The 2000's
Kaylee Bouvia, Casey Schmidt, & Abraham Wilkins
CAK
Art
Music
9-11 by Abbas Derissi
Abbas Derissi began his careeer in Iran as a realist, he is now the Head Designer of the Iranian National TV Broadcasting and the Chairman of the Fine Art Department of Pahlavi's University.
Looking at this piece of art, one could see that the left side of the painting is considerably lighter than the right, which can be interpreted as the light that is always present in the darkest of times. This painting represents what America was going through during and after the attacks on the Twin Towers. In the corner, you can see a plane resting on the head of what appears to be a representation of Osama bin Laden, who was the leader of the terrorist attacks happening throughout the country. The numerous faces represent the people who were affected by the attacks, whether they were victims, survivors or by-standers. The hearts that are positioned throughout the piece are representative of the hearts of the American citizens- whether they were close to the victims or just feeling the helplessness of America at the time. The fact that the painting looks "cloudy" can be interpreted as how Americans remember the events of that day, and how they were basically in a haze while it was happening.
September 11th Attack by Ingrid Neuhofer Dohm
Ingrid Neuhofer Dohm was born in Austria and after moving to America realized her passion for art. She created the painting "September 11th Attack" as a memorial to the fallen shortly after the attacks that occured on September 11th, 2001.
Upon first glance of this painting, one can say that everything seems to be collapsing in, which can be interpreted as America itself collapsing after such a tragic attack, but the flag, flowers, and the "God Bless America" words across the top prove that even though it seems the country is falling, we are still united and the country will still rise above what happened. This painting can also be interpreted as a memorial site for the loss of something, in this case, the loss of the victims and the peace of the country. The candles and flowers seem to be included in the painting to emphasize the fact that this is a memorial of something lost; candles and flowers are both commonly used at memorial sites to represent unity and express sympathy to the communities and families of those who have passed away. The colors in the painting are bright, which can be interpreted as the hopefulness of the country after all hope and innocence should have been lost after the attacks.
Spirited Away directed by Hayao Miyazaki
A film about a girl thrust into the spirit world and having to save her parents, who had been turned in to pigs. Going through the her adventure she meets a lot of good friends and saves those who she met.
Spirited Away was released in 2001, the same year the World Trade Center was attacked. With the reality in Spirited Away altered, it gives the audience a sense of dread and a feeling of having to do something to change what is wrong in their lives. Which when coming into the 2000's times went from bad to worse as the years went on. The relevence to this film and how the nation felt at the time, it quite similar. Feeling of hopelessness and empowerment mixed and gave us courage to go after the problem, although with many of the problems stemming from our own faults, it gave us even more cause to find a probelm. Even though this movie is not a Disney movie, Disney was entrusted with doing the voice-over in English. Miyazaki was very picky about how he wanted the voice-overs to go and only Disney promised to not comprise the integrity of the film with trying to put in dialogue that who distract from the story line or he visuals in the film. Visually the film is very detailed and extravagant colors and creatures. Using a lot of jump cuts and varying between medium and long shots. This film uses a lot elements that are relevant to those watching it due to the characters being so relatable. The love of Chihiro, the loyalty of Lin, and the compassion of Haku gives the audience a reason to want to get lost in the film. With story line being complex enough for adults to enjoy and simple enough for children to understand it is a great movie for those of all ages. Some people might have a problem with the culture differences but for the most part it does not make it impossible to connect through cultures.
Film
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone directed by Chris Columbus, novel written by J.K. Rowling.
A film/novel about a young boy who finds out that he is a wizard and is introduced to the world that he always belonged to. But in a twist of fate he finds out that he is being targeted by powerful dark wizard, who killed his parents and is now out to get him in return. Having to go through his school year trying to figure how to defeat this wizard, takes the audience on his journey through the dangers and joys of his life.
While the novel was published in 1998, the film was released in 2001, causing an uproar of both good and bad reviews. It has created what is called the "Potter Generation," children and young adults alike coming together to love something that gets people to see past themselves and see the bigger picture of the world. During the time of its release the United States was in turmoil due to the tragedy that was the World Trade Center. With so many people feeling the loss of those who perished in the attack, having the chance to get away from it all was a welcome comfort. The idea behind Harry Potter is that love conquers evil and with that mindset it was easy for people to get behind going to wa with people who did wrong by us. Throughout the film the audience is entranced by the magic that is in the wizarding world of Harry Potter. Withthe story-line being Harry's we go through the struggle that is his life and are forced to come to terms that not everything is as black and white as we would hope it to be. With many jump cuts and following shots it is easy to move along wth the characters and understand how they feel and where they are going, most everything is explained to the audience, but still has a well developed sense of surprise when dealing with new audiences. Despite many people coming forward about how it is a bad influence on today's generations, the following for Harry Potter keeps growing. Through the years Harrry Potter has given many young people the opportunity to express themselves and bring new meaning to how we all see the world and how it should be run. It is one of the largest influences of the 2000's and anyone who says otherwise is fooling themsleves.
"Lose Yourself" by Eminem from the movie 8 Mile
The song "Lose Yourself" by Marshal Mathers aka Eminem won an academy award for best original song in 2000. It was the first rap song to win this award. It also won a Grammy in 2004 for best rap song and best rap solo performance. This song was created for the movie 8 Mile. The original song they were going to use was called Cleaning Out My Closet, but Eminem thought it was to personal for the movie. So he created Lose Yourself. The basis of the song is when he needed to prove himself a rapper to the rest of the skilled rappers at the contests he used to go to. He needed a way to escape his downtrodden life. When he first went to the contest, he got cold feet and messed up. He then returned later and seized his moment and killed it at the contest. This song was definitely important for the time because it helped pave Eminem's claim to fame. This was also around the time rap emerged as a mainstream genre in the music industry. No doubt Eminem helped with that.