As a math major, I do not get to dabble in the arts very much. Even though I love to read I do not do much writing myself, as my dyslexia cultivated a particular distaste of writing at an early age. And as far as art goes I have little no artistic talent, though I wish I did. Even musically I am completely inept. Now, my siblings are a completely different story… They are both extremely talent musically and artistically. But me, not so much. I guess my right brain is lacking or something, but at any rate the arts have never been my strong suit. So, at first, I was pretty dismayed about this final project. But then I began to think of my favorite hobby in high school: Creating silly films with my friends.
My friends and I began making these silly short films in high school to kill the time. Unfortunately a lot of them are now lost or never were completed in the first place. The ones I do have are certainly not high quality- They were made strictly for fun. I also want to mention that these films are by no means solely my work. In some I acted in, some I directed, some I helped film or put together, but all were a team effort. Finally I want to mention how much these little clips mean to me. They all are represent great times in my life and remind me how much I love my friends and how lucky I am that I have had them all these years. I hope you enjoy watching them (I particularly suggest watching The Perfect Home and The Sisyphean War. They represent were we started and how we’ve grown) Â And with that let the film role…
This one is particulariy closs to my heart: The Perfect Home
These next two are just silly clips we put together for fun one afternoon:
Great Idea:
Dinner is Served:
Here’s one we put together senior year with my now boy friend: BATMAN
And finally, the absolute best: Sisyphean War
(This one was put together by my friends Chris and Mike who I live with. I only played a small part and help film it!)
I hope you enjoyed watching them! I know I had a blast making these. This blog post has made me really want to make another one! Thanks for watching 🙂
The Correspondence dinner. A very interesting night in the world of politics. Perhaps on of the few nights were it is acceptable for some one to bash the most powerful man in the country straight to his face. It is also one of the rare times we get to see the humorous side of our Presidents. These Dinners are always entertaining and hilarious, but I believe they fill a more complex niche in out political and social systems. They are not just good television, or a good laugh: These dinners spark important discussions on social and political issues alike and add some sorely needed humor to the world of politics.
The comedians and Presidents who speak at the correspondence dinners speak on topics that are usually considered taboo or would be left out of speeches and delegations to save face or political gain. But on this special night the performers and the President discuss topics under the guise of comedy that they otherwise never would. Humor opens the door to difficult conversations and important topics, and jokes point out serious issue, and irony highlights the flawed aspects of our nation. This is where the three connecting objectives of the class come in:
Ponder whether parody news is “news” or “entertainment” or something else entirely
Consider the impact of parody news on public discourse
I believe that parody news, as well as the standup at the White House Correspondence Dinner, and lots of comedy for that matter, plays a more important role in our society than just “entertainment” or “a good laugh.” Comedy spurs from pointing out absurdities in the world. When comedy is applied to social and political issues it does the same thing- Point out the absurd aspects of our government or culture, aspects that are rarely discussed otherwise. Humor is freeing in this way, as it allows hard conversations to take place in a light hearted and non-hostile environment, which can lead to great amount of change with little amounts of carnage. We can see a few examples of this in Stephen Colbert’s speech at Bush’s 2006 Correspondence Dinner.
Colbert is a king of parody news and irony. He plays the classic parody character, over exaggerating and ironically contrasting the beliefs of a group to prove their faultiness. He proudly states at the beginning of the stand up: “I believe that a government that governs best that governs least. and by these standards we have a fabulous government in Iraq.” Not only is this statement funny, but it also highlights the irony of the belief that a government that which doesn’t govern is desirable while contrasting it with an example of that very type of government that is considered to be a terrible government by the same party. He uses the same set up to discuss that Christian pull in the Republican party, saying, “I believe that everyone has the right to their own religion […] I believe there are infinite paths to accepting Jesus Christ as your savior.” Or on Fox News : “Fox news always gives two sides to every story. The presidents side and the vice presidents side.” These are not simply jokes. They all make strong statemnts and raise important questions that need to be discussed like how to run our government, what should we do in Iraq, what should the role of religion be in our country, and what kind of reporting should a news station represent? Once again, we see how his standup and parody news is not simply funny entertainment.
The White House Correspondence Dinners help define Popular Culture in three way.
1) The people 2) The topics and 3) The aftermath. The people that host, are features, and attend the correspondence dinners are literally the faces of popular culture. Just look at the list of some of the past host:Â Conan O’Brian , Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Myers, Wanda Sykes, Drew Carry, Jon Stewart, Jay Leno, Bob Hope, Bill Maher, Ray Charles, and Cecily Strong, to just name a few. Not only are the hosts important aspects of our popular culture, but so is the audience. Every year the audience is filled with political leaders, leading faces of media, and celebrities.
The topics that the hosts and Presidents discuss are also always hot topics in both the political and popular culture realms. The more relevant the joke, the more humorous and powerful. The last way these dinners help us define popular culture is how they affect the media and our national discussion, which we’ll look at in the final section of this post.
________________________________________________________________________ The Impact of Parody News on Public Discourse
Once again I would like to stretch “parody news” to cover the standup at the correspondence dinner, because they both involve similar humor and purposes. The comedians speaking at the Correspondence dinners have all made their own impact in social media and our public conversations.
Take Cecily Strong’s stand up at Obama’s 2015 Corresponded Dinner where she encourage applause for the secret service because they are the “only law enforcement agency that will get in trouble if a black man gets shot.” Or my personal favorite: Her jab at pro-life agendas…
These two jokes alone made headlines in almost every large news site and blew up social media this year. They sparked a conversation on social issues such as race and woman inequalities that are still prevalent in this country. The large coverage the dinner and her standup received spurred a change in public discourse and conversations all over the country.
Not only can this type of humor lead to shift in thought about a social issue, but they also can change the outlook about a specific person as in the case with Seth Myers slam of Donald trump in the 2011 correspondence dinner:
Either way, it is clear that this political comedy can spark huge social change, and that jokes can be more powerful than they appear.
Perhaps it’s wrong in some way, I don’t know, but I must admit; the bulk of the news I watch on television, and on the internet for that matter, is…parody. I watch pretty much every episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, a ripping satire and commentary on issues of the day, along with the 4 shows each week from Jon Stewart and the Daily Show, as well as a fair amount of Stephen Colbert and the Colbert Report. I don’t watch any other news channel. Although I listen to the news on NPR via the radio, I still get the bulk of that news from Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me.
What does this say about me? Or, about my generation, who trust Mr. Stewart more than MSNBC?
I think it says that all television news is now entertainment news, and that parody news shows at least admit this right up front, and make the audience be in on the joke. And then the parodies turn out to be the most accurate news source on so many issues, as well as funny as hell about it. What is obvious bias in televised news isn’t copped to by the networks as they attempt to feed their audiences inaccurate, bundled news bites and avoid anything that resembles truth. I find the obvious satire peppered with honest truth to have, well, more truthiness.
There has actually been a handful of documentaries that have effected my life, including  Fork over Knifes, Religulous, Jiro Dreams of Sushi, and An Inconvenient Truth. But for today’s post I decided to actually look at a much smaller scale production documentary that has shad a tangible change on my life and on all the lives of Humboldt students and staff, even if in only a small way. This documentary, titled Divide in Concord, was directed by Kris Kaczor and produced by David Regos and Jaedra Luke in 2014. The documentary follows Jean Hill on her journey to ban single sale water bottles in her town Concord, Massachusetts. She battles her local government and opposition to try to do her part in halting the growth of Great Pacific Garbage Patch. For me, this movie proves that anyone can make a difference if they believe in the cause, as well as why a ban such as Jean’s is imperative in our modern world. I highly recommend watching the video, which you can purchase on http://divideinconcord.com/purchase-film/
One thing I really did appreciate about the documentary is that it show both sides of the argument and follows both the journey to ban the plastic bottles and the journey of opposition to protect their rights. The movie captures the small town feel and the diverse personalities in Concord perfectly and is a very honest piece about hard work, small town government, and big change.
After watching this movie I have cut out single serving water bottles completely from my life, and I now bring my refillable water bottle everywhere. There are many reasons to remove plastic water bottles from your every day life, including taking water ownership away from large companies who see it as a way to make a profit rather than a piece of nature that needs to be preserved, a way to save money, and a way to decrease my own carbon foot print. I believe this small habit of using refillable waterbottles can have a huge impact on land fills and trash piles like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
Now, you might have already noticed that Humboldt State University has also implemented similar bans on water bottle sales on Campus. This is thanks to the work of a non-profit Take Back the Tap. Take Back the Tap has its own club on HSU campus which, a couple years ago now, worked to have the student body ban the waterbottles and implement the Britta refill station you see around campus today. Â I think, seeing as this decision affects all of us at HSU, it is important for all the students to educate themselves on the issue by watching Divide in Concord, doing your own research, and reading about Take Back the Tap’s goal for HSU at http://www2.humboldt.edu/wrrap/tbtt or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/HSU-Takes-Back-the-Tap/285384313457.
Journey through Mass Media and the Popular Arts 