Implicit Bias

I thought this video was actually very interesting. Even though we may not think of ourselves to have bias in certain topics, the way that we are raised and the society around us shapes our ideas and our unconscious. 

The first test I took was the race test. I went into it knowing that I was not biased but for some reason the result came up as moderately biased. I now realized that my responses on this test reflect the my social life throughout the years and how I have been raised to consider different aspects of the media. The second test I took was the age test and this one said that I actually slightly favored old people when I thought I liked young people more. Once again, I feel that this was a reflection of the way I have been raised and the comfort that I associate with old people. 

Overall, I believe that this can relate to If He Hollers Let Him Go because even the people in society who were not blatantly racist at the time of the 1940's, they were influenced by media and their views were shaped uncontrollably by the harsh conditions of this time. When mass society is racist, it is hard to change one's views even if you don't explicitly agree.

If he hollers let him go

One aspect of these novel covers that hit me as soon as I saw them was the image with the black man and the white lady. Every one seems kind of mysterious and I think this does portray the time period because relationships between black men and white women were uncommon and frowned upon by many. This is a dark part of Californian history but it is essential to understand the covers of these novels to help paint a picture of what times were like back then. One novel that I liked was the one with the black man with his fists up. I believe that this shows him as a powerhouse, ready to fight against racism in society. This image is pretty powerful and shows the strength that African American people had back in this time period.

Noir

Before learning about this critical aspect of production throughout history, I had no concept of what noir was. That being said, most movies to this day have a lot of aspects of noir in them. For example, there are many cases of fem fatale in modern action movies as well as the "detective" figure who falls in love. I find this to be very interesting because you can see this concept outside of movies in videos, games, books, etc... Furthermore, it is fascinating how much a black and white movie can draw you in; it allows me to play closer attention to the plot and discover details that I would not consider in color. 
In our noir project, we used a couple critical themes. Our fem fatale figure was a "widow" (Karli) and we have the classic detective who is trying to solve the mystery of the murder. That being said, we brought in some modern aspects as well with a storyline based on a friend group.

Intensity on film

As soon as I saw this photo I thought of the lady's husband in the noir that got murdered in the passenger's seat of the car. This photo is pretty impactful for me because you can see the surprised look on this man's face before he got his throat slit. This looks straight out of a Hollywood film but is actually reality which can give you goosebumps. Furthermore, you can see the detective in the darkness behind the murder victim just speechless at this gruesome scene. Overall, it is evident that Hollywood films got a lot of their inspiration from real events that were happening in the area at the time. This is a scene of a classic hit on a man in a car and conveys many intense aspects of crime in this area.

Fallacies

This image impacts me because of how it represents a typical family at the time. Many people come to America in search for better opportunity but the fact was at the time that most American families were just scraping by and sometimes did not have enough to even feed a family. This really has an effect on me because I picture if my family was in a position like that and also consider my ancestors who were around at this time. This relates to a common theme in the Locust of expectations versus reality because of what people come to Hollywood for. One can dream but for every success comes another person's loss and the light can not only be shun upon success in this area. If a full understanding of Hollywood wants to be obtained, one must consider the losses as well.

Hollywood

The song "Into the Great Wide Open" is really interesting because of the aspects of the California Dream it conveys. For example, when Eddie gets on the bus he goes to Hollywood in search of opportunity like most people do. The future is wide open for him. He gets a girl there and learns how to play music, eventually becoming recognized. This is something that less people are able to accomplish but still a component of life for some in Hollywood. He eventually surpasses Van Halen on the charts, which would be hard to do at this time. The fame gets to his head and he is consumed by the fallacies of society in Hollywood. This causes him to drop in the charts and causes a relationship failure with the woman that actually means something to him. He ends up right back at the tattoo shop at the end as the result of Hollywood chewing him and spitting him back out.

This theme is something that is present in Day of the Locust because of the same location of Hollywood.  I feel that Todd shares some aspects of the experience that Eddie Rebel had in the video due to the life of Hollywood being filled with ups, downs, and curveballs. The pursuit of something that is hard to attain in a city that is full of falsely lead aspirations is something that is present in the video and the book.

My community

Sage Hill School can very well be defined as a tide pool. Each category of the school represents a different aspect of the tide pool. For example, freshman are the hermit crabs with how timid they are for the most part, besides a few brave hermit crabs. The predators would be considered the teachers by some, but I would call it the overall Sage curriculum. This tends to be hard and the productive and efficient students make it out alive while others are eaten up. The water in this tide pool would be the actual Sage Hill campus itself. It contains us and sometimes restrains us. I think the seniors are the fish that are swimming around because they have a way out soon when the tide comes up: in this case the end of senior year. 

One social group that I am apart of at Sage is the Ocean Club. In this club, I am the leader which is a very honorable thing for me. That being said, the group of people doesn't really even need a leader because we get along so well. The social structure centers around the ocean and we are all equal here. The ocean unites us and provides a backbone for this community.