never let me go (aka new favorite movie)

let me first start by saying that this movie is wonderfully done. the score is beautiful and adds dramatically to the movie. the scenes are perfectly placed and the plain colored backgrounds with new time frames are the most perfect, forgetful colors. the most perfect colors to match the theme of the movie but so well integrated within the theme of the movie that they are hard to remember particularly. 

the question “is the situation in never let me go ethical?” was raised in class today and i want to discuss that. it won’t take much since i have the strongest arguments on my side: ethics and morals. no, it isn’t ethical to raise HUMAN BEINGS WITH FULLY COMPREHENSIVE EMOTIONS AND CONSCIOUSNESS to be donors. their entire life purpose is to donate their entire body to other people. while that is a solution, in no world is that the right one. they know their fate is certain. they know what their purpose is. but that does not make it okay. they are human beings. you cannot raise a “crop” of people for a specific purpose. we raise animals for the purpose of food. not house pets but livestock. now while some people may debate that that these two situations are similar, they are not. we (society not ME) view animals as a class below us. we evolved past them, we are greater. the food chain dictates that we are above animals, despite us breaking the animal-human boundary and other opinions. we raise them for food. HUMANS on the other hand are our equals. yes, they are clones but are they emotionless purely physical clones? no, they are fully comprehensive clones. they feel, they want, they have souls. it is unethical, wrong, and disturbing. 

MOON

if moon wasn’t the most depressing movie i’ve seen recently then 12 days a slave was. either way, both movies were incredibly depressing; each depicted loneliness and faults in humans. moon shows you that you are dispensable. you are one of many many many people/clones who are equally as capable if not more capable than you are. moon says learn your place, you are one of the crowd. putting a human in a space station for three years without anyone else is unethical anyways. there is NO possible positive outcome, nobody requires that much solidarity to “clear their minds” or “grow as a person”. three years is torture. 12 years a slave shows you that humans are animals. (animal-human condition). focusing on slavery, this movie blew movies like django OUT OF THE WATER. the gruesome images were truly revolting, images powerful enough to make me cry without any dialogue or music. just images. now add a beautiful, perfect score, riveting actors, and FANTASTIC dialogue and tell me that that movie isn’t the most thought-provoking in a while. 12 days a slave says, look at how brutal us humans were to our equals. look at how differently, animalistic-ally, we treated our equals. look at their scars, their lashes, hear their stories, and look at the injustice that was done for years and years. learn from this for we are equals. we are stronger. we are more. we are all animals, we are all humans.

what is creative commons?

9/11 and other relating but random thoughts-

after talking about the iconic falling man photograph and the ethical conflict surrounding it, i concluded that no picture should be “banned” from the internet (virtually impossible to do anyways) because it is too gruesome. no photograph should be censored. it is the individuals choice to view it or to ignore it, but it SHOULD be a choice. to deny citizens the right of viewing the truth of what happened, no matter how gruesome, is unfair. sure, the boston bombing pictures are horrifying; the entire event was horrifying but we don’t stop talking about the event or the effects. as discussed in class, hearing the truth is different than seeing the truth. if you hear about an event, you can imagine it as some terrible turn of events with a few hurt people on hospital beds, but rarely do people imagine a man being wheeled off with his femur snapped in half. we create a better version of tragedy in our minds to adapt to it, a sort of ignorance is bliss way to cope.

people decided to jump from the twin towers because their fate was one of two: burn or crash. when i see the falling man i think of many things. my first thought is, ‘how sad it must be to realize that your fate is to either burn or crash. the people who chose to jump chose to make their fate their own, even though it never was.’ then i think, ‘i wonder how long those people were in the air? seconds, obviously, but five? ten? how many thoughts were they able to put through their brains before they smashed into the ground? or did they put an end to their thoughts to avoid that last second emotional trauma? did they think of their families? undoubtedly so, some did. did they think of their regrets? their hopes and dreams that would never be possible? did they think of how much the impact would crush them? did they think of peaceful bliss? did they think that this was the end of the road and feel a sort of silent relief?’

nobody will ever know what these people thought, we can all just imagine.

a huge factor in the falling man’s iconic rise as a photograph is the anonymity. this man can not be identified and that scares the shit out of some people. a faceless, nameless man “calmly” falling to his death, a choice he made himself.

to take this off of the internet would be a disservice to those people who lost their lives in 9/11. people jumped, people burned, and that is the truth. we owe it to them to truthfully report the tragedy they endured. and to truthfully remember them as the brave souls they were and continue to be.

we owe it to the citizens of the united states and of the world to truthfully report every tragedy, every victory, every war, every conflict, and every agreement. nations built on censorship and false reporting are nations that are weak. 

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WHO AM I?

     A freshman at UF who is constantly lost despite already taking classes during summer b. I’m big into music, writing, reading, and I’m starting to get into movies.

Favorite band? The Irrepressibles, James Blake (for today at least)

Favorite writing style? Poetry although my “poetry” is more rant-y than most

Favorite book? A Farewell To Arms -Ernest Hemingway

Favorite movie? The Darjeeling Limited/Hotel Chevalier are number 1/1.5 for now. I’m in a Wes Anderson phase.

FEELINGS ON CLASS?

I am probably more confused than anything, but at the same time I have a vague sense of understanding. I think the material is super interesting and is only going to get more interesting as the semester goes on.