The Bataan Death March

The Bataan Death March was something new to me. I knew that during World War II the POW camps weren't the greatest, but I didn't know that there was one that treated people this cruelly. It amazes me that anyone survived it at all. The agreement during war was that it was a POW's duty to try and escape and that if they were to do so they would be left unharmed. The Japanese completely ignored this and killed POWs if they tried to escape. Comparing this with the Rape of Nanking, I'd say the Japanese were pretty horrible people and I'm surprised that we don't hold any sort of grudge against them today. Looking back at the Bataan Death March it was a pretty horrific thing, but the Japanese believed that it was more honorable to die for your homeland than to be captured. They treated their POWs according to their beliefs, which were pretty hardcore. I think that the Bataan Death March was a big surprise to me because it took place in the Philippines, and that is where my grandfather was stationed during WWII. He was part of a naval unit that built bases and repaired ships. When I was in elementary school I did a report and interviewed my grandfather about the war. I can remember asking him, "Were you ever afraid?" and he replied, "No.". My grandfather was never around any of the "action", but learning about the Bataan Death March sent a chill up my spine with the realization of how close he might have been to it.

Connection Across Time: Age of Anxiety

During the Age of Anxiety there were a lot of advances in the entertainment industry. We began to see more silent films and public radio stations. Much of these advances are still in use today. The KDKA in Pittsburgh it is still one of our nations top radio stations that has expanded into television.The KDKA radio was started because of Westinghouse Electric, which is a company worth billions today. When I received my assignment for the Age of Anxiety I called up my cousin and told her that part of my topic was KDKA. My connection across time to the KDKA is that my cousin Shannon had her first internship with KDKA television and now works in communications at Westinghouse, it is amazing that something like a radio station can expand so far and create jobs for a nice sized portion of Pittsburgh. I also find it amazing that the BBC, a public radio commissioned by Parliament, is also continuing to expand today. The BBC has gone from one radio station to about ten radio stations and over twenty television stations that are broadcast worldwide. In fact every morning on my way to school I turn on my satellite radio and listen to BBC 1 and then at night I watch BBC America. Listening to radio today we would never think that they were started to help ease tensions after a war, or that they are what evolved into the television we watch everyday.

"The Persistence of Memory"

The Persistence of Memory is probably one of Salvador Dali's most recognizable pieces. I always used to call this the painting of melted clocks. I think that Dali is trying to show that our memories are kind of like melted clocks. Obviously once a clock is broken it stays on whatever time is stopped working at. I think he showed them melted because he is trying to convey that the part of our brains that stores memories is a very desolate deserted place that we really don't visit all that often. I don't know whether or not he is trying to say we need to revisit our past more or if we need to stay in the present and let our memories become these deserted places. I always liked this painting and honestly I have no idea why, it has just always stuck out to me and has become, ironically, one of the most memorable paintings I know of.

"Guernica"

As I was reading through the book I came across this painting, it is called "Guernica" by Pablo Picasso. I read a summary on the painting that was in the book, and it said that "this is often considered his greatest work.". "Guernica" was inspired by the civil war in Spain and the bombing that took place in Guernica. At first glance I can tell that this painting is sad by the color and the expressions on faces, but I couldn't tell it was inspired by something that impacted and entire country. In the book it explained what the people were doing; the woman on the left is holding a dead child, in the center there is a speared horse and on the right there is a woman falling from a burning building. I can't help but keep staring at this painting to try and see what else is going on. One thing that makes me the most curious is the figure on the far left that looks like a bull, I am also wondering if the person on the right is dragging a severed leg behind her. This painting also has a lot of dark colors and shades of gray. I am actually kind of disturbed by this painting because in my last post I compared Picasso's painting "The Three Musicians" to what it would be like in a child's mind, this painting is something that I would certainly never want to see in a child's mind. I think that the color and the cubist techniques, of sharp lines and geometric shapes, definitely heightens the effect of this painting.

“Three Musicians” by Pablo Picasso

In class we went over Pablo Picasso and cubism. Sloane put up a slide with Picasso's "Three Musicians" as an example of cubism. I really liked that painting as soon as I saw. The thing that amazes me most about cubism is that everything is made from geometric shapes. It's hard to tell that people are in the painting from a first glance because all you see are squares and sharp lines, but when you actually look, it makes up people. I like cubism because it doesn't portray things realistically. It's almost like walking into a child's mind and seeing how they view the world. I think that Picasso had a great artistic point of view to be able to create this abstract form of art. Looking at Picasso today we remember him for his abstract style of painting, no one really ever looks back and says, "Man, that Picasso was really great at painting portraits!".

The Interpretation of Dreams

Today in class we spent a small amount of time on Sigmund Freud and The Interpretation of Dreams. Freud believed that to truly understand the human mind we need to look further into the unconscious, and the only way to get there is by observing our dreams. This is really interesting to me because I am one of those people that have weird dreams and then wakes up going "Oh, that must mean something!" Freud believes that our dreams are attempts made by our unconscious minds to resolve some kind of conflict. I really see where he's coming from because for me personally I have my most vivid dreams when I am under stress from some sort of conflict. It also makes sense because if we look at Freud's Iceberg Theory we see that our unconscious mind is made up of the id and the superego. The id being the impulsiveness of "I want it now!" and the superego being the moral "No it's wrong."These two parts are constantly conflicting which is what creates our dreams because during sleep the conscious part of our brains (ego) is not working to mediate between the two. I took Psychology last year and we spent a few weeks on Freud's ideas. I really enjoyed it and when we went over Freud a little in class it got me pepped up to go into further detail of the conscious and unconscious mind. I must say the Sigmund Freud was interesting fellow.