Blue Jeans, The Unofficial Uniform at New Trier

                Some people like to hide in plain site.  Even though they are different people, they wear the same clothes as everyone else so they fit in with their own crowd.  If you look around New Trier, jeans are the 'uniform' for guys and girls.  Both wear skinny jeans, baggy jeans, tight jeans, jeans with holes, low hanging jeans, colored jeans, designer jeans, western jeans, any kind of jeans.  By wearing this uniform, they are expressing who they are as well as blending in with everyone else.

                Students wear jeans to make sure they fit into a certain crowd.  They don't want to be embarrased because they are wearing something different than their friends.  Different groups tend to wear different jeans.  For example, the athletes mostly wear baggy jeans with holes.  Each individual athlete wants to feel special but they also want to identify with the other athletes.  They wear similar clothes to make sure that they don't feel embarrased.  
          

             Another type of jeans that are popular are low-riding jeans.  Students who wear low hanging jeans are representing their ‘hood’.  They wear low-riding jeans because back in the 1990’s, rap became big and popular rappers like Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg wore these types of jeans.  In fact, not only has rap carried on into the 21st century, but so have the jeans.  Just like the athletes, these people want to be special in their own way, except they wear the same clothes as their friends to make sure they don't feel left out.

               Another pair of jeans that are popular in my school is casual jeans.  Casual jeans are loose, traditional blue color, no holes or frays, and U-shaped (for comfort).  I like to wear these types of jeans because it looks respectable, it doesn’t stand out, and it feels great.  Obviously other students like these jeans because they feel good, but they just want to fit in with everyone else as well. 

                When Fussell says: “everyone must wear a uniform, but everyone must deny wearing one,” he isn’t simply contradicting his own point.  What he is saying is that everyone wants to feel special, but everyone wants to make sure that they fit in with the people who are important in his/her life.  
Fussell's quote also applies to the New Trier student wearing jeans as a way to be different and the same at the same time.  
 

Together, But Not Really

Together, But Not Really

There is no time for writing letters and making phone calls when people are living in the fast lane.  So it comes as no surprise that: “31% of U.S. adults prefer to be reached by text message” (Mashable Tech.com, by Zoe Fox).  Some people even prefer to text instead of talk to the person they are sitting next to.  People want text messages so that they can avoid getting stuck in a conversation they don’t want to be in.  It could be because they don’t have the time to chat or because they have other things going on.  In the picture, all of those teens are together, but they aren’t.  Cell phones, computers, ipads, Kindles, social networking sites, Skype, etc. have made conversations easier, yet harder.  Today teenagers don’t call each other; they send texts.  Relationships have become more superficial.  Most teenagers’ just text to each other about what is happening ‘in the now.’  Since people talk this way, they not only lack depth in conversations, but they also don’t get to know the other person.  People also have facebook and twitter accounts with hundreds of friends and followers, when in reality, they only have a couple of close friends who they know well.  Technology may have helped people connect with one another but it hasn't helped them know one another better. 

Conversations are becoming more about the technology than about being interested in the other person.  Social networking is "all about me".  People want to share what they are doing at the moment and they like seeing what other people are doing, but this is a poor substitute to having a conversation.

 If we didn’t have technology like we have today, our lives would be completely different.  The technology that we have today gives us the opportunity to talk to people in multiple ways.  However, if we didn’t have technology, people would have more conversations face to face, which could help real relationships’ last longer.

http://mashable.com/2011/09/19/31-of-u-s-adults-prefer-to-be-reached-by-text-message-study/

Don't Look Behind The Door!

Don’t Look Behind The Door!

In this scene, Walter Neff is waiting to see Phyllis Dietrichson in his apartment.  However, unexpectedly, Barton Keyes knocks on the door before her.  Neff answers the door and Keyes knows more about the murder case.  When Mrs. Dietrichson walks up to the door, she hears that two men are in the room and decides to listen to their conversation through the closed door.  Neff opens the door and they both walk out of the apartment.  Mrs. Dietrichson hides behind the open door.  She lets Neff know that she is there by tugging on the handle, just enough to let Neff know she is there without tipping off Keyes. 

The setting is shadowy and suspenseful, and Mrs Dietrichson is in the shadows.  It is a very tight space.  The only protection Mrs. Dietrichson has is the door and Neff.  She can’t move or make a noise.  All of the surfaces like the door, the walls, and the floor are hard.  There is no furniture in this scene, nothing soft and or comfortable.  She is in between a door and a hard place.  She’s got nowhere to go.  All she can do is quietly stand behind the door and pray that Keyes walks away.  There is light coming out of the room.  That is the place she needs to get to in order to be safe.

http://www.kellimarshall.net/cinemahistory/discussion-questions/double-indemnity-film-noir/

Ice Cold Darkness

Hunt Tempest

09/16/12

Lit and Film 7

John Anderton in a Freezing Cold Bath Tub

Imagine, holding your breath under freezing cold water to avoid being caught for a murder you haven’t even committed yet.  In Minority Report, John Anderton, the main character, is in that situation.  In this frame, he is the subject.  Notice how he is hiding off to the right and how that heat seeking spider is off to the left.  Even though John is not in the middle of the frame, we are drawn to him because he is in a suspenseful situation.

John, in the bathtub, and the robotic spider are in the foreground because they are the subjects of the shot.  Yet the background is not blurry.  In the image, the director wants us to see both John and the spider because we want to see if John can hold his breath until the spider finds him and walks away.  The scene is dark and cold.  John is in a freezing cold ice-filled bathtub, while the robot is in a dark area.

In this frame, there is a bright blue light highlighting the tub, a strip of light on the floor, and a dark corner.  The tub is lit because it is the main focus.  The directors want us to feel what John feels.  Since the light is blue, the frame conveys that he is ice cold.  He is wearing a dark blue muscle shirt and the light makes his body pale so that he looks cold.  The spider, which is off to the side of the room, shines a small spotlight in front of it.  Both lights, in the bathtub and with the spider, grabs our attention.

The high angle shot shows us the entire bathtub and most of the floor.  With this shot, we can see John, with his eyes blindfolded, holding his breath under the ice water.  We can also see the spider scanning the room,  sensing that someone or something is there.  The lighting makes the scene scary and makes the viewer feel the tension.  When the spider is walking up to the tub, the viewers are silently yelling: “Don’t go there!”  The shot makes the viewers' hearts beat faster and they get that energy of suspense running through them. 

            The clothes, lighting, and background make us understand the situation.  The color blue throughout the shot, such as the water and his dark blue shirt, makes us feel cold.  The room is bland, cold, dark, and hard.  There are no towels, rugs, or anything soft or comfortable in the shot.  Overall the scene is meant to be dark, cold and very suspenseful.  Will John be caught or will he be safe?

 

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