Final Project

Blog Response 5:10 Fiasco! (Audio Program)

After listening to an episode of This American Life on Fiasco where we hear different stories about things that go horribly wrong was almost comforting. I’m notorious for trying to balance too many things at once and often times feel like I’m a complete mess. Somehow listening to others struggle which feels somewhat sadistic, makes me feel better.

There is a story about a production of Peter Pan and we hear about the many things that go wrong. The props seem to be defective, accidents resulting in the bodily harm of the audience takes places, and it ends with fire department arriving. To overcome these obstacles a significant amount of improvisation needs to take place, and it needs to be done well. While listening to the unfortunate outcome of the production, somewhere along the way I began to put myself in their position. There’s a portion of the story where we hear about an issue where Wendy needs to attach a kite to herself to fly away. The flying apparatus people can’t seem to get the kite close enough to her and she has to step into the “water”, contradicting her fear. There’s another part where Tinker Bell comes on stage, and Tinker Bell is portrayed as a light bulb, literally. In moments like these there’s an element of bad luck, but part of me wonders if the director did this to him/herself. Then I began to connect this idea of people “bringing things unto themselves”. As I declared earlier, I try to balance many, possibly too many, things at one. However, that was my decision. After listening to this audio recording I began to explore how much of the stress and chaos in our lives is self inflicted.

Blog Response Young Adult (Narrative Film)

Young Adult follows Mavis Gary, an author of teen literature. She lives in Minneapolis (MN) but decides to return to the small town in which she grew up to relive her glory days and get back together with her high school boyfriend, Buddy, after receiving a mass email of a picture of his newborn. From the beginning of the film we get a firsthand look at how self involved and dramatic, bordering on delusional, Mavis is.
After Mavis returns to Mercury (MN) she makes constant passes at her Buddy knowing he’s married and has a family while ignoring the warnings from an unlikely associate she bullied in high school. We realize near the end of the film that the only reason she keeps getting opportunities to reclaim Buddy is not because she’s crafty. The only reason she keeps getting invited to everything is because the people of the town feel bad for her. At a baby naming party Mavis completely comes on to Buddy and he asks her to leave. She gets confused by his rejection because he let it go on for too long. When the rejection and humiliation finally get to her she has an outburst where we find out that she was going to have a baby with Buddy but had a miscarriage. At this point we know that Mavis was planning on spending her life with Buddy but left Mercury after the miscarriage. She became a successful writer and got married. She later got a divorce and it’s now understandable why she reacted the way she did in the beginning of the film when she received the picture of the his newborn in her email.
The saddest part about the film is that it could happen to anyone. Things happen. Miscarriages could happen to anyone is divorce rates are high. You can’t help but feel sorry for her even after her witnessing her negative personality traits. It almost reminded me of the transition from high school to college, and most likely the transition from college to life. Sometimes things change, and people change, and we can’t always expect to leave a place and return and have it be the same. I enjoyed this film because I’m from Minneapolis, MN and it’s interesting to see how your area is portrayed.

Blog Response Nobody’s Business (Documentary)

Nobody’s Business is particularly interesting for two reasons. The objective relates to everyone and it allows us to get an inside look of the intentions of the director/filmmaker on a personal level. Heritage is something we all have; it’s family. The concept of heritage is taken on collectively by the Berliner family. Each member plays a role in helping Alan learn about where he came from. His father Oscar provides such a unique outlook in expressing that he essentially doesn’t care about members of his family he’s never met, or ultimately doesn’t remember. While Oscar’s attitude may seem harsh, I can relate to the lack of connection he may feel to his ancestors. I’ve never met, nor do I even know the name of my great grandmother. I feel no connection towards her whatsoever. I’ve also never met my grandmother because she died before I was born. I do know her name and I’ve seen pictures. My mom talks about her from time to time, but I still don’t know much about her.
As Alan traces his heritage, Oscar’s recurring argument is that the past is the past and it means nothing. Alan get’s as far as his great great grandfather and while he’s never met this man, he explains that it’s his heritage and therefore important to him. I understand why Alan feels this connection but the same doesn’t hold true for me, nor Oscar. Alan asks as interesting question regarding whether or not Oscar would want his descendants to know him. Oscar is consistent in that he doesn’t think it matters nor does he care. After considering this question myself, my opinion changed. I do think it would be cool for my descendants to know me. I believe everyone wants to be remembered in some way because in theory if no one is around to remember you, you cease to exist.