Jaws and the history

Jaws:  the history and situation:

During the 70s, Hollywood was beginning to suffer from a financial depression.   Instead of creating hundreds of movies at a time, studio’s had shifted focus into trying to create “blockbusters”.  This meant that the studio’s would dump more money into a few select movies, hoping that a few would pay for the other losses.  Before Jaws,  not many movies created a surplus of funds.  Restrictions on language, sexual content and violence had dropped and the target audience was the youth of America following the New Wave movement from France.

  Advertising had grown in media and Jaws set this precedence by releasing the movie during the peak of the summer to maximize on its thriller content.   For the first time, advertising for films became the primary focus and this was the birth of the summer blockbuster.   HBO (home block buster ) was created around this time and demonstrated it popularity by releasing programming like Jaws akin to the advertising firms.  Using a TV marketing campaign which cost $700,000, Jaws appeared in 500 theatres simultaneously and grossed over 100 million dollars leaving it as the highest grossing film at that time.

Fairy Tale

Once upon a time there was a little girl who lived high up in the mountains by herself.  She couldn’t remember how she got to the mountain top or where she came from.  The only thing she could remember is that she loved to play with dolls made out of clay. 

The clay from the high mountains wasn’t like normal clay.  When the girl created something out of this special clay, it would appear in “another place” where she could visit and adventure.  First she would fashion a small ball out of the clay about the size of her head.  Thinking that a bare rock was a pretty boring place to be, she created rivers and oceans for life to grow.  Going to this new land, she felt awfully hot, so she created some trees to shade her from the sun.   Green fields and meadows appeared and lush forests sprung from her feet.  Walking around her new world was very exciting for it was much more interesting than the fog filled mountains from where she came.  Remembering how great this world was she fell asleep on the mountain top.

The next morning she woke up and went for a walk in her new world.  Feeling lonely she created a large cat and other animals to keep her company.   Birds flew overhead and fish swam in the seas she created, however these as she talked to these animals the never responded.  She felt happy to have all these new pets, however she longed for someone to talk to.

“Dear lion” she would say, “why don’t you ever say anything interesting.  It is good to have you here following me around however I want someone to talk to.”

She thought about the animals she created and realized that they needed a voice to respond back.  Walking to the nearest lake, she looked deep into the waters and touched her reflection.  Like morning dew, the reflection stuck to her finger and she flicked it onto her newest piece of clay which resembled her, but only in a larger form.  The creations multiplied and spread through her world and she felt that it was time to introduce herself.

“There, now I will have parent to talk to and ask why I am here and what I am to do next” she said.

So she went down to see her new creatures and talked to them from the heavens, however they cowered in fear. 

“Hello!  You are to be my parents and help me understand why I am on this mountain”

As she spoke to the new creations they covered their ears for her voice was too mighty to understand and they fled even further into the forest.

“Look our God speaks to us” they would say, we must appease it by giving sacrifice and maybe it will spare us from the booming voice from the heavens.  So they took to the wilderness looking for something worthy of their god and they found a giant lion.  Killing the lion, the creations looked unto the heavens looking for sign, however the girl began to cry and the oceans of the world began to overfill.  

Seeing her creations drown under her tears, she quickly built a raft and placed a few of her favorite dolls on it.  Being distraught at how horrible this had turned out when she tried to talk to her little friends she scraped away the overflowing oceans and set the little raft down on the newly created land and left them alone so that she wouldn’t frighten them anymore. 

Dialogue

The ground reeked of death although the bodies had been buried for a week or more.  The attack left many dead, but many more were wounded in their minds.  A young boy walked down by the orchard once filled with trees, now covered by ash and char.  Walking amongst the burnt trees, Samson looked down and saw his own reflection in a puddle below. 

Letting his mind wander he saw the trees and fields around him alive with laughter.  Suddenly his reflection moved out of the corner of his eye and stared at the boys heart.  Samson’s heart beat faster and stepped out of the way.  Looking back, only his reflection remained. 

Samson said, “ I wonder if this is our future, to rape the land and its people in war and discord.”

A voice below replied, “Tis the future of those who don’t look to the future for aid.”

Samson jumped at this reply and looked down only to see his reflection looking back, not in the shock that stood upon his face, but stern in resolve.

The other Samson said, “You future will come and the choices you make will reflect the land and the people whom live on your land.  Your people.  You must understand that the head doesn’t always know the suffering carried by the feet.  Weight must be bore from the bottom up, however those at the height of power only reap but never sow.”

Suddenly a foot clad in iron stepped into the puddle and broke Samson’s daydream.  “We must continue to move young prince, the river is a bit further down. “

Walking along with his escort Samson could only wonder to what was the meaning of his daydream.

Years passed and Samson had turned into a man leading armies towards his father the King.  The King had planned an attack on a neighboring citadel.  Samson had been filled with rage over the years of war and death.   As was his custom before a battle, Samson walked down to the water and looked over the large lake.

Samson spoke aloud, “I know I have not listened over the years since my scholars said that you were my imagination.  I ask you if you are there to come and hear my call.”

Hearing the sounds of laughter, Samson looked down at the water and saw young children playing in a forest.  The children chased each other into the nearby forest except one young boy.  This young boy looked a lot like himself when he was younger. 

The boy approached Samson and said, “I thought I told you to look to the future.”

Samson said, “I did look to the future and  in that future I saw war and oppression from my enemies and their god.”

The boy asked, “Their god?  Does it make any difference that they are defending their  god as you kill for your god?

Samson said, “My god is right and just and my actions for god is excused for he is the creator and my enemies are heathens. “

The boy asked, “Does your god allow the murder of heathens  or is murder against his ideals.”

Samson said, “He said thou shall not murder, but this is different.”

The boy asked, “How exactly is this different?”

Samson said, “Well they are against god”

The boy said, “Against your god, is their god any different.”

“How should I know?”,  Samson stated.

The boy replied, “Well maybe you should find out before you betray your own integrity and your own gods laws”

Suddenly the forest behind the boy vanished and a city took its place.  This city resembled those held by the heathens and a young boy walked through the Square.  This boy resembled himself when he was younger, the only difference being the clothing favored by those in the neighboring countries.

The young boy in the water went into a large building which stood as their place of worship and listened to his elders.  The words the elders spoke sounded very similar to the ones taught by his own scholars and scribes.  It had seemed to Samson that their two worlds were very similar.

Just then Samson awoke from his dream and saw the error of his ways and how the hatred of others had filled his mind with poison.  Thinking to his youth and how happy and carefree his life once was he vowed to change his ways and put peace into the land and his people

My situation

My situation when it comes to media, reading and lit falls into a fast paced mentality.  First, i prefer to archive most of my media through technology.  Reading on the computer or other device enables me to keep my passion for knowledge and access it on the go.  Over the last few years at ringling, books haven't been my source of knowledge, but tutorial dvds to sharpen my digital art skills.   I do love stories and am always engrossed by a good tale, but I rarely get time to delve into a good book, especially in the reading sense.  However my time as a truck driver trainer gave me a unique opportunity to be drawn into the audio books.

Audio books, in my opinion helps me reach the pinnacle of my needs for speed and quality.  It takes a bit longer to listen to an audiobook then it would to actually read the work, however I can continue to preform my daily tasks while being engrossed in a captivating world at the same time.  Looking at Plato and the discussion of oratory and its merit, an audio book gives the value of listening and perceiving the authors message through the energy of the person reading the book.

PHAEDRUS

While reading Phaedrus one of the main topics into which it delves is rhetoric and whether the spoken or written word is the most adapt. Written text is a sense is immortal.  It never changes, wanes but is always interpreted.  We can assume the writers opinion, however without the chance of discourse or rebuttal with the author, we are still only assuming the final message.  Oration, however, allows us to hear the energy, and rhythm of the author.  Discourse allows us to refine our understand even further into the minds eye of the author.  The obvious disadvantage to oration is obvious, an immediate proximity to the author is needed. Oration also changes as stories are passed down and may (will) change from orator to orator.  So the energy may remain, the context will shift overtime. 


Looking at this in contrast to the lovers and non-lovers:  How can a non-lover understand something they have never delved into.  One may know that water feels cool, wet, refreshing...  but do they know the pure extacy of a refreshing swim on a hot summers day?  One may say that a non-lover may have their wits, but they only know a muddy representation of what it means to truly love.