IB English 1984 Chunk #2 Response

Quote:

“She brought the glass paperweight over to the bed to have a look at it in a better light. He took it out of her hand, fascinated, as always, by the soft, rainwatery appearance of the glass.

‘What is it, do you think?’ said Julia.

‘I don't think it's anything – I mean, I don't think it was ever put to any use. That's what I like about it. It's a little chunk of history that they've forgotten to alter. It's a message from a hundred years ago, if one knew how to read it.’” (Orwell, 145).

Paperweight symbol:

The paperweight is symbolic, for Winston, of the past. Since Winston remembers some of the past before the Party came to power, he sees meaning in the paperweight. However, Julia, who never knew of life before the Party, does not see the same meaning in the paperweight. Since the paperweight is made of glass, it is transparent and easily seen through, unlike the claims of the Party, which are murky and opaque, distorting and hiding the truth rather than showing it. The coral at the center is another link to the past, since coral is natural (unlike almost everything in Oceania) and takes a long time to develop. It must be nurtured by the right conditions to grow into a full adult, and appears to symbolize Winston in this respect. The coral is also rare, and Winston compares it to the lives of Julia and himself, two uncommon people, Outer Party members rebelling against the Party’s practices and trying to get to a place where Big Brother is not watching them. But it is in vain. When the Thought Police enter the room, the paperweight is smashed, showing how all of Winston’s hopes of regaining the splendor of the past and rebelling against the Party have been smashed.

"Nobelity" Impressions Post-Viewing

Our class recently finished viewing the film Nobelity. After this viewing, I looked back and thought about the film: what had struck me before (see below post) and what struck me now. If I had to describe Nobelity using three adjectives, I would choose "idealistic", "vague", and "confusing" (note: some might disagree with these descriptors, but I am writing my personal view of the film). In Nobelity, Turk Pipkin intermittently interrupts his interviews with Nobel laureates to discuss and show film clips of his two daughters. Pipkin appears to be trying to communicate how the whole idea for the Nobelity film relates to his daughters asking him questions about the world, but this is never fully fleshed out and often acts as an unnecessary interruption to the interviews. Another interruption to the interviews is Pipkin's struggle to learn how to juggle five balls at once. I personally have no idea of what Pipkin was even trying to communicate with that anecdote. And then we reach the interviews themselves. Alone, a single interview clip would seem to be cohesive, thought-provoking, and make sense. However, Pipkin asks Nobel Laureates from different fields many different questions, preventing the film from being cohesive as a whole. The interview clips jump back and forth between why knowledge is key to how cancer could be cured in the near future to why landmines are very dangerous to how we need more energy to how we need to empower women more and plant more trees to why religion isn't always a barrier to how all humans are part of the same family to how nuclear arsenals should be reduced worldwide. While viewing this, I got only the overall sense that there are many world problems and many potential solutions, but none of them are, in my opinion, looked at enough in-depth. On the bright side, within this "mish-mash" of a film are some interesting quotes that can, by themselves, be thought-provoking: "On 9/11, more people died of AIDS than of terrorism acts", "The sea is actually made up of drops of water: individual actions matter", "It's going to be simple, but it's not going to be easy". If I had to give Nobelity a rating, it would be four out of ten stars. Overall, Nobelity is a film that succeeded in its goal of getting me to think about world problems. However, it did not succeed further than that, becoming a disorienting whirlwind of moving images and sounds that left me very confused by the film's end.

"Nobelity" Impressions So Far

Our class recently viewed the beginning of the film Nobelity. After the viewing, I thought about the film a little and what had struck me so far. Nobelity is described as a documentary in which a man interviews nine Nobel Laureates in an attempt to ask and answer questions about modern-day problems that society is facing. So far, the film has brought up some interesting questions and criticisms regarding our society: Decisions are not made with the long-term future in mind. Do Americans not know or care about global issues such as health? Our history is one of war, not peace. All of these are intriguing, thought-provoking prompts. However, while the film does an excellent job of raising these questions, it does not do such a good job answering them. Nobelity points out problems, but not solutions. In addition, the Nobel Laureates interviewed are from a variety of different fields, and they are asked different questions, preventing the film from having a cohesive direction, at least so far. On top of that, I had another issue with the film so far, although it might not bother others. When Nobel Peace Prize winner Jody Williams is interviewed, she says, "There is nothing magical about change. It's just getting off your @** and taking the first step. It's being the future you want to see." While this quote could have been memorable and optimistic, I feel that it was ruined by the unnecessary usage of foul language. In a film that discusses issues in modern-day society, one would think that a Nobel Peace Prize winner, likely a role model to many, would choose not to use such vulgarities. In fact, I feel that in order to address big world issues, we need to start by addressing small, local issues, including overuse of foul language. While Nobelity has done a good job bringing up major issues, it has so far failed to offer realistic solutions to these big problems and does absolutely nothing to address the smaller ones. Hopefully, the rest of the film will not follow suit in the latter two aspects.

Principled

IB Quality that best describes me: Principled

   I have high standards of both academic and personal integrity. I am also very honest and always do what I believe is right and rational. I always treat others the way I wish to be treated. I do my best to help others whenever they need it. I also follow all known codes of social conduct. I accept full responsibility for my actions and the effects they have on others. I am also insistent upon refraining from using inappropriate language, even in "casual" social situations, and I haven't ever offended anyone on purpose.