Art 220 Day 4

Today in class we were shown the movie "Dreams." This movie was made up of 8 shorts that had different themes, symbols, imagery, and metaphors. Each short gave the viewer a different message. The first memorable short for me was "Blizzard." In this short a group of men were traveling through a blizzard on the top of a mountain side. The men could barely walk let alone breathe and were about to give up their adventure through the cold. As the men lay down, a woman mysteriously appears. The woman goes on to tell the men that the snow was warm and that the ice was hot. The men were completely delirious listening to the woman. I think that film maker Akira Kurosawa was trying to symbolize sexes in this short. The men were shown as weak because the did not want to go on and finish the venture. The woman almost added some sort of insanity to the situation by telling the men about the snow and ice. Maybe because she was a woman depicted as a storm is why the film maker made her sound insane. Or because she was a woman is why the blizzard was so psychotic. It was left to the viewer to determine particular notions made by the film maker. Another short that was influential to me was "The Tunnel." This short started with a man walking through a tunnel when a vicious dog appears. I think that the imagery of a mad dog was to turn the man away from entering the tunnel. The dog was shown as a warning sign, DO NOT ENTER. I think that in this short the tunnel was also a symbol. It was seen as a gateway to another world. The gateway to the dead or to the afterlife. The man, ready to enter the tunnel was met by his former soldier who had passed. The man, being a commander, had to tell his fallen solider how he had passed and that he wasn't really with us. In the next scene, a whole fleet of soldiers appears from the tunnel. The commander then has to give the entire group the news of their passing. The viewer was to understand that the soldiers were not conscious of their death. This was a deep scene for me. To cope with the action of a single individual telling multiple soldiers of their deaths was incomprehensible. In my opinion The commander was confronted with mass death as an awakening. Maybe the war he was fighting for wasn't worth it. It seemed as if the commander was challenged with a responsibility he was unaware of. The responsibility of telling the human being itself that they were not living any longer. I think the commander was the one to tell them of their deaths because he was the reason of their deaths. It is the commanders job to bring home his soldiers safely and he did not. The heavy burden that was expressed was deep and felt real considering our country has soldiers at war and these responsibilities are real for some people/commanders. Another short that stuck out to me was the "Village of Watermills." This short started off with a tourist man stumbling upon a very natural yet primitive village. An old man was seen wandering the village as the tourist appeared. The old man goes on to tell the tourist about how the village operates using traditional methods. I liked how the old man went into detail how industrialzation dirties mens hearts and polutes the world. The old man's concept of how life is more enjoyable when its natural was intriging. I liked how the man emphasized that we don't need much to get by and be happy. Death was also a topic from the old man. Funerals in this village were a celebration of life and happiness. Also everyone in the village was a part of the funeral contributing to a festival of one's life. I think that the emphasis of this villages is what we should all live by. I think that living simple and off the land would benefit us all and enrich our clustered lives. Also to celebrates ones life rather than to mourn it would bring a new approach to the way we go about funerals in our society. Many metaphors in this film were deep and inspirational. The way certain things were shot also brought out different emotions. This powerful film had a lot to say and stimulated my thinking process. I liked how different shorts made me feel and how I interpreted them.

conscious-aware of and responding to one's surroundings; awake.
influential-having great influence on someone or something.
primitive-relating to, denoting, or preserving the character of an early stage in the evolutionary or historical development of something.