Realist aesthetics makes the attitude of a person to the entire world the most important thing in their life. It asserts that ethics starts with the obligation of a human being to see everything, living or non-living, as well as they can. Where humans do not see this obligation or get away from it or diminish what it means, it is clear that contempt is not just winning, but it also shows its strength. On the other hand, formalist aesthetics has traditionally been taken to refer to the philosophy view of art that the properties in virtue in which art is an art – and in virtue which we determine its value – are formal in the sense of being accessed by direct sensation (normally hearing or sight) alone. In the film Gaga Five Foot Two, the director brings into the limelight on-camera interview, limited editing, and the long take as realist aesthetics. Simultaneously, in the Black Mirror: Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too, there is subjective narration, expressive editing including montage and collision sequences, and expressive sound, including collision and non-diegetic. In the essay at hand, I will compare three realist aesthetics of the film “Gaga: Five Foot Two” to three formalist aesthetics of “Black Mirror: Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too.”
In “Gaga: Five Foot Two,” the director Chris Moukarbel uses camera interviews to make a film that took eight months. The film places a single lens on Lady Gaga and follows her within eight months. There may be other people around her. However, the camera does not require leaving her side; it never left her. It films outside viewpoints simply by capturing them with Gaga. Most docs on the pop star are at least closely aware of the line between private and public. Still, the film at hand goes beyond that line allowing the audience in the room while she wrestles through a bad moment with her chronic pain and the home of her grandmother as she shows her the song her late daughter, Joanne, had written. The director uses the unique approach of the camera interview to allow the audience to get a genuinely personal look into one of the celebrated artists of our time. In other words, the director managed to work with Lady Gaga in some of the surprising moments of the film in the mission of making the eye-opening film come to life.
With “Gaga: Five Foot Two,” Lady Gaga found herself witnessing herself in a manner she was unable to see on her own. The film was characterized with limited editing to show the audience its authenticity in the manner in which the director, Chris, decided to bring out Lady Gaga’s highest highs, lowest lows, and the close link with her family that she clung to fiercely while writing the album “Joanne.” She wrote the album to show her audience the emotional and physical pain that her family experienced following the death of her aunt at a young age after suffering from the disease Lupus. She wrote the album with the mission of trying to heal and find strength with the determination she had learned from her Italian immigrant family. The limited editing aimed to show how hard, happy, and surreal the experience was (William 65). However, Lady Gaga was most touched by the fact that the veil behind the aura of being a pop star shows that fame is not all it is cracked up to be. It is psychologically challenging, isolating, and lonely since it changes how the outside world sees one. For Lady Gaga, fame feels very unnatural but complex. Still yet she wanted to feel the side of fame that comes with love from her fans across the globe, the voice that her fans had given to spread the messages of equality and empowerment, the fortunate life it had brought to her and her family.
In the film “Gaga: Five Foot Two,” Lady Gaga aimed at showing all of herself to her audience. Directed by Chris Moukarbel and filmed over a long take throughout the filming of Joanne, her 5th studio album (Moukarbel 5). She tells the audience how she broke up with Taylor Kinney, her ex-fiancé. She tells her audience that her insecurities are now gone, and she does not have one anymore, which makes her feel better. Gaga says that it is hard when love is not working out as intended, and one has to walk down the street and allow somebody to move on with their life. On top of that, she tells us the aftermath of her broken hip and dealing with fibromyalgia. She says that her body goes into full-body spasms when she is depressed. Her fight with chronic body pain appears severally throughout the film. Gaga tells the audience that she feels for anybody else who might be going through such suffering and does not have somebody to turn to. Additionally, she brings out her true feelings as far as Madonna is concerned. She is disturbed by the fact that Madonna has never opened up on the issues she has with her.
On the other hand, directed by Anne Sewitsky and written by Charlie Brooker is “Black Mirror: Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too,” which uses subjective narration to tell the story through the lens of one character at a time. The third and final episode of Black Mirror tells the story of a pop singer, Ashley O (Miley Cyrus), who is productively delimited by her management team. It then tells the story of teenage sisters Jack Goggins (Madison Davenport) and Rachel (Angourie Rice), who struggle with their mother’s recent death. Rachel receives “Ashley Too,” a new AI robot, on her 15th birthday, which she starts to treat as a friend instead of a toy. Ashley convinces Rachel Too to dance at a school talent contest which ends badly when she falls.
Expressive editing is another formalist aesthetic used in the Black Mirror episode “Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too,” an intermittently fascinating and bizarre bit of pop-music stage show. As technology becomes more sophisticated, film-makers have pondered the idea of producing extraordinary films that are at pondering the entire mind of the viewers and maybe the very “self” of individuals to a computer. Like other episodes of Black Mirror, the director takes advantage of expressive editing to avoid worrying about ad breaks or fitting the film into a time slot. Additionally, the episode would have used tighter editing and other concepts to make the theme develop or dominate completely. Still, the episode has sufficient engaging material of making it among the most successful outing of the latest season of the show. The episode follows the two teenage sisters and Ashley as they struggle to figure out what freedom means to them.
Besides, the film director uses expressive sound, including the non-diegetic sound that is not part of the film’s arena. Although the episode does not emerge as number one amongst the episodes of Black Mirror, it comes close, which is attributable to its use of expressive sound (Johnson et al. 5). The subject matter, in this case, is bleak, and yet it was able to maintain the sense of humor and fun throughout. The latest marketing stunt of the management is the Robot, Ashley Too, that replicates the expressive sound. The robot might perhaps be a kind of Alexa-style computer-generated subordinate that comes precisely at the right time for Rachel, who has not come into terms with her mother’s death in addition to struggling to make new friends in her new school. Their dad does not seem to pay the required attention to the kids and has notably turned out to be aloof since the death of their mother. As a result, the robot might appear as a “stupid toy” in the eyes of Jack. However, Ashley Too is a friend who does not just listen to Rachel but makes her feel confident at the end of the day.
In summing up, realist aesthetics and formalist aesthetics in “Gaga: Five Foot Two” and “respectively are mostly used in passing the intended message to the audience. Realist aesthetics makes the attitude of a person to the entire world the most important thing in their life. It asserts that ethics starts with the obligation of a human being to see everything, living or non-living, as well as they can. On the other hand, formalist aesthetics has traditionally been taken to refer to the philosophy view of art that the properties in virtue in which art is an art – and in virtue which we determine its value – are formal in the sense of being accessed by direct sensation (normally hearing or sight) alone.
Work Cited
Johnson, David Kyle, Leander P. Marquez, and Sergio Urueña. “Black Mirror: What science fiction does best.” Black Mirror and philosophy: Dark reflections (2019): 1-8.
Moukarbel, Chris. “director. Gaga; Five Foot Two.” (2017).
Williams, Michael C. “Aesthetic Realism.” Historiographical Investigations in International Relations. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, 2019. 51-78.
Reasons For The Success And Failure Of Settlement In America Essay Sample For College
Different European nations went to North America for various reasons because they all had multiple expectations about the potential benefits of the region. The need for fame and fortune was the main driving force for Spain. For example, during the colonial period, Spain had sent out settlers, conquerors, and explorers searching for gold. Spain’s territories included the Panama Isthmus, Mexico, Central America and Florida. According to Horn (34), every year, there were treasure ships from Mexico and Panama that carried pearls, silver, gold, cacao and hides that sailed to Spain heavily guarded by a squadron of warships. For this reason, Spain became the most powerful nation.
Another nation that ran to the New World was New England. In the 1570s and early 1580s, England forcefully enforced orthodox religion on everyone. The clergy were ordered to wear clerical robes, and those who objected were banned from the church and arrested (Horn 132). An example was Robert Johnson, who was jailed for being a Puritan, and later died a few months later from Jail fever (Horn 132). Hence, the main reason for abandoning England to form New England was to get the opportunity to worship per their will and beliefs.
Another nation that joined the New World was Britain. Britain arrived in New World when much of the continent had been claimed by other European countries. At that time, Spain was the most influential nation, but Britain still wanted to accumulate their wealth and power with the help of Sir Walter Ralegh. The queen was strongly attracted to Ralegh’s good looks and loyalty, and through that, he enjoyed favoritism from Queen Elizabeth I and this gave Ralegh great possibilities to acquire wealth and power that was his greatest ambition (Horn 22). The queen devised a plan with her ministers to undermine Spanish power in America by having a massive attack on Spanish Main and West Indies. The second plan was to establish a colony on the mainland of North America (Horn 102). Hence, the main reason for England’s interest in New World was to gain wealth and power.
The difference between the exploration and navigation of the explorers that settled in Roanoke and those that went to North America was significantly huge. Roanoke land would create an opportunity for Ralegh to harass Spanish shipping. Horn (60) explains that Ralegh saw the Island as a chance to organize a huge expedition to establish a harbor on the Island that the English privateers would harass Spain’s shipping in Western Atlantic and the Caribbean to undermine her empire. Sir Francis Drake would order a fleet to cause chaos in Spanish Main and West Indies (Horn 60). Another mission for the European nation was to convert the Indians to Christianity.
The European nation believed they would do God’s work in spreading Christianity. Horns (60) summarizes that Richard Hakluyt played a huge role in spreading Ralegh’s propaganda. He believed he could promote God’s work and mission to convert millions of Indians into glorious Christians (Horn 62). Ralegh also intended to find a passage to the Pacific Ocean and accumulate wealth. In Horn’s words, the English colonizers got the greatest prize after discovering that enormous wealth in the North would surpass those in Peru and Mexico. The two main attractions were silver and gold and a passage to the Pacific Ocean through the continent (Horn 63). However, the four motivations were not enough to lead to a successful settlement. Roanoke colony was a huge fail.
One word I would use to describe the failures of Roanoke would be unplanned. Before he departed three years prior, he had left his family and friends with a promise of returning with more settlers and supplies but did not think that he would fail to secure reinforcements and provisions for the people who depended on him (Horn 188). When White returned, he came unprepared with insufficient help to conquer the colony. Another reason for the Roanoke colony’s failure was that the colony faced hostility from the natives. Horn (2) summarizes that in 1587, White left England with the intention of establishing the first colony in America but faced a lot of difficulty from the hostile Indians who fiercely resisted the colonies that led him to return to England in search of help.
England also lacked allies from other nations. England was dangerously isolated. She had no allies in Europe apart from the Dutch rebels (Horn 59). The last reason for the failure to establish the Roanoke colony is the John White family’s disappearance. White left Roanoke for England to find help. He left his daughter, newborn granddaughter, and friends behind (Horn 163). White returned in 1590, three years later, only to find his family and the settlers were not there (Horn 224). The houses had been dismantled, the settlement deserted, and the colonists had left, but there were no attack signs (Horn 189). He was later forced to return to England without his family.
Settlers faced a lot of challenges in the Roanoke colony. Here are some of the ways that would have assisted in making the process a success. One would be, White would have come with many settlers. White had only left England with 118 men and children (Horn 2). When he arrived on the Island, he realized he needed a larger number to colonize the region. The second reason would be the long wait for White’s return. White took three years to return and found the settlers had left (224). The third step would be preparation in reinforcements. White had initially gone back to England to prepare more reinforcements but had failed to gather enough people and reinforcement (188). Many of these causes led to the failure of the Roanoke colony.
Work Cited
Horn, James. “A Kingdom Strange: The Brief and Tragic History of the Lost Colony of Roanoke: Horn, James P. p” Internet Archive, New York: Basic Books, 2010, http:archive.org/details/kingdomstrangeb00horn/mode/1up
Smartphones In Class And Its Usage Among University Students Free Sample
Introduction
Smartphones have become a central part of the lives of many school-going youths. It is not just the young and the school going but people across all ages. The young and the old all alike get the same effect when it comes to smartphones. Students are more affected because of how they use these devices in classrooms. The purpose of this report is to investigate how students use their smartphones and give recommendations on the appropriate use of cellphones in the university.
The emergence of smartphones has brought unprecedented convenience. These devices have facilitated communication, mobile banking, and easy access to learning material etc. These smartphones also come with other features that when not properly used can have their users distracted. University students can use smartphones responsibly by using them to access learning materials from the internet. They can also be irresponsible with these devices when they play games and watch videos in class.
According to Alfawareh and Jusoh (2014), studies conducted at Najran University in Saudi Arabia investigated the use of smartphones among university students. The study population of this study was university students from various academic levels and programs. This study compared normal smartphone usage to usage of smartphones for learning. The findings of this study show that majority (75.2%) of these students use smartphones for normal smartphone usage purposes like browsing the website, social media activities, taking pictures and downloading apps and software etc. The highest percentage of usage of smartphones for learning purposes only indicated logging on to the university student portal to check their academic status. These students, however, didn’t use their smartphones to access online learning resources, therefore, suggesting that students are not using their smartphones to support their learning activities.
Discussion
All university students alike mostly fall under the category as those at Najran University when it comes to smartphone usage. Grinols and Rajesh (2014), suggest that the use of smartphones in class presents a typical case of multitasking where students have to work on their class tasks and also their smartphones. However, smartphones have a unique feature that has the ability to divert student alert from classwork to checking notifications every time thy click and pop-up.
For this reason, it is imperative to discuss the options that students have as far as having smartphones in class is concerned. When having smartphones in class, students could be provided with educational apps that would help them access more learning material. In this way, students would be more motivated to learn since they can now access learning material. Another option is to have lesson instructors restrict the use of smartphone devices during class time. The university should also limit access to Wi-Fi and internet services provided by the institutions during class time so that students can have time to focus on class work and not get distracted by notifications on their phones (Grinols and Rajesh, 2014)
Conclusion
As suggested by studies mentioned here, it is not good for students to have smartphones in class because they easily get distracted with their smartphones. Students also have the potential to use their smartphones for learning and educational purposes if they are supported to do so.
Recommendations
The instructors should recommend mobile applications that would enable the students to learn using their smartphones. They should also develop classroom policies restricting the use of smartphones while lecture sessions are ongoing. The university should limit Wi-Fi access during lecture hours and in lecture halls to avoid having students distracted by notifications.
References
Alfawareh, H. M., & Jusoh, S. (2014). Smartphones usage among university students: Najran University case. International Journal of Academic Research, 6(2).
Grinols, A. B., & Rajesh, R. (2014). Multitasking with smartphones in the college classroom. Business and Professional Communication Quarterly, 77(1), 89-95.