Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Contemporary Cinema

I know I promised that I would post an awesome video of a dumb idea I had at the lake - but I don't have the video and I am waiting to get it so I can post it....

So, instead I am going to tell you about my Contemporary Cinema class.

I don't know if I told you about my scheduling nightmare this semester, so here is a really, really brief synopsis of that story:
The advisors at CGCC don't know what they are talking about, and after speaking with 3 of them and getting a huge run around, I didn't end up with any of the classes that I needed, except for the math class. Still, I needed to have at least 6 credits in order to stay in Student Housing, so I filled it in with a couple of classes that just sounded fun - yoga and Contemporary Cinema.

Well, I absolutely love my yoga class and I would like to take a yoga class every semester for the rest of my college career - shoot, for the rest of my life!

As for my cinema class - I am actually really enjoying it. I wasn't sure how I would feel about it, but it turns out I am actually really interested in film. We started out with movies in the late '60s and we have just progressed through the movies that have made an impact on culture through time. In fact, I think I could see myself looking into a future in film, like majoring in film or something.

Here is my dilemma - most of the movies we have watched are rated R. It's not as though my teacher specifically picked rated R movies, it's just that a lot of the big movies that have impacted society have been rated R. Movies like "The Graduate" and "The Godfather" and "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest". Some of these movies I have enjoyed, and some of these movies I haven't particularly cared for, but more than the movies, I really enjoy learning about how they reflected society's attitudes, or even how it molded society's attitudes towards everything. It's amazing to see.

But, I know that we have been counseled by our prophets not to watch rated R movies. I have been trying, and succeeding in this for a long time now. You see how this is a problem? Name one movie that was nominated for Best Picture this year that was not rated R (Ok, "Inception"- name 2 movies that were not rated R....). It's impossible to study film while not watching rated R films because, whether we like it or not, the big films that make an impact, are, a lot of the time, rated R.

So, while it is fascinating and probably something I could see myself going into, I don't believe I will take anymore film classes after this one. But, I am glad that I am taking this one because it truly is fascinating.

1 comment:

Whitney and Michael said...

That is a tricky one. It is sad how it turns out that way, but that is how our society is. That class reminds me of a humanities class I took last year, we would watch alot of movies in there too and then discuss how the characters went through their own heroic journeys, I loved what I learned there (and thankfully going to school at BYU-I we did't have to deal with R movies) but cuz I loved it so much, it is really fun to apply what I learned there in movies I watch now. Maybe thats a route you could go, just enjoy movies and apply what you learned from the class. By the way, I really like your new blog design, looks so fun! :)