and someone he looks down upon. He didn’t want to but he had no other choice.

  







  My reaction to the very last paragraph to me he sounded very arrogant, in the lines “I have to wait around like everyone else, I’m an average nobody”. He is referring to his luxury/gang life is now over and that seem to be a problem for him. He thinks being a regular person is boring and he can’t settle for that type of lifestyle. What an irony that all his life he used to look down on regular people and now he has to be one of them.

What Life Means to Henry

Henry is so used to his old way of living that the moment when it's the only option for him to live is turning himself over to the FBI agents, otherwise he would be killed by his best friends. His life was always at risk due to the works he used to do. But after he was caught by the police with all his tapes on their hands, it was the prime time in his life when he needed to think of safety consistently. He wasn't safe inside the jail because Jimmy might get him killed. He wasn't safe outside also because either Jimmy or Paulie might kill him because he got caught for drugs. When he was out with a bail, Jimmy already made the plan to kill him, according to Henry's view. At that moment, FBI made him turn himself and his family over to them, because his family and his life were in danger. Now when he was in safe zone, he is missing his old life, where his best friends are ready to kill him. It seems like if he lives his old life would be the best option for him to live like a real man.

Wise Guy With the Wrong Eye

     This wise guy had an eye for the wrong things in life, maybe not the wrong things but the things that matter the least. He was so enveloped by the lime life and his crooked way of living that he never got the real meaning of life which are relationships rather than"money, hoes and cloths" as Biggie Smalls would say. He was caught up with the wrong things and the wrong people. Those people and things got him fucked up in the end. No education, he got caught twice and now everyone he once called friends hate him.He is now a snitch who has to deal with the repercussions of his actions. That fast life doesn't last long and this is a clear example of that. Lucky that he even got the chance to be in the witness protection program. A schnook is a whiny baby like schnook.

Wiseguys ending

    With the ending of Wiseguys being a break in the narration, as well as the fourth wall, we see a fully realized Henry. There is a sort of revelation that takes place within Henry. Throughout the book, we read about the rise of Henry Hill in relation to the rise of organized crime in New York. The two mirror each other, almost. Then, at the end, we see Henry's fall from the life he has been so accustomed to. The way that the ending reads invokes a sympathy, as if Henry is a baby who just got his/her candy taken away. Us as readers can identify the lifestyle that Henry leads as something to not aspire to, since we're taught from very young that it is "bad." However, Henry never really had that, and when people such as his parents tried to open his eyes, Henry had already made up his mind. Therefore, at the end, Henry seems so defeated and lost because he doesn't know of any other life. He had reached his idea of a fulfilled life without realizing how temporary that lifestyle was. Henry sounds annoyed at the way he lost his "empire," as though he'd rather have died than to walk away from it. In his final reflection, there is also a sense of nostalgia as he mentions Jimmy's hijack spots and Atlantic City; he misses the life. Having now been removed from that life for a while, it's very interesting how Henry hasn't grown to see the darker side of the life he lead and still desires it.

Wise Guy

I think the ending of the book shows that he enjoyed the life to the fullest....He's reaching out to the readers while reminiscing about all the perks that came with that life and the fact that its come to a end sucks because hes going back to being a "schnook" like everybody else. Which is ironic because in the beginning he disliked people that lived as "schnooks".

 Edwidge Duval
10/25/17

                                                             Wiseguy



After living an entire lifestyle as a wiseguy it is really awful at the end of an only known career to
live as a schnook.  There was no other real life for Henry except he was living life safe. No more deal, drugs, roberries. I can imagine his life being a boring one since this was a life Henry really loved.  As for Karen I think she has enjoyed the idea of not living the thrill life. Now she can go about living life simpler and doing normal thing, such as owning her own little business.

What I got from Henry in that last part was him confessing how much he let himself down. Him going from living the life he always wanted to ending up living the live he never wanted. He had it all he was living the life as someone people feared & also respected and all of that got taken away. I think maybe if he had listen to Paulie in the beginning and not go through with narcotics he wouldn't be in the situation he is now in. all of this would of been prevented, I feel like in the end Henry got greedy and that is why he did so many different gambles & illegal things just to earn a buck. In a way I felt like he was Jimmy, in the end Jimmy was at his worse because of the hijacking and whacking everyone he became greedy. And that is what Henry did & giving up people he was close with. In the end when Henry refereed to himself as a schmuck he was referring to his father, a man that actually had to work for a living and that was always the life Henry didn't want. So i guess he felt like this was a punishment getting a second chance to live and to live the life he didn't want, a life of an average guy, i life with no more thrill no more excitement.

Wise Guy

The last scene in the book was good. You could feel Henry talking to you. You knew that he was going to have to change his life no matter what because he was not going to survive on the outside because his friends were going to turn on him. Henry is sad to be leaving all of this behind and he's going to miss it. But he knows that this change in his life is important. He has never had to support or take care of himself and his family as an ordinary person, which is a big change for him. He enjoy his active life as a criminal.  But I'm sure his change to an ordinary person went smooth and has come to terms with his new life.

At the moment transitions are the least desirable. It's hard to follow a lonely journey that your mind tells you to take. New desires smother old practices that were enjoyable since childhood. Transitions takes discomfort. It takes energy and persistence. It's lonely but, it's better than regret. Sometimes your destination doesn't lead to happiness.

:Ironies

I found two ironies here at the end. The first one is: Henry goes (back) to the life that we has not wanted to. He quitted the normal way to spend his life in his childhood. Since then, almost close to 30 years, he had spent the life the way unusual. However, at the end, he chose the life that is exactly normal, protected, safe. Because he wanted to survive. He mentioned firstly that he did not want to survive like the way he thinks it is already dead. But he chose the one that he did not want to, maybe because he became old enough and he got his own family. The second irony that I found is: Jimmy and Paulie went to jail because they tried killing Henry. Henry first tried figuring out whether they would really kill him, and Henry made a conclusion that they do. This is the main reason that Henry chose the Witness Program. What if they did not try killing Henry. Henry might not choose the program.

Koichi

Wise Guy Ending

I think the closing of Henry Hill's life as a wise guy is a bit of poetic justice. From the first chapter, he spoke a lot about not wanting to "work so hard for next to nothing", like his father and other families in his community. In the end he comes full circle, leading an average life and "wait(ing) around like everyone else".

Wise Guy: Conclusion

The very last paragraph has always struck me--from when I first watched the film back in the early 90s to when I read the book last week for the third time. That line: "I have to wait around like everyone else." It strikes me as really poignant and also kind of infuriating. It reminds me of the kids in grade school who felt they didn't have to wait their turn in the lunch line and would walk to the front. You didn't do or say anything b/c you'd get beat up, but every time they did it you felt terrible like they knew you were a sucker for waiting. I think that that's the way that the mobsters saw normal people, people like you and me. We're suckers for following the law. But if everyone lived like they did, we'd be in total chaos. They need us to follow the law so that they can circumvent those same laws.

Goodfellas / Wiseguy

Before we screen the movie, we're going to write about and discuss the book. However, over the course of the week, I would like you to discuss the film here on the blog (the film is long and we won't have time to talk about it in class). Here are some questions I have:

• In what ways does the book change as it gets translated from the book to the screen? We're going to discuss the ending of the book in class. Notice how Scorsese interprets the ending. We "break the fourth wall," a term from theater in which the actor begins speaking to the audience. What does this do in the context of the film?
• How does Scorsese use pop music in the film? 
• What place does food play? 
• The Lufthansa Heist is one of the heists of the century. Why does it happen off-stage in the film? 
• Violence is the topic of this unit and it's a central part of the film. The opening, in fact, is what you might call ultra-violence. Is the film glorifying violence? Is it glorifying crime? 
• Tommy (Joe Pesci) is a pretty awful person and Jimmy (Robert DeNiro) is not much better. But Henry is a mobster just like the other two. Why do we root for Henry and not the others? (Or am I wrong about who we're rooting for and who we're not?)

What other questions/comments do you have about the film and/or book? 

Book to Film to Wikipedia

Here are the links to the Wikipedia pages for the main characters in Wise Guy / Goodfellas (all except for Karen; she's got a page, but no photos):

• Henry Hill (played by Ray Liotta in film)
• Paul Vario ("Paul Cicero" in film played by Paul Sorvino)
• James (Jimmy) Burke ("James Conway," played by Robert DeNiro) 
• Thomas (Tommy) DeSimone ("Tommy DeVito" played by Joe Pesci)

Get Out Alternate Ending

Here's the alternate ending to Get Out:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5msq6s


Which is better? This one or the one that Peele used?

J.Cole- Love Yours

4 Your Eyez Only

La Negra Tiene Tomboa Album

Lemonade

Wise Guy

As Henry said, the Air France heist "made him." Can you talk about the details of how Henry and Tommy pull this off (getting the key, figuring out when to rob the store room, etc.) and how Pileggi makes all that compelling. Karen speaks dismissively about how Jimmy would cheer for the bad guys in crime movies (and he names his two kids after Frank and Jesse James, notorious outlaws of the Wild West). She clearly thinks that Jimmy is messed up. Are we "messed up" too if we root for Henry? Why or why not? What about after Henry is caught and sent to jail. How did you react knowing that they had a different version of jail for the wise guys?

Get Out

Get Out addresses both race/ethnicity and American violence from a different perspective. In some ways, it's a traditional horror movie with some of the tropes (stylistic effects) of the horror genre. But it's also got elements of the comedy (Jordan Peele's previous gig). Can you talk about the ways that comedy and horror overlap in the film?

Like Better Luck Tomorrow, Get Out is a postmodern film. That means it's aware of the genre conventions, aware of the cliches and it's trying to subvert them. What are some of the cliches that this film addresses regarding black/white relationships? How does the film upset our expectations? Or put another way, how does the film surprise our assumptions? Think about when Chris meets the white neighbors at the party or when the police car arrives at the end of the movie. How did you react before you knew the movie's secrets and how did you react after you had seen the conclusion? (The secret of a plot like this is it makes its viewers go back and revise the movie they've just seen.)

Selena!

Since Valeria and Jocelyn presented on Selena, I thought relevant to mention today's Google Doodle celebrating the anniversary of her first album:

https://www.google.com/webhp?hl=en&ictx=2&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjMyPigu_jWAhWFRyYKHcChCeUQPQgD

Here's some background about it:

http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/lifestyle/7998923/google-doodle-selena-quintanilla-exclusive

Better Luck Tomorrow (2002)

Justin Lin's film is interesting to think about in conjunction with Wiseguy (also, I think you'll notice that, cinematically, it owes a debt to Scorsese's adaptation). Some things I'd like you to think about re both texts:

• What is the place of race/ethnicity in these stories?
• What does the crime in these stories tell us about life in the USA more generally?
• What do they say about class/economics?

Unit II: Violence in the USA

For this second unit, we're going to look at several genres and several mediums which address the issue of violence in the USA. Our first reading is Nicholos Pileggi's true crime book Wise Guy. True crime has been an incredibly popular genre ever since Truman Capote's bestseller In Cold Blood came out in 1965. In fact, it's no longer just a book form, but also film (Zodiac, 2007), TV (American Crime Story, 2016), and podcasts. Wise Guy (1985) is about the Italian mob in Brooklyn and Queens and is the basis for Martin Scorsese's 1990 film Goodfellas. Some quesetions I have about the opening of the book:

• How does Pileggi manage to get us inside the mind of a gangster? Put another way, how is Henry Hill different than you?
• What part does ethnicity play in the lives of these gangsters?
• How is Karen, Henry's wife, an enabler of Henry's crime career? What is/are her role(s)?

This is not the exact video I presented i don't know why it's not coming up for me but this one is Selena singing live.

Kevin Abstract - Empty lyrics

Bob Dylan - It’s all over now, baby blue (live from Newport 1965)

https://vimeo.com/146437066

VH1's Ultimate Albums - Eminem: The Marshall Mathers LP (2002)

here is the entire marshall mathers lp documentary

Pearl Jam- Alive

Album Analyses

Koichi had the good idea that we share the links that we viewed last night in class. I would like you post a link to the video or song track you played in class last night (you'll get blog credit for doing so). DON'T reply to this post. Instead follow the directions below:

1. Click "New Post" at the top of the screen.
2. On the menu bar (that strip above where you type), click on the movie icon (to the left of the smiley face).
3. Click the tab that says "From Youtube."
4. Search for your video and double click on it and that's it. (Don't forget to click on "Publish" or we won't be able to see it.)

Koichi also wanted to see his classmates' album analyses. That's optional if you want to share yours. If you do, I will also give you blog credit for it. Just cut and paste it into a post.

Finishing up w/ Music

This is our last week w/ Dylan and music analysis, but lets keep this conversation going throughout the term. We'll be watching a lot of film and, although the visual is the primary sense for cinema, we can't forget how important sound--particularly music--is in the cinematic experience.

As we finish up, I invite you to make general and concluding comments about Bob Dylan as an artist, performer, and persona. How did carefully listening to some tracks off the album along w/ Polizzotti's book help you better appreciate and understand this artist? How did reading this book and the work we've been doing in class help (or not) you to write your own album analysis?

Re the reading this week: An interesting aspect of the Vulture articles has to do w/ age. We will listen to several songs tracing Dylan's career in class, but you can hear any singer aging if his or her career lasts more than a couple decades. Here is Paul McCartney singing "Blackbird"in 1968 at the age of 26:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mo_DMGc2v5o

And here he is singing in 2004 at the age of 62:

It's clear that McCartney is still much beloved by his fans, Dylan too. However, I'm curious: How many of those fans do you think are young? (I think we all know that young people are by far the major consumer of music.) How much are McCartney and Dylan's large concert draws (and high-priced tickets) about nostalgia? If they were new performers coming on the scene today at their current ages, even if they were releasing their biggest hits--"Blackbird," "Like a Rolling Stone"--would people be likely to listen? Why is it that the majority of our best selling artists are late teens to late twenties and, besides for a few exceptions, most careers start to stall when they move into their thirties? What does this say about our culture? What connections can you make between pop music and youth?

Donovan!

Like I mentioned in class, Donovan was huge, as big as Dylan at the point of Don't Look Back (though by the 70s and beyond he was dwarfed by Dylan's fame). Here are his two most popular songs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTuPbJLqFKI

As Henry points out, another popular song gets used in Goodfellas which we'll be watching in a few weeks. Notice how Scorsese juxtaposes violence in the film w/ Donavan's light-hearted music.

Don't Look Back

This documentary is about Bob Dylan's Bringing It All Back Home (1965) tour in England, his tour for the album he released right before Highway 61 Revisited (1966). These two records, as Polizotti writes, mark the moment where he went from folk artist to rock star. Can you see evidence of this transition in the film? Also, what is this Bob Dylan like? How is he similar or different from the Dylan(s) you saw in Todd Haynes' film? What is his relationship w/ the press? And how does he talk about his own music? Do you think he's a good authority on his own music? Or do you think it's better to consult a trained professional critic like Polizotti?

Desolation Row

This is the last song on Highway 61 Revisited. It's also the longest song. Why do you think Dylan chose to end his song this way? Other questions:

• What or where is "Desolation Row"? 
• The first line is "They're selling postcards of the hanging" Whose hanging? Who is "they"? 
• Mark Polizzotti makes connections between the carnivalesque elements of this song and Fellini's films (p. 135). (Keep this in mind b/c we'll return to it when we watch Fellini's La Strada laster in the term.) How is this song carnivalesque (like a carnival)? 
• What is the tone of this song? Is the tone in keeping w/ the album or different? 
• Why does the song end w/ a harmonica solo? (Why does Todd Haynes' film end this way too?)

This week's blog

Since we don't meet this week, there will be no required blog entries. If you missed making entries last week, I'll give you until the end of this week to make them. Next week, it's back to business as usual. See you then.

Side 1 of Highway 61 Revisited

In Polizzotti's book, he analyzes the songs in order (even some songs that were cut from the final version of the album). Some questions I have about Side 1 (5 songs / 8 sections in book):

• What is your sense of Bob Dylan's voice? He was insecure about his voice. Is it a good voice? How do we judge it? What do you compare it to?
• What is your sense of the forward progression of the first side? 
• Polizzotti spends two whole pages talking about the 1-beat snare opening of the album. Why does he spend so much time on it?
• Here are the lyrics to "Like a Rolling Stone": https://genius.com/Bob-dylan-like-a-rolling-stone-lyrics What is a rolling stone? Why were rolling stones so big in the 1960s? (One of the biggest British bands was called the Rolling Stones, a famous rock magazine was called Rolling Stone). 

Ballad of a Thin Man

Here are the lyrics to "Ballad of a Thin" man: https://genius.com/Bob-dylan-ballad-of-a-thin-man-lyrics

What is your reaction to the song and/or its lyrics?

Beginning on Bob Dylan

This week, we're going to start talking about the Polizzotti book and also about Bob Dylan as a performer and persona. If you want to hear Highway 61 Revisited w/out buying it, you can check it out on Spotify. The next two readings will get into the nitty-gritty of the album. This week I'd like to think about how director Todd Haynes interprets both the music and persona of Bob Dylan in his film.

Some questions I have:

• Haynes has six different actors play Bob Dylan including a woman (Kate Blanchet) and an African American boy (Marcus Carl Franklin). How come?
• Dylan has been a performer for over 50 years. In that time, he's played folk, rock and roll, soul, standards, gospel, and country. He's written a novel, an autobiography, and even starred in a few films. How does Haynes capture that aspect of Dylan?
• Why didn't he tell ea. story separately? Why does he jump back and forth between narratives? 
• Some of the music in the film are the original Dylan recordings and some are Dylan covers performed by bands like Sonic Youth and Yo La Tengo. Why use a mix of originals and covers? Why not one or the other?
• Polizzotti quotes Dylan as saying that "protest [is] an amusement-park word...The word 'message' strikes me as having a hernia-like sound." How does the quote fit w/ Haynes' film? 
• On the first page of Polizzoti's book, he analyzes the album cover. (It's on the front of the book if you need to look). Do you agree w/ his interpretation of it? 

You don't have to respond to all of these questions. You can pick or choose or ask your own questions. 

Welcome!

I meant to do this yesterday, but it was crazy. So, anyway, welcome. If you post today or tomorrow I'll give you extra credit. Feel free to post about any or all of the clips we watched on Wed. night or to talk more generally about your feelings about pop culture, or to tell us something about yourself, etc. Next week and until the end of the term, you will be required to do at least two weekly entries.