Empire and its Ruins Course Blog

While watching the film adaptation of “Women Without Men” by Shirin Neshat, a previous lecture of a history of Iran by Professor Rahimieh and previous seminar on a larger history of Iran by Professor Frouzesh remained in my head. I’m unsure whether these connections do not make sense, however at the end of the film, I thought they could be possibilities. These only made sense to me at the end of the film, so these were probably just a random thought that came to mind. These connections pertain to the main characters of the film, although it still is a beginnings of an idea. For Faezah, I thought it was significant that when leaving the cafe, there were two men. In seminar, Professor Frouzesh went over a long brief breakdown on the history of Iran. In 1953, the CIA sponsor a coup. This coup over the government that had Mossaden in the leadership was supported by the British and America. While that was the extent of my ideas, I think it could maybe extend to when she gets to the g...

After being introduced to “The New Jim Crow” by Michelle Alexander, I became curious on whether these discrepancies of race remained in the state level. Through searching, I was able to find the most recent information on the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ website. The most recent information available on the census of prisoners was based on a census from 2016. This first table on page eight of the full report describes ten years of general demographic characteristics from 2006 to 2016. In the last three columns, it is obvious that Alexander’s argument is true, based on the unequal rates of imprisonment. Tables nine and ten illustrate imprisonment rates based on sex, race, hispanic origin, and age. Based on this information, it is evident that males are more likely to be sentenced and that those aged 25-34 are more likely to be sentenced. Not only is age prominent, but also more black males are sentenced compared to white males, further proving Alexander’s argument. ...

Thinking back on Winter Quarter of Humanities, as a writer, I feel as though I’ve only improved by a little bit. I learned more about how to use sources, and, whether it be primary or secondary, the class has built upon my previous understanding on how to use these sources. Despite that improvement, I don’t feel like I have improved on my vocabulary or writing style. Personally, I resort to simple words that I typically encounter often and I think my writing style does not flow together nicely and seems amateurish. While I don’t think I improved greatly in writing, I think I have become better at thinking, more so in thinking about what I am seeing, rather than numbly watching. In my free time, I usually watch a lot of anime or play video games. With the Winter Quarter, I have begun to look more closely at the stories and the elements that these media types possess. It’s not in depth analysis of these medias, but because of the Humanities class, I begun to see what common themes or st...

During a seminar, we discussed elements of The Tempest movie by Julie Taymor. While we were discussing a scene towards the end of the movie, I saw another scene that looked like the painting, The Birth of Venus . Based on how I thought of the painting from Caliban’s posture and the background, I believe that I recognized the painting because I think the scene was meant as an allusion to the painting. Venus is the Roman goddess of love, sex, beauty, and fertility, appropriated from the Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite. The story of The Birth of Venus is that Uranus, the god of the sky, was castrated by his son, Saturn, who was a leader of the Titans. The genitalia was thrown into the ocean and the blood (or in some versions, the semen) mixed with the sea foam from which Venus was born out of a seashell. The story of Venus’s birth correlates with The Tempest since it was at the end of play. From the beginning of the play, Caliban plans on revenge against Prospero, w...

In this sketch, I tried to reimagine The Tempest by drawing both Prospero and Caliban. During the Winter Quarter of Humanities Core, we were explained to about the question of being human in The Tempest. I thought the best characters to draw would be Prospero and Caliban due to their changes and differences between the two. To illustrate their change, I drew the value of color from left to right becoming lighter. In the Animations Anteaters club, I heard that the reason for drawing left to right is that it creates a sense of progression. The image becomes brighter towards the right to symbolize the characters becoming more human. I also plan to have Prospero seem foreboding and threatening on the left dark side of his face, yet more empathetic seeming on the right by making his facial features more softer. For Caliban, I plan to have him seem more inhuman while progressively having him become more human like on the right. For the differences, I wanted to illustrate the d...

At the Getty center, there was an exhibit named Golden Kingdoms: Luxury and Legacy in the Ancient Americas. The types of items on display were typically archeological finds such as clothing, decorations and others that are found in South America. They were organized by different groups of people, such as the Moche, Olmecs, and Aztecs. The main objects that attracted my eyes were the flashy Octopus Frontlet and Tumi knife. The Octopus Frontlet is of Moche origin, found in La Mina, Peru. It was made during AD 300-600, and is made of gold, chrysocolla and shells. The Frontlet depicts a face that, due to the iconography of the Moche culture, can be identified as symbolizing the Spider Decapitator. The face has two clawed feet and tentacles that all end in catfishes. Although gold was considered valuable in Europe, other materials were considered valuable over gold in South America. Materials such as feathers were considered more valuable than gold and were used to show luxu...

In Humanities lecture, we learned about the latin phrase “ m emento mori,” which means “Remember that you will die.” In lecture, it was used in paintings by painters in order to remind the viewer of their mortality. This part of lecture reminded me of roguelike games. Most roguelike games have a goal that players aim towards and where death leads to the loss of the character and reset of progress towards that goal. Don't Starve Sword of the Stars: The Pit In roguelike games such as “Don’t Starve” or “Sword of the Stars: The Pit,” dying in the game completely resets the players progress, and often removes the world so the player has to make a new save. This makes the player constantly mindful of placing their character in excessive risk. “Realm of a Mad God” portrays this idea in a large scale online multiplayer game. In this game, players pick a class, and then set out fighting random monsters to level and find more equipment to progress further. The player i...