This blog is to relinquish all my thoughts to the paper. In this case, the keyboard is mightier than the soul, so therefore, I give to you my thoughts.
IDENTITY.
NARRATION.
In E.T.A. Hoffmann’s book, The Life and Opinions of Tomcat Murr, we are tossed back and forth through two different narrators, Murr and Kreisler, who interrupt each other multiple times. In my last blog on Laughter, I took this whole tangent about whether or not laughter was good for us, whether it was healthy or not. However, my mind is taking me towards a different tangent this week which will only provide further evidence to my claim that conversations and questions can continue on and on and on…FOR DAYS as I will so reluctantly admit.
Laughter can be considered a great interrupter. Period. Where to go with it now Heavy D? Hmmm…
Laughter can be used differently depending on the context we are displaying ourselves in at the time. Period. Hmmm…
Who the hell are we? Period. Hmmm…
You talking to me? You talking to ME?...There ain't no one else here so you must be talking to ME. Period. Hmmm…
Why do we switch our attitudes, emotions, responses, depending on whether we are online, or off?
Let us start there.
I have this idea in my head, and it just keeps growing and growing and growing. When we actually see ourselves, and I mean in the mirror and not in a photo on the computer, we are seeing the REAL US. Our selves. When we walk around and have conversation, laughter is sometimes used to continue the conversation, thus causing the conversation to continue. On the contrary, fake laughter could also be used to get away from the conversation we are having. It can be used as a building step to tell someone, 'Hey! I'm comfortable! You are a funny person! Let's continue talking!' or 'You are really not that funny, I am just going to laugh so that you don't feel bad, and start to say, 'oh look at the time…' and try and slip out of here…' Nevertheless, real laughter is hard to fake, as we've discussed in class. When we laugh, we can usually tell people without using words whether the laugh was real or not. We, most of the time, cannot hide the truth.
Now we can move into the Digital world. The world of not real laughter, but laughter texted, typed, symbolized through a screen of technology. It is within this screen
where fake laughter is easier to hide. Why?
Joke: Chuck Norris destroyed the periodic table, because the only element he understood was the element of surprise.
HAHAHAHA! LOL!
Was that real laughter? Take under consideration that this was the first time I have seen this joke and think Chuck Norris has a hidden fist in his beard. The truth is, it is hard to know whether it was real or not. And that is the point.
Laughter is becoming to be used very differently through digital technology nowadays, and it seems to be taking a new meaning. As we have touched base before, laughter can be used to end a conversation through text using 'LOL'. It is beginning to become the end of conversation. It is a growing trend to use 'LOL' or 'HAHA' as a way to say, 'I have nothing else to say…' Why do we manipulate laughter's intent this way?
Laughter is also known for its interruptions. Lecture hall, teacher makes a "joke", student alone laughs obnoxiously, the rest of the students laugh at her laugh moments later. OR. Someone says a funny joke, everyone laughs, one person has a funny laugh that is actually funnier than the joke. Interruptions that occur in laughter.
Now what…I have been taught that if I have run out of things to write, to write whatever is on my mind. That is what I am doing now unfortunately.
I was just told that talking to yourself is the first symptom. Thanks Ashley for pointing out the obvious.
"How many people have longboards with green wheels?! I don’t remember that guy having a beard. Then I later realized that EVERYONE who has a longboard has green wheels!" -Ashley
Thanks Ashley. You sparked a random idea, but it works.
Murr and Kreisler. Two separate identities sharing the same space in a book. We all can say we have different identities when it comes to our online/digital and real world personalities. We can hide behind a screen and display our real emotions, thoughts, etc. through a screen because no one is looking directly at our real skin. Instead, they are looking at the skin of our Facebook pages, Blogs, Twitter pages, MySpace pages, e-mails, and so forth. It is harder to hide fake laughter in the real world, but behind a screen, who can tell? We are creating our alter egos…
Brain is being downloaded to new thought stream…L...o…a…d…i…n…g…
Two identities: Murr and Kreisler. I recently I had a retreat with my RA staff in which we discussed about personal issues. Basically, it was a tear fest. And I cried first and had to leave. Who knew I would end up being the emotional one? Anyways, I had this idea that I told my staff. Me being Mexican-American, I think in both cultures. I was born in Seattle and have two Mexican parents who were born in Mexico. I am a first generation kid, growing up with white kids and growing up in a traditional Mexican household with Spanish being the primary language, Mexican food like posole, menudo, tacos, burritos, (yum…), and a sister who is 6 years older and going through her own shit too. She was born in Mexico as well. Culturally, I have had to answer from two contexts, my American side, and my Mexican side. Rarely do I answer as both. It is normally one or the other. I notice that I tend to censor myself when I am in classes or speaking with professors or on campus in general. That can be considered my American self, or westernized self. When I take on my Mexican persona, my emotion, passion, opinions, thoughts, instant reactions, are revealed more often, and my attitude that I received from my parents and sister goes along with it. This can compare to the difference in identities online and off.
Questions to further the discussion:
Why do we censor ourselves in the real world?
Are these different identities necessary for us to have?
In a time where technology is becoming the "must have" in order to "fit" in or feel accepted society, are we all doomed to hiding our real selves and displaying them on a screen?
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
This whole crazy thing about Laughter...
I find this whole idea of parasites extremely funny. Here, we have this movie called Shivers, the film we started the class with, it begins the idea within our classroom of whether or not the parasites were evil, or good, and if good, would they be considered a symbiote and not a parasite? This very idea drives me a little crazy, trying to make a justifiable claim as to whether or not it is to our advantage or to our dismay.
On my blog, you will find connections about laughter all over the page. Why? The answer could be simply, because I like to laugh, or I could take you down this path of connections and linear relations and networks all of which intermingle around the idea of laughter. Is laughter contagious? Is it good for your health? Are there any downsides to laughter? These questions could all be answered so quickly and easily, however could follow the other path and drive itself into conversations and debates about which answer is right. I love to debate and argue.
Let’s go into some analysis, shall we? Is laughter contagious? I believe that the majority opinion is ‘yes’, right? We have all experienced those moments of just hearing someone’s unique laugh in the middle of a lecture at an awkward moment and the rest of the class joining in with laughter. Then there is the idea of the ‘laugh track’ heard for the first time in 1950 on “The Hank McCune Show”. The reason why the laugh track was invented was to make up for the lack of a studio audience, and although it made up for the audience, it proved that people were more likely to laugh if the laugh track accompanied whatever the viewer was watching and/or listening. However, this laugh track could be applied almost anywhere and either A) receive laughter from viewers, B) be misunderstood or read differently and therefore, received with an unintended response away from the original purpose (but sometimes still funny), or C) carry no emotion whatsoever.
For example:
Taxi Driver with a Laugh Track
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sl5JNj2XW0A
In this clip, De Niro plays an intense ex-soldier who is forced to leave the military and gets a job as a taxi driver in the city. Although this scene was complete improv on De Niro’s part, the clip was still used in the film and has been stapled into our culture for years! People who don’t even know the movie will still use the phrase! Add a laugh track to this scene and you get the expected result: laughter.
The Shining gets a laugh track
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4a0AaQF15rc
The Dark Knight with a Laugh Track- Better audio
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p1kjOU1O_g
In these two very intense scenes, we have characters who display the opposite emotion of joy or happiness and yet, we still might get a kick out of it. Either that or we feel like the laugh track is extremely inappropriate. However, the emotions the makers of each film intended for the audience to feel are not of joy, but of stress or fear. Yet, you add a laugh track and these two scenes steer away from the anticipated emotions. People’s emotions and thoughts have been manipulated to feel the opposite.
Failed Sitcoms – Let’s Dump Dave!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leyWS_Kpxx8
In this old sitcom clip, someone added a laugh track to this clip, but the overall outcome is still not so funny (at least in my opinion). That’s the thing, the continuation or suddenness of laughter can overwhelm us and cause us to respond to it with laughter as well.
We cannot further this discussion about whether laughter was contagious without commenting on the 1962 laughter epidemic in Tanzania. What started as three girls laughing at a boarding school in an African village multiplied to 95 out of the 159 students laughing. Symptoms tied into the laughter epidemic were crying and laughter, thus, the school had to be closed and re-opened. The epidemic spread to nearby villages and by the end of it, 2 ½ years later, more than 1,000 people had been afflicted by the laughter epidemic. Now, it turns out that the epidemic was caused by either mass psychogenic illness, or mass hysteria, brought on by stress. On that note, this would be the perfect time to bring up whether laughter is good for your health. See? Questions that can continue and spread into more and more conversations or debates, just like a parasite, but is continuing this constant flow of conversation good for you?
My opinion is, of course! Just this past Friday, the 1 PM Parasites class had some Face 2 Face (F2F) time and, if people were paying attention, we call bettered from the conversation. We continued, topic after topic, to test our will to question other people’s statements, and even question our own! Whether we like it or not, conversations like the one this class had on Friday will only make us stronger, more knowledgeable people. Why? Because we can question everything, question each other, and if you are strongly opinionated towards one thing or another, your relationship with such topic grows stronger as well.
We debated about this idea of technology and its proper uses, and its considered “downsides” commented by people in the class. First, check out this clip:
Kaplan University Commercial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e50YBu14j3U
Here is my opinion towards that, as I wrap up this whole soapbox thing that I am trying to do, whether we like it or not, the times are changing. We have generations who have been introduced to the television, generations who were born with the television, generations who were introduced to computers and mobile phones, and generations who were born with the great advancements in computers and mobile phones. And now, after decades of dominance, it seems like the television is losing its grasp on its viewers. It is becoming no longer the primary, but maybe the secondary SCREEN that people decide to go spend their time with. Times are indeed changing, and educators are going to be up for a big task, educating generations that are accustomed to using technology for practically anything. Moreover, technology is also a resourceful tool to publish your own writing and research, or show the world your art, music, or whatever. Educators must be prepared to move from using old methods that worked for them, to discovering new methods to captivate their students and keep them attentive and as participators. Technology has spread and is contagious just like laughter. (AH-HA!) The question we should ask ourselves individually is, ‘Is technology good for ME, or not?’
On my blog, you will find connections about laughter all over the page. Why? The answer could be simply, because I like to laugh, or I could take you down this path of connections and linear relations and networks all of which intermingle around the idea of laughter. Is laughter contagious? Is it good for your health? Are there any downsides to laughter? These questions could all be answered so quickly and easily, however could follow the other path and drive itself into conversations and debates about which answer is right. I love to debate and argue.
Let’s go into some analysis, shall we? Is laughter contagious? I believe that the majority opinion is ‘yes’, right? We have all experienced those moments of just hearing someone’s unique laugh in the middle of a lecture at an awkward moment and the rest of the class joining in with laughter. Then there is the idea of the ‘laugh track’ heard for the first time in 1950 on “The Hank McCune Show”. The reason why the laugh track was invented was to make up for the lack of a studio audience, and although it made up for the audience, it proved that people were more likely to laugh if the laugh track accompanied whatever the viewer was watching and/or listening. However, this laugh track could be applied almost anywhere and either A) receive laughter from viewers, B) be misunderstood or read differently and therefore, received with an unintended response away from the original purpose (but sometimes still funny), or C) carry no emotion whatsoever.
For example:
Taxi Driver with a Laugh Track
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sl5JNj2XW0A
In this clip, De Niro plays an intense ex-soldier who is forced to leave the military and gets a job as a taxi driver in the city. Although this scene was complete improv on De Niro’s part, the clip was still used in the film and has been stapled into our culture for years! People who don’t even know the movie will still use the phrase! Add a laugh track to this scene and you get the expected result: laughter.
The Shining gets a laugh track
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4a0AaQF15rc
The Dark Knight with a Laugh Track- Better audio
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p1kjOU1O_g
In these two very intense scenes, we have characters who display the opposite emotion of joy or happiness and yet, we still might get a kick out of it. Either that or we feel like the laugh track is extremely inappropriate. However, the emotions the makers of each film intended for the audience to feel are not of joy, but of stress or fear. Yet, you add a laugh track and these two scenes steer away from the anticipated emotions. People’s emotions and thoughts have been manipulated to feel the opposite.
Failed Sitcoms – Let’s Dump Dave!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leyWS_Kpxx8
In this old sitcom clip, someone added a laugh track to this clip, but the overall outcome is still not so funny (at least in my opinion). That’s the thing, the continuation or suddenness of laughter can overwhelm us and cause us to respond to it with laughter as well.
We cannot further this discussion about whether laughter was contagious without commenting on the 1962 laughter epidemic in Tanzania. What started as three girls laughing at a boarding school in an African village multiplied to 95 out of the 159 students laughing. Symptoms tied into the laughter epidemic were crying and laughter, thus, the school had to be closed and re-opened. The epidemic spread to nearby villages and by the end of it, 2 ½ years later, more than 1,000 people had been afflicted by the laughter epidemic. Now, it turns out that the epidemic was caused by either mass psychogenic illness, or mass hysteria, brought on by stress. On that note, this would be the perfect time to bring up whether laughter is good for your health. See? Questions that can continue and spread into more and more conversations or debates, just like a parasite, but is continuing this constant flow of conversation good for you?
My opinion is, of course! Just this past Friday, the 1 PM Parasites class had some Face 2 Face (F2F) time and, if people were paying attention, we call bettered from the conversation. We continued, topic after topic, to test our will to question other people’s statements, and even question our own! Whether we like it or not, conversations like the one this class had on Friday will only make us stronger, more knowledgeable people. Why? Because we can question everything, question each other, and if you are strongly opinionated towards one thing or another, your relationship with such topic grows stronger as well.
We debated about this idea of technology and its proper uses, and its considered “downsides” commented by people in the class. First, check out this clip:
Kaplan University Commercial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e50YBu14j3U
Here is my opinion towards that, as I wrap up this whole soapbox thing that I am trying to do, whether we like it or not, the times are changing. We have generations who have been introduced to the television, generations who were born with the television, generations who were introduced to computers and mobile phones, and generations who were born with the great advancements in computers and mobile phones. And now, after decades of dominance, it seems like the television is losing its grasp on its viewers. It is becoming no longer the primary, but maybe the secondary SCREEN that people decide to go spend their time with. Times are indeed changing, and educators are going to be up for a big task, educating generations that are accustomed to using technology for practically anything. Moreover, technology is also a resourceful tool to publish your own writing and research, or show the world your art, music, or whatever. Educators must be prepared to move from using old methods that worked for them, to discovering new methods to captivate their students and keep them attentive and as participators. Technology has spread and is contagious just like laughter. (AH-HA!) The question we should ask ourselves individually is, ‘Is technology good for ME, or not?’
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