SNL's Git'mo Ad

Discuss.

Most Free

How / When do you feel most free? Why does this action / noun have this affect?

Birthright

Is freedom a birthright? Do all men deserve freedom and basic human rights?

Gaining Freedom

What does a human being need to go through to gain freedom? How difficult is freedom to attain?

Too Much Freedom

Can there ever be too much freedom? (For example, a complete freedom from laws results in anarchy.)

Artistic Movements

Since the invention of photography, the history of art has essentially been about radically working against the artistic traditions that came before. Is it easier to work with or against artistic traditions? In other words, which is harder - trying to embrace the methods of the past or creating an entirely new mode of expression?
***CHALLENGE: Create the next artistic movement.***

The Danger of Total Freedom

Famous filmmaker Federico Fellini (say that five times fast) said, "The greatest danger for an artist, is total freedom." Why would or how could total freedom be dangerous for an artist? What does an artist gain by letting others edit or change his/her work?

Should Art be Political?

Is art (visual, theatrical, musical, all kinds) better with or without a political message?

Rebellion

What's the most rebellious thing you've ever done? (Appropriate only please!) What motivated you? Even better: ask a parent, grandparent, etc. the most rebellious thing they ever did.

PUNK

If punk is truly an anarchic, violent, no holds-barred, spit-on-the-world kind of freedom, is punk realistic? Is punk even possible?
***CHALLENGE: Publicly perform as your punk band you formed in class.***

Relating to the Butterfly Effect

I have always felt that the course of my most subtle actions has made the biggest impact on my life. In example, if I wake up, get dressed, and go out I am not in my room sleeping anymore. What if i got into an accident and died when going out? what if I didn't get into my car at 11:47 am  to go shopping with my friends and slept? what if I asked my friends to meet me there instead of picking them up? Every decision and every action decides your next. Everything reacts based on others reactions. Not everything is as extreme as the situation i just thought up but it still proves the point that everyones actions effect other people and in the long run will tend to cause a butterfly effect.

It is how you finish

Often times people are not exactly remembered for who they are, but more of what they did in life. In sports it is often said how people only remember how you finished. Nobody will remember you for leading the race halfway through only to finish in second place. Take the 2007-2008 NFL team the New England Patriots. They went 16-0 in the regular season and then two more wins in the playoffs to make it to the big show, the Superbowl. They make it all the way to the Superbowl only to lose to the New York Giants. With this fresh in our mind we know how the Patriots came so close to being undefeated, but lost it in the end. In ten or twenty years when people think of Superbowl Bowl XLII they will remember how the Giants won it and beat the Patriots, not how the Patriots almost went undefeated.

This same though process of making sure you are remembered for what you have done is very similar to an episode of the cartoon Futurama. In the episode, A Pharaoh to Remember, Bender wants to be remembered forever for his leadership. He forces his slaves to build a massive statue of him to serve as a tribute to his fame, but in the end they destroy it and try to kill Bender. Bender realized that unless there was something big he did nobody may remember him, and sadly that is true in real life. Often times unless you have done something great or left behind something amazing of you behind the whole world won't remember you. Your family will always remember you and have pictures and memories, but aside from that this society looks for specifics to be remembered by.

On Happiness

okay... so i decided to do an interesting 'experiment'/survey (whichever you prefer to call it).
with the help of Baker (guy i work with) we came up with this question -
"is society generally more happy or unhappy".
so i surveyed 50 people - random customers at work, other mall employees, and three family members - all different races, ages, status, income, etc. and asked them that question and recorded the results in my journal. so i thought i would post the question -

IS society generally more happy or unhappy - and why?

Texting Your Way to Love

This video pertains to some of what we did at the beginning of the unit in Mrs. Deerson's class. It mocks people in today's society who are only able to form relationships with other people through technology, such as cell phones. Texting and emailing have significantly lowered our ability to interact and have made people more awkward when it comes to dating because it is so much easier just to send a text. The video seems like it's just making fun, but it has a serious point to it.

destructive behavior

so does anyone think that society actually ENCOURAGES destructive behavior?
(such as drugs, sex, image issues, etc.?)
we see such examples all over the place and some feel they are expected to follow them.
what do you think?

Our Artifacts

After we are gone and the our society has declined, what will we be remembered for? What will we leave behind as a society?

Changing Societal Values

How do you think our society's values will change in the upcoming several decades? What do you think will lead to this change?

Changed Societal Values

How have our society's values changed in the past several decades? What do you think has caused this change?

Social Norms

A "social norm" is a rule that is socially enforced. What kinds of social norms are you subject to in your life?

One or Many

Who has more influence in a Society, an individual or the general public? For example, does one artist have more power than an entire town of people? How about a politician, a factory worker, or an electrician?

How Much Do We Value Art

To what extent should the government providing funding for arts & culture? Some comparisons: the city of Berlin spends 7 times more per citizen (approx. $250 per person) on arts & culture than the US does. The US Budget for the National Endowments for the Arts and the Humanities total approx. $300 million dollars; Dept. of Education--$58 billion; Defense--$639 billion; Labor--$52 billion; Health & Human Services--$699 billion; Transportation--$67 billion.

Do Great Nations Deserve Great Art

What do you make of the National Endowment for the Arts' slogan: "A Great Nation Deserves Great Art"? Do you agree...disagree? Explain.

Town and Country

Historically, there have been many types of societies: Hunter-Gatherer, Agricultural, Industrial or Civilizations (societies with complex government). Which would you rather live in: a village with little to no technology, a small farming town, or an industrialized city? Why? Follow-up question: Does where a society exists change the way in which its people interact?

Your Own Social Network

Describe your personal social network. What are the common interests and belief systems that create a society between you?

Twilight Zonal Societies

In light of our new unit on societal values, I found one of my favorite Twilight Zone episodes. It's called "The Eye of the Beholder" and it's totally awesome. A lot of old Twilight Zone episodes address social issues like values, etc., but this episode is my ultimate favorite. I tried to find the best short video that got the message across, but if you're really interested, they have whole episodes that you can watch online. I didn't want to post them because they're about 25 minutes long.

Anyway, this video raises a lot of questions about the societal norms and values of a culture. Feel free to comment on any issue it makes you think about or your opinion of the video, etc.

Just to establish what is happening, basically the woman just had an operation on her face (her eighth or ninth, I believe) to become beautiful, which is what she's always wanted more than anything. All the nurses and doctors pity her, but at the same time are disgusted by her. They don't know whether the operation will work since it hasn't every other time she's had one, but they're removing her bandages in this scene.