X2: X-Men United

X2: X-Men United

Prompt12

I think the Videodrome is the high technology which affects body in violent ways. The movie Videodrome is filled with violence. This is especially represented by showing death. There are a lot of deaths in the whole movie. Every death is related to the technology; Videodrome. Death is a huge change in the body. This movie shows the death in violent and disgusting ways. Convex programmed Max’s body by using videodrome. He put the tape inside of Max’s body by force. (This is disgusting scene.) Then, Max became assassin of the Videodrome. He killed his partners but fail to kill Bianca. Bianca removed the tape and programmed again to kill people related to videodrome. So Max killed Convex and Herlon. This is the main scene which is described as violent and disgusting death. Their body is changed in horrible and disgusting ways. It is too disgusting that almost everyone wouldn’t enjoy these scenes. According to this point, I think director exposed his intention about the movie. He is looking this movie in negative way. He made viewer to feel themselves about this idea. The argument is that this technology is too much that it can affect the body in negative way. It blows serious attention to viewers about the technology and the body. They would not want this things happens in the real world. Thus, I think this movie uses effective way to support the argument. The argument gets more obviously when showing the violence and negative affect about the body.

prompt 11

The main characters of X2 are the mutants. Due to high technology, there are many mutants in the world. Unlike humans, these mutants have special powers. The first mutant we can see in the movie is Nightcrawler, who has the ability to teleport. There are several other mutants who are X-men; Wolverine, Jean, Storm etc. They all have extraordinary powers which help them fight against the anti-mutant human, Stryker. Stryker injects drugs to mutants to control them by using Professor X’s ability. I think there are two arguments related with the body in this movie. First, high technology empowers the mutants’ bodies with extraordinary power and this is directly related to violence. The movie focuses on these X-men’s powers. It shows their special ability by using many cinematic languages. The focus of almost every scene is related to their power, such as the three blades from Wolverine’s hands, the ice for Bobby(Iceman) and fire for Pyro. They use this power to fight with Stryker and human military. This make their power directly related to violence. The second argument is that the body can be controlled by someone else. Stryker uses drugs or his son to control the mutants’ body. The light of the movie also supports this argument. It’s almost dark when they fight with their power. Then, it gets brighter when the movie is approaching to the peaceful end. The background is interesting as well. Alkali Lake is where Stryker tried to kill the mutants. Inside of his building, it’s dark and filled with violence. However, the outside of the building is beautiful nature. This means that outside of violence is peaceful. This contrast makes the violence more strong which also make the arguments more strong.

Prompt 10

I have several interesting topics in Neromancer that I want to talk about. First one is about agency. Armitage’s team, which include Case, Molly, Peter ….,  can be agency. They work as a team. Wintermute uses them to work for him because he doesn’t have physical body. This team can be considered as Wintermute’s body since they work for his body.

Freedom is also interesting part in this book. In this real world, where we are living now, it’s hard to imagine without the body. We barely have freedom about our body. In Neromancer, however, people could have freedom about the body. Case is the most predominant character who experienced freedom from his body. He connects to cyberspace where he can be apart from his meat. He can’t go certain place – which is not real – but he can see, talk and even feel!! All of these things are not related to his real body.

The next thing I want to talk about is death. There are a lot of character who are involved in death. For example, Dixie is dead person. But he is alive in cyberspace. Case is working (maybe just using) with him. Same as Linda. She is already dead in Chiba, but Case met her in the beach ( which is not real beach, cyberspace ). These facts can say that death is just related to body. In cyberspace, everyone is without the body. So death doesn’t affect anything to them. I think this is really interesting part. There’s one more interesting part about death what I want to mention about. It’s about Peter. Molly poisoned him. So he is almost dead. But Neromancer is using his eyes. Peter can be alive only if Neromancer keep his eyes. This means that if one part of your body is alive in other person, you are not died yet. This definition is really new for us. This whole thing can be new body modification related to high technologies.  

Prompt 9

The most interesting body presented in Neuromancer is the body which is modified by high technologies. First, there is brain-computer interface ability. By using this ability, people can easily connect to the virtual world. In cyberspace which is virtual world, people can act with or without their meat. They also can talk with system which can help you in many ways. For example, Case got helped from Dixie to find Molly in the freeside. This technology liberates characters from the flesh. It is totally new way to experience the body. This is really interesting part. Second thing which was interesting for me was about the actual body. They put some biomedical things to the body and make it function as they want. For example, Armitage implanted mycotoxin sacs into Case’s blood vessel which is significant thing about the body.
These concept about the body is quite different from the body we’ve encounter in the class. The predominant difference is about controlling the body. What we’ve discussed in class so far was the body mainly controlled by themselves. However, the bodies of this book can be controlled by someone else. This can be system, AI, or other people. The argument this book contains is that technology can change the control of the body. This sounds really strange. I think it is negative result from high technology. It may be useful in some part, but there will be huge confusion about the body. It extended the body controllership, but in negative way. I think the controllership of the body has to be the owner of the body; themselves.

Prompt 7

There are several "mainstream" body modifications in these days. Plastic surgery and diet is the main of the mainstream body modification. Even though they are considered as the "mainstream", it is controversial. This wasn't accepted when they first came out. For instance, many people think that plastic surgery is ridiculous at the first time. But since it became so popular, many people changed their mind.( For sure, there's still some people who against the plastic surgery.)
However, I think these body modification has almost same political potential as radical body modification which is heavy tattoos or piercing and flesh hanging. Even though it became so popular, it's still body modification. It can not be just same as normal. Many people think that these mainstream body modifications is regarded as normal, because their goal is to be close to the normative standards. But we have to think about the normative standards. What is normative standard? It could be various for every single group. Some group can think that normative is having a piercing and tattoos.
Pitt argues that body modification is to represent their body and claim some important things for their body. For this point of view, it can be applied to the mainstream body modification as well. They do it because they want to represent their beauty or health by their body. Maybe beauty and health is so popular and normal goal to represents themselves. So many people think that their body modification is ‘normal’. Taking all this into account, I think mainstream body modification has same political potential and meaning as radical body modification.

Prompt 6

First, I'm going to talk about the formal writing. This writing is as the wordmeans "formal". It is the method to express your idea by writing in someformat. This is very basic form of writing, so it usually suits for anysituation and audience. (But, If the specific situation or audience is given,then we can find more effective way of writing.) I practice this sort ofwriting almost in the school. Many classes request the formal writing to expressmy idea and confirm my knowledge. I write some formal writing when I'm workingaswell. I write daily reports and letters in formal way. The reason I'm using"formal writing" is that this is common formal way to communicate with eachother.

There are many ways to express themselves other than formal writing;which isinformal modes of writing. We can consider about our bodies. I think everythingwhat youdo with your body is informal modes of writing. For example, if you wear a nicesexy dressand have a big smile on your face, it means that you are happy and going outparty orsomewhere like that. You already wrote in your body about your emotion andplan.

I think there is a limit of authorship in writing. We can do our best to conveyour thought and idea by many ways. But we can't express totally same as weexpected. The way we can make as closely as we expected is to combine the methodofwriting. There are different limit in formal writing and informal modes ofwriting. I think they can compensate each other by combining.

Prompt 5

The National Geographic website provides several image of body modification. The bodies they show us their own cultures. Each picture which is the image of body modifier is exotic since it represents their cultures. Each body modification has its meaning. For example, in West Africa, scarring is a form of tribal initiation and a sign of bravery. So if you look inside of each society, their body modification will be normal to them. The body modification is a tool of representing their culture for them. Even though those body modifications can be strange and interrupting, most of the people easily accept their body modification because they know that culture is all different and nobody can evaluate their culture.
NPR program talks about the how body modification became less exotic. It seems that many places are accepting body modifiers due to change of the culture. But this change is really slow. It is still hard to survive on the society with body modification on. So many people want to remove it. I know that this change will be going even though it is slow.
I think tattooing and other body modifications are still exotic practice. But the thing is how we understand the “exotic” body modification. If their purpose is to represent their real culture, such as the pictures on National Geographic website, then it can be accept. It will be good exotic body modification. However, if it’s youth culture or minor culture it is still hard to accept by the public. It will be strange exotic body modification.

Prompt 4

Dove campaign for real beauty is the provaked campaign to change the definition of the beauty. It says that the beauty in today’s world is manipulated and the real beauty comes in many shapes, sizes and ages which make all women enjoy their beauty everyday.
There is a video “Evolution”. It shows the normal woman which is not attractive. Then, it shows the process to be a beautiful and attractive woman by makeup, hair styling and even computer graphic. It means that the beauty is manipulated and distorted. This video uses ethos to show about the meaning of today’s beauty. By showing the process of making the beauty it is the manifest evidence that the real beauty is not exits. It also appeals the viewers’ emotion which is using pathos. This video can make the viewers’ to feel that today’s beauty is the fake. Many women can feel that they are not ugly as they think after watching this video. Thus, this video has great supporter to show Dove’s argument about the real beauty.
There is a print advertisement which represents Dove’s argument as well. It is the photo of the 50-60 years old woman. There are two words which is “gray” and “gorgeous” in both side of the photo. Those two words have almost opposite meaning. Gray represent that it is easy to think that old women is not attractive. On the other hand, gorgeous means that women can be attractive no matter how old she is. I think the main idea of this advertisement is that it’s really easy and simple to change the fixed idea about the real beauty. Thus, it uses pathos to move viewer’s mind. This also uses ethos which is her photo. Her long luxury hair, soft eyes, smile and happy face is the evidence of Dove’s argument.
I think Dove’s campaign is successful. Even though their real purpose of the campaign might be to appeal the customers and make good image of the brand, it really work to find the real meaning of the real beauty. By looking at their advertisement, people try to think once again about the beauty. Many women can gain confidence from them. It can be just short advertisement to some people. But since it uses strong pathos which appeals viewers’ emotion, almost every people will try to recognize about the real beauty. Thus, I think Dove’s campaign for real beauty really changed the definition of beauty.

Short writing

http://flickr.com/photos/12295975@N05/2230307779/in/pool-487771@N21
The image I chose is the Curtis Diegueno woman of Campo. The subject in this picture is the shack, woman and a dog. These subjects represent the woman’s life. We can assume that the woman is living in the shack with a dog. The background is blur which makes the image more focus on the subject. Gloomy and desolate background also makes the image depressed. The arrangement of the image is interesting. The shack took very large portion of the image. Even though the woman is in the middle and the very front of the picture, I think the focal point is the house, not the body of the woman. This means that the shack is really important element of her life. In other words, the shack expresses her life well.
Now let’s look at the women’s body. There are only two parts which is uncovered; her face and hand. She is covered with dirty clothes. Her head is also covered. I can assume that she is poor and dirty. I can also assume that the weather is too hot or cold, so she needs to protect her body from that by covering her body. Her face color is dark and she has gloomy facial expression. This shows her depressed feeling and nihilism. I can feel that she has no idea of her life through her face. Especially her gaze makes me feel those thought strongly. She is looking away outside of the frame. I think she is just staring the empty space. This implies that she has empty mind. Her hand is weak and worn-out. She is holding bunch of branches in her hand. This represents her labor and a hard life. I suppose that she is in pretty old age due to her hand and face. Her hand and face look aged and wrinkled. This makes her life more depress. Because it means that she lived a hard life for a long time. She is also sitting on the dirty ground, which emphasize her poor life and depressing feeling well. Maybe she is kneeling on the ground which makes my argument more effective. Because kneeling is the posture which is stand of weak and lower body. Overall, the tone of color is especially dark for women’s body. This shows her dark life.
There is a dog next to the women. This dog can represent the body’s friend. This can make her less lonely and protective. But I think this fact in other way. Even though there is a dog next to women, they have a little space between each other and neither one is looking at another. So this helps to shows her loneliness much more.
Taking all these into account, this image represent a lot about the woman by several elements which I mentioned above. Almost all of this makes viewers to feel sorry for her. It uses pathos. Image is hard to be a fake. So I think it uses ethos too. We can assume her life by looking her body and analyze it. Thus, the body shows one person’s life.

Prompt 3

As I look at two paintings, they have different technique of expression which makes different argument. I’m going to analysis these two paintings by several elements of visual rhetoric. First, when we look at the picture, its structure, which is arrangement of subjects, is very important. Let’s look at first painting. What is in the middle of the painting? Europeans are in the middle and Native American is in the corner of the painting. Moreover there is a tree in the corner which makes shadow. This shadow makes dark to Native American’s bodies. So I think this picture is more focused on European’s bodies and make their bodies superior than Native American’s. On the other hand, second painting’s structure is totally opposite. In the painting, Native American is in the middle. Even though European’s body is not in the corner, they are just next to Native American’s body. And there is no shadow on Native American’s bodies. Their naked bodies also make them much brighter. It means that this painting is more focused on Native American. It point out that the owner of the land is Native American. Second, we can look at the color. Both painting have similar subjects and background. But first painting is relatively darker than second one. Also, first one is less reality than second one. This makes second painting more serious and precision. Lastly, let’s consider about the text. There is some text in the first painting which we can’t ignore it. This makes viewers to understand the painting easily than the one without the text.

Prompt 2

The ‘New World Body’ was described by European travelers. The new bodies are almost naked. In contrast, European wore clothes from hat to their shoes. The new bodies also decorated with special ornament and they have their own Stanford of beauty. These are the big things which show that new bodies are different from travelers. So authors can think that the New World Body is different but still they are in upper side then the new bodies. They can think that they are normal and the new bodies are strange. Naked body shows that they are easily exposed to diseases. This means the new body is weak and uncivilized.
There should be one body which seems like the leader of the new bodies. To distinguish him from other bodies there should be special ornamentation or something like that then others. (In fact, there was no special ornamentation expect a black stick.) Because travelers think that the body with special ornamentation represents the power. In this way, the body is what they can represents their power.
The New World Body is gendered. They think women should be more pure than men. They also think the beauty of women is important. But it was hard to find the beauty they expected. Finally they think that there is no standard or rule for beauty. The new body is not beautiful by traveler’s point but it is beautiful in other point.
The bodies on the map are different from my definition of the bodies. Even though they are almost naked, they look healthier than I described. They have some clothes and tools which doesn’t make them look weak or uncivilized.

First prompt

The Body is really important to my environment. It affects every single thing in my lives. It’s one of the significant ways to show myself to many other people. I can express my personality, condition and even feelings. On the other hand, I can assume somebody’s personality, condition and feelings by looking at his body. This can be done by his clothes, ornaments, gestures and especially face expressions. There are some concepts about each element of the body. For example, let’s assume that there is a woman in clean and nice suits with a big smile on her face. Then, I can predict that she is having or had a really important and happy day. In this way, I can guess many things just by looking at the body. I meet and see many bodies everyday life. I encounter the bodies which are almost student; I can assume that by looking at their clothes, bags and faces. These bodies make argument as personal and corporate identity. Each body has their own properties and this can tell a person from any other people. So it makes argument as a personal identity. Also, I can classify bodies by my own criteria, such as race, age, gender and so on. This means the body can make argument as a corporate identity.
Let’s talk about the student body which I encounter everyday. I think the bodies are not something we forget about in higher education. The body is still important to express yourself. There would be many other ways to express yourself but I think the body is most effective way to do it. Therefore, it remains important in our society by expressing yourselves.