Democratization

Democratization is basically the idea that through mass media anyone is able to become a famous artist. Moby stated it really well by saying, "There were professional artists and now everybody's a photographer, everybody's a filmmaker, everybody's a writer, everybody's a musician," (PressPausePlay). I agree with this statement and I think it is good to have democratization. Nowadays anybody can become famous if they buy the technology to make music, movies, etc. The technology is much easier to afford these days, so anyone can buy them and become famous. Another lady says that, "And suddenly I understood, like, this is a different world and it's possible for anybody to make a movie now," (PressPausePlay). There are many benefits and negatives to this, however I think the benefits out weigh the negatives. The main benefit is obvious; that anyone can become a professional filmmaker, musician, artist, etc. which helps people to accomplish something they may want to pursue. The main negative is that the industry of professional creatives could die.

Although technology is more accessible to the public now, you still need a large amount of money to buy the high end equipment that the professionals use. Much of the technology that everyone in the film said it 'accessible by the public' is actually incredibly and expensive and is definitely difficult to understand. Someone that wants to use high end cameras would most likely have to go to school to learn how to use the equipment and would still need to be able to afford the equipment before they could use it for their own personal use. Not many people even become famous, only a few of their friends know about them, but they will never perform in front of large audiences or been seen by a huge number of people because it is still difficult to get famous. Amy Phillips from Pitchfork describes, "Should everyone be able to be a successful musician... have a fan base, have people buying their music, make their living from music? No, absolutely not. There are talented people, there are not talented people," (PressPausePlay). I agree that not everybody is talented, so it is still difficult to get famous. Democratization allows people the opportunity to get famous, however talent will actually allow people to become famous. Adam Watson talks about how you have to know the equipment in order to become famous. "If you can get work without going to film school, I mean great, more power to you. The Oscar winners, or nominees, look at the 10 of them and see how many didn't go to film school," (PressPausePlay). In general, I think democratization is good because it gives everyone at least a chance to become famous as a creative if they have the talent.

Reflection 22

I don't have my notes because they are currently being graded, but I will still reflect on what happened in class this week. On Monday we did one more essay to finish the book Ceremony. All of my questions were written down in the reflections that we wrote in class, and they were answered. We watched Smoke Signals this week in class. It was a fantastic film. I wrote a reflection in class over the film so I don't know what else to write down here. The film had a major theme of the colors red, blue, and white which represented anger/violence, relaxed/calm, and healing. I love how the director created the mood throughout the film with the use of the colors, it was very effective. There were also camera angles that helped enhance the film as well. Now that I am reflecting on the movie I remembered a camera angle that I forgot to write down in my notes. When Thomas is looking at the river and Arnold comes to pick him up and bring him back home the camera angle shows Arnold above, reaching down for Thomas. That camera angle shows that Thomas is vulnerable and needs help. The camera angle is looking up at Arnold which creates the image that he is helping Thomas up and is saving him. Other than that the rest of the film was fantastic.

The end of Smoke Signals was unexpected and made me enjoy the film even more than I already did. Arnold is the one that killed Thomas' parents because he was an alcoholic, which relates back to the entire film. I always thought that Arlene was mad at him because he was always drinking instead of being himself, but after seeing that his alcoholism caused him to kill someone it explains why she always hated him drinking. Victor had an incredible amount of healing in the end of the film. Seeing Suzy Song burn the trailer that Arnold lived/died in was a very dramatic scene that created many emotions in me. Then, when Victor gave Thomas some of the ashes of Arnold I was very moved. It shows that Victor is healing and that he was very calm and actually showed some respect and love to Thomas. Especially since Arnold killed Thomas' parents, yet saved him. It definitely was a part of Thomas' life and was necessary that he got some of the ashes. The film was fantastic and I am glad that we got to see it. Finally, on Friday we got the prompt for the essay to write this week. I have been thinking about how I am going to relate the films as well as the novel. I think alcoholism is a major theme in Smoke Signals, but that doesn't seem to be very important in Dances with Wolves. I need to think about it a little bit more and then I am going to start writing the essay tomorrow, Monday.

Reflection 21

I finished the novel, Ceremony, this week and wrote about it during class. Tayo went through an incredible amount of healing in the last section of reading. There was a lot about Ts'eh and how she is a metaphor for the earth. All throughout the reading, the sections went back and forth from something Tayo was doing to how he dreamed about Ts'eh and was in love with her. Tayo and Ts'eh helped raise the cattle and it made Josiah's vision come true, which was beneficial to Tayo's healing because he was very close to Josiah and creating his vision helped bring Josiah back to life metaphorically. It was also mentioned several times that Tayo woke up dreaming about Ts'eh which adds to the fact that she might only be a dream, rather than an actual person. Robert came to see Tayo and kept telling him that everyone was about to start looking for him and they were going to bring him back to the hospital because nobody thought he was healed. Ts'eh kept telling Tayo that if they caught him he would have to go back to the hospital and that he shouldn't run, but should bring himself to the hospital which makes me think that Ts'eh could be Tayo's subconscious trying to tell him to go to the hospital. It also talked about a she'elk that was painted on a cliff. I'm not sure what the she-elk is, but I assume it is a painting of a female elk. Betonie's sand paintings have been mentioned several times throughout the novel and I wonder why they are so special to Tayo's healing. There is only one picture in the entire novel and I think it is of Betonie's sand paintings of the stars, which were also mentioned in this section of the reading. I want to know more about these paintings and why they are so essential to Tayo's healing.

Near the end of the novel. Harley and Leroy drive by Tayo and he stops them. They try to drive him back home and Tayo agrees to go with. Both of them are incredibly drunk and it adds to the theme of alcoholism in the book. Later, it explains that they were trying to take him back to the town so they could give him to Emo, or bring him to the hospital. Tayo did not want either of those, but he didn't know that's what they were doing until later. Once he found out that is why they were drunk then he runs from the truck and hides in boulders. Atom bombs are brought up which is a theme in the novel. It states how there were wide open spaces where nobody could live and one day a few people say an incredibly bright light which was the atom bomb. The bomb only causes destruction which shows more about the theme of destruction as well. Finally, Tayo is hiding the boulders because he sees a car driving down the road. The car pulls up and Pinkie and Emo walk out of the car with Harley and Leroy. Both of them are tied up. Emo begins to beat Harley so that Tayo runs out of the boulders and they can catch him. Tayo was going to kill Emo with a screwdriver he got from the truck, but realizes that if he does that he is going to be sent back to the hospital so he decides not to kill Emo. Pinkie kills Leroy and they both kill Harley. The dead bodies are found the next day. The time changes settings to Tayo being in a kiva to tell his story, but I wasn't sure what a kiva is. I assume it is similar to a church, maybe a church for Native Americans. Finally, the novel ends with Emo killing Pinkie. Emo was drunk and shot Pinkie in the back of the head. Overall, the novel was interesting and Tayo went through an incredible amount of healing throughout. The ending was a huge surprise, except that Emo always seemed a little crazy. The novel ended with a short poem that symbolizes a new beginning for Tayo.

Reflection 20

We are getting very close to the end of the book and continued to read and discuss it this week. My first comment on the reading this week was the drawing on page 166. It is the only drawing in the entire book and Tayo seemed to mention a few things about what the drawing is. Specifically on the next page he talks about when he looked up at the sky he saw Old Betonies’ stars. He always refers to the stars that Betonie drew and I think that is significant to his healing because he is remembering Betonie, whom he was very close to. Tayo showed more signs of healing in this reading as well. He has a very intimate connection with Ts’eh. I have a question about a quote. “He ended the prayer with ‘sunrise’ because he knew the Dawn people began and ended all their words with ‘sunrise’,” (Silko 169). I am confused about who the dawn people are, as well as why they say sunrise. I’m sure that it doesn’t literally mean they say sunrise, but I still am not sure about what it means. Later in the reading Tayo talks about when he saw his cattle and the white men had stolen them from him. He keeps talking about how the white men are destroyers by stealing the land from the natives. And then says that the Earth is going to cause destruction in the form of droughts. When he sees the cattle he becomes racist towards the white men. He keeps saying that they stole the cattle from him, as they do from many natives. However he hesitated because he was taught that white men didn’t steal. They have money to buy everything, while “brown-skinned people,” (Silko 177) have to steal everything because they don’t have the money. Tayo was racist towards the white men, but then remembered what other people taught him that was racist. As he was hunting the cattle to try and bring them back to his own land it was really helpful to his healing. He became so focused on trying to get the cattle that he forgot about his past and no longer had dreams from PTSD. Tayo brings up more about racism, classism, and destruction when he talks about his school. He said the teacher used to bring in dead frogs for them to dissect and all of the Navajos left the room because the teacher wasn’t respecting the frogs. The teacher would say that their beliefs are stupid, which shows racism and classism. The teacher doesn’t respect their beliefs; she attempts to say that she is above them and their beliefs are wrong. While herding the cattle out of the fence, Tayo’s horse falls and he blacks out. When he wakes up he sees the blue sky and thinks that he is back on an island in the Pacific, fighting in the war. He forgets that he is trying to herd the cattle and has a flashback from his PTSD.

A new theme pops into the reading in this section, about lies. There is a lie that white people have money and can buy everything they own. However, Tayo claims they are telling a lie. In actuality, the white men stole all of the land from the natives and they claim to own it, but it’s all a lie because they stole it. He says the lie is destroying the white people because they have guilt for stealing everything and know that nothing is actually theirs. Tayo went to Ts’eh house to get his cattle back. While he was there, a hunter walked into the room and the hunter seemed to be living with Ts’eh. I am not sure if the hunter is Ts’eh’s husband, or if they just live together or work together. He also states that the Texas ranchers have no connection to the cattle they are catching. They just ride horses and rope them around the neck until they fall. While natives had to shoot the cattle with bows and it was actually a challenge and connected them to the cattle. Finally, more about Ts’eh is given, however there is no proof that she is real. Every time he talks about her, he says that he saw her in his dreams. There is no proof that she is real, meaning she could just be part of his healing, rather than an actual person. And in the very end, Tayo sees snake tracks and puts yellow pollen in it. Earlier in the reading, he put yellow pollen in mountain lion tracks. I am sure that natives do this as tradition and it is part of their culture because he has done it with all of the animal tracks that he has found.