WRITING CULTURE 2012: Film, Food & Beyond

-Sapere Aude is a Latin Phrase meaning “dare to be wise/ dare to know”.

One has to obtain information and experience so that conjured thoughts may be as enlightened as possible.

… and by Cerebral World Cinema I mean films that are thought provoking and produced in non-English speaking countries (usually not in English). It is safe to assume that this genre of film will have more artistic quality as well as depth than the commercialized “blockbuster/ Hollywood” style. This is not to discredit those that do come from English speaking countries, as I feel cerebral movies in general are amazing.

These movies are harder to produce and generally don’t render high dividends but they do provoke emotional responses from viewers, even though they require an intellectual understanding first and foremost. This type of film is heavy and therefore tends to turn many people off as the topics are real, strange, graphic, and have a tendency to grab social issues by the throat. The work can be humorous or dark, but regardless, requires attention to detail.

Subtitles and tendency toward dense subject matter causes difficulty in distribution, as many people, after a long week of work and such, enjoy being audience to more simple cinematic styles. I particularly enjoy this type of film because it is visually stimulating and the subject matter is forceful and inspiring. This is not American Pie. As a writer I have found, many times, that the films open me up and get my creativity flowing, translating into many poems and memoirs over the years. Another reason why I like them is because the topics have range and can be unrelated to me, allowing for an open eye, whether of positive or negative opinion, on the subject. It opens a window of experience and learning without always having to encompass personal relevance.

Here are some examples: Some films that have found acclaim, popularity and financial success are:

“Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” series (Swedish Thriller, 2009),

Y Tu Mama Tambien (Mexican Drama, 2001)

Malena (Italian Romantic Drama, 2000)

Amelie (French, 2001)

I present successful films first, specifically to open the door for you and let you choose where to go from there. Two, less “successful”, options are:

Le Violon Rouge (Canadian, 1998)

The Dreamers (Italian, 2003) 

I would like to thank all of those who voted

Here and there I will catch up on the general idea of what is going on in politics, usually by default of having watched the evening news. I suppose the reason is because broadcasts tend to be biased, whether they are slightly or extremely biased is a debate in itself, and the fact is I am not that interested. Live blogging is an interactive way of seeing political coverage. See: New York Times. Those feeding the updates are including comments, reactions and other pieces of information that make things multi-faceted, exponentially so. The best part of this is that the presentation effectively helps those who are newly exploring the subject or have missed something, understand what is happening, in context. Television networks don’t have “time” for this kind of thing. Consumers should recognize though that there are ways to access both formats, even simultaneously, and with a little effort, for free.

Via, this New York Times site, you can see a breakdown of the speakers and what was discussed. This is the equivalent of chewing for the consumer so things are easier to swallow, but just because the smaller pieces have names doesn’t mean the consumer knows what they ate.

On a side note, when did the Democratic Convention become an awards show?