Life, the Universe and Everything
It's been a while again since I last did a post, mostly because reality beckons (when doesn't it?). It's my 21st birthday on Friday, so I'm going home this weekend, albeit with my boyfriend on the same train :-D I've always thought trains were sort of romantic - it's that whole 'platform encounter' thing that are always in old movies, when the train is hissing steam and the love of your life comes out of the steam and...*sighs*...a perfect movie train encounter. Also, one of my favourite films Before Sunrise starts with an encounter on a train when two people meet and fall in love with one of the best conversations in their lives - watch it, you won't regret it :) But train platforms are sad too...people having to say goodbye all the time. There's always next time though!
My project essay for my degree (a dissertation of sorts) is going to be undertaken using the subject of deafness and society - so I'm really looking forward to working out a question and researching it and so on. I'm not entirely sure what I want it to be about yet - whether it should be about the deaf community and society's perception of it or whether it should be something to do with equality/the disability question and so on. Most deaf people don't think of themselves as disabled, me included, although society is very ignorant about what being deaf involves, although I don't think this is anyone's fault in particular as modern perceptions are usually based on TV or film or stereotypes. I mean..I'm sure a lot of people would see a deaf person as being unable to interact with the world because they use sign-language or because they can't speak or use English properly.
Its quite sad really - I was watching a programme the other night (can't remember what it was called though its quite famous etc) and they made a comment about a deaf man in a theatre audience whose mobile went off and someone on stage had a go at him and told him to leave but the people on the programme were saying that why would he have a mobile in the first place or be at a theatre in the first place? Hmm...a rather ignorant view I would have to say - first of all there is texting technology and secondly, anyone can go to the cinema or theatre even if they can't follow it completely. As I mentioned in one of my other blogs, Cinema can be subtitled and theatre can also be subtitled - Stagetext do a lot of captioning around the country (www.stagetext.com). So there is no reason to make jokes like that even if they are initially funny - I laughed but felt really bad afterwards because I found it insulting and in bad taste when the laughter died down.
Anyway...I'll definitely give an outline of my project essay when I get some more ideas and talk to my project essay supervisor. The last year of Uni is actually quite scary to be honest, everything is much more serious and you feel as though everything is coming to a head - you have to work harder - this particular Sociology degree at York is all based on essays so theres no exams but it's still hard work as you have a lot of reading - although I've developed a real passion for the subject because it's so relevant to society..obviously!!
My favourite anime films ever have to be the films by Hayao Miyazaki - nobody else could make such profound statements and yet manage to make the artwork so beautiful and the characters so interesting and quirky. I am referring to the creator of Spirited Away, Kiki's Delivery Service, Howl's Moving Castle and Princess Mononoke among others. Although I've collected all the episodes of Neon Genesis Evangelion and bought the Hellsing series, and watched a couple of other Manga films, I don't exactly find them as watchable as Miyazaki's films. A lot of Manga appears samey - although I do agree that there are some extremely revolutionary films that changed the face of cinema and anime/animation out there. Films like Ghost in the Shell have obviously achieved cult recognition - but...as I usually am, I'm quite critical about film as with many things! Hmmm...a film critic..interesting idea ;) I LOVE Miyazaki's films though because they are so inventive and beautiful to watch :)
Its easy to understand entertainment/hobbies as a form of escapism - but something my boyfriend mentioned in his blog about gaming made me think about how our world sometimes seems extremely artificial. It's almost as though people have somehow stopped engaging with the real world as much as they used to. I've actually been thinking about this a great deal recently - is it harmful to spend too much of our time playing games, on the internet, watching TV and films, reading magazines, and so on? I'm not saying that doing these things is harmful, but doing them in excess probably is because I don't think people always appreciate how beautiful the real world actually is. The world itself gives us electricity, water and food, and yet a lot of people are afraid of truly connecting to the world outside our houses. I appreciate the imagination that goes into creating a good game, but yes, playing a game all day could mess with someone's mind.
I can't remember the last time I went for a walk in the woods - and I've been on some rather lovely walks (mostly when I was a child). I'm not afraid of going camping, although I would draw the line at completely natural camping as I like my showers and flushing toilets! I suppose I'm aware of entertainment such as film and games making perfect worlds on screen, creating utopias and perfect people when the real world could never be that perfect - and we should appreciate that imperfection more because it's reality.
My project essay for my degree (a dissertation of sorts) is going to be undertaken using the subject of deafness and society - so I'm really looking forward to working out a question and researching it and so on. I'm not entirely sure what I want it to be about yet - whether it should be about the deaf community and society's perception of it or whether it should be something to do with equality/the disability question and so on. Most deaf people don't think of themselves as disabled, me included, although society is very ignorant about what being deaf involves, although I don't think this is anyone's fault in particular as modern perceptions are usually based on TV or film or stereotypes. I mean..I'm sure a lot of people would see a deaf person as being unable to interact with the world because they use sign-language or because they can't speak or use English properly.
Its quite sad really - I was watching a programme the other night (can't remember what it was called though its quite famous etc) and they made a comment about a deaf man in a theatre audience whose mobile went off and someone on stage had a go at him and told him to leave but the people on the programme were saying that why would he have a mobile in the first place or be at a theatre in the first place? Hmm...a rather ignorant view I would have to say - first of all there is texting technology and secondly, anyone can go to the cinema or theatre even if they can't follow it completely. As I mentioned in one of my other blogs, Cinema can be subtitled and theatre can also be subtitled - Stagetext do a lot of captioning around the country (www.stagetext.com). So there is no reason to make jokes like that even if they are initially funny - I laughed but felt really bad afterwards because I found it insulting and in bad taste when the laughter died down.
Anyway...I'll definitely give an outline of my project essay when I get some more ideas and talk to my project essay supervisor. The last year of Uni is actually quite scary to be honest, everything is much more serious and you feel as though everything is coming to a head - you have to work harder - this particular Sociology degree at York is all based on essays so theres no exams but it's still hard work as you have a lot of reading - although I've developed a real passion for the subject because it's so relevant to society..obviously!!
My favourite anime films ever have to be the films by Hayao Miyazaki - nobody else could make such profound statements and yet manage to make the artwork so beautiful and the characters so interesting and quirky. I am referring to the creator of Spirited Away, Kiki's Delivery Service, Howl's Moving Castle and Princess Mononoke among others. Although I've collected all the episodes of Neon Genesis Evangelion and bought the Hellsing series, and watched a couple of other Manga films, I don't exactly find them as watchable as Miyazaki's films. A lot of Manga appears samey - although I do agree that there are some extremely revolutionary films that changed the face of cinema and anime/animation out there. Films like Ghost in the Shell have obviously achieved cult recognition - but...as I usually am, I'm quite critical about film as with many things! Hmmm...a film critic..interesting idea ;) I LOVE Miyazaki's films though because they are so inventive and beautiful to watch :)
Its easy to understand entertainment/hobbies as a form of escapism - but something my boyfriend mentioned in his blog about gaming made me think about how our world sometimes seems extremely artificial. It's almost as though people have somehow stopped engaging with the real world as much as they used to. I've actually been thinking about this a great deal recently - is it harmful to spend too much of our time playing games, on the internet, watching TV and films, reading magazines, and so on? I'm not saying that doing these things is harmful, but doing them in excess probably is because I don't think people always appreciate how beautiful the real world actually is. The world itself gives us electricity, water and food, and yet a lot of people are afraid of truly connecting to the world outside our houses. I appreciate the imagination that goes into creating a good game, but yes, playing a game all day could mess with someone's mind.
I can't remember the last time I went for a walk in the woods - and I've been on some rather lovely walks (mostly when I was a child). I'm not afraid of going camping, although I would draw the line at completely natural camping as I like my showers and flushing toilets! I suppose I'm aware of entertainment such as film and games making perfect worlds on screen, creating utopias and perfect people when the real world could never be that perfect - and we should appreciate that imperfection more because it's reality.
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posted by Liz at
12:07 pm
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