http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzJ0stBkkus&feature=player_embedded
Even though our respective poems may seem completely different in terms of subject matter, James and I decided to work together for the digital essay part of our final assignment. After doing some brainstorming, we realized that a common denominator between our two poems was that both contain deep-rooted narratives about the unpredictability of life and how our hopes, dreams, and aspirations sometimes don’t pan out the way we’d like them to. The poem James chose was “Rice,” by Geniwate, and the poem I chose was “A Dream Lies Dead,” by Dorothy Parker.
James’ poem was written by an Australian poet who wrote “Rice” after visiting Vietnam. In her electronic poem, Geniwate describes how Vietnam is an incredibly oppressed nation and can’t seem to catch a break. Using powerfully simple images, words, and sounds, Geniwate is able to convey the notion that every single citizen of Vietnam shares one almighty dream: they desperately want their country to dig itself out of the depths of despair. However, a plethora of complications (such as grossly uncontrollable corruption and a lack of sincere help from other nations) constantly hinder that dream. Even though Vietnam’s ultimate collective dream of becoming a stable nation has not yet been realized, noticeable progress has been made over the past decade. In short, James’ poem tells the story of a beleaguered nation that is rising up from the ashes. However, as one can imagine, there isn’t a blueprint for turning a country around–so the good people of Vietnam have had to let some dreams go by the wayside in order to clear the way for the sweeping turnaround Vietnam is trying to achieve still to this day. The phrase “when one door closes, another door opens” fits Vietnam perfectly, and that is a motif we were trying to hint at in our digital essay.
At its base level, the poem I chose (Dorothy Parker’s “A Dream Lies Dead”) can be summed up into one very simple thought: we can plan dreams all we want, but as we all know, choreographing reality is a near-impossible task. Think about it: life is full of disappointments, and while we all may aspire to become famous athletes, singers, or millionaires, the truth is that for most of us, dreams like that will never come to fruition. However, even though we may never play in the World Series, make the Top 100 list on iTunes, or have seven-figure bank accounts, everything will turn out just fine in the end. We will all most likely end up with a nice house, suitable career, and rewarding family life even if our wildest dreams don’t work out. In my actual essay, I wrote about how we often choose a college major and then wind up changing our minds–yet once again, the world doesn’t come crashing to an end if we switch dreams mid-journey. Sometimes, we plain and simply have to let go of one dream in order to hitch our wagons onto another (perhaps unexpected) dream. If a primary dream we have doesn’t come true, it’s best to just go with the flow because a secondary or maybe even tertiary opportunity may come along out of the blue and wind up being better than the first.
So, the challenge James and I faced when making our digital essay was deciding how to appropriately reconcile an obscure poem about Vietnam with a poem about life not always working out the way we’d like it to. After wracking our brains, we came to the conclusion that the best way to express our ideas was through a short, animated film about love. Our film tells the tale of a boy who falls in love with a beautiful girl he sees at a bus stop–however, fate takes over and something completely unexpected happens. James and I felt that a simple love story like this would be a good way to combine the main ideas behind our two poems–and so on that note, we’d like to leave you with a quote. We feel this particular quote is, without question, the link between our poems, and we also used it as a sort of building block for our digital essay:
“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”
-John Lennon