Homage and Influence in a Digital Age

For this week's blog pertaining to creativity in a digitally driven world, I've decided to place the focus of my argument and my major: filmmaking.

Artists have always cited artists who came before them as a primary influence on their work. For most creatives, they would not be who they are as artistic individuals without the people who sparked their interests in the first place. For filmmakers like D.W. Griffith who are credited for shaping film grammar as we know it today, there was no one to reference as he was forming his own path as a maverick filmmaker. Because he had no one to actively reference or pay homage to, the themes he explored in his films greatly differ from the themes of today's cineastes because of the advent of digital home video.

When the VHS was introduced in the 1980s, budding filmmakers devoured a century's worth of great films effectively changing the way films are created. They introduced a self-reflexive style or  in simpler terms made "films about films."

During Golden Age Hollywood, once first-run films had ended their theatrical runs, they more or less disappeared from the public consciousness, which created serious holes in the film history of the the world's young filmmakers.

Films were created as stand-alone stories where its characters would never speak about other films or have any awareness of the audience. As Digital Media became a valid source to gain information, the idea of "post-modernism" became introduced to both American and International Cinema.

Filmmakers such as Quentin Tarantino and Paul Thomas Anderson who spent most of youth with their eyes glued to a television devouring films from every decade exploded onto the independent film scene with films that were both reverent to the mediums history, and cut from a new, organic cloth. Now here's where digital media plays an integral part into this story...

Without the advent of home video, a film like Pulp Fiction, which has come to define the 1990s as far as film culture is concerned, could have never been created. Tarantino's universe with its references to television, movies, music and everything in between can only exist in a world that has embraced digital media as a cultural archive for artists to embrace.

It is highly likely this next generation of filmmakers will surpass Tarantino in his encyclopedic knowledge of film history with the advent of Netflix, which is essentially a one-stop film school for budding auteurs.

We have the ability to play catch up on over a hundred year's worth of great art simply by clicking a few buttons on a Netflix enabled television.

Jonathan Lethem's "The Ecstasy of Influence" recounts a story of how Bob Dylan borrowed a line from a 1958 Don Siegel noir titled, "The Lineup" for his song "Absolutely Sweet Marie." For Dylan's hearing those words had a profound effect on him inspiring him enough to write a song about it. This type of inspiration, which is brought on by other pieces of art is essential to creation. As artists, we need to be constantly aware of other artists because it helps us raise our game.

Thanks to the contributions of digital media, this is now very possible. A simple Google search will give the Dylan song and the scene from the film in one fall swoop. In short, It's an exciting time to live in if you consider how this will shape the grammar and knowledge for the next generation of artists. 

Week 4: A Visualization of the Vietnam War

This week's assignment asks us to begin creating a semester long project brief that highlights what we find most interesting about the Dega people. After mulling it over considerably, I find the most interesting thing about their culture to be their relationship with the Vietnam War.

After the fall of Saigon, Dega people began drastically emigrating from Vietnam to places such as Cambodia and of course, the United States. Actually, North Carolina to be exact. They originally occupied the large majority of the population of the Central Highlands, but have since been devolved to a small majority thanks in large part to the pressures exerted upon them during the war.

To achieve this goal, me and a few of my other classmates will visit a Dega community within the next few weeks and ask them questions pertaining to the Vietnam War. Through one-on-one interactions with them, I know I will leave with a better understanding of a culture I originally knew next to nothing about.

Framing

In the area of promotion and advertising, one uses framing to best construe a sentence, picture, or any type of communicative sales device in a way that best displays them or what they are trying to sell in a positive light. For instance, one can take a word that would ordinarily be used in a different context but then frames it in a way to best fit what they are arguing. In terms of psychology, salesman will use trigger words that have proven most effective on the psyche of the consumer which were probably obtained through market research. For example, if their product is large, they might use the word "robust" to describe its size solely because something in that word has been known to best sell units. 

The concept of framing can be extended to the work of the late philosopher and founder of the concept "the Global Village," Marshall McLuan. McLuan concluded that the "medium is the message" or in other words, the medium in which convey your message or product, regardless of its quality, defines whether a product or idea is successful. To be frank, disposable garbage can be consumed by the public if filtered through the correct packaging. This returns to the concept of framing in that the seller frames the product around a medium that is most appealing. This philosophy works all up and down the food chain. I can recall my elementary school days where a teacher would gives us a project that often came with the option to either film a video around a certain concept or take that same concept and write a report on it. While both  assignments essentially convey the same information, the films were always more strongly received because they were told through a medium with a greater immediacy. As depressing as this sounds, McLuan hypothesized that anything be sold to a global audience so long as the medium in which it is being consumed in is effective. I suppose that explains the American Idol phenomenon then. 

Throughout this entire assignment, the Shepard Fairey designed Obama poster "HOPE" has been continuously coming to mind. While many people grossly underestimate the impact this image had on the Obama campaign, I believe it was essentially to securing the youth vote that became the spine of his dominating edge. To many young voters, the ideas of politics is both uncool and full of disillusionment. To many of us, it is screwed up beyond repair and we don't believe in the power of a single vote. That is why so many young people do not typically participate in presidential elections. That is of course until 2008. Obama can be defined as a new president for more than just the obvious reason of being African-American. For one, he is the first to validate the idea of viral campaigning. But that's not really what I'm arguing here. To get back on track, the "HOPE" poster is essentially a beautiful image that if you think about it, means next to nothing. The concept of "hope" is entirely ambiguous and could be said about any candidate without them actually having to back their word considering they aren't exactly promising anything. If you believe all this to be true, I suppose McLuan is correct: The medium is the message. 

An Introduction

Greetings, Dega people! My name is Ryan Edgington. I am 18 years old and hail from sunny Los Angeles, California. I am currently a first-year film making student at the UNCSA School of the Arts in Winston-Salem, which if you've got a knack for geography, is on the complete opposite side of the country. I have always had an interest in Art, and actually began making movies before I even entered grade school. My parents gave me my first video camera when I turned six. I have one sister, Megan, who is 20 years old and attends a 4-year college in Arizona. You won't meet here but you shouldn't fret about that Degas, you're acquainted with the better half. Culturally, our family is kind of a mixed bag. My father's family tree is of English and Irish descent and has been in the United States since the early 1800s. My mother on the other hand is Greek and Italian and for lack of better phrasing just "left the boat" about 100 years ago. They go by the last name "Kridos" because their original name "Kridostopolous" was rendered too difficult to pronounce by the customs people at Ellis Island. If you are unsure what Ellis Island is, it is a port in New York City that many Europeans use to immigrate to the United States. My Mother is the executive producer of a local news show called "Good Day LA" back home, while my Father is in law enforcement. If their jobs are any indicator, they don't often see eye to eye politically. I know you guys all have families, so I thought I'd use this blog to talk about what it is like being raised in this country. If you haven't already guessed, your children are going to be exposed to things that will be completely alien to them. For starters, we are a generation of multitaskers. We as a teen culture text, peruse the internet, and accomplish classwork simultaneously. How did we acquire such a skill set? Well, we didn't. In fact, multitasking gives us marginal results in everything that we are doing. Sure, we get it all done, but don't expect bulletproof proficiency. Don't be surprised when your kids are the cellphones 24 hours a day. It's a part of our culture. Also, know that we are a much less self-serving group of people than people in your country are. Unless you are a farmer, chances are you don't spend your afternoons going out and gathering food. I for one have never been exposed to it and I cannot say I know a whole lot of people who have. I think it is a very admirable quality to your culture, and something that is underutilized in this country. As a teenager in this country, I would advise that your children learn about the concept of "peer pressure" as it is something they will face almost everyday throughout their high school years. As children get older and begin experimenting with drugs and other vices, they often want to bring their friends along for the ride and it is important that they are able to make their own path. No one should be able to talk them in to something then feel uncomfortable doing. Unfortunately, I don't know what it was like in Vietnam because I have only ever lived in the United States. However, growing up in Los Angeles exposed me to one of the most culturally diverse areas in this country. Now I've moved to North Carolina where I attend art school in the hopes of being a film director. That's my dream in life and I know that I will see to it to make that dream come true.

3/30/11 Update: Howdy, Degas! If you want to see my ancestral homeland Italy, here's a picture of me in front of the Colosseum in Rome! While my father's side is of Irish and English descent, my mother is Italian and Greek and has families who immigrated to the United States at the turn of the 20th century. I picked the Colosseum because it is the epicenter of ancient culture in Rome which during its glorious reign was the most important city in Italy, and arguably, the world.

4/1/11 Update: Here's a mosaic I made based off the work of the Vietnamese writer Thich Nhat Hahn. Hahn writing brings to mind pictures of clouds, water, grain and various other ecological images. In the mosaic, I've included all of these plus images of eyes and other religious symbols that are brought to mind when reading his words. Enjoy!