The Monuments Men was an eye opening film that focused on a lesser thought of perspective during World War II – the stolen art. While in PSTL we have been familiarizing ourselves with the concepts of identity, culture and community for the last seven weeks. With that being said, this film related to those three concepts in related ways. The incredible pieces of art that were being stolen during the war was a deliberate destruction of our human identity. In relation to what Adler stated, an artist crafted their piece of work through their public, private and/or ideal self. When the pieces were being stolen or demolished, it took away the foundation of what our identity was built on. For example, the Ghent Altar, a monumental work of the Catholic Church. This piece represents the identity of people who identify with Catholicism. This piece of artwork is one of the most influential paintings ever created because it is practically depicting the annunciation of Jesus’s death, with the “mystic lamb” on an altar within the field while it is bleeding into the holy grail. This is what Catholics preach and believe and for the painting to be stolen to placed in Hitler’s …show more content…
For example, Hitler wanted to destroy an entire culture by stealing their works of art and murdering millions of innocent people. As quoted in the movie, “The thought came back to him, as it often did: To save the culture of your allies is a small thing. To cherish the culture of your enemy, to risk your life and the life of other men to save it, to give it all back to them as soon as the battle was won … it was unheard of, but that was exactly what Walker Hancock and the other Monuments Men intended to do.” This signifies how dedicated the men were to the mission of saving the art because to them it was much more than that, it was about preserving the culture of the people they were dying
The film observes and analyzes the origins and consequences of more than one-hundred years of bigotry upon the ex-slaved society in the U.S. Even though so many years have passed since the end of slavery, emancipation, reconstruction and the civil rights movement, some of the choice terms prejudiced still engraved in the U.S society. When I see such images on the movie screen, it is still hard, even f...
Monuments and museums are arenas of public history and for the formation and articulation of identities and narratives.[1] Decisions taken as to the formation of museums and the selection, display and organisation of exhibits are influenced by criteria which are not necessarily politically neutral; these may especially involve devices of political elites to emphasise aspects of communal togetherness and thus exert control over communities.[2] Memory and commemoration of past events and generations is by its nature a political and contested act, especially in sharply divided societies.[3] It is no surprise that recently established governments and states should particularly concern themselves with the production of such forms of festivities, commemorations, and monuments.[4] As rulers of a sharply divided society, unionist elites in Northern Ireland in the aftermath of its eventful creation in 1920-1 had particular reasons to concern themselves, and did concern themselves, with such strategies of power.[5] The integration of the province's Catholic minority may have been, or may have been felt to be, beyond the rulers of Northern Ireland;[6] but this very fact heightened the importance of preserving the highest possible degree of political unity under unionist hegemony among the Protestant majority.[7]
My reception of this film was so positive because of my knowledge, experiences and values. I have always enjoyed learning about the 1960’s and admired the political activism and change that occurred in that time period. I grew up in a very liberal home, where we were freely able to discuss controversial topics and form our own opinions.
Through out the duration of the war the looting and destroying of artworks continued. One might even say it was an obsession. Hitler at the time wanted to create a museum of the best art.
In week one, I immediately found myself interested and alert as I tried to absorb as much as possible from Examined Life. It was difficult to find a balance between taking as many good notes as possible, with making sure not to miss anything these eight philosophers had to say. I took to heart many of the thoughts and ideas that were shared throughout the film. The first that struck a cord with me was that it is not necessary to find meaning. At first that sounds contrary to philosophy at its core, because I find that is usually what we ponder; the meaning of whatever it is we are thinking, doing, or discussing. I realized that sometimes it is fine for things to just be, and not know why. Much of the film has to do with how we think, and what we do in private. Collectively, through these moral and ethical acts (or lack of them) we can impact the public. Also by sharing these thoughts and concepts with the public in the documentary, it can affect our thoughts and actions in our private lives; I know it has at least for myself.
To be a True Blue Aussie you have to have a mate because “You've to have a mate,” as verbalized by poet Dave Butler in 2013. For in Aussie culture, a mate is a person whose actions speak louder than their words. In Australia, being a mate is a value that is held in the highest respect.
...vernment that led them into such a crisis. In stating that this movie is a valuable piece of our cultural history, it is not to say that this film should be taken as a historical piece only. There is a danger in relying on material culture for historical knowledge. This danger exists in the fact that during the course of years, creative intentions become lost, and only the product remains. To rely on this film for historical knowledge, rather than cultural information, would be gravely wrong. This is because this film was not made to be historically informative, and centuries from now, society may not know that Kubrick's suggestive names, distortion of actual history, and cultural bias were simply vehicles used to convey an opinion. So these same vehicles that make this film effective as a societal criticism make it inaccurate as a source for historical knowledge.
...s at that time who have come of age. Perhaps no film in recent history has captured more attention and generated more controversial debate. This film resonates the feeling and question that common people had about the JFK assassination in the 60s. As a result, the debate about the validity of JFK extended much further into the war-torn cultural landscape of America in the 1990s than most observers noted. The JFK was a telling incident demonstrating the larger cultural conflict over values and meaning in America and the competition to define national identity. The whole affair demonstrated how effective a motion picture can be as a transmitter of knowledge, history, and culture. As a result, the debate about the validity of JFK extended much further into the war-torn cultural landscape of America in the 1990s than most observers have noted.
In this essay I will be looking at the topic of the countercultural movement of the 1960’s through counterculture film. The 1960’s were an extremely interesting time in history not only in the United States but all over the western world, as we saw the rise of the counterculture generation. The counter was a group of movements focused on achieving personal and cultural liberation and was embraced in many different ways by the decade’s young people. I have chosen this topic as the 60’s stand out for me as a revolutionary and often misrepresented period in history. The films I have chosen to look at are The Baader Meinhof Complex from director Uli Edel, Woodstock from Michael Wadleigh, Pirate Radio from Richard Curtis, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas from director Terry Gilliam. I chose to analyse these films as I believe they clearly demonstrate the social and political issues of the 1960’s and societies response to them.
City of God is an action-packed, drama-filled, Brazilian crime film that follows the lives of several young men whose lives all take a drastic turn as the city they once knew falls to drugs, crime, violence and corruption. In my essay I will focus on three young men in particular who all seemed to be consumed by the chaos that surrounds them. Through a series of hard hitting edits, sharp camera cuts, intense imagery and vivid storytelling, the film comes to life to portray the reality of life in the slums of Rio de Janeiro, and also helps to develop each characters persona.
This film influenced me greatly and how I might be able to go about in my speech making. James Farmer Jr. and his debate team delivered their speeches with a lot of emotion, drawing their audiences in on their side. James Farmer used his own experiences and struggles to drive his speech making, while trying to prove himself to everyone that he was not just a child. Although James Farmer and I are different, especially in the way we present our speeches, I admired the way he used his knowledge and emotions to help win the last debate
Imagine pondering into a reconstruction of reality through only the visual sense. Without tasting, smelling, touching, or hearing, it may be hard to find oneself in an alternate universe through a piece of art work, which was the artist’s intended purpose. The eyes serve a much higher purpose than to view an object, the absorptions of electromagnetic waves allows for one to endeavor on a journey and enter a world of no limitation. During the 15th century, specifically the Early Renaissance, Flemish altarpieces swept Europe with their strong attention to details. Works of altarpieces were able to encompass significant details that the audience may typically only pay a cursory glance. The size of altarpieces was its most obvious feat but also its most important. Artists, such as Jan van Eyck, Melchior Broederlam, and Robert Campin, contributed to the vast growth of the Early Renaissance by enhancing visual effects with the use of pious symbols. Jan van Eyck embodied the “rebirth” later labeled as the Renaissance by employing his method of oils at such a level that he was once credited for being the inventor of oil painting. Although van Eyck, Broederlam, and Campin each contributed to the rise of the Early Renaissance, van Eyck’s altarpiece Adoration of the Mystic Lamb epitomized the artworks produced during this time period by vividly incorporating symbols to reconstruct the teachings of Christianity.
A museum gives us insight on the culture from an out standing point of view, and the things we are shown are supposed to be looked at from the outside. The people who decided what things to exhibit did not belong to that community saw it, and decided what they considered is different to what we are used to, and what we would be interested in learning from that. The display of things in a Museum are things that we look at as something that is outside from normal. In contrast to the movie or movies, where scenes substantially show how the person felt and dealt with situations and tools from their own perspective, with their own knowledge and experience and through different means such as real images, sounds, language and others produces a different knowledge on the racial discourse. When looking at exhibitions in museums the other culture is unknown, and almost uncomfortable to us, but in movies we can be standing in their
Portrayals of Biblical figures is nothing new, but this seemingly new trend of cinematically filling in Biblical gaps of history - as it were - most certainly is. In particular, Noah, Exodus: Gods and Kings, and Risen have each taken it upon itself to add flair to well documented scripture - as a means to reenact some of the most famous moments in the Bible.
Art is important to religion in many different ways. Perhaps none has analyzed how art and religion have influenced and affected each other through the ages. Pictures painted of past events that help to bring back the feeling and importance of the past have been forgotten by some. To the one’s that haven’t forgotten are able to see the event’s as the bible says they happened. Not only can you see the events, but it also allows the younger students of the church to understand the events. The use of images of God became widespread after the second century. This religious art has defiantly been around for centuries and plays an important role to the history of religion as well as the future.