Professor Hinton

Humanities

19 April, 2013

Romanticism Blog Post

In my life, I believe that I am more of a product of the Romantic Era rather than the enlightenment. I say this for many reasons. One reason is that in class on the Romantic quiz that we took I scored a 7 out of ten leaning toward the romantic side of things. I also find myself really relating to the questions as well. For one, I find that many religious and spiritual experiences happen while I am out in nature. I appreciate nature and understand, at least for me, that being out in nature appreciating it, is a kind of therapy. Being away from the city and all the people and noise, something about being out in the woods or the desert, it is beautiful and serene. I also think that society has the power to corrupt people. If you are not careful and know your beliefs and strongly believe them, you may be swayed by the ideas of society. Society tries to set the bar of perfection so high that it makes people think that they are not good enough and it changes how they are and what they think. Emerson says that we need to be “nonconformist”, this means for us to be different from society and to not go along with the norm.  He says that, “nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.” The last thing and most important is our own mind and our own ideas. That is the ideals of a true Romantic.

Dub Price      

Humanities

Professor Hinton

Enlightenment Blog Post

            The institution of marriage in todays’ society is much different than it was when Hogarth created his marriage a-la-Mode series of paintings. In today’s world, a couple will date or court, getting to know one another. Gradually after a certain amount of time when the two thing that it is time to move on and take the next step, the boy will usually propose and ask the woman to marry him. One way it is kind of similar to Hogarth’s time is that it is respectful for the man to ask the father for his permission or blessing to marry his daughter. It is just common courtesy and it is similar because in the time of Hogarth, because the father would usually have the only say in who the daughter married. It usually had something to do being able to increase their social status or gaining more money. Today the father would of course like for his daughter to marry someone with some of those same characteristics in mind for his daughter but he also will respect the wants of the daughter and consider the feelings that the two feel for each other. If I were to create a series of paintings today it would go like this:

1. This picture would show the spark, what got the two together. Possibly them walking by each other making eye contact with maybe a smile or a wave.
2. This picture would show a date between the two, maybe a picnic in a park or a sit down dinner. The point of this painting would be to show the two growing closer to one another.
3. This painting would be of the man asking the father for his blessing with a hopeful girl in the background.
4. The marriage, this would be a happy time for all and it would show joy.
5. This painting could go either way, it could show the two possibly with a child of theirs, still in love and being happy. It could also show the two possibly growing apart and losing interest.
6. This painting would reflect which either one was painted before. It could show the two growing old and happy together. Or it could be them separated and not so happy.

The differences would be the many temptations of todays world. Many couples are torn apart from different beliefs or ideals. Also overuse of technology or drugs could pull a couple apart. Hogarth couldn’t even imagine the things that are available in todays world that weren’t available in his time. It would be close to his but everything magnified and worse. It is a tragedy to see two lovers pulled apart but in today’s world divorce is more and more common.

Dub Price

Humanities

Professor Hinton

3/21/13

Baroque Blog Post

I think that todays society is more of a renaissance style. There are many reasons to support this, one is that there is a high appreciation for the arts. Especially music, which is so popular and always changing. I think another reason is that people are being so innovative and creative finding out new ways to improve things and make them better. During the renaissance the arts were valued and many things were being invented. Another reason I would say this is like the renaissance because we are just progressing a lot as world. People are striving to make everything better. Although I think that our society is more of a renaissance style, I think that slowly we are becoming more Baroque. One example to support this is that if you look how people are starting to dress, it is becoming more and more popular to dress in dark clothes. This was a theme of the baroque era, using drastic changes of light and dark. People are becoming darker and darker and slowly becoming more of a Baroque society. I think we will slowly advance from the renaissance stage we are at now into a darker more non traditional Baroque style of life.

Renaissance Blog Post

In Michelangelo’s David, he illustrates Apollonian Classicism. Some of the differences between this version of David and Donatello’s version of David, which illustrates the assertion of passionate individualism, is the way the sculptures are formed. In Michelangelo’s, the figure seems to be pondering and thinking. This fits into the Apollonian style because it represented the side of the human personality dominated by reason, analytical, rational, and coherent thought. This statue of David also seems to be built more mathematical. It seems to use more straight and direct lines. It is also made from dull marble which was traditional for the time. This made it seem simple and reasonable to make.

This statue was very different from Donatello’s. The first and most obvious difference is what Donatello made his out of. His is created out of bronze. This was a more stand out material and was more vibrant and outstanding. Another difference is how the two statues are standing. Donatello’s David is standing much more relaxed and lackadaisical. It seems to not have a care in the world. This goes along better with the Dionysian appeal because it is more emotional rather than logical. Other characteristics of the Dionysian appeal is the human personality dominated by feelings, intuition and freedom. 

A Knights Tale

In the movie A Knights Tale there are many similarities to what we talked about in class. Some parts that stuck out to me were how there were the rich, and there were the poor. This is discussed when the character doing Williams’ introduction addresses them as, “My Lords, my ladies, and all you other people not sitting on a cushion!” This part stood out to me as a small but distinct way the two kinds of people are treated. Another example is all the parties he goes to when he is a “rich knight” versus the way that he and his companions were living when they were poor squires, they talked about not eating for a week and being starving! Although there are many similarities, there are parts of the movie that Hollywood has put its spin on. One that sticks out to me, although I really liked the role it played in the movie, was the music, how the trumpets were playing were performing songs by Queen and the people in the crowd were singing and playing along. Another difference in the movie that maybe would have been different in real life, was the amount of people that showed up to these events, I don’t know how popular they were to the common serfs or if they were even allowed to attend such events. There were many people there in the movie chanting and screaming as the matches were going on. The knights were treated like superstar celebrities, when in real life I think the serfs respected the knights but at the same time resented them, they had more rights and privileges then the common serf and were treated much better.  All in all I think the movie gave a little look into how life really was in the medieval era. I liked the movie and thought that it was a great story!

America’s Epic

America’s Epic

I believe that America’s Epic is the story of George Washington. The story could start when he became the commander of a struggling Colonial army. The colonies were not supposed to win the Revolutionary War. England was a major world power, how was a start up group of colonies supposed to put up a fight against them? England had the generals, the troops, the knowledge of war and most importantly, confidence. What did America have? We had a bunch of farmers and shop owners fighting in their own backyards for something that they believed was worth fighting for. We had the passion but that was about it, we were the underdogs. Washington came into command and was a flat out hero. He was a huge part in why we won the war, his bravery while fighting and also his ability to rally the troops for a common cause. The epic of George Washington doesn’t stop after he defeated the British in the Revolutionary War, it continues on and carries right into him being elected our first president. It would only make sense that the man that won the war for us would be our president, the people loved him for who he was and what he stood for. Possibly the greatest thing he ever did was help set the limits to how long one could stay president. Had the people got their way, and Washington had been more selfish, he would have been made our king. He saw what we had come from in England and decided that the potential of America was too great to be ruined by the rule of a king. Like any great epic, ours involves our hero going into war and coming out victorious. I believe this encompasses the spirit of America. The American Dream is an underdog story. It is about dreaming and believing in something and working hard to make it happen. In America you can do anything through hard work and determination. I believe that the story of George Washington and the Revolutionary War is that story and is a great example of the American Dream.

Blog One

“Be Drunk”

I think that in the poem, “Be Drunk”, the author is trying to convey a message of having true meaning and passion in your life. He is saying that we do not need to be the robots of society that live day by day doing the same thing over and over with no pattern to our lives. We need to have a passion and love about what we do. It will make our lives worth living and make us excited to wake up and work every day because we are doing what we love. I believe that it is important to be drunk on life, not only so that we enjoy what we do, but it then makes our life worth living! Nobody wants to be stuck somewhere that they do not want to be, doing something that they despise.  A little bit of passion for what you are doing goes a long way. It inspires the never give up attitude because your love for it is so great. I also think that Edumundson has a point about the passion in the youth of today. At the same time, I also think that there are many students with a passion. If no one had a passion then students wouldn’t play sports, wouldn’t do drama club and plays, wouldn’t sing or dance or study things that they like. I think the problem is that they are embarrassed or ashamed of their passion and scared to show it. I believe there is passion or students wouldn’t be taking the classes and making the decisions that they want. I believe it needs to be shown that it is a good thing to have and show passion for things. It will change the way that the students will have about their passions and they will want it more and be more open about their specific talents.