ENGL 106

Pop Culture Collective #5 

In this small video clip, we see a man that stands up from the ashes only to be wiped out a huge tsunami. This small video clip was taken from another apocalyptic movie “2012,” which was about all types of natural disaster converging on Earth, which almost destroys mankind. The theme of apocalypse is something that is always used in films made by Roland Emmerich, whose idea behind this film was to highlight the growing threat of global warming. But most importantly the message would be that people should solve this universal problem or prepare for the inevitable. This reference to global warming is clearly made by how natural disasters alone is destroying almost everything and the people of Earth.  

Pop Culture Collective #4

The artifact that has chosen in this instance is a small video clip from the film: “The Matrix,” which was essentially created by the Wachowski brothers. Once again this apocalyptic film focuses on the human interaction with artificial intelligence, but this scene highlights the possible reality for humans after A.I. are ruling the world. This is because, the machines utilize energy that is in a human’s body to run their systems, thus illustrating fields of human bodies stored in special cells. The strong message that is shown by the director to audience, is that humans are treated as an inferior species compared to the dominant species, which is the artificial intelligence of machines. It is quite ironic as the same can be said with certain animals being treated by humans in today’s world.

Pop Culture Collective #2

This is a poster for a movie that is about an impending apocalypse, which wipes out the entire civilization of mankind. The concept or idea was created by James Cameron, who envisions an apocalyptic future for mankind, where artificial intelligence begins to dominate the world by wiping out the dominate species. What is more intriguing is the statement made by this movie, midst of all the chaos and wars that happen around the world between people of different countries, humans will never completely destroy its own people. But the fact that, the aim of progress can lead to the eventual downfall of mankind.  

Interview that highlights the hallmarks of modern civilization.

LEACH: What is your project about? RAJENDRAN: My project is focused on creating a photo essay that signifies modern civilization, by utilizing an objective mindset. By being objective, there is no bias towards showing a positive or negative view of our civilization or society. Therefore this allowed me to create an underlying theme for the ten photos, which was to emphasize the evolution of our civilization or society. Ultimately, the in-depth message for utilizing this theme is that we can understand people’s mindset over time, as people want to use, create or act according to what is socially approved during their time. This transformation is clearly visible in the ten photos, where there are four groups of two photos highlighting this difference. In these groups of photos, there is an intentional technique used to take the photos to further emphasize the difference among the two photos in each group. But most importantly, this specific focus can create an impression or raise a question, which would roughly be whether the direction in which mankind is heading towards, is the right one. 

LEACH: How did this idea develop for you? RAJENDRAN: I was able to develop this idea by thinking about what I see or do during a normal day, as well as what goes on in my surroundings in certain periods of the day, such as walking from one class to another class or eating breakfast. By comprehending the differences among specific items or people’s actions, I was able to notice that time has had a big influence in portraying civilizations during certain time periods. Hence, I was finally able to decide by focusing on the influence of time on our civilization and how people are able to adapt to it. 

LEACH: Which do you value more: tradition or progress? RAJENDRAN: It is always important to make progress, as setting this goal for mankind will motivate people to become better in all possible ways, resulting in a more efficient, hard-working and productive civilization or society. Logically, it would be obvious to value progress, but I value tradition rather than progress. It is always important to remember who we are, and where we come from, as it is very easy to forget our tradition in the quest for progress. In the end, there will be nothing unique about each and every person in the world, if it is forgotten. 

LEACH: What would you like your audience to take away from your photo essay? RAJENDRAN: I would like the audience to understand that the progress made over the past hundred years is extraordinary, and continue to make giant leaps forward into the future. But by analyzing the photos and the differences it signifies, it is important to look forward but even more important to remember our past. Utilizing our past mistakes and successes, mankind’s progress into the future can be exemplary. 

LEACH: How would you define civilization? RAJENDRAN: I would define civilization as the combination of various cultures with people’s knowledge and wisdom, which contribute to the growth of individual societies to achieve maximum productivity and happiness. 

LEACH: You recently read Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. In it, the Traveling Symphony tours from village to village in a post-apocalyptic world, performing Shakespeare's plays. Their unofficial motto comes from Star Trek: "Because survival is insufficient." What does this mean for you? [Again, don't include this bracketed prompt, but in your answer consider how this question could relate to your photo essay.] RAJENDRAN: Basically this acts a short message that survival is not enough to survive any situation, something that applies to almost all aspects of life. This is something that I subconsciously follow due to the competition that students now face in school or university to get what they want in the future. It is important for everyone to understand, this short motto basically signifies the motivation of people to achieve progress. Hence, this motto works perfectly for these ten photos as it shows how mankind wanted to create something better or more, over time. 

Photo Essay: First Two Photos: New vs. Old building Second Two Photos: New vs. Old style of dining

Third Set of Two Photos: New vs. Old way of studying

Dialectic Journal #18 - Pop Culture Collective #1 

Mike Nudelman argues that Banksy, who is the artist responsible for creating this form of art, is a great artist when creating art that revolves around sadness and dystopia. The author particularly focuses on the fallen Cinderella chariot, which was made to look like Princess Diana’s car crash as paparazzi was all around to take pictures.

Although the author acknowledges that this is a controversial image, he starts to introduce other art works that portray dismal themes, created by other artists. He does this to show that the artwork produced by the other artists ensure that there is meaning, depth and understanding behind the artwork unlike Banksy’s artwork that seems to be more offensive than invoke meaning.

This seems to be a simple approach to artwork when compared to better artwork produced by other artists, although this may be the case. It seems to be that Banksy’s artwork has drawn a lot of attention from the general population and certain celebrities, which was probably his indirect aim of his artwork.  

The author then concludes by saying that this seems to only entertain certain members of the audience, whereas Banksy’s artwork will not go far in general.

Dialectic Journal #4 / Practice Pop Culture Collective 

This is a clip from a famous apocalyptic movie, Terminator 3. This is when James Cameron created an idea where almost all the humans are annihilated by nuclear weapons that were triggered by a computer virus. He wanted to establish a bold message that the world will never be safe with the threat of nuclear weapons and growing reliance on technology.

Another argument that he might have raised when viewing this clip, is questioning how mankind is evolving and developing in life. Whether following the path of more automation and technology is the right thing? If this continues, is there an inevitable end or solution to prevent all this horror from happening. There are many different perspectives that can be taken when viewing this short one minute clip from this two hour movie.