Manufactured Landscapes

I honestly had no idea what to expect when I started watching this documentary. I thought it was going to be like An Inconvenient Truth and be boring, but it was not. I was really amazed how Edward Burtynsky could present the information that he wanted to bring forth. His pictures and the lectures that accompany them do a very unique job of portraying how humans are slowly destroying the landscape. With the continuation of the advancement in technology, it is pretty evident that large scale human activity is drastically altering Mother Nature as well as human life. One example that mainly stuck out in my mind was the Three Gorges Dam. I feel as if the input of work that was originally put into it was more damaging than beneficial. Yeah it produced a massive amount of power, but by changing the flow of the Yangtze River it also caused wasters to go astray and flood over a million people out of a living. I was also awed at the fact that the workers and civilians were deconstructing their own buildings for raw materials to further the production of the "World's largest dam." It amazes me what lengths a culture would go to through sacrifice in order too maintain a living/construction of large engineering master piece. Also, in this trailer link it shows the fast paced and monotonous job of an average Chinese worker. The fact that these people can preform the same task day after day after day blows my mind. Besides the intensity of it, I was also thinking about if I had to work in such environment. I would be so overwhelmed I would faint. All in all though I do thoroughly believe that the human ways need to be changed in order to protect our Earth. All of these non natural disasters are really taking a toll on the Earth, which inevitably will come back to haunt us.

¡¡ Koyannisqati !!

The feelings I had regarding this documentary are quite out of the ordinary. At first, I was very confused on what was happening. All of the slow motion cloud movements and barren landscape footage took me off guard because I was trying to figure out what Godfrey Reggio was trying to convey to me. Then it hit me. It was neither the bizarre time lapses nor the unique film shooting venues but the juxtaposition of Phillip Glass's music. The music provided a very in depth tone that made me think about the true beauty behind the footage being shown. Without the use of the music, I probably would not have sat through the entirety of the film. The music was essentially the only thing that kept me hooked on the documentary, solely because of the dramatic effects it caused. The use of this intense orchestral music made everything seem so much more intense than it really was. I really enjoyed watching these scenes: the nuclear explosions. The use of the booming music accompanying the nuclear explosions made it seem like a much more passionate montage. The fact that it did not have any diction simply made it a challenge for the viewer to figure out the true meaning behind the film. I really do not know the true meaning behind the film, but I exclusively tend to believe that it was to recognize the true beauty behind nature by thoroughly examining it through the lenses of a slow motion camera.

Grizzly Man Before and After

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Many questions arise with regard to Timothy’s mental condition, especially because he was so adamant about protecting a species that really did not need the protection. He had the motives to try and persuade the nation and expose the true nature of these creatures but failed because of his final outcome. His eccentric personality was recognized by Herzog which he used to convince the viewers that he had a symbolic relationship with the bears. The symbolisms of the relationships he had with the animals can be described as unusual because of his clingy and over-attached attitude.  It was once mentioned that Timothy would be more satisfied in life if he was an actual bear. He believed he would be happier in life if he could be physically be morphed into one. His personal connections led Timothy to believe that he was invincible around them. The invincibility that Treadwell claimed he had around the bears can be noted as unscientific because he was living on the edge of death and testing his luck in The Grizzly Maze. Over the countless amounts of hours that were originally recorded, Herzog masterfully configured a film that psychologically exposes Timothy’s manic side.

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As a viewer, questions arose regarding Timothy’s mental stability, especially because he was incredibly adamant about protecting these aggressive animals. His wild motives were ineffective in trying to unveil the true nature of these creatures to the nation, but sadly his life was abruptly ended. Timothy’s eccentric personality stuck out to Herzog, who used it to convince viewers that Timothy had a symbolic relationship amongst the bears. The symbolic relationships he had with the animals came across as unusual slightly due to his clingy and over-attached attitude. It was once mentioned that Timothy desired to be a bear. He believed that he would have more satisfaction in life if he could physically be morphed into one. His personal connections to the bears led Timothy to think that he was invincible in their presence. The sense of invincibility that Timothy acknowledged was definitely out of the ordinary since he was living on the edge of death by testing his luck in the Grizzly Maze. After inspecting the countless hours of footage, Herzog masterfully configured a film that psychologically hones in on Timothy’s manic side.

Truth Be Told

I have seen this documentary many a times and each time I see it, the information as well as the bias becomes quite predominant. The information was very accurate, as so I believe, and the way Al Gore supported it and presented it made  it easy to understand as an outside viewer. His use of graphs and the fork lift really raised my eye brows, especially taking into account how much the human population has rapidly changed, not only in population, but as well as partaking in ozone depleting actions. Consequently, his method of delivery, a lecture, made it very monotonous and sleep inducing. Just him standing up there, talking, and pointing made it seem that his only intent was to convey his belief to a liberal audience. His motives consisted of persuading the audience into what he believed, through the use of ethos and childish cartoons. He mentioned the death of son and the fact that he lost the presidency in his presentation, and I thoroughly believe he did that to help persuade the views of his audience. With regards to the cartoons, they were informative; yet, they were seemingly childish. The use of the this clip was obviously used,  to gain the attention of the younger generation and to potentially add an attention grabber/ "waker-upper". All in all, Gore succeeded in his main plan to get the information across, without trying to gain political support. I would not really recommend this documentary to anyone, unless one was interested in learning about global warming.

An Amish in the Devil's Playground

As I first started watching this documentary I began to wonder what life would be like as an Amish, and I came to the decision that it is all about choices. Converting to the Amish ways takes such dedication and devotion, I feel as if i would cave into the pressures of the Devil's Playground, even after my rumspringa. I thought about all of the appliances that I have now, and how difficult life would seem without them. Also, I would feel overwhelmed from all of the constant pressure of the Amish lifestyle. Living by candle light and relying on horse and buggy would seem to meticulous for my active and pumped lifestyle. I also pondered the thought of being born into an Amish community. I came to the decision that it wouldn't be too bad, until rumspringa came around. Personally I during would go buck wild during that time (not to the point of doing meth) and never really think about going back to the Amish persuasion. Another reaction I got out of this documentary was shock. I never knew Amish teenagers could throw down. Amish Parties The parts that got the most laughs out of me was the B-roll that showed the after math of the crazy shenanigans that had previously happened. Beer cans strewn about, everyone asleep in their cars, as well as the random scenes where bongs and other contraband were presented really tickled me.

Even though I know for a fact that I will never convert to being Amish, I still find it fascinating that those who are have such dedication and can live with the pressures of being Amish. I envy those who can live that life style because I know I cannot. The way "Weird" Al Yankovic puts it perfectly describes how my mindset would be. Amish Paradise

Grizzly Man Diaries

By watching two episodes of the Grizzly Man Diaries I came to terms with the fact that Timothy Treadwell isn’t really of a people person, but more of an eclectic animal man. My thought is that as a child Timothy Treadwell was ostracized from others his age, which lead him to become one with the natures of Alaska. “Aunt Melissa” was the first episode that I watched, and it intrigued me on how he could get so personally close to such a dangerous undomesticated animal. His interactions with Aunt Melissa and her baby cubs Letterman, Emmy and Rainbow proved that Timothy was really trying to connect with the beasts. It saddened me when the carnivorous side of Aunt Melissa was shown, and through the reactions of Timothy, I could tell he was completely heartbroken when Rainbow was consumed. These sort of emotional connections between a human and animal are only really solidified when certain ticks are set off, such as death or abandonment. Speaking of abandonment, Aunt Melissa left her cubs early which shocked Timothy, but also re assure him that Letterman and Emmy were two strong sub-adults. In the second episode I watched, Timothy was observing the life styles of his fox friends.  The episode “Two Timothys” features Timothy Treadwell relating with a den of foxes that have seemed to adopt him. During this episode, I was under the impression that Mr. Treadwell was pretending he was living the day in the life of a fox. He expressed a copious amount of fear when the grey wolf predator showed up, not for his own life, but for the lives of all of his fox friends and their kits. Other than his intense affection for these animals, it seemed that Timothy Treadwell valued the lifestyle he lived out in nature. Although he represented a man with strange mannerisms his ways of life were very interesting because of how he got up and personal with these wild animals. Besides the captivating film shots and the trivial quotes said by Mr. Treadwell, this documentary was chock filled with a mesmerizing sound track that really grabbed me, the viewers, attention. The sound track didn’t give away what was going to happen, but it was surely a depiction for the near future.