Now That the Class Has Come to an End...

Well, the class is officially coming to an end. Is it just me, or does it seem like this semester went by really fast? Quite honestly, I have to say that this has probably been one of the most interesting courses that I have taken thus far. I have taken a few other online courses, but this course was definitely more involved than the others, which I think was a good thing. By having so many different elements to the class, I think we were more invested in the course material.

In my opinion, the class discussions were always interesting and it was great to be able to check out everyone else's blogs to see what they thought about the films, readings, or even outside material that could be connected to the class in some way. The films themselves were very insightful. I was not the type of person that was all that interested in foreign films before (I sometimes get lost in the film trying to follow the subtitles), but I will admit that I have a new appreciation for foreign films after this semester, because all of the films that we saw were fascinating in some way. There were some stories that I liked better than others, but even in the films that didn't jump out at me in terms of storytelling, there were usually other elements such as cinematography, lighting, etc. that were really intriguing to watch.

I think that one of the biggest things that I will be taking away from this course is a better understanding of Central Asian culture. As I have mentioned before, I did not know much of anything about Central Asia a few months ago. I could name some of the countries, but that was about it. Apples are from Kazakhstan and the variety of films over the course of the semester have really opened my eyes to a region of the world that I was basically clueless about, so in that way, the course has been particularly helpful.

Well... I hope everyone has a great summer and for anyone graduating next week, congratulations and good luck!

Thoughts on the Final Paper...

Since the process of writing the final paper for the course came to an end a few days ago, I thought I would talk a little bit about it here. My paper was a formal analysis of You are Not an Orphan, which in this case focused on some of the cinematographic techniques in the film and how those techniques helped to convey the effects of the war on the characters in the film. Since the paper was set at seven to ten pages, I focused specifically on three elements of the visual aspect of the film: canted framing, close up shots of characters' faces, and frame height.

I chose this topic because You are Not an Orphan was one of my absolute favorite films that we saw this semester, and in my response paper for the film, I did sort of a mini version of this type of analysis but didn't really get into too much detail. I enjoyed looking at some of the visual components of the film in a more critical manner, so I thought it would be interesting to kind of expand on some of those ideas.

Quite honestly, the paper was more challenging to put together than I had anticipated it to be. My first draft of the paper was a little too detailed and seemed to ramble on for pages, making it kind of boring to read, in my opinion. I ended up changing the format a little bit and I think it turned out okay (I hope so anyway), but there is no denying that the process of getting the paper written in a way that was decently organized and written clearly enough to get my point across proved to be a lot more difficult than I thought it was going to be. Even so, a little bit of a challenge is a good thing, right?

Little Angel, Make Me Happy...

Well, what can I say? I thought the last film of the semester, Little Angel, Make Me Happy, was really good. It was heartbreaking to witness Georg's ordeal, but there is no denying that it was a good film. One of the things about this film that I thought was interesting (and something that everyone seemed to pick up on as well, based on the class discussions) was the fact that the Germans were portrayed as the victims, rather than the villains. This is not something that I expected to see in a film set around World War II. I guess this just goes to show that the views on foreign countries during the war that we are taught growing up may sometimes be one-sided, causing us to form our own biased opinions. It really reiterates the fact that unless a person has experienced a certain event from all possible perspectives, it is difficult to understand the effects that such an event has had on other cultures.

I know that I am about a week behind with this film, but being the last film of the semester, I had to say something about it. Looking back at all of the films that have been assigned for this class over the last few months, I can't think of any that I didn't find interesting in some way. Obviously there were some that I really liked and others that I didn't find as enthralling, but all of them taught me something about Central Asian culture and/or presented certain stylistic features that were quite fascinating to think about. I have to say that I think Little Angel, Make Me Happy was probably one of the best films of the bunch and was certainly one of the most emotional. It seemed like a good choice for the last film for the course.

Kosh ba Kosh...

Okay, so I know that I am more than a little bit behind here. With all of the end of the semester assignments that needed to be done, I kind of forgot about the last round of blogging. However, I've blogged about every film so far, so I can't start leaving them out now.

In my opinion, Kosh ba Kosh was an interesting film. It seemed like one of the more relatable films that we have seen this semester. The tumultuous relationship between Mira and her father and the bond she builds with Daler were interestingly translated on screen. I thought that the film was really interesting visually as well. I know, I know. I always talk about the visual aspects of the films, but what can I say, that is what I tend to notice most often. I actually wrote my response paper about this film on things like the framing on the staircase when Mira is introduced and the dark shadows cast over Mira and her father after their dance towards the beginning of the film. I just thought that these types of elements were interesting to look for and try to find meaning in, as with any film.

Anyway, thats all I really wanted to say about Kosh ba Kosh. Like I said, I wrote about all of the other films over the last few months, so I had to say something about this one before the end of the semester.