iMedia: Starting a Movement

In this video, a guy at a musical festival is alone, dancing for a period of time, surrounded by many other people who are sitting around him, just listening to the music. Eventually, a man joins him, and they begin to dance together. Shortly after, a third man joins them and the three of them dance for a period of time. Then, more and more people begin to dance with them. And then, people come running to dance with them.

So what does this video show?It shows how easy it is to start a movement.

And how critical is that us and our future? Extremely.

When I first watched this video, I was very surprised that this one man caused a mass amount of people to start dancing. How cool is that? People simply saw, liked it, wanted to join, and joined in. While this is just a video of people dancing, how applicable is this to the real world?

I think it's very relateable. Think of any idea someone has. They need people to support them and back it up. What if people think that idea is truly good, but don't want to be one of the only people supporting it? Once more and more people start to back it up, it's easier for them to support it as well. I recently learned about this in sociology, and the term for this is called the Asch affect. Like the video, as more and more people begin to start dancing, it is easier for the following people to join.

It is obvious to say that the original man dancing clearly does not care what others think about, and probably does not usually go with the crowd, just because that's the "norm". People like this are so important to have in our society, because they start the movements and revolutions that are needed. Without them, change wouldn't happen. And without the people that began to dance with him, the supporters, the change wouldn't happen, and we would see no change at all.

So think about this guy and how he didn't care that he was alone at first. Because that's what it takes to start a movement.

Blogging Around

The first blog I commented on was Rachel's. She wrote about modern and postmodern architecture, particularly how she thought postmodern was more aesthetically pleasing. I responded:

Rachel,
I have to say that I do agree with you that postmodern architecture is more interesting to look at. But, I still think that modern architecture has a lot to offer! Yes, a lot of times these buildings appear to have a very simple, sometimes even boring look to them, but when you really see them and think about the work and everything that went into them, it really makes you appreciate and see the true beauty they hold. I guess the different between modern and postmodern art is that with postmodern, the creativity is right there, you see it immediately, and it basically jumps out at you. But with modern architecture, you have to truly look to really see the beauty, which I think makes it all the more awesome and special, because not everything in this world is obvious.

The second blog I commented on was Sam's. She talked about metacognition and her issues and answers class. I responded:

Sam,
I also took Issues and Answers and I completely agree with you! When Mr. Zapler assigned us our first paper, I kept waiting for him to tell us what he wanted us to include, what specific things were requirements, etc. But, as the due date kept approaching, I realized that he really just wanted us to write what we truly wanted to write about on that topic, exactly like you said. At first, I was extremely frustrated because I did not know what in the world to include in the paper, or even to write about. I think you can agree with me when I say that with almost every paper we get assigned, there is a strict structure. And now that there wasn't, I was lost. But, once I got over the fact that he didn't need anything specific, I was able to write. And write, and write, and write. I totally agree with you, starting was the most difficult part!

Change of Mind: Devil Wears Prada

This past week we have focused on and talked about Postmodern and Modernism, what it actually is/means, and how it affects people. A particular clip we watched was a scene from The Devil Wears Prada. I, personally, have never seen the movie so I was curious as to how it would relate to postmodernism ideas.

The scene we watched was of Anne Hathaway not understanding why the people were making such a big deal out of which, seemingly same, belt to match with a dress. Meryl Streep then describes the importance of it, and how it has everything to do with "you".

To be honest, I'm not sure that if I had watched this scene by myself, just as a movie huddled on my couch with a blanket I would have gotten the absolute full affect of it. It would have completely gone over my head that this scene has everything to do with postmodernism.

It truly helped me to understand how, just like in the movie, extreme and even minor decisions are made, that at the time, may have nothing to do with us, but eventually have everything to do with we, the people. Those decisions, in one way or another, become the "whole". Those decision then make our decisions, whether we realize it or not.

It is an amazing idea to grasp. The choices we make are not actually our choices. They were hand picked by higher influences and eventually trickled down to whatever place or time we are in. Just like postmodernism, previous ideas influence the current ideas.

There are a million things in this world that reflect this, fashion being just one small aspect. Take advertisements for example. That is their ultimate goal; to influence the people and/or change our mind about a certain thing. Movies, television shows, magazines, celebrities, music, etc- how have they already influenced our decisions and opinion on things?