War, Peace and Violence
This is my final poem I wrote for Exhibition
The Lies on TV
By Bryan Bauer
TV producers producing false productions
of violence being portrayed as the hero wins,
and the villain loses.
Violence is based on ratings, not reality,
with no consent for aftermath.
TV shows depict public shootouts
firing between bystanders,
Bullets ricochet
Cars crash
Dust Flies
Fires roar
Glass shatters
Officers try to intervene,
but are only collateral damage.
What becomes of these men in blue?
Nobody cares…
Viewers want goregutsblood,
the villain put in his place,
bad guys beat to a pulp by seemingly invincible heroes.
Superman is pelted with rounds that
Only
Fall
Flat
It’s the same when we pick up a controller,
The objective of these games is simple:
rack up as many kills as possible.
When you get rewarded for
Multikills
Headshots
Splatters
Killing Sprees
Assassinations
Unlock bigger guns for more firepower
and call in killstreak rewards just to get more kills.
This is how it is,
senseless repetitions of violence, death, blood and gore!
People ask their friends if they want to play Call of Duty,
but receive only the answer “1, 2, or 3?
Bryan Bauer
My content inspiration originally was from Teaching our Kids to Kill –Deborah Prothrow Stith
The article is about violence on TV and how the American public is only interested in bloody gory movies and TV shows. The article is written in 1991, just about the time when most of the really controversial movies were being released: Die Hard 2, Terminator, Robocop, etc. so the public was just now being introduced to violent movies. At this time period video games had not really been big on the scene, but now gore filled videogames, such as Left 4 Dead, are the standards in gaming. I enjoy these game/movies so I found the article very interesting because it has a personal reference. I can really relate to the fact that I, and the public, really do like this kind of violence. I play Call of Duty and I have actually asked a friend to play and he really answered with CoD4 or MW2? (Call of Duty 4 or Modern Warfare 2).
The form of my poem is sort of a modernist mixed with a slam poem. The actual written out words is a modernist style writing, where I used “only fall flat” and created the indention and spaces replicated the poetry by e.e. cummings. Also I have quite a few one word lines which also replicate modernist poets. The slam part of my poem is in the tone of my poem. The tone is supposed to be rapid and to be read with a beat. I really liked the way Anis Mojgani created his Direct Orders poem. It was really fluid and fast and incorporated the rhythm and beat. So combining the two creates a “modern slamist” poem, if you will.
My performance inspiration came from two different poems. One of them was the spoken word poem Direct Orders. I took the speed and fluidity of the spoken part and am putting that into my kinetic text as the voice. I really liked the way Mojgani had speed in the lines and kept them flowing right into another; and then he would slow down for the more touching lines. I really liked this way of speech and I will apply it to my poem. The other poem that really influenced me was There is a War Going on for Your Mind. I really liked the way FLOBOTS set that up, how “shrapnel” exploded and he used a cool form of kinetic text. I will be using this poem as the base for mine. Since I am doing a kinetic text also I will try to model mine after FLOBOTS’s with the spins and flips of words.
The Poetic devices that I used were alliteration, enjambment, and a mild repetition. I used alliteration at the beginning of my poem when I said “TV producers producing false productions. I am not really sure why I used those words; I just thought it sounded good. I used Enjambment when I said only fall flat. I made the flat in a different text and lowered and indented only fall in order to imitate the falling flat of the bullet. This adds an imagery to the words, emphasizing that bullets really fall flat. And finally I repeated elements in a game and movie in order emphasize the point that the things on TV are repetitious. I said one word then created another line for another and so on.
Bryan Bauer
Exhibition Reflection
This project is pretty simple for the most part. Basically what we did was write a poem about war, peace or violence, and as long as we wrote with the genre of those we could write about anything we wanted to. The next part was a little more complicated. We had to figure out how we were going to present our poems at exhibition. We could do a multitude of different such as spoken word, kinetic text, power point, etc. Spoken Word is similar to SLAM poetry and basically you speak your poem up in front of everyone. This adds your own emotions and can be put forth exactly how you want it to sound. Kinetic Text and Power Point basically give the viewer a “movie” to watch.
I did a kinetic text on my poem about violence in movies and TV. My poem was based on the article Teaching Our Kids to Kill by Deborah Patherow Stith. And what she was saying is that all we want to watch is violent, gory and killing based movies, TV shows, Movies and Videogames. This was written in the 90s, just when the start of the real gory and violent movies like Die Hard 2, Terminator etc. were released.
I learned a whole lot of things in this unit; most important would have to be learning how to use Adobe Aftereffects. First of Aftereffects is a greatly invaluable resource to put on my college application or a job application. Also I learned how to write a good and bad poem. Since we analyzed so much poetry I really have a better grasp of poetic elements. For weeks I actually spoke in a poetic fashion, I used a lot of the language in poetry.
What you have learned from this process about how to use writing, language and performance to affect your audience?
I learned a ton in this process, on thing specifically I learned was the use of poetic devices such as tone, repetition, metaphors, similes, alliteration, etc.; especially the use of tone to get your message across. I learned that the use of rapidity and speed make your poem have an urgent or pushy feel. Also the use of vocabulary can really give either a positive or negative tone. One example of this is in the poem Dulce et Decorum est Owen states; “Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots.” This type of language usage really gives the poem an old fashion tone but at the same time it gives a depressed and dreary mood. It makes you really feel like you are in the battlefield trudging along with the soldiers.
I also learned that the presentation of your poem can really add emphasis that just reading the words on paper just can’t do. One example is spoken word. I feel that this is the best form of poetry that can really get a message across exactly how the author wanted it. Spoken word lets the author express every little detail that the reader can’t pick up on. The emotion, the hand gestures, tone and mood shifts, and flow or speed. Another example that we looked at in class was the “reverse” poem. Basically what a reverse poem is, is a poem that when read one way, has a specific message or feel to it, and when read in reverse it has an entirely different meaning or tone. This type offers a change of heart or adds hope to the poem that makes the reader’s mind shift from one ideal to another.
Genocide or War Crime
I chose this subject because I wanted something different than what everyone else was doing for their project. I also wanted something that not very many people knew about. Doing something like the Holocaust wouldn’t have given me anything. I like studying WWII so I already knew about the Holocaust. As well as everyone knows what the Holocaust was, so I feel that I would have been spitting out the same old knowledge that everybody already knew.
The particular subject that I have focused on is whether or not the Nanking massacre was or wasn’t genocide. This has been debated for years, whether the crimes committed at Nanking were an act of genocide or a crime of war. In my research I have come to the conclusion that what happened at Nanking was in fact a war crime. One piece of evidence I have for this is in Andreas Viklund’s report "The Tragedy at Yangtze River," he stated “When the Japanese troops first entered the city on the 13th, the streets were crowded with more than 100,000 refugees or injured Chinese soldiers. The Japanese relentlessly fired at these people. The next morning, tanks and artilleries entered the city and killing of people continued. Dead bodies covered the two major streets of the city. The streets became "streets of blood" as a result of the two-day annihilation.” This quote tells just how cruel the Japanese really were. The fact that they targeted innocent refugees is ridiculous. In times of war the killing of any innocent person is completely unnecessary. The point I am trying to make is that the killing of innocent women, children, and POWs was completely wrong of the Japanese. This is why I think that the Nanking Massacre was a war crime not Genocide.
My project is more on the artsy side of the spectrum. My project is based on the style of execution that the Japanese imposed onto the Chinese Prisoners of War. The Japanese would take their Katana and behead the Chinese POWs. My project is a sculpture of a dirt pile in China that is painted to look like dirt; it has rocks and two types of moss, to emulate the Chinese ground. I then took a skull and put reasons why the Nanking massacre can be considered either genocide or war crime. I then took my Katana, stuck it through the skull and into the dirt pile. The Katana represents the Japanese, and the skull represents a Chinese child that was killed by the Japanese. Together they represent the way the Japanese put the heads of their victims on display on their swords. The dirt is just to symbolize Chinese dirt.
My project connects quite well to my research. One way, the biggest way, is the execution style. The Japanese often beheaded Chinese POWs with their Katanas. They would also stick the head of the Chinese POW onto stakes as prizes or trophies; this connects back to the skull on my Katana.
The main message I would like to communicate with my audience is why the Nanking Massacre was not genocide in an engaging way. Since I did a sculpture anyone who sees it from a distance will be like “whoa! Cool thingy!” and when they get closer they will read the print on the skull. This communicates my message in a non-boring way. I mean how many of you want to read a five page essay when to can read it of a skull?
I really enjoyed this project. There are several reasons why I liked this project; one being at the beginning of the project. At first I had the idea of creating a foam dirt pile, sculpting the foam and just using that. I intern realized that the floral foam I had originally thought of would never be strong enough to hold up a Katana, so I had to think of how I could possibly create a realistic looking mound of soil yet still be strong. I then thought to create a wooden box containing real dirt but I soon realized that real dirt isn’t the best. Finally I came to my final idea. I used a specific type of foam that I can cut into shape but is dense enough to hold the Katana. I then plastered the outside, painted it to look like dirt and added foliage. I am quite proud of my project, it turned out great. It looks great and has a good message.
Genocide Project Reflection
I am the most proud of my actual project piece. The sword and the skull and the pile o’ dirt. I am most proud of this because I put a lot of effort into it and it turned out exactly like I wanted it to. I am also super proud of the fact that most of the people that talked to me thought that the whole project was incredible. They would ask me what it was made out of or how I created it and that would get me to talk about it, which got me to realize just how awesome the project was, and how well it turned out.
If I had one more week to work on this project I have no idea what I would have done to improve it. It turned out wondrous and exactly like I wanted it to so I don’t think that I would have done anything to it. One thing I was going to do was add bamboo to the dirt pile but the bamboo I had did not look good at all so I may have been able to look for better looking bamboo, rather than hijacking “fence posts ” from the cities shop where my dad works. The other thing that I maybe could have done was gotten a better skull. My original intention was to get an actual size skull that looked a little more real, but time restrictions didn’t allow for that.
Out of the categories on the rubric it think that I am the strongest in would have to be audience engagement. My project brought a lot of “whoa… what’s this” so it was quite engaging for the people walking through to stop and talk because my project was so abstract and… totally demented.
Out of the categories on the rubric I really don’t know what my weakest part would be, I am quite good in most everything. I don’t think I can say what I am weakest in.
In professionalism I would give myself an A 100% because my project was almost flawless it looked great and had a smooth feel that made it look real.
In connections I would give myself an A 100% because I have added my research to the skull and have the reasons based on facts and eye witness accounts.
In focus I would give myself an A 100% because I used the imagery of the skull and sword to communicate the message of how the Japanese killed their victims and put their heads on display.
In audience engagement I would give myself an A 100% because previously stated I had the “whoa” factor.
Overall I would give myself an A 100% because I think that I did great on this project, it turned out fantabulus and I am super proud of my work
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The Sun Never Sets On The British Empire!
I am intending to get the public in axis countries to fear the British Navy. My other intention is to create a sense of pride among British troops. I think that this would boost morale among the navy, making them feel that it was the right thing to join the navy. I got this message across by making Britain Britain
During WWI, the British Empire was the largest empire to date. That’s where the saying “The Sun Never Sets on the British Empire ” came from. Since Britain had some control in almost every continent, spanning from North America to Africa to Australia Britain
I think that propaganda affects certain people in different ways depending on the person and their beliefs. For me, a video game commercial would have a greater effect than a sugary cereal commercial, because I’m more interested in video games. Also, I don’t like to eat sugary cereals so advertisements for “Kappin’ Krunch” aren’t going to make me buy that cereal. But on the other hand advertisements for Halo would get me fired up and make me want to buy it, because that’s what I’m interested in.
Propaganda Poster Reflection
I. In this project we were told to create a piece of propaganda pertaining to world war one. Step one was finding examples and analyzing them. We picked one piece of propaganda from the central powers, one from the allied counties and one from now. We then answered questions on them. Step two was to draw a rough sketch of our idea. This wasn’t required to be much, just a basic outline of your idea. Then we took it a step further and created a rough draft of our poster. This had to be a little more detailed and in color. We then created our final project in Photoshop.
II. I had to make several revisions to my poster as well as my analysis. One of the key revisions that really helped was making the flag on the British ship bigger. I had originally made it so it looked to scale on the ship. But Lori, my teacher, thought that it would have had a greater effect if it was abnormally large, adding to my poster’s effect. One specific critique I got on my poster was to tell more about how propaganda affects us. I originally had how it affected the people of 1914. I really like this idea of how it affected us now in 2010 rather than 1914.
III. I really feel like I did a great job on this project. It turned out to be just what I had envisioned during the planning phase. My favorite part of this project was obviously the poster. The coolest thing about the poster is the smoking ship in the upper left corner. I really did a good job on the smoke, it looks really authentic as well as it isn’t super obvious that I photoshopped it. I really didn’t dislike anything about this project, it was all great. I love studying warfare so this was a cool project.
IV. The main think I pulled away from this was how discrete propaganda is in the world. There is propaganda in almost everything whether it be in commercials or photographs. I also learned the techniques used in propaganda, like transfer and fear. This helped me recognize propaganda, even the minutely discrete.
V. I think that if I were to do this again I would add a lot more ships in my poster. This would add to Britain’s might. I think that a British ship sinking twenty ships would look better than two ships. I also think that I would add fire to the sinking ships to nake it look a little more authentic.
