TIPRR 8

Prompt 1/Reading:
As I looked through the "10 Tenants of Liberal Humanitarianism," it became very obvious to me why Sharon said that this stuff would ring pretty true with us; much of this certainly coincides with my own personal convictions regarding literature. Two, specifically, jumped out at me because I feel they go hand-in-hand and because these are things that I discuss with my students on a regular basis:

1-"Good literature is of timeless significance."
2-"Human nature is essentially unchanging."

There is one reason that I chose to teach English-the literature. I have always felt that when interacting with a text, one is able to learn about life. Why is this possible? Because good literature contains universal elements that transcend time and space. Because of these universal elements and because of the consistency of human nature (or at least some aspects), no matter where or when you are reading, good literature can apply to you in some way; you can learn from it. The specific example that I've been dealing with these past few weeks is that of The Scarlet Letter. Does it have timeless significance? I say yes, and here's why: while my students will never be adulterating Puritan Women living in the mid 1600s, there are still elements of the novel that directly connect to them, now. Do we still deal with issues of love, hate, jealousy, and hypocrisy? Yes we do. Do people still feel guilt when they do something wrong, and do they sometimes take the self-deprecation a bit too far when they have "messed up"? Of course they do. Why? Because human nature remains essentially unchanged, even though the setting does not.

So what does this mean for studying media? Well, I think that it means that, just as literature has become a means of transmitting meaning by accessing universal elements within humans, there will be other pieces of new media that will be able to do that very same thing. I think we're already seeing that with various films...there are some that just seem to speak to a very wide audience, allowing them to learn and grow through their interaction with the film. I also think that we're starting to see a "canon" of film develop, much like the literary canon. Eventually, I think, there will be at least one section of that canon labeled as "timeless" because it will move across time and space as something that is more than just entertaining.

Prompt 2/"Practical Criticism":
Beyonce's video, for me, examines the double standard regarding what is acceptable for men vs. women within a relationship, but I think that this take on it may a bit feminist. Practically, it is evident that the video addresses the universal nature of people by implying the question, "How would you like it if I acted that way?" By juxtaposing the girlfriend's day with the boyfriend's day, the lyrics of the song are illustrated until the climax, when the roles reverse. At this point, when the viewer realizes that the first half was really a reversed depiction of the couple's actual in the relationship, he/she is jarred into paying attention to the message-that treating your significant other in this way (ignoring them, flirting with others, making them look stupid at parties, etc.) is hurtful. In addition, the formatting of the video is also very organic when looked at with regards to the lyrics; it makes a lot of sense to have the couple swap places-it's very effective in conveying the moral.