Empress Wu Zetian

Wu Zetian was born in 625 AD to Wu Shihuo and his second wife, Lady Yang. Her father worked in the timber industry and her family was relatively wealthy. She was said to have been a disobedient child who did not follow orders. Instead of doing things that her parents thought appropriate for women, she would spend her time reading and travelling with her family. She was particularly bright and aware at a young age, and knew much about the politics of China.

Wu was around 13 years old when she became a member of Emperor Taizong of Tang's court, as his concubine. She was reported to have been happy at the opportunity to join the court, having an ambitious eye from a young age. The Emperor died in 649, leaving his son Emperor Gaozong of Tang, ruler of China. It is said that at this point in her life, Wu was sent away from court to a nunnery, but other reports have her at court only a year later. It is unknown what occurred in this period, other than that she became the favorite concubine of the new emperor by 650 AD. 

Wu gave birth to several sons in line for the throne. Her power grew during this period, until she finally rid herself of her greatest obstacle: Gaozong's wife, Empress Wang. She told the emperor that his wife had killed his newborn child. Historians are unsure of whether Wu killed the child herself in order to blame the other woman, or Wang really did it. However, the result was Gaozong naming a new empress, Wu Zetian. 

Within their first five years of marriage, the emperor became too sick to rule. It has been said that the sickness was due to poisoning, a likely candidate of such a thing being Wu Zetian. However, nothing can be proved. Due to her husband's inability to rule, Wu took over much of the reigning power. She established a secret police force to carry out her bidding. She ordered executions and jailings for anyone who opposed her. When her husband died, she changed the order of succession so that her youngest and most vulnerable son would rule. 

 

She eventually got tired of ruling through her sons, and forced her final son to abdicate, naming herself ruler well into her life. While she ruled, she promoted the works of women throughout China. She gave political positions to women, and had scribes record the accomplishments of Chinese women. She believed that a good ruler acted towards her people as a mother towards her children. Which is easy to believe,  considering that she likely killed one or more of her children.  

She moved the country away from its reliance on military force, instead focusing on the works of scholars. The period of her rule is said to be one of the most artistic and scholarly in the history of China. She helped the poor by lowering taxes and offering public services, encouraging growth in many areas often ignored by the ancient Chinese. 

Wu also focused on religion, favoring Buddhism. She had scholars come to her court and build sculptures and temples for the gods. Her rule saw the greatest development of Chinese Buddhism in the history of the country. 

Towards the end of her long life, Wu was said to have become more fearful of those around her. She was often extremely harsh and unforgiving towards those who had offended her. Throughout her life, she'd had no fear of hurting others in order to attain security for herself. She was said to have killed many who she thought posed a threat to her rule, including almost the entirety of the Li family, who she rounded up and forced to commit suicide, suspecting that they had a claim to the throne and were plotting against her. 

Overall, Wu Zetian did many amoral things throughout her life in order to establish and hold power over others as Empress of China. However, the time of her reign saw cultural growth in China, as well as a rise in women's rights throughout the country. 

Smithsonian Magazine had this to say about the empress:

“Explaining why the empress was so reviled, then, means acknowledging the double standard that existed–and still exists–when it comes to assessing male and female rulers. Wu probably did dispose of several members of her own family, and she ordered the deaths of a number of probably innocent ministers and bureaucrats. She also dealt ruthlessly with a succession of rivals, promoted members of her own family to high office, succumbed repeatedly to favoritism, and, in her old age, maintained what amounted to a harem of virile young men. None of these actions, though, would have attracted criticism had she been a man. Every Chinese emperor had concubines, and most had favorites; few came to power, or stayed there, without the use of violence. Taizong forced the abdication of his own father and disposed of two older brothers in hand-to-hand combat before seizing the throne.”

Similarly to Isabella of France and Eleanor of Aquitaine, Wu Zetian did everything to maintain power, including using the methods of men throughout the centuries, but is held far more accountable for her actions. This has much to do with the stereotyping of women as either "a bimbo or a bitch" present still today. Women are viewed in two lights, either as the stupid woman or the one who poses a threat to males, and is therefore evil. Think about it.  

Isabella of France

While last week's post focused on a woman villainized because of perceived vanity, this week's will focus on a woman who was villainized in the period in which she lived for being too assertive, putting herself into a man's role.

Isabella Capet was born circa 1294, the daughter of King Philip IV of France and his wife, Joan I of Navarre, queen consort. She had three brothers: Louis, Philip, and Charles, all of whom would come to rule France.

Isabella grew up surrounded by great wealth, as her father was famous for his obsession with wealth and power. She was given a thorough education, better than that of many noble women of her time, and developed a love of reading and learning. She was also said to have been a beauty from an early age, and her husband later gave her the nickname "Isabella the Fair".

When Isabella was still an infant, war broke out between France, her homeland, and England, which had had strained relations in the past. The pope was so concerned by the tension that he got involved, urging Isabella's father to betroth the baby to Edward II, the son of Edward I, the reigning King of England at the time, in order to make peace between the warring countries.

In 1308, when Isabella was between the ages of 12 and 15, she married King Edward II, who had been ruling since his father's death. Unfortunately, Isabella and her husband did not have a happy marriage. Edward was not only unfaithful, but proudly so, and his affairs were always with other men, something which angered Isabella. He would often show them off in front of the court, something which she found humiliating. He showered his lover, Piers Gaveston, with abundant wealth, and often ignored his queen in front of others, including at their wedding feast. 

Gaveston was also not popular among the others at court, and found himself exiled from England until his later return and execution in 1312. Soon after his exile, Edward took a liking to another at court, Hugh Despenser the younger. 

During this time, Edward was becoming a very unpopular King, especially among his own advisers  for ignoring his duties in favor of showing off his favorite men. The Despensers were becoming far too powerful in the eyes of the English barons, as well as Isabella. The barons began to take military actions against the family, and Isabella begged Edward to exile them, for their own good. Edward listened for a short time, but invited them back only months later. 

Reunited with his lover, the two began to fight back against the barons, hanging those who opposed them, and imprisoning and executing others at random. The Despensers now had complete control over Edward and the entire country, seizing control of Isabella's money and houses. Edward did nothing to improve his wife's situation, openly siding with the Despensers. In 1322, Isabella left court, angry with her husband's treatment of her, to embark on a ten month pilgrimage. When she returned, she found that her staff had been imprisoned and her children taken away from her. In her mind, this was the end of her marriage.

In 1325, Isabella's brother, the King of France, seized some of Edward's land in France. Isabella was sent as a delegate to preserve peace between the two countries. Instead, Isabella, along with Roger Mortimer, an earl and her lover, gathered support against her husband among the French. They were successful in regaining England, and Isabella saw the Despensers executed in a gruesome manner and her husband unseated from the throne as well as publicly humiliated. Isabella's son, Edward III, inherited the throne, and she later also had her husband killed. 

Soon after, her ruling son rebelled against her, having Mortimer killed, and Isabella banished from court. She lived out the rest of her life at Norfolk, where she died in 1358. 

Isabella was a ruthless ruler who used her resentment as a weapon against her husband, and punished heavily for wrongdoings. However, it should be noted that this type of behavior was not uncommon at the time. Fora man, one would expect something like this to happen if they had been publicly humiliated, stripped of their power, and had all their possessions, and their children taken from them. Isabella saw no other way to regain her throne and her power over her own life. Her actions were not justified, but they were the only way for her to assert her power.

For someone like Isabella, being used as a pawn was something that was expected. She was a noble woman, who was sent to a foreign country as a peace negotiation. When there, she was used as a way to produce heirs for the throne, and not treated with any respect. After she finally took control, she was discarded by the son whom she had placed on the throne herself. She was used by every man in her life, and she wanted to break free from that.

The type of double standards used to villainize women like Isabella, whose actions were no worse than any man's, are still present today. Women in positions of power who make brutal decisions are criticized for being  too harsh, while men are lauded for their bravery and quick judgment. Because women are viewed as weaker than men, it is shocking to to them when women are able to be cruel, and they retaliate through this double standard.

Capture the Fall: Decaying Beauty

Shot 1: dying flower bush
Shot 2: decaying pumpkin
Shot 3: tree skyline
Shot 4: gate
Shot 5: pan up tree
Shot 6: cat
Shot 7: underneath the leaves
Shot 8: treehouse
Shot 9: skeleton tree
Shot 10: chair

To create this video I thought about the themes I related to fall. I thought of death, and decay, and chose those as my themes. Then I explored some, and found some shots of the decaying leaves and dying flowers. To go along with those, I found a decaying pumpkin, showing the coming winter, and two decaying human-made objects: a chair and a treehouse. I thought these things our in nature went along with the season quite well.

Overall, I feel as though I captured the essence of what fall means to me. I found music that fit with the theme. I'm very pleased with the final video.

Reflection on Fall

The trees are in their autumn beauty,
The woodland paths are dry
Under the October twilight the water
Mirrors a still sky

--William Butler Yeats


For this assignment, I'm taking a break from the theme of this blog, and writing about my favorite season: fall.

To create this video, I thought about what fall brought to mind for me. Fall, I decided, is mostly about change. The type of change that the season of fall brings about is death. The leaves die and fall - giving the season its name - and every piece of nature prepares for the oncoming winter by either following the leaves and dying, or finding a way to hibernate.

Fall is my favorite season for precisely this reason: I love seeing the change around me happening. It makes me feel more in control of my own life. And I find the death and sleep of the natural world fascinating. I love decaying things, old things, broken things. Things that are left around to crumble on their own. Fall creates many of these images in my mind.

Leaves are captivating on their own. They grow from buds on trees into green plants. When the weather gets colder they turn golden, red, orange, and finally brown. Then they fall to the ground to become soil, so that new plants can grow. Leaves are beautiful. They are the perfect example of how life isn't a line, and doesn't revolve around one subject. Life consists of many circles and loops and it revolves around every being in the world.

Fall is cold sometimes and warm sometimes. It is the time for apple cider and hayrides and corn mazes. For carving pumpkins and eating pie and getting lost in the woods and writing a novel. It's sweaters and wool socks and sometimes shorts instead. It's everything good about winter, without being too cold.

Autumn is a great reminder about a lot of things having to do with life. That it evolves, and ends, but never fully dies. Life gives way to new life, and leaves are all part of one cycle of helping life to continue on.

This is why fall is my favorite season.

Marie Antoinette

In honor of her recent birthday, I've decided to write about one of the most interesting time periods in history, the French Revolution, through the lens of Marie Antoinette, an excellent example of the falling aristocracy of the period.

Marie Antoinette,  last Queen of France

Marie was born Maria Antonia Josepha Joanna on November 2nd, 1775 in her homeland of Austria. She was the fifteenth child in her family, and the second to last. Her mother was the Empress of Austria, and her father was the Holy Roman Emperor. She was well educated, but not extremely so. She was educated in the areas viewed as fitting for a woman, such as religion and morality. To preserve a waning alliance  between Austria and France, Marie was betrothed to an eleven-year-old boy,  Louis Auguste, the heir to the French throne. 

The King sent Marie a new tutor, who remarked that she was not unintelligent, but, "rather lazy and extremely frivolous, she is hard to teach." She was sent to France at the age of fourteen to marry a boy she had never met, and to one day rule a country she had never seen. She was said to have missed both her parents and the privacy of her home, and wept for days at a time in the French court. When the King died five years after her marriage, Marie became the Queen of France. 

Marie was not everything that people desired in their Queen. She was outspoken for a woman, and often reported to be improper in her actions and words. She enjoyed the same activities as men, but also spent a large amount of her time working on her appearance, and enjoyed balls more than anyone else at court. Her husband, however, loathed social gatherings, and found court life too exciting and improper. 

When Marie was twenty two, she gave birth to her first child, a daughter. After that she grew distant from her husband, often abandoning court life in favor of her own private estate, where she did not have to worry about ruling or gossip, two things that she despised about the French court. 

She could do nothing, however, to deter the gossip back at court. Many said that she was having an affair with Count Axel von Fersen, a Swede in the court. Others simply said that she was unintelligent, improper, and not a suitable Queen. At the same time, the economy in France was at one of its worst points of all time, and people blamed that on the rulers, both Marie and her husband. 

After the diamond necklace scandal many of the French found themselves disillusioned. Almost all 

European governments in that period gave their blind trust to the reigning monarchs. But the French no longer trusted Marie, and by default, did not trust Louis either. This troubled Marie deeply, and she took to hiding away, even building another retreat to turn to. 

In 1789, a group of commoners stormed Bastille Prison. This action started the French Revolution. Marie knew that her husband would do nothing to stop the rebellion, and so she called on her connections in other countries to help. But no one could do anything to save them. They were arrested. Louis was tried for treason and found guilty in January 1793. He was executed. 

In October of the same year, Marie was put on trial for treason, theft, and sexual abuse of her son. The male jury found her guilty of these crimes, and she was beheaded on October 16th. Even the day before her death, Marie would not admit to any crimes. She claimed that she had a free conscience. When the priest told her to have courage in the face of her death, she responded by saying, "The moment that my ills are going to end is not the moment when my courage is going to fail me." 

Marie Antoinette was an important political figure of her time and played a decisive role in the French Revolution. However, in history she is often villainized as being selfish and speaking her mind. It is important to remember when speaking about such matters that what is written about women of the past was written by those living then, and most often they were men whose views were clouded by misogyny. Marie Antoinette could not be faulted for the French Revolution, it was the inherent sexism present at court that caused any part she may have played i nthe downfall of her country. 

Eleanor of Aquitaine

For some easy facts, here's a Wikipedia overview of one of the most powerful women in history. 

Eleanor of Aquitaine lived during a time where women were rarely figureheads of power, other than as queen consorts. Although Eleanor, unlike Elizabeth, was not queen in her own right, she was an extremely  influential political figure who navigated court life with an ambitious eye, seizing opportunities at the same power that Elizabeth was born into. She was described in one account as a, "dark-eyed beauty, disconcertingly articulate, strong-minded and even jocular and not at all the modestly veiled damsel in the tower."

It is because Eleanor did not have Elizabeth's advantages of inheriting a throne that makes her so interesting. She was born the Duchess of Aquitaine in 1122. Her birth ensured her a good marriage. When she was only 15 she married King Louis VII of France. She was criticized during her short reign of being indecorous by church leaders. During the second crusade, Eleanor and Louis realized that their marriage would not work. The pope agreed to annulment of their marriage after the birth of a daughter rather than a son. Later that year, Eleanor married again, this time to the soon-to-be King Henry II of England. 

Henry II

The couple had eight children. In 1173, their son decided to rebel against Henry and usurp the throne. Eleanor, who had had enough of Henry, supported her son's revolt. Some historians believe that she herself plotted it. The Queen attempted to flee court along with her sons, but was captured by the King. She was imprisoned by her own husband for sixteen years. As her son died of sickness while fighting, he begged the King to pardon Eleanor. He was not forgiving, however.

When Henry died, Eleanor was released from prison. She was already sixty seven years old. She was said to not have shed a tear when hearing of the tragic news. Her favorite son, Richard, had inherited the throne after her husband's death.  She was back in royal favor, and accepted at court once more. While her son fought in the third crusade, Eleanor ruled England for five years. She held down the throne while it was in it's most vulnerable state: unprotected by the King. Her younger son was also vying for power. 

Richard died in battle, leaving Eleanor's younger and less competent son, John, King of England. Eleanor, securing her line, devised a scheme to marry her granddaughter to an enemy, ensuring peace. She rode to bring the boy to England amongst fighting at the age of eighty. She later had to defend borders from her own grandsons through written agreements. 

Eleanor of Aquitaine was not silenced by her role as a woman and regnant. She schemed for power, and constantly ruled over more powerful men in order to make things happen. She was forced down by both her husbands and three of her sons as she attempted to rule, but in the end, she got her say in the matter. 

Eleanor was, "beautiful and just, imposing and modest, humble and elegant," someone wrote after her death. 

Elizabeth I

In accordance with not talking about myself, because I hate that, here is my first post about history (which I cleverly chose as my blog topic so I could be sure that no one would read it).

Elizabeth Tudor (Elizabeth I of England) was my my main introduction into history, so I'll start with her.

Elizabeth Tudor was the daughter of Henry VIII of England and his second wife, Anne Boleyn. Elizabeth was born with an older half-sister, Mary, the daughter of Henry's first wife, Catherine of Aragon. Elizabeth's mother was executed for adultery when she was only three years old, leaving the toddler the rightful heir to the throne of England, as Mary had been removed from the line with her parent's divorce. This was all taken away from Elizabeth, however, when her father married again and his third wife, Jane Seymour, had a son. Edward, as a boy, was to inherit the throne, and his sons after him.

Although Elizabeth would never be a Queen, her father made sure that she was well-educated. She was an uncommonly gifted student, particularly gifted with languages. She was also recorded to be a lively girl, who loved to play outdoors with her younger brother and wished to gain her sister's appreciation.  She was favored by her father very highly at times, but would also often be banned from court for offences. Henry's fourth and sixth wives were close to Elizabeth and Edward, as they were the closest thing to maternal figures for the children.

When Elizabeth was fourteen, her father died, leaving England in turmoil. Elizabeth's brother, Edward, was first in the line of succession, but Edward was only ten years old, and therefore unfit to rule. Instead, Edward Seymour, a prominent noble, became Edward's lord protector, essentially leaving the ten-year-old a puppet King until old enough to rule in his own right.

Edward Seymour was a conniving and ambitious man who had a plan for his own family to come into power. Edward VI was always a sickly boy, and it was easy to see that he wouldn't live long. When he grew particularly ill, Seymour changed his will so as to skip over Mary and Elizabeth, declaring them bastards, and instead have the throne pass down to Henry's great-niece, who had recently married Seymour's son. He was successful in this, and Jane Grey inherited the throne and rules for nine days, until Mary overthrew her and had her executed.

Mary invited Elizabeth into her court, but forced her to practice Mary's Catholicism rather than her own Protestantism. Mary married a Spanish Prince, which angered many in the country. Elizabeth found herself the figurehead of rebellions against her own sister. She was interrogated by Mary countless times for leading rebellions against her. She was imprisoned all across England in order to stifle the outrage. Only when Mary died was Elizabeth finally able to live freely, as Mary had named her heir. At the age of 25, she became Queen.

England went on to defeat the Spanish Armada, one of the most feared powers in Europe. Elizabeth established no national religion, saying that everyone should practice their own beliefs. She never married, despite intense political pressure to do so. She said that her husband was England and that she did not wish to relinquish her power to a man, having seen it happen many times in her life.

Elizabeth successfully navigated court life at a young age, staying alive with deadly stakes at every turn. She went on to become the second Queen Regnant of England, and the first to rule without a husband.

Introduction

Unlike some of my peers report, I have a lot of passions. So narrowing them all down to one was difficult for me. I spent a lot of time thinking about a topic I could write about repeatedly, because I like consistency  Fortunately, I learned at a young age that one of my greatest passions is reading. When I was younger, I would pick up any book within arm's reach of me. Often they were my older sister's. And so it was with a book I stumbled upon in fourth grade, Beware Princess Elizabeth by Carolyn Meyer. The book was about a young woman learning to negotiate politics in the 16th century. And I found it fascinating.

This wasn't my introduction to loving history. For a long time I had been obsessed with the Magic Treehouse books. In fifth grade, I did a report where we were allowed choose any topic about gender roles in Ancient Egypt. Around the time I was eight and nine the most intriguing parts of history to me were ancient China and ancient Egypt. And I still love those periods. But this was different.

Rather than the culture of the times, a lot of books written about medieval and Renaissance periods focus more on the politics surrounding the monarchy. I was hooked. I read everything I could find about the Tudors and other nation's monarchs of the same period. I still know most about the Tudor period of English history, but my interests have broadened over time. I realized that what I loved most about Elizabeth from that first book was how she related to her femininity and used it to aid her where others thought it might hinder. As the first unmarried Queen of England, she faced many challenges. And a lot of them women still face today.

So for this blog, I want to write about history, but also the present. I want to write about women in power and how their roles have changed throughout history. By focusing each week on a different woman, past or present, and covering her story, I hope to show my passion while having fun.

Because I have fun writing about powerful women in charge. I'm a little odd.

(I tried to post this yesterday but it failed so I don't know what's up with this...)

Music Dystopia trailer

I found this sound clip on freesound.org. It is creative commons, so we can use it in our production. I like this clip because it evokes a very calm feeling in the listener. I feel as if this would work very well with the beginning of our trailer, when the protagonist is exercising her creativity and the environment is calm. It will be a sharp contrast to the rest of the trailer, which is what we wanted with the introduction.




This sound could offer the sense of contrast after the birdsongs, as it has an intense and overbearing feeling that is important to convey about the society's government. I also like how it grows louder and more intense over time, adding to the dramatic effect.


After these two clips, which would likely begin the trailer, we might want a more dynamic beat to go along with action scenes and make it more exciting, as well as fitting in with the quick cuts between shots we will be utilizing.

Title shot - sunflower seeds on the ground after game
First shot - someone throwing a ball into the backstop
Second shot - team talking between games
Third shot - ball on the mound between games
Fourth shot - putting up hair
Fifth shot - taking up bases

I used a Sony DSC-HX1 to shoot the video. I edited with iMovie '11, and the editing process went smoothly after I figured out how to import the footage.

I think my 5x5 turned out really well. I thought I used a good variety of shots and different techniques while creating it. It shows a lot of the down moments between games and after them, and I think it's very honest footage and a good representation of the spirit of the game.

For the next video challenge I think we should do a short video showing us doing something in our daily lives from an impersonal point of view. I think that would be interesting to do and to watch.

Movie Trailer Review - V for Vendetta

V for Vendetta. James McTeigue. R. 2005.
In a dystopian world, there exists a movement against the government in the form of a fighter named V (Hugo Weaving), a man trying to exact revenge for a disaster caused by the government which left him disfigured, and his gang of rebels. When Evey (Natalie Portman) becomes caught up in their schemes, she must determine whether her loyalty lies with the rebel movement or the government.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y36B71wnEq0&feature=fvwrel

V for Vendetta is an exemplary trailer because it includes suspense as well as important technical elements including film techniques such as transitions and coloration weaved throughout the building of plot and setting. The trailer opens with the main character, an average girl names Evey caught up in a much larger plot, refusing to betray someone named "V", under the threat that she will die without revealing his whereabouts. This introduction pulls the viewer in as soon as the trailer begins, creating suspense. Many questions are left open early on, including who this girl is, who she is being questioned by, who "V" is, and why she refuses to betray him. Many of these questions are not answered in the trailer, so as not to spoil the plot, which adds suspense and also makes the viewer want to watch the movie more. The fighting scenes and the exposure to the plot reveal just enough information to leave the viewer intrigued, but not so much that the viewer becomes bored. The setting also becomes more clear throughout the trailer's progression, as the voice-over and the characters describe the horrors of their situation.  V is shown as a leader of the rebel movement, but not much is revealed about his personality, leading the viewer to wonder what his relationship with Evey is, and why she becomes so dedicated to him after being captured by the government. While these elements make it interesting, the flow of the trailer is created by choppy transitions and building music, which add a feeling of tension and desperation. The coloration of the trailer is also dark, which adds to the gloomy effect of the dystopian world that V is fighting against. This trailer is very interesting because it does not become clear throughout it which characters are morally sound and which are not. V is shown only fighting, not helping people who are being hurt by society. It raises the question for the viewer of whether he has trustworthy motives. I think the beginning was one of the strongest points in the trailer, and I would like to include a starting scene like that in our trailer in order to gain the audience's attention. I also liked the idea of the short clips with the loud short beats of the music, creating a mood. The most important thing that I understood after watching this trailer is that it's good to leave some questions open throughout it, in order to captivate the viewer.

Learning Through Blogs

The article "Preparing Students to Learn Without Us" is about the idea that soon, with the abundant access to the internet among young people, teaching through that medium will become inevitable. It covers both the advantages and disadvantages of this development, ultimately giving instructions to the reader about what to do and what to avoid while conducting research through blogging. 

In the article, the author wrote, "personalizing learning means allowing students to choose their own paths through the curriculum," which was a quote that really spoke to me because this is the way I have always viewed the ideal of learning: having access to the tools necessary to succeed in doing whatever personally suits you, and what will help you learn and grow as a person. Standardizing curriculum is a concept that has never made sense to me in the way that education works in the United States. 

I like the idea of using the blogs to connect with others working on projects like the ones we're doing, because it adds another perspective. It's interesting to learn through both your teacher, your peers, and other sources, because you can find a variety of viewpoints on any one issue, which I find fascinating. 

I'm interested in writing and directing films in this class, so those might be things I could research through blogging. 

(Diigo isn't working on my computer right now for some reason, so I'll get the annotations up sometime this weekend, probably Monday.)

Diigo Movie Review Annotation Assignment

Movie Review

The movie I read a review of was The Amazing Spiderman, published in The New York Times by Manohla Dargis.

Dargis opens by introducing the history of Spiderman: the past movies, the comic books, and the reception that both have received. This is a theme that continues throughout the review as Dargis repeatedly compares and contrasts the new movie to the old. The review takes a lot of time talking about the past of the franchise and not much on the movie itself. When the review does speak about the new movie, it is mainly a plot synopsis, with added critiques of most changes. The author spends a little time lamenting the lack of acting expertise, but almost entirely forgets to talk about the cinematic aspects of the production, which are critiqued in their one line as superfluous and cheesy.

The review is written in a serious tone, but as though the author intends to be masking their personal opinion on the film while making slight digs at it. The reviewer does not recommend the film, although they do not explicitly state that. The reviewer does not rate the movie nor give away its ending.

I think that one of the major problems with the cinematic analyses last year was that we had to answer specific questions, and we weren't so much writing a review as talking about the various aspects of the film in relation to history and writing techniques. It was rather dull. It would be more interesting if we could choose any movie that we wanted to watch and be given the freedom to write a review focusing on what we wished to write about.

Filmmaking Introduction Post

Hello, my name is Katherine and this is my CAP 10 blog. I like traveling, music, and softball. I'm most interested in directing film because I like telling people what to do and bringing a vision to life. My favorite film projects were my Individual Media Project in eighth grade, where I was allowed to write, direct, and edit a short film on any topic. I decided to make mine about Alice In Wonderland, one of my favorite books. I loved this project because it allowed me to do anything I wanted, and I was given total creative control. Another project that I enjoyed was the New York Documentary Project, also in eighth grade, where we went to New York City for a week and conducted an interview with an artist, later making it into a documentary about the connection between art and its setting, in this case the city. We were given a lot of freedom to roam around the city and take b-roll, and I thought it was a lot of fun. I did all the editing in my group, and I also took a lot of the b-roll that we used.

Some ideas I have for using our blogs this year:

• We could use them to share our film projects once they're complete
• We could use them to brainstorm ideas for projects with our classmates and give each other advice on them
• We could use them to reflect on our projects