Multimedia

I agree with Maria in that I think one of the coolest parts of the class was the multi media aspect. Being as this class is very historically based, often times I find those classes can be somewhat monotonous and hard to grasp everything. I usually find that I have a hard time in historical classes just with constantly reading about what happened and not having much other context. It was cool in this class that not only did we have readings, but we also did a lot with film, music, fiction writing, etc. I find that it is so much easier to get a better understanding of the historical context and what was going on with all of the different multimedia aspects. Even just the short Youtube clips that we watched that were from those different times such as the Disney clips and the Tarzan clip were really interesting to see. My friend had to do a presentation for her Fairy Tales class so we were watching trailers for the new Disney movie coming out with the African American princess. There has been a lot of controversy around this, even with minor things such as what her name should be. She is from New Orleans and meets a prince who is supposedly more “olive” skinned and is voiced by a Brazilian actor. A lot of people are wondering why she doesn’t fall in love with an African American prince while others say why should he have to be African American? I started thinking about this because of the different racisms portrayed in the old Disney and Tarzan clips. It’s interesting that even though we have made so many leaps and bounds today, those same issues are still prevalent, just in a different light and setting. Also, it has been really cool to have the music at the beginning of every class. It almost sets a tone for how the class will go, and I always really enjoy it whenever the music is specifically mentioned in our readings. For example, it was extremely interesting to get all of that historical background about songs such as “Straight Outta Compton” or “No Hay Manera” and then to study the songs and music videos in class as well. While it is possible to just listen to the songs or watch the videos on your own time, it was really interesting to get to analyze them in class together and find some deeper meaning in them. Songs like those don’t really seem like they would be analyzed or used in a collegiate course like this, so it was cool to see that it is possible to use them so in depth and study them. In terms of the readings we looked at, it always amazes me how often readings from this class are referred to in my other classes. For example, our Mike Davis reading was always brought up in our other classes and it was nice to have background on the reading and be able to have knowledge about it and refer to it. Also, our fiction readings added a cool context to the class, putting less of an analytical spin on everything. Overall, having the multi media aspect in this class really made it relatable and thoroughly enjoyable. While other classes sometimes have that same aspect, this one always had something extra going along with just the straight readings and that always kept me intrigued and wanting to do the work.