Les Miserables

So I know that what I am about to post is not necessarily related to politics, but in a way it is.  I just saw this movie clip that is all about the making of the new Les Miserables movie and I had to share it with somebody, so I am sharing it on my blog!  The story IS related to politics because it takes place in France before and during the June Rebellion, also known as the Paris Uprising in 1832.  The musical is based off of Victor Huge's novel Les Miserables, which is very famous and well known.  It is a great literary example of taking a historical event and writing a novel based off of it.  It follows many different characters around, including a young man named Marius who is a student and also apart of the Paris Uprising in 1832.  This uprising was a rebellion by the Parisian Republicans, a group that was largely composed of students, who were fighting against the monarchy.  Many of the scenes take place on a barricade that has been set by the students and members of the rebellion to protect themselves against the monarchy and their soldiers.  

I am so incredibly excited for this movie!  I love musicals and I think this movie looks like it is incredibly well made.  Just wanted to share with y'all! Enjoy!

War

In class on Monday we discussed a television show from the 1960s that aired in Poland.  It was on tv during the Cold War and huge reason for this tv show was to influence the way the Polish viewed the Russians.  The government wanted to remind the Polish that even though the Russians may be invading their country and attempting to enforce their rules, at one point in time, they were the ones who saved Poland.  They were the liberators and that was important for people in Poland remember, especially as the Russians starting becoming the invaders.

The class discussion got me thinking on the importance of images.  Not necessarily propaganda images, but images of war.  I think that many times, as Americans, we separate ourselves from the brutality and the ugliness of war.  The Civil War in the 1800s was the last time we had a war on our soil, with the exception of the attack on Pearl Harbor.  I have grown up in a generation who has known war, but only from a distance.  And as long as I keep the news turned off and limit what I look at in magazines and on the internet, I do not have to be reminded of the horrible things that are going on.  I can remain ignorant to it.  I think that this is wrong.  I think that we need to be continually reminded of war.  We need to be reminded of what the men and women of the armed services are fighting for, even if we do not agree with it.  I think that many Americans have become desensitized to the violence of war because of movies and video games, but I can only hope that the actual images from battle seem to shock us back into reality.  I think it is important for us to see these images because it makes it real and it helps us to understand the sacrifices people are making.  It reminds us that not everyone has it easy and we are very fortunate to live in the country that we do.

Whenever I see an armed service man or woman, like in the airport, I make it a point to thank them for their service.  I cannot even begin to imagine the horrors that they have seen and I will forever be grateful for the sacrifices they have made to protect me.

I think that Americans need to educate themselves on war and they can start by looking at the images from it.  Only when we have a complete understand of war and what it is we are fighting for, can we make a decision as to whether we think it is right or wrong; as to whether we not we think it is something worth fighting for.

    

Facebook

My newsfeed on my Facebook has been going crazy these last couple weeks with comments, statuses, picture postings, etc about politics and the election.  Basically anything and everything that has to do with the election is being broadcasted by my friends on my newsfeed.  It is funny to me that Facebook has really evolved into a public forum for people to post their opinions on political and social issues.  It is no longer a place just for people to connect and post pictures and updates on their lives; it has become a means of social activism, a soapbox for everyone to share their views with their Facebook friends.  You name it, one of my friends on Facebook has probably posted a status about it.  To be honest, it gets quite annoying to be constantly inundated with uneducated (majority of the time, at least) opinions about politicians, political views and statements, essentially anything that relates to the election.  But it is their right to be able to post whatever they want on Facebook... that is freedom of speech for you!  No matter what your views or how much knowledge or lack of knowledge you may have on a subject, it is your right as an American to be able to post as much as you want on Facebook about said views and beliefs.  It is just my opinion that typically these posts are written by people who are not educated on the topic and are speaking simply from a place of emotion and using words that they may have heard their parents say or something that they read online. 

A perfect example would be my roommate from my sophomore year of college.  During the 2008 election, she was all for Obama and his preachings about change and new hope.  She did not know anything about his political views or what it makes a Democrat or a Republican, but she saw people talking about how great Obama was on different social media websites like Twitter and Facebook and she was suddenly a Democrat and a huge supporter of Obama.  And then one day, her dad saw one of her Facebook statuses about Obama and the great changes he was going to be making for this country and was not pleased with his daughters uneducated Facebook statuses.  Her father is a Republican and is educated on political issues and needless to say, he put my roommate in her place and educated her about what Obama's election would mean for his company and how it would effect her personally.  She instantly changed her views and became super anti-Obama.  She voted for McCain in the 2008 election.  Four years later, I can't help but wonder who her vote will go to?

  

I feel like this is a classic case of how Facebook has become a way for people, who do not really know much about politics, to rant and rave about their political opinions.  There are, of course, people on Facebook who ARE educated about politics and the government, but I feel like they are not really the ones posting their views.  It is the people who hear something on TV or see another Facebook post that seems educated and correct in it's political statement and these people, in turn, feel like they need to post it as well to prove that they are politically savvy.   Those people who understand politics rarely post, in my opinion, because they don't want to get into a long diatribe over Facebook with the idiots who pretend to know what is going on.  It may be a harsh opinion, but it is mine.

Facebook has also become a perfect way for political parties to sway and get the vote from the younger generation who are using Facebook.  I think a huge reason why my roommate became all about Obama in 2008 was because she was constantly seeing the posts about him and thought, "Wow, he must be a great candidate if so many people are posting information about him!".  I have "liked" both the Obama and Romney pages of Facebook in order to see what they are posting about and it is a constant stream of pictures and short quotes from the politicians, all trying to win the favor of the younger voters.  Below is a chart that I have found that illustrates how the different parties use social network sites.  It seems to be pretty much even across the board as to who uses these websites more.  All parties are using social networks to their advantage and it appears to be working.  

  

The Berlin Wall

Today during our discussion of dissent and propaganda, we discussed the Berlin Wall.  This past April I went to Berlin while I was touring around Europe with my best friend.  Everyone is familiar with the story of the Berlin Wall.  It is something that is taught in history classes and the image of the Berlin Wall coming down is one that most people are familiar with.  It is one of those seminal moments in history that many things are compared to, such as the removal of Saddam Hussein's statue being pulled down in Baghdad.  But even though everyone is familiar with the story of the Berlin Wall, I don't think many people really understand how this wall profoundly impacted every single citizen in Berlin.  I just really wanted to share my previous knowledge and experience after I visited the Berlin Wall Memorial in Berlin, Germany.

Prior to my visit to Berlin, my knowledge of the Berlin Wall was the standard information that is learned during a high school and college history class.  I knew that it was a wall that was built in Berlin during the Cold War, dividing East Berlin (controlled by the Soviet Union) and West Berlin (controlled by the Allies).  I knew that people were rarely allowed to travel between the two cities and that families were torn apart.  I knew that the Berlin Wall did not come down until 1989.  There were many things that I did not know.

My friend Liz and I were staying at a hostel in Rosenthaler Platz (The Circus Hostel in Berlin is amazing if anybody goes to Berlin!!).  We are both very interested in history and knew that we wanted to visit some of the sights of the Berlin Wall and were fortunate that our hostel was only a short walk from the Berlin Wall Memorial near Bernauer Strasse.  Visiting this memorial really put everything into perspective for me and brought the whole history of the wall into a new light.  The memorial was an incredibly powerful statement.  I looked out and saw where the wall ran and looked at images of how it grew from a simple brick wall to one that was large and concrete with barbed wire on the top with fully fortified walls and watch towers to observe the other side, reminding me of a war zone.We spent a couple of hours reading the information at the exhibit, looking at images, hearing and watching first hand accounts, and looking at actual pieces of the wall, including the death strip where people were shot trying to escape from East Berlin into West Berlin.  It may sound naive, but I was so completely unaware of how these citizens lives were so completely halted and ruined, how they were separated from their jobs and loved ones, from their lives and everything that they knew.  Like most people my age, I knew the history of the wall and I knew that it separated families, but I do not think you really understand the actual extent of it until you are actually in Berlin.  It goes from being a history lesson that you hear in class, to something tangible and very scary.  The stories that I read and the images that I saw of people jumping out of windows and crawling under barbed wire to try and escape East Berlin will forever be ingrained into my mind.  The wall was essentially built in the course of a couple of days and nobody really understood what was going on until it was too late.  I cannot even begin to imagine the terror that the citizens of Berlin must have felt when this wall went up and the misery and sorrow they must of felt for multiple decades while this wall remained up.

There are so many stories of separation by the Berlin Wall that we are unaware of; stories that really helped my friend and I understand the impact it made on peoples' lives.  The memorial is located by a church that was essentially split in half by the Berlin Wall.  Families could no longer visit the graves of their loved ones because the graveyard was on the other side of the wall.  I think about stories like that and how heartbreaking it would be to not be able to visit my mom's grave.  It just breaks my heart when I think about it.  Liz and I stood at a memorial with images of each 136 people who were killed at the wall and listened to their names and stories being read aloud and it brought us to tears.  It is something that I will never forget.

I think it is important for us to remember the Berlin Wall and for us to be reminded of the image of it coming down.  It was a huge moment in history and in the lives of countless people.  It was a moment that the world will never forget and it is moments like that, when evil is torn down and lives are put back together, that need to happen more often.  Human beings are capable of some sick and horrific things and we need to remember what mankind has been through and remember the history in order to prevent such things from happening again.  It is these images, like the ones associated with the Berlin Wall, that hit us emotionally and will hopefully remind us of where the world has been and where we don't want to end up again.  We are a society that is driven by images and we need to continue to use them as a reminder for our past, present, and future.

Below are pictures that I took at the Berlin Wall Memorial.

 

Support The Arts!

On Wedesday night I attended a lecture with guest speaker Blithe Riley.  Riley is an artist and activist who has been heavily involved with the Occupy Wall Street movement, as well as multiple branches off of that movement.  I found her lecture to be very enlightening and educating.  It may sound naïve, but I was completely unaware of how greatly involved New York artists were, and many still today, with the Occupy Wall Street movement.  I left the lecture with so much more knowledge of the art world and what people are trying to do to fix the problems within it.  I was completely unaware of so many of the things that she discussed, like Sotheby’s record profits during a recession and how they locked out 42 of their art handlers/teamsters.  I was incredibly grateful to be able to listen to Riley speak and educate us on art and activism.    

Riley spoke a great deal about the Arts & Labor group, who operates from the Occupy Wall Street movement.  On their website they say, “Arts & Labor is a working group… We are artists and interns, writers and educators, art handlers and designers, administrators, curators, assistants, and students.  We are all art works and members of the 99%.  Arts & Labor is dedicated to exposing and rectifying economic inequalities and exploitative working conditions in our fields through direct action and educational initiatives.”  After perusing their website, I must admit that I am thoroughly impressed by this organization.  They have really taken it upon themselves to unify and fight for people in the art world.  I admire that this organization is educating themselves, as well as other art workers, in order to be able to intelligently fight for the rights of all art workers.  They want us (I include myself in the category because I am an art history graduate student) to be paid for our work, whether it is internships, exhibitions, or writing.  Arts & Labor wants their ideas to be shared and for solidarity to be built among art communities all over the nation.  They encourage people to meet together, to speak their minds about problems and potential solutions, and to educate themselves as well as each other.    

I think that this organization and their beliefs are so important to the art world.  There are so many artists, interns, students, teachers, etc who are not supported or paid for the work that they are doing.  It is important for us to stick together and work as one for the greater good.  Perhaps by doing so, we can take art away from the “cultural elite” and bring it back to the people.  She reminded us in her presentation that the arts should be free for all; it should not just be for those who can afford it.  I believe that the arts need to be brought back into our lives, and the place to do that is in our schools.  Children need to be challenged and allowed to express themselves creatively from a young age.  If it were not for the fact that my school county had a magnet program called the Center for the Humanities where we studied the arts, I would not have found my love for art history.  I would probably be suffering my way through medical school (if I could have gotten in) because that is what my parents suggested I do. 

All of this talk of activism in the art world is good, but the ideas need to be acted upon.  And without the support from our government, we will never see the necessary changes.  I would like to hear a political candidate talk about supporting the arts.  I realize that politicians have an endless number of things that they should support, but the arts are a huge part of our daily life and culture.  I would like to see one of them say that they believe in and support the things that Arts & Labor or other organizations like them stand for.  I would vote for that candidate.   

Visit their website! 

http://artsandlabor.org/

Oh Instagram...

The Republicans have really taken to social media this year for the RNC.  They are using everything from Twitter to Facebook and YouTube to spread the word about what is going on in Florida and campaign for Romney for President.  If you think about, it is pretty ingenious of them to do this because we are a society of people that are constantly connected to their smart phones and “apps”.  It is an opportunity for the people at the Republican National Convention to use social media to connect with America.  With a constant stream of information people can feel like they are in the know, that they are part of the political elite that has been invited to the RNC.  By using social media, the Republicans are really spreading their politics and beliefs to America, but especially the younger generation.  I feel like many people in their late teens and early twenties have no interest in politics because they don’t know how to access the information and it is not presented to them in a way that they can really understand it.  With the RNC using social media to their advantage, they are connecting with the young voters and helping them to develop their personal beliefs and politics, all while encouraging them to vote (and hopefully vote for Romney).  Below is a screen shot picture that I took with an explanation of the Convention Without Walls and icons of all of the different apps they are using. 

One of the many social media apps that the republicans at the RNC are using is the app Instagram.  For those of you who are more technologically challenged or who may not be up to date on what is “cool” in the app world, Instagram is an app that allows users to upload pictures that they have taken and then apply a “digital filter to it” and share it with the world.  In other words, it is the opportunity for the user to feel like they are a super artsy photography with just the click of a button.  It gives the images a feel of nostalgia, perhaps causing you to lose sight of what the image is really about because you are too busy admiring the artistic quality of the photo.  I will be honest, I had an Instagram account for a couple of weeks, which is illustrated by my picture on the right that I took and “instagramed” while in New York City.  I ended up deleting my account when my 13 year old sister told her friends that I was “on a trip to Instagram…. It’s a country, but it is like also a like i-Phone app”.  Just to clarify, I was visiting Amsterdam.  Comments like this leave me worried for the future of the world, but I digress.

There has been a Flickr account created for the RNC to upload the pictures that they have taken and “instagramed”.  The images are of everything from volunteer groups, to food that has been served at the convention, to tv appearances by important members of the Republican Party.  The pictures are snap shots of what is going on and are clearly a PR move by the republicans. Our blog assignment this week is to discuss one or more of the images that has been uploaded to Flickr and when my professor was telling us about the assignment, she mentioned that there was only picture of former president George Bush and this is the image I have chosen to blog about. 

I find it very interesting that there is only one picture of the former president on the website.  I would think that with all of the attention that is given to important Republican figures at the RNC, that his image would be on there a few more times.  I cannot help but think that perhaps this is some sort of form of damage control by the Republican Party.  Many people think, myself included, that a contributing factor as to why Obama was elected, even if he was not the most qualified candidate, was because it was a response to Bush’s two terms in office as president.  I know that there are many more reasons why Obama was elected other than that he is a democrat and the far opposite of George Bush, but I think that many people were unhappy with the republicans and Bush when it came time for the 2008 election and were not going to vote for a republican as a result.  For example, my home state of Virginia is typically a republican state during presidential elections but they went democrat in the 2008 election.  By not having too many pictures of President Bush, the republicans can avoid reminding America why Obama was elected in the first place. 

I also find the picture that was selected of Bush to be very interesting.  It is a candid shot that has once again been filtered with instagram.  He is shown with his wife Laura Bush and they are both relaxed, smiling, and dressed in informal clothes.  Perhaps if a picture had been shown of Bush in a suit, it would’ve been an unwelcome reminder to Americans of when he was president and some people would have been turned off by that image.  He is also shown with what look like children in Africa.  I can’t help but think this is a statement to African Americans, meaning something like, “See, white Republicans get along with black people too.  Don’t just vote for Obama because he is black, vote republican”.  I am sure every picture is carefully selected and thought out before being uploaded, which is why this picture was selected.  The Republicans did not want to completely ignore President Bush, so they meticulously selected an image that would paint him in a good light and leave the viewer with a feeling for nostalgia for the good things that happened when a republican was in office.            

While stumbling today...

I wanted to share this link!  I am obsessed with StumbleUpon and while I was stumbling today, I came across this website.  It is an interactive timeline that shows what the top political priorities of Americans are each year.  It is really neat to go and look at what America, as a whole, and the individual political parties were concerned with each year, especially election years.

Enjoy!

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/7PJK6D/:uCUrqqiY:DThP$2Jt/awesome.good.is/transparency/web/1010/political-climate-chart/interactive.html/