#POST 12: School shootings in the USA

This website is about school shootings and more particulary about the Columbine High School massacre in 1999. It's is written and maintained by C. Shepard.And i'ts about the massacre, what happened during,before and after.The author start with this webside because she was not satisfied by what the medias were saying and she wanted to find the true in orther to write the real story.At the moment she start researching informations,facts and fight against school violence.
What I find more interesting is that she knows nothing about the victims, or the shooters but she still fighting for the truth.
As far as i'am concern i think that it is very brave to go through rumours and what the medias want you to see. Finally it help the family of the victims and all the people that are concern to know the truth and probably it can help them to move on from this broken situation.
What I also find really interesting is the variety of informations that you can find in the webside. In fact, there are lot of informations about the vicitms,the shooters(we have some informations about the life of one of them and also about his personal thoughts which is very tragic and interesting at the same time),the event.It's very complete and it makes you understand very well what happened.

A photo of Jessica Holliday along with other students of Columbine High
fleeing the school was turned into a cover for Newsweek later that same month.

Teens wait anxiously outside of Columbine, fearing for those still inside.

Teachers runing away from the school.

The memorial of the victims.

The 2 movies that best deals with the issue are : Elephant by Gus Van Sant and Zero day by Ben Coccio. First of all, Elephant is based on the point of view of someone the shooters let go before the killing starts. I find it very interesting because it can represent the survivors, those who were absent by chance.We never know what can happened in life. I'ts just about moment, about situation.  People didn't really know about the Columbine before theses films.How survivors must feel when they escape to this tragic event?  It shows the weakness and the impotence of  human being in the face of death. 

Secondly Zero day it shows the preparation of these attack and this film has a scene that was shot in the style of a security camera and shows students being shot in the library. So, it reinforces "the real", the impression to watch the Columbine High School massacre. It's a way to sensitize more people and make them feel more concern, in other to react. People could be more shocked if the movie is inspire from a true story. 

Both of this films came out around the same time and caused a lot of confusion in viewers.

The most common reasons for the recurrence shootings in the USA are because the shooters want to get back at  those who have hurt them, make fun of them or bully them.The school shooter is always a loner. It can also be because they have problems at home or mental problems. But it is first of all acording to me because they have an easy access to guns.

POST 11- THE US GUN CULTURE

1.  Both posters are from the same campaign : "Brady campaign". The slogan is:"To prevent gun violence".
And there is also a website to join this battle: www.bradycampaign.org.
After the second constitution laws were applied to authorize the bears of arms for the security of the free State.
The Brady Campaign supports a policy platform that addresses the problem of gun violence and is driven by the opportunity to save the most lives.There are over 300 million guns in America.
These tragic deaths occur because of the weapons culture. In fact guns are integrated in the US culture.
The gun has the US flag in colours and is more modern than the poster of 2004 which is in black and white and seems to have been drawn. 
We can also see that in 2004 11.344 people were murdered by guns in the US while recently the number is lower (9.484). Besides, they have incresead in Canada and England and Wales.
The moto "God bless America" is very ironic.
Robert Lafayette Frye which was an educator and politician from the U.S. state of Louisiana sends a worried message about the absence of control of guns in his country.
This violence is part of the society.
For example, in 1999 two teenage boys at Columbine High school near Denver massacred 12 students and a teacher.
How can they manage to avoid that? Could they forbid guns after so much time?

2.

 The first graph is about gun murders compared by countries. We can see that compared to the other undevelopped countries such as Honduras, El Salvador,Guattemala, United States is 26th.
But i'ts important to add that the US is suposed to be"The best country of the world, very modern,with the best constitution,free etc..." and that countries like Honduras or El Salvador still be developing countries where violence and gangs are omnipresent. How can we compare the leading world power to the other countries?
On the other hand US is the first developed country so far compared to Norway,Australia,Canada to have the higher number of gun murder.
Which is quite contradictory and reflect a struggle in the US culture.

3.

This cartoon criticize the congress toward the gun culture in the United States. We can see two caracters in front of the Capitol. One represent the Gun Lobby and the other one the congress and the Gun Lobby is giving to the congress a lot of money.They are both smiling,which is very caricatural and ironic.The blood in the stair symbolize the fact that they have been shootings in the congress. The cartoonist criticize the access to guns, and the violence of this topic. And of course the government which is more interrested by the money than the blood.

4.

In this cartoon there are two parts. On the left, a statue which represent the second amendment we can see a soldier holding a gun and one the left a "parody" of this statue with a member of the National Rifle Association who have many guns and who is standing on munition. One looks proud while the other looks more anxious. This cartoon obviously criticize the fact that the second amendment have giving to the population of USA the right to bear arms and not to protect themselfs  anymore because this right have become a danger. It also criticize the NRA which had taking profit and made a buisness of the gun culture. 

#POST 10 BIS: TATTOOS & GANGS

First of all, tattoos has become a way of live especially to our generation and for the youth. There are many reason, it depends of the person who dit it but generally it’s because they want to be part of a group. That’s why those who belong to gangs are wearing them. It’s to be accepted , it’s to show your values, your power,your influence.

That’s the darker side of the tattoos and the fact that you can’t remove them (sometimes completely) of your body is the worst. People are « stuck » in these way of life, because of the psycological consequences and of the tattoos too because everyday it reminds them their past,their dark side.

In other hand Tattoos are seen as a form of self-expression, a way to show our individuality and the unique aspects of ourselves. To me they can be considered as a form of art because some of them are very well design, and people can work on them for years until they find the perfect drawing. Or for others they represent a part of their life, it can symbolize something very important for us,very deep. Even if there is a big disadvantage, their are forever on their skin and life is very long…

Of course , it had become also very popular and fashion.

So young people join gangs because of reasons like poverty,domestic violence,it can be the absence of autority, because they are hopeless,they have nothing to loose, they feel alone and the gangs are like a « Family »,It can be because they want to be protected, because they need something, money,to prouve themselfs something etc… Gangs are really hard.

These topics can be related with the notion of power because gangs are a way of manipulation, In fact somebody exercises a form of power on you.The fear, the violence are a very powerfull form of power which control the masses. 

And the tattoos also because they are finally a part of you, of your body it's a way to control people too, to make them "belong" to something.

#POST 9- Free post

In a world where everybody claims the freedom, Where one want the other adhere to our ideas. Human egoism, mixture, ignorance, incomprehension, madness. How is it still possible that after so much time are society hasn't changed in any kind of way? Centuries after centuries freedom of speech has been defended and fought at the risk of millions of life. If religion is the opium of the people, today they overdose.

Dread, cowardice, obscurantism, savagery, violence. How far can we go? For whom? Who are we? Sophisticated creatures capable of unconditional prowess? Or at the opposite, hybrid beasts, savage and controlled by its instincts? Against whom am I fighting today? A nation, a population, the entire world? Am I dead because my pen has grazed the paper?

Even though I'm not here anymore, I continue to live thanks to those who believe within me, thanks to those who fought, thanks to the voices which amounted, to the tears that flowed but also thanks to the democracy, the freedom, an idea, an emotion or even a smile.

I come from all the places of the world. I am those who have no rights, those that suffers in silence. I am the revolutionary thought, I am the hope, the progress, the change, the fight, the cries of despair, the courage, the bravery and the unity.I am also a muslim and I was shot in the name of God. However, we have the same religion. I died from a bullet in the head because did comedy.

I killed 12 people and injured an other 66 billion, but after all, I will be forgiven once arrived in heaven.

Idealism, utopianism? Is it still possible to dream of a world in which racial, religious or even sexual differences would be a source of wealth and not a source of conflict? In which madmen wouldn't blow themselves up in the name of ancestral legends? In which tolerance would be stronger than hate?

Today, tomorrow and all the days to come, I am Charlie. I am the peace, the solidarity, the love, the freedom of speech.

"I'd rather die standing than kneeling"

"So they killed Charlie? No. They missed their target. Charlie will live thanks to his readers, Charlie will live in spirit thanks to all of us. We all are Charlie"

"It was only pencil strokes, not gunshots"

"I do not know whether God exists or not but if does well I hope he has a good excuse"

POST 8 TIM BURTON

Tim Burton was __born______in 1958, in the city of Burbank, ___California_________.
He remains without question one of the _____most___ original film ___maker_____ working in ________cinema____ today.

 Indeed, his talent and originality have kept him at the ________ of the profession where he occupies a very special place, somewhere ____between_______ the mainstream and the avant-garde, in that region of cinema occupied by artists ______ worldview is _______ unconventional that it attains popular appeal.

In 1989, Tim Burton directed the hugely ______famous known____ Batman which, although his _______ personal film, was one of the most __famous__________ movies of all time and gave him unprecedented ___________ in Hollywood, considering the originality and adventurousness of his ____________ films (for ____example_____ Beetlejuice in 1988).

Edward Scissorhands (1990), another hit, saw him at the peak of his ________ powers and established a fruitful working ________in collaboration_____ with __the actor_________ Johnny Depp who played in his 2005 film _____________of Roald Dahl’s book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and who became one of his most esteemed __partnership________since their first film together.

In 1992, Batman Returns was a __more_____ darker film than the original, a reflection of how much ____________ freedom Tim Burton had won (___producers____ Warner Bros were reputedly unhappy with the final result).
And even _______if__ Ed Wood (1994), his loving ___________ to the life and work of the legendary ‘Worst Director of All Time’ Edward D. Wood, Jr., was a box-office disaster, it got some of the best _____critics______ of Burton’s career.

In fact, Tim Burton is ___known_____  both for his dark, quirky-themed ____films_______like Sleepy Hollow, Corpse Bride, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, or Dark Shadows (2012) and for ____________  such as Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, Batman, Planet of the Apes, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Alice in Wonderland (2010), one of his most  __famous______ films, which became the fifth highest-grossing film of all ___times____.

Burton has ______created_____ 18 feature films as of 2014, and has _________ 12 as of 2012  (among which the very nice ____________ tale called The  Nightmare Before ____christmas___________ in 1993).

All in all, Tim Burton’s films consistently challenge the spectator’s ___________, push forward the ____________ of filmmaking and bring to life previously unthinkable _____character_______ (like Edward Scissorhands).

Taken as a whole, his work ____________ on the confrontation ____________ the fantastic and the _____________, and the consequences of these two worlds intermingling.

Big Fish, Burton’s 2003 effort, is no different. And ______, somehow, it is not really the
_________.
On the surface, it would appear to have all the ___________ of a classic Burton film: a magic screenplay, fairy-tale characters, flights of imagination, forces of nature ( _as____ well __as_____ the supernatural), far-fetched situations and vastly imaginative visual style and imagery. The movie is, in fact, ________ packed with fanciful episodes that it begins to feel ____like_______ a loose adaptation of The Odyssey, told from the mouth of an aging character named Ed Bloom, a story-__________ and dreamer who sees the world with beautiful eyes.

Post ´/- The song

LYRICS:

The mayor hides the crime rate
council woman hesitates 
Public gets irate but forget the vote date 
Weatherman complaining, predicted sun, it's raining 
Everyone's protesting, boyfriend keeps suggesting 
you're not like all of the rest. 

Garbage ain't collected, women ain't protected 
Politicians using people, they've been abusing
The mafia's getting bigger, like pollution in the river
And you tell me that this is where it's at.

Woke up this moming with an ache in my head
Splashed on my clothes as I spilled out of bed 
Opened the window to listen to the news 
But all I heard was the Establishment's Blues.

Gun sales are soaring, housewives find life boring 
Divorce the only answer smoking causes cancer
This system's gonna fall soon, to an angry young tune 
And that's a concrete cold fact.

The pope digs population, freedom from taxation 
Teeny Bops are up tight, drinking at a stoplight
Miniskirt is flirting I can't stop so I'm hurting
Spinster sells her hopeless chest.

Adultery plays the kitchen, bigot cops non-fiction
The little man gets shafted, sons and monies drafted
Living by a time piece, new war in the far east.
Can you pass the Rorschach test?




Today I chose to present the song "Establishment blues" by Sixto Rodriguez, 
because I feel like the lyrics denounce very clearly the corruption and social inequalities that our society is facing. 
First of all, Sixto Rodriguez is an american folk musician from Detroit, Michigan. Even though his origins are mexican he has the american nationality. His music was completely unknown in America for years he published two albums during his life. the first one named cold fact was releaved in 1970 but was a complete slop. Indeed the disk was only sold less than a hundred copies. However the album managed t to arrived in south africa which was at the time an isoleted suffering from a severe dictatorship, the apartheid. 5 years later his album knows a great success in Africa and was solded to more than 50.000 copies.

 As a matter of fact South Africans who were victims of the apartheid which was a racist or ethnic separation discovered the right of freedom of expression.

Indeed, Thanks to this album that deals with several topics such as freedom and human rights,  A conflict started. People started to believe that it was normal to have a free opinion and be against their own society. A documentary about the life of the author is even create: Searching for Sugar Man. This man sold more album than Elvis Presley in Africa. Sixto Rodriguez were obviously censored by the regime for his words very liberator, revolutionary, committed and caused a movement of mass to the African who finds the courage to revolt in the music itself.Nevertheless pirate radios find the way to continue to broadcast its songs. The one that I have chosen : blues established.  can  be considered as the hymn for the opposition to this apartheid. Nevertheless, the life of the artist remains unknown for the African which realize after a while that they have none information about him.. This is when the rumors begin some people say that he died however several people start making some research about him and try to contact him. The most touching for me is the fact that the author was not aware of his success and that it is several years later that he learns that his songs are contributed to liberate South africa. He will then travel several times to Africa, where he will know a hit, at this moment he started to be famous all around the world.

So i chose Establishement blues because the lyrics denonces a corrupted society, social inequalities and that this song is sort a way for the africans to revolt against injustice all around us even nowadays. As the first sentence said : « the mayor hides the crime rate »which proves that no one says anything, and everything is hidden. « Public gets irate goal forget the voting day » Saying that people complain but do not react, they doesn’t do anything to change things. Everyone protests, made suggestion but do not act. women are not protected, thus showing thepart of social inequalities between women and men. "Politicians using people, They've been Abusing, The mafia's getting bigger, like pollution in the river "The politicians lies, and use week people  while  others enrich, the pollution also is not a preocupation for these politicians  who think only in money. In the following verse, Rodriguez uses this verse to talk a little about his case since emploit the pronoun "I", nevertheless it is not his battle is also one of a billion other people. The fight for freedom. Then the next ennonce more social problems such as the fact that the only solution is to get a divorce, or that smoking causes cancer, so that weapons are sold. The man has become selfish, he lost the sense of values, the weapons are more important than the love he 
no longer tries to build there to fight. He quickly abandoned. Nevertheless the sentence: "This system's gonna fall soon, to an angry young tune" which is an afirmation, invite the young to rebel,to fight in other to destrocked the regime, to transform this anger in an action. the second who deals with the prostitution, the abuse of alcoohol which are unfortunately  recurring themes in our society, these themes will be the consequence of all these inequalities, the lack of hope from the people, who no longer believes in anything. And the last deals with the war (far east) or the Rorschach test Who is a Psychological test. Some Psychologists use this test to examine a person's personality and emotional fonctionnement Characteristics. It is always a recurrent subject of several critical that we see.

So I really liked this song apart from the fact that the musicality immediately pleased but also for the message it sends. This is a song that succeeded to reunite several themes, which is very general and not only fixed on a subject and to me it gives a lot of hope. The evidence is that the South Africans were inspired to protest. On the other hand it is not only the words that give strength to the people but also the message that anyone can interpret that is that we all have the right to be free, are equal and change in this world begins with the youth that must fight to change things as did those before This song can be related with the notion locations and form of power because it proves the power of music in the world, which can really help people, give them hope and somehow contribute to change. Music is a very powerful form of power.

POST 6- Art Exhibition Review

The art exhibition "Pop art myths" is at the museum Thyssen Bornemisza from June 10 to September 14,2014 in Madrid located in the Paseo del Prado.

The webside is : http://www.museothyssen.org/
Numerous pop artists worked in this project like Lichtenstein,Warhol... (the most famous American).
The artists were also Italian: Mimmo Rotella, Spanish: Juan Genovés,French: alain Jacquet etc...
The show is now over.

Marilyn Monroe in Black and White (Twenty‐Five Marilyns)

Andy Warhol

Immediately we are immersed in the exhibition, because of the bright colours, the size of the paintings and the originality of the works. One of the characteristics of Pop Art is that every object could become art. As we can see the "brillo soap pads"  used for cleaning dishes and which can now become a piece of art. There are many comic books, or photographs of the famous Marylin Monroe. It is a really innovative movement. Some of the works arouse curiosity because of their originality and can sometimes make us laugh. The figure of Mickey is very recurrent like the numerous collages etc... And tha'ts what is worth seeing for me the fact that the artist can transform a simple picture or simple objet into a very colourful painting.Were the abstract is something gorgeous. To me, the works are very enigmatic it is true to say that some of them are very simple but it have nothing to do with the originality of the myths which is for me one of the most beautiful movement, in a esthetically way.The only thing that I could reproach to the exhibition is that the artist are only men except one woman it could be interesting to see how a woman would represent for example the "urban eroticism". And that i would like to see more photographies. Pop art is the reflection of the consumer society.

As a 12 grade High school student in Art and Litterature i am very interested in art, painting and all that is artistic. By definition Pop Art is an art movement that emerged in the mid-1950s in Britain and in the late 1950s in the United states. Pop art presented a challenge to traditions of fine art by including imagery from popular culture  such as advertising, news, etc. In pop art, material is sometimes visually removed from its known context. So it was time for a very different movement and so therefore very original. What i've found very interesting in this movement and exhibition is that the works are very simple and so they could be understood and seen by all the consumer society. I am not an expert in Pop art but I think that all the artist's had the same intention: to created something new, original and different from the others movements. Is a way for them to escape from the " Traditional artist" and this is why the objet or the painting is a reflection of the artist point of view. When I saw the exbition I had the impression of being in a dream. All these colours made me even imagine the world in a different way for a while. In addition, all techniques are used: painting, photography, collage etc... this is a unique characteristic of the pop art movement and what I loved the most. All these works have a certain way a mechanical hand, which reflects the industry of the consumerism. For me the works are worked more on their form than their meaning, which gives them an abstract side which i've found very original. However, an object can have multiple meanings depending on the viewer.  For example, Lichtenstein is inspired by comic strips sentimental it made me laugh, and particularly remembered the expectations of a pathetic society of consumerism. 

Roy LICHTENSTEIN

Forget it, forget me. 1962

The work that have caught my attention is : 

                                         

                                                                      Joe Tilson

                                                            Mantra Pool, 1975

                                                                            Milan

Joe Tilson is an English pop art painter, sculptor and printmaker.What i've found original in this work is that with one word " Pool" which can have many meanings, you can make a simply but very original, inovative piece of art. This work proves that Pop art can be very abstract but very beautiful too. Without the gradation in colour the work would not be the same and if all the work will be in color too. From yellow to green through black, red, blue... I think that this work is the most simple work in all this exhibition. However, it's the first painting that had caught my attention. What i've found the most striking is the world repeated " POOL" and the fact that there are five columns and only one is colored. What caught my attention first is obviously the colors. This work is very simple and has nothing special but this is what I prefer because it is through the abstract that each can have its own interpretation. I think this painting has no meaning and that everything is based on its aesthetic.This is why I liked it and found it original. We usually think that art is always associated with a precise critical meaning. But is not, the artist just wanted to create something innovative and operated his imagination. This is what I find absolutely fabulous with this work is that for some people, it is quite trivial and too abstract. For me it is the one that most caught my attention because it is abstract and aesthetically I loved the way it is present. I do not know if it has a history and a particular meaning but I do not think so. To conclude, there is not much to say about this picture. For me it can be referred to as one of the most original works of the exhibition.

The show is now over but there are many exhibitions of Pop art all around the world like in Paris, London, Italia and many more...