Blog Post #12

what is at least one take-away from each inquiry you’ve completed so far, and where is that take-away evident in your own writing? What are some excerpts from your own writing that you might choose to highlight in your inquiry 4 project as pieces you can comment on regarding the lessons you’ve learned this semester? Be specific.

Starting with Inquiry 1, one take away from that assignment is definitely how to close read. Not only how to do it, but what to look for, and now when I watch movies I see things that I would have never pointed out before we completed this inquiry. This take away is evident in my own writing because you can see in Inquiry 1 that I was new to close reading, but because I chose a movie that I enjoyed I was able to pull together what I thought the first scene of catching fire was trying to portray. For Inquiry 2, one take away from that assignment is that there are many different factors that go into making a movie “good.” And a lot of those factors are pure luck and coincidence. For example, because a movie came out during the time of a great controversial era, it may become popular. Because a movie comes out during a certain time of the year may be a factor as to why it becomes popular. You can see this in my writing because the Titanic was popular for a multitude of factors. Everything from the topic it covered, the details in the movie, the actors chosen, and even the time period. For inquiry 3, the thing I took away from that is that I have not been introduced to different cultures other than my own. After looking at my canon I realize that I have all female, white texts, and that says something about the ways in which I was brought up. You can see this in my writing because I specifically mention that in my writers reflection. 

Some things I may choose to cover in Inquiry 4 will definitely be where I talk about the lake in Inquiry 1. I think that was a great example of a close reading and I am proud of the fact that I caught that and was able to relate it back to Gale’s and Katniss’ relationship. In Inquiry 2, I will want to talk about the fact that Leonardo DiCaprio was a huge part of the success of that movie. I think that is worthy to discuss in Inquiry 4 because it shows that if they were to have a “no-name” actor in that film, it wouldn’t have been as popular. And in terms of Inquiry 3, I definitely want to touch on the “female and white” aspect of my canon and writer’s reflection, just because it was something I did not expect to see from myself but that also shows something about the type of culture I grew up in. 

Blog Post #11

• Blog post #11: Again, blog any reactions you had to remainder of the inquiry 3 presentations. Did any of the texts you heard about sound interesting to you? Were there any you already knew about? What do these texts tell you about the differences or similarities between you and your classmates? What might account for these differences or similarities?

I enjoyed the presentations on Thursday a lot, but I did not connect with the texts that were presented as much as I did with the texts that were presented on Tuesday. I think a lot of the texts that were presented on Tuesday were ones that I had heard of before but had never had interaction with, so I enjoyed hearing why people enjoyed them so much. But I had not really heard of any of the texts that were presented on Thursday. However, the ones that did interest me and that I had heard of were “Grey’s Anatomy” and “House of Cards.” Grey’s Anatomy is a show that I have always been interested in watching but just never found the time to do so, but after seeing the presentation on the entire series, I was reminded that I need to start watching them. Also, House of Cards is a series I have heard is really good, but I had no idea what it was about. But after seeing the presentation I realize that it is about politics, and I am a political science major which makes the show extremely interesting to me and I think it is something I was definitely consider watching in the future. After seeing the presentations on Thursday, I got the same impression that I got on Tuesday about the differences between all of us in the class. We all hold similar morals and values and we choose texts that reflect those certain morals and values, but there is also a difference is the texts we choose due to different interests and upbringings. 

Blog Post #10

• Blog post #10: Blog any reactions you had to the inquiry 3 presentations. Did any of the texts you heard about sound interesting to you? Were there any you already knew about? What do these texts tell you about the differences or similarities between you and your classmates? What might account for these differences or similarities? 

Of the Inquiry 3 presentations I have seen, I have found that there is a lot to the people in this class that is not expressed during our time in class together. The reasons people value the texts that they do really uncovers the characteristics that make them who they are. For example, I like “Fly Away Home” because I grew up around birds and within an “animal house.” That is something that would not have been expressed in the classroom unless we did this exercise. I really thought the documentary on 9/11 was interesting and I would like to look into that. I found it interesting that Matt has met and Skype with his favorite band. I also found interesting the movie Shelbey chose with the funeral scene. There were not a lot of texts shown on Tuesday that I had previously heard about, which I thought made the presentations more interesting. Like I said before, seeing what my classmates value really expresses who they are on the inside. I think these presentations have shown that we all relatively value the same morals and look for certain things within a text, but it’s the texts that we choose to value that represents who we truly are. 

Blog Post #9

I chose to read Is the Literary Canon Still Racist and Sexist? and The Literary Canon–What Books Should Be Required Reading? After reading these two articles I have come to understand that canons can change over time. They do not constantly have to look the same and be the same for each person. I have also come to understand that when something is added to a canon, another thing on the canon must come off. I have also learned that it is possible to not change the canon itself, but to change the way people look at the canon. They definitely made me think a bit about my high school’s literary canon, considering I was not assigned any of the readings listed in these two articles. In high school, all english classes read the same 3 books throughout high school, so I was not exposed to much culture and diversity when it came to my high school’s literary canon list. These articles have shown me that canons can be changed, altered, taken away from, added to, and looked at in a whole different way as time goes on even if the canon itself has not changed. I have also learned that different people may have different perspectives on that same canon. I honestly do not see much value in the existing notions of a canon because I think it limits the amount of culture we are exposed to. If we can only strictly pick from what is on the canon, we are limiting ourselves to other things.

Potential Canon:

10,000 Miles

Fly Away Home

The Last Song

I can go the Distance-Hercules

Let it Go-Frozen

I Hope You Dance:

I Dare You to Move

Only Hope

 

Canons I have not been exposed to:

Musicals. My roommate is a theatre major and she constantly makes fun of me that I don’t know about the theatre culture and don’t appreciate musicals. I have only seen 2 musicals, but I was not exposed to them growing up so they are not on my canon because I would not consider them as important as someone else would.

Blog Post #8

• Blog post #8: Define your working thesis statement and discuss your plans for this paper. What will you be discussing and how does the research you’ve completed tie into your thesis statement? This is your chance to address anything that hasn’t necessarily made its way into your draft and outline what it is you plan to continue to work on before the final draft is due. Identify at least 2 questions you want your peer responders to address in their comments.

My working thesis will sound something along the lines of, “The 1997 version of Titanic, featuring big name actors and including one of the biggest budgets of its time, is the most popular and most remembered remake of the tragedy.” My plans for the paper will be to introduce the topic of why the titanic is a crisis in history is such a big deal to Americans and why it catches our attention. I will then compared the 1997 version to other remakes of titanic, including the 1953 version which I have a lot of information on, and talk about why the 1997 version is the most remembered. I will then build off of that and go into details about each individual point of why that version is the most popular. Most of my research, aside from the reviews I’ve had to list, have been about the titanic, the remakes, why it touches the hearts of americans, and why the 1997 version is the most popular. Some things I am still working on and plan to add into my final draft will be more reviews on other remakes of titanic. The reviews I have in my annotations are reviews from the 1997 and 1953 version, and I think it would make my paper better if I also added in reviews on the television show and short movies. This may allow for me to tie in with the genre of the 1997 version, and talk about how it is popular compared to a television show or documentary.

2 Questions:

1. Even though this is just a rough sketch, does my paper seem to have purpose and a soul topic?

2. Am I using my notations correctly?

Annotation #10

Nunn, James. “Movie Review: Titanic (1953).”jamesnunn.net. N.p., 1 May 2007. Web. 8 Mar 2014.

This is the last review that I will use in my paper. This is a review of the 1953 version of the titanic. All in all, this sources gives a good overview of what the movie was about. It even throw in some good material on how this movie is different in comparison to the 1997 version of the titanic. They stated that this version is more about the passengers and crew versus the love story the 1997 version is based off of. I will be able to use this source in my paper to come this version to other versions of the titanic, considering that is the main stem of my purpose of this paper. This review is different from the other reviews I have throughout my annotations because it is a review of the 1953 version instead of the 1997 version. This source is biased because it is a review, but since we are required to have a total of four reviews in our annotations, I thought it would be important to include another front runner of most popular versions of the titanic.

Annotation #9

“Academy Awards: Titanic.” boxofficemojo.com. Academy Awards. Web. 8 Mar 2014.

This source is not an article or journal entry, but it is a list of the budget for the film of 1997 version Titanic. This source also gives us a list of all of the awards it won. The reason this source is credible is because it comes from the list of academy award movies and I am also able to look up the funding and awards given to the 1953 version of the titanic. I will be able to use this source in my paper because I will be able to take into account the funding the movie, the awards it received, and when the movie came out to back up my claim that the 1997 version of the titanic is the most popular. If I take into account the funding and the awards, I will be able to compare it to the other versions of the titanic, especially the 1953 version, and be able to put all of these factors and statistics into my paper. I believe that the audience of my paper will appreciate it and find it more credible if there is funding and awards in the calculation for why the 1997 version is the most popular. 

Annotation #8

Burns, Laura. “Compare and contrast Titanic (1997) and Titanic (1953).” blogspot.com. N.p., 10 Sep 2012. Web. 8 Mar 2014.

This source is pretty much a summary of exactly what I am wanting to hit on in my inquiry. This is a perspective on how the 1997 version of the titanic compares to the 1953 version of the titanic. It talks about why Hollywood remakes movies, and how they do it to bring up that some things are still needed to be discussed in modern day. It talks about the different plot lines of both movies and many, many different similarities and differences between the two movies. I know that this is a blog site, so at first glance it would appear that this source is not reliable or credible. However, at the end of this source, the author has included many sources that she used to write her post. She sites them accurately throughout the post and it seems as if this source is completely reliable and credible. I will use this source more than any other source, I believe, because it hits on exactly what I am talking about in my paper. Especially since the 1997 version and the 1953 version are the biggest and most popular versions of the remake of titanic. This source is unlike any of my other sources because it doesn’t focus on a review of the movie or why titanic is still important today, but it sincerely focuses on the differences between these two movies. 

Annotation #7

Cox, Stephen. “Why the Titanic fascinates more than other disasters.” cnn.com. N.p., 9 Apr 2012. Web. 6 Mar 2014.

This source is fantastic. It practically talks about my topic exactly and it has given me a lot of good information. This source touches on why the titanic itself connects with Americans so much compared to other disasters that have happened in the past 100 years. It talks about why the titanic hit the public so hard and how because there were people on board that had to make drastic decisions in the moment that it doesn’t compare to other tragedies. The only other disaster this articles says the titanic compares to is 9/11. This is because people had to make decisions on whether they should jump or whether they should save other people, but like people on the titanic did. When they were on the ship they had to decide whether or not they should get on a life boat, stay on the ship, or save other people. It is a great conflict story, which is why it connects with the public. I can use this source in my paper to explain why americans enjoy the story of the titanic so much. it will help me to reinforce why the 1997 version is the one people connect with the most. 

Annotation #6

Ebert, Roger. “`TITANIC’S’ ENDURING POWER LIES IN HOW IT TOUCHES OUR FEELINGS ABOUT LIFE, DEATH.” rogerebert.com. N.p., 3 Mar 1998. Web. 6 Mar 2014.

This is probably one of the better reviews I have found about the 1997 version of Titanic. Roger Ebert is a very famous critic and I believe it is reliable and credible when referring to why this version was so popular. The only down side to this source is that it does not discuss why it was better than other versions of titanic, but that was probably not his intent when writing this review. However, there is a ton of great information packed into this review, and it talks about the fact that the movie did such a great job with reaching the emotions of the audience. Because Leo and Kate are so in love in this movie and then death happens, Ebert is convinced that the characters touched our hearts because we have all fallen in and out of love and everyone has lost someone near and dear to us. This also brings me to a different perspective that maybe it wasn’t necessarily the tragedy of the ship sinking that grabs the audience, but that love story that happens during the movie that maybe does not appear in other versions. Or maybe just not nearly as strongly. I will be able to use this source in my paper to describe why the public enjoyed the 1997 version of titanic so much. Robert Ebert had a lot of great quotes that I can use in my paper. I like the way he describes things and words his sentences, so I think this will be a fantastic source for my paper.