A Picture Says A Thousand Words

A man wakes up at the crack of dawn and is embraced by a loving wife who prepares him his lunch for his long day at work. He makes his daily route towards the corner market where he is picked up by the white working truck already filled up with other working men. As they make their way towards the fields they take a look at all the houses that are beginning to light up in the sign of their awakening. The workers finally arrive to their destination, a place that has become so familiar even come close to being called their second home. No need to explain the day’s work, it has become second nature to them, the workers head out to their station and assume the position as they begin picking out the potatoes. Fellow workers gather as the bag becomes full and simply replace it with another empty bag to be filled up soon. The hard work seems to be endless especially under the scorching sun, but this is the only job an undocumented worker can obtain. He spends his whole day on his knees until the relief of the bell that informs them it’s time for lunch break, but the lunch break and the freedom from work is short lived as the fifteen minutes fly by and he has to go back to work until the sun sets and it’s time to go home. There are no wall clocks letting him know how much longer there is for work, it is the sun that tells him the time and how much further the days tasks are to remain. Once the day is gone and the sun has finally set the worker makes his way to the white working truck and follows the same route home until the next break of dawn when he once more will rise and set out to the same route till the sunset lets him free to his home.

SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS

The artist portrays the big basket which seems to be the main focus by the size of it and the fact that its centered in the painting. We then notice the man under the basket and we begin to understand that the artist main focus is the story behind the man and the big basket he is about to carry. The woman putting the basket on his back doesn't seem to be forcing it on him but seems to be doing it with ease. The painting overall doesn't have dark tones but instead halm calm warm and bright colors that give a sense that the artist Diego Rivera wanted to show the beauty of the hard work of a campesino instead of using this piece of art to portray the negativity. Instead Rivera uses the painting to glorify the hard work the campesinos go through everyday

What An Experience

In getting together as a group to figure out our presentation was very interesting. The feeling of nervousness in being the first group was one of our first thoughts but once we got our concept together I started feeling a little better. Being the only girl in the group it was interesting when Nakia presented his idea of showing the two views of birth, so to those who might have believed it was my idea you are mistaken. It was very interesting in putting our ideas together and hearing everybody's reactions to our findings. As i started searching for real live birth videos , I began debating on how raw the video should be in order to get our point across, so with that in mind I found a very graphic live birth video and then thought about the story I had seen on MTV on the show "Teen Mom", a show about the experience of teenage girls in their transitions from being a teeneager to motherhood. I chose the story of Farrah a high school cheerleader who after learning of her pregnancy chooses to keep her child and become a single mother. The clip showed a combination of the raw concept of a real birth with the universal concept of the births we see on the big screen. Unfortunately it wasn't able to play the day of the presentation so for those of you interested in watching the video here is the link

http://www.mtv.com/videos/16-and-pregnant-ep2-farrah/1628036/playlist.jhtml

you have the option of viewing her whole story or you can far forward to the birth portion it is up to you. This group project cleared up the idea that Plato had when it came to "Republic 3" and "Republic 10". The idea of showing the "Friends" video was to show what many see when it comes to birth, a comical thing, but it was clear after viewing the live birth in seeing and hearing the reactions, that there is a reason why the the "Friends" video is more acceptable in the world because people can not find themselves comfortable with the raw footage. This was a fun experience while helping understand Plato's ideas and concepts.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

We live in a world where you have to compete to be on top. Men and women both struggle day to day to have the highest paid jobs available. The question of morality comes to play, how far will you go to achieve the ultimate job opportunity and what is the price of obtaining that job and the lifestyle that comes along with the job. It could involve having to stay away from loved ones for long periods of time due to traveling or long days at the office. Every choice has an outcome that can be positive or negative; it is really up to the person if they view it in a positive or negative eye. In the discussion in the last class we concluded that
Plato was trying to sell a sense of morality through his writings.In the video “Paparazzi” by Lady Gaga, shows the reality of what striving to be famous in the crazy world of entertainment and what comes with being famous. Plato’s idea of morality is very important because to what extent is it morally correct to pry in the lives of people for the sake of earning the big bucks for the best picture and for capturing the next best scandal on film. Furthermore the idea that the world needs to know the every move of a person who happens to be talented vocally or artistically and it involves going to the extreme to capture the moment. It is to say that the role of the famous subject is to be followed and the paparazzi to pry into every aspect of their lives until they can no longer find interest in them.
In Plato's "Republic 10" in the book Classical Literary Criticism, he expresses an idea of a utopia in which each person has a role. In his ideas he expresses the importance of everyone’s role in his world and how they should go about their jobs. The paparazzo’s role in this case is to keep the readers or his audience updated on the lives of the rich and famous and do whatever it takes to make sure their shot or their story makes the biggest headlines. While this is all great for the audience, who is interested in how the rich and famous live , they don’t stop to think how the rich and famous feel in regards to being followed 24/7. The role of the rich and famous becomes that of an ant under a magnifying glass, they become the main focus of the world until the next hit star appears. It is very clear how Plato’s idea of a utopian place, a perfection where everyone knows there role and keeps up with it. The role of the famous is to continue being rich and successful so that they can provide for themselves as well as for their family members, but then comes to play the question, of how far will you strive to achieve the highest paying job. The question begins to be clear, “Is it really worth it?” and surprisingly many will say yes and back it up with its part of the job tying back to Plato’s idea of each person having its role and following it in his utopian world.