Final Blogtastic Reflection (#4)

For my final blog reflection for 4th quarter, I chose "Blagojevich on 'Celebrity Apprentice'" as my favorite blog post. The reason I like this one so much is because I feel very strongly about the subject. This usually characterizes my favorite posts. When you're really passionate about what you're writing about, it just makes it a lot more fun to write. And when I saw that Blagojevich was on a reality t.v. show and not in jail, I was just outraged. I was also able to incorporate a bunch of sources in this post, which I think adds depth and more credibility to a post. And from those sources, I used direct quotes and dissected them to prove my point even more. It just had more substance than some of my other posts.
This year I have really developed as a blogger. Not that I blogged before this class, but my style has changed since the beginning of the year. I started my blogging career by mostly writing about certain issues that I encountered in my everyday life, but didn't necessarily connect to class. But as the year continued, my posts started to become extensions of class discussions, which is what I think Mr. Bolos and Mr. O'Connor intended them to be. And when I could not extend the discussion to my blogging, I wrote about prominent issues in the news. Not always, but I tried to.
I have really enjoyed blogging this year because I do like to write, but essays can often times be laborious and they take a long time to do. On the other hand, a blog post doesn't have to be long. You can write a little about a lot, and that's what I've really liked about blogging this year.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Movies in Progression or Regression?

     The other day in class after watching the Charlie Chaplin silent film called "The Kid," a comment was made that movies today have progressed from movies in the ealry 1900's when many were in black and white and had no sound. At first thought, I agreed with this statement. With all the new soundeffects and graphics that can now be added to movies, it seems like movies have progressed through the decades. But after thinking this through and reflecting on the other silent movies I've seen, which is actually only one, called "Nosferatu," I changed my mind.
     I thought about how there was not any dialogue in "The Kid." But I thought that dialogue in this film was actually irrelevant. It didn't really matter what they were saying. You could still see and feel their emotions. And that's why I believe movies have actually regressed in the past couple of decades. Without sound, the actor truly has to act. They are trying to convey an emotion to the viewer solely through their facial expressions and body. Modern actors can rely on words to convey emotions; they don't necessarily have to show the emotion on their face if they have words to do the same job.
     I also think that movie plots have regressed, too. Most movies these days are just about the "wow" factor, purely for entertainment and to make a quick buck or two. I'm not gonna lie, I love going to see chick flicks with my mom. But what I really love is a good movie that makes you think. One that doesn't have a clear cut ending, but forces the viewer to use their brain. To me, I know it's a good movie when I'm still thinking about it a week later. But unfortunately, there are not too many movies like that anymore. "The Kid" was a nice example of movies could be like, and that's why I enjoyed it so much. It had a simple plot, but the characters had very complex emotions. It didn't have a clear cut ending, and I had to infer what was going to happen to the characters based on what I knew about them. I really appreciated that, and hope that movie makers today can learnd a few things from movies of the past.
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