Raiders of the Lost Ark & Titanic

Modernism Project

Plante, Michael. "Modernism." World Book Advanced. World Book, 2011. Web. 11 May 2011.

Journal 44: Post Modernism Movie

I watched Titanic the other night, and yes, it is my favorite movie, and even though it is based on true events, the story of Jack and Rose is all fictional but has post modernism characteristics throughout. For example, Rose starts out the movie by being engaged to Cal, even though it is clearly obvious that she does not want to be married to him. She then proceeds to go against tradition and fall in love with a guy in third class, Jack. Throughout the course of the days the ship is still afloat, she meets up with him and goes against her mother's wishes. Although the technology of today is a lot more advanced than it was back in those times, the opening as well as closing scenes show the scientific advancements as compared to that time period because it shows submarines going down into the ocean to look at the Titanic, as well as the boats look a little bit more modern and scientific, which is another characteristic. Although the movie is a love story, there is a lot of science involved with the first couple of minutes into the movie along with the end. That could be another part of James Cameron's movie style as well, but it is also a given characteristic of post modernism. The authority in the movie is also corrupt because once again, in the beginning, Rose follows the directions of her mother, but smokes at the dinner table against her mother's wishes and runs away from her fiance's friend who is following them. So, Rose is quite free spirited and carefree when she wants to be, which shows the post modernism in the movie.

As I said before, the movie is based on the sinking of Titanic which did occur right around when modernism was becoming post modernism, but as I said before, the characteristics are still there of post modernism in the actual love story between Rose and Jack.

Journal 43: Jazz Baby

Being a saxophone player, I am a big fan of jazz. Plus, I am one of the few people in this school that I know of that actually listen to jazz music voluntarily. Like most songs, this one tells a story. Being the awesome music analyst I am, I tried to figure out what was going on in the story at a particular part of the song. What I got from it was that this particular jazz song told a pretty typical story. Girl meets boy but boy does not know girl exists, so the girl keeps trying to get the boy's attention until finally he realizes that this girl is the one for him and they live happily ever after, after a brief run in with the boy's ex girlfriend. That is just my interpretation from this song and what I thought while listening to it. Ms. McGovern, our band director, makes us analyze songs as well to figure out the story behind the song. Most songwriters at that time did not write a song just to write it. They usually had a reason for writing the song. Maybe the composer of this song was feeling lovesick, so he or she wrote the song to tell a story of love that actually works out. A lot of relationships do not exactly work out like that, but the song gives the listener somewhere to escape to. Because I was able to escape into this song when I listened to it. It helped that it was ten minutes long, too. I could take time to relax and analyze, which is something I find you cannot really do with the music today. That is one of the reasons I like jazz so much. It allows me to relax, and yeah, it makes me think, but in a good way I think. Most music today has the same reoccurring themes of money and fame while back then it was just about whatever. The music was extremely care free in my opinion, which I like a lot.

Modernism vs. Realism

The two writing styles are quite similar, yet different at the same time. Because they are so close together, it makes sense that the writing styles as well as the authors' viewpoints would be similar. Both styles inform the reader about the events of that time, but Modernism seems to be more straightforward as opposed to realism. Modernism seems to go into a lot more graphic detail. World War I is just starting to happen when Modernism emerges. The Modernism writing style might have even been sparked by the start of World War I. The authors wanted the readers to know what exactly was happening. But, the mental aspect of the writing is intriguing as well. Readers had to actually stop and think about what they were reading. The Grapes of Wrath is a great example. That entire novel is about the hardships the Joad family faces throughout the novel. There really is not a happy part to that story. It makes the reader sad as well as thankful for how fortunate they really are. Or, it can also work the other way and inform the reader of the many hardships that helped us get to the modern society of today. John Steinbeck created a modernism novel that not many people will ever forget. Heck, it is my mom's favorite book for whatever her reasons are for liking it. I thought it was an extremely graphic novel that went into great detail about the conditions upon which people had to live in during the Great Depression. Plus, the advantage we have in reading the story is that we do not have to actually live in the Great Depression in order to relive the experience. We just read the book with its Modernism writing style and we are transported there. And that is just with the one book. The Old Man and the Sea was another depressing story we read. Which, that was a common theme I noticed in the novels we read. However, The Old Man and the Sea did not have a happy ending to its story either. Part of the reason I think is because a characteristic of Modernism is that there are not always happily ever afters. Most stories do not have those if they are more of the reality type novels or shorter stories like The Old Man and the Sea is. I think Walt Disney came along a couple years into the Modernism period and introduced the happily ever afters because he got tired of the depressing novels being written and none of the Modernism type writings were for kids. Because no kid wants to read about hard labor and everything. They would rather read about Peter Pan and Cinderella. They needed an escape from the world around them that was so depressing. Maybe I am a couple years off with that theory, but that is just an idea I had while writing this. I know I would rather read about the Little Mermaid than working in a vineyard struggling for survival. Some of that is ok, but there comes a point and age limit when that Modernism writing style really isn't appropriate.

Job Shadowing Experience

I went to Springfield High School for my jobshadowing, and I actually had a fun time. I got there around 8:10, which was 20 minutes early, and I am just going to say that that school is soooooo much bigger than our school here. Mr. Lightfoot, the teacher I was job shadowing, has two classrooms, and an even more weird schedule than most teachers there. For his first hour, I basically just sat there and watched him organize a trivia night that he is helping organize for next Monday, so I got to see that he does a lot more than just teach. Then his second hour was a sort of study hall, where I watched him grade some online tests. His third hour was an AP History class and for that I sat and observed him as he taught mainly juniors about the Cold War. After lunch he had another AP US History class where his student teacher taught the lesson, and then Mr. Lightfoot elaborated. His last class of the day was the lowest class of history, which had many of the kids that were struggling in history, and they were talking about concentration camps. After that class was over I was able to leave, because he had a collaboration hour followed by another prep, so I was able to leave around 1:30.

What I liked best about this was I got to watch a different teacher in a different school setting and watch his different teaching styles. I noticed that he was much more relaxed and laid back with his AP kids, but with the lowest level he had to be more strict and a lot more formal, and it gave me insight as to what it would be like for me if I decide to be a teacher at a bigger city school. All in all, it was a very good and fun day.

Journal 42: Dickinson or Whitman?

I think that if I had lived in the time of Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman, I would have chosen to read the poems of Emily Dickinson, because I liked her writing style a lot better. Because, in her poems, there is a certain rhythm to her poems and I found it a lot easier to understand and easier to decipher. Walt Whitman was just weird and wrote about a lot of disturbing type things that just kind of weirded me out when I was reading it. I mean, the way he wrote is something I do not think I would be reading that in that time period. But, if that was the only thing left for me to read, then maybe I would end up reading Walt Whitman eventually because I am the type of person to read pretty much anything, even if I do not like it.

I think the thing I did like about Emily Dickinson is that she wrote about feelings that I could actually understand, and I think that might be partially because she is a woman, so she had a better idea of feelings unlike Walt Whitman did. I mean, apparantly Walt Whitman was gay, so his ideas of feelings and emotions were slightly different, because for one he is a guy, but then I don't know, he just had a different writing style that I did not really care for. His poems were more difficult to analyze and try to decipher the meaning from and I did not really care for it at all. That, however, is just my opinion and the fact that I did not care for Walt Whitman and his writing style. I prefered Emily Dickinson and her more emotional way of writing and getting to the audience, instead of Whitman which was just disturbing in my opinion.