Fuel

Fuel

http://movies.nytimes.com/2009/09/18/movies/18fuel.html?_r=0

This article explains about the movie “Fuel”. New York Times said that this movie shows the way out of this world which needs a solution for the fuel. I agree with this article. This documentary show the problem and what will happen if we keep live like this. After they mention the problems, this movie gives solution too. It told us to use biodiesel instead of use gas. Also, this movie told us to install the solar plate so then we don’t have to use electricity, and all the little solutions that we can make. It is really good that they found the problem and gave solutions but for me, I thought that it is not that easy to buy diesel car and install solar plate on the roof and also I know that it is better for us and better for planet if we install solar power generators and make electricity and use them but we can’t. It is too expensive for me to just go and change my car to diesel car and put solar plate on the roof. So I thought it is good that they have solutions but the solutions are too hard for just normal people to do it.

Since the solutions that the movie gave is hard, I decided to do the things that I can do to make little changes like use more bicycle if i can, or carpooling and instead of using plastic cups, I decide to use mug. These are little small changes but  I am sure if all of us do that, we can make changes.

Fuel

Through the documentary "Fuel," I learned information about the 'biofuel' topic that I was not aware about before.  One thing that the speaker stressed was that diesel cars could use biodiesel without modifying the engine.  He made it seem like an easy step that people could take to help.  But, in order to do that, it was not clear if you would need to buy a brand new car, which would be difficult for many people.  I also learned about the negative consequences of oil usage.  The communities around oil factories suffer greatly from pollution in the air and water, causing health and reproductive problems.  In this review by Julie Clawson, http://julieclawson.com/2008/12/01/movie-review-fuel/, I agree that this film has a hopeful outlook.  Action can be taken to improve the conditions of the air and earth.  Clean fuel is not so far-fetched as it once seemed.  But it is true that it will take more research for dependable and accessible alternatives, because right now, alternative fuel is not available to everyone. It was good to know that other, better fuels were also being researched. I appreciated the other options that were described, which showed different ways for people to participate and help in this issue.  The benefits of growing plants in cities or using solar panels were briefly discussed.  All of these things combined can help improve our planet’s health and sustainability.  From watching this film, I hope to be more conscious about the oil that I am using. I do not have my own car right now, so I am glad that I can carpool with others which is a small part to help.  I hope that in the future I could use some kind of clean fuel option, because I see the importance of wisely using the earth’s resources. 

black gold

The film, Black Gold, directed by Mark and Nick Francis is a documentary about the international coffee trade, mainly focused on the coffee bean farmers in Ethiopia. During the film, the film crew follows around a man named Tadesse Meskela, the general manager of the oromia coffee farmers cooperative union of Ethiopia. Tadesse travels around the globe to advertise the quality of Ethiopian as well as to negotiate better prices for the coffee trade.

Stephen Holden, a film reviewer for The New York Times, points out many important facts provided in the documentary. In Ethipoia, 67 percent of the country’s export revenue comes from coffee, and 11 million people count on coffee for their survival. However, the World Trade Organization which claims to help the world’s poorer countries leaves them dependent on emergency relief. It is also said to be that four multinational corporations, Procter and Gamble, Nestle, Sara Lee, and Kraft dominate the world coffee market, with the international price determined in New York and London. The film shows the third world countries getting the least voice when the international price to be determined with the powerful nations getting the better end of the deal. Tedesse explains how they are being paid only 0.23 cents per kilo of coffee beans which can brew about 80 cups of coffee.

The four multinational corporations declined to be a part of the film to be interviewed which clearly shows that they too realize that they are abusing their powers for their own good. The film also takes the viewers to places such as the coffee making contest and a Starbucks store in Seattle to show that people are so unaware of how much hardship coffee farmers are going through in Ethiopia where the coffee, which is giving them the joy in their life, is coming from. From the Starbucks store manager who is so proud of Starbucks for providing people with their everyday coffee, to a barista who is entering contests to make to best espressos and his own signature coffee to make a name for himself.

It is said in the film and by Holden that African share of world trade is only one percent of the whole. If the share is to be increased by only one more percent, Africa would generate $70 billion a year, five times what the continent receives in aid. Many people nowadays are uneducated about the origins of where many of our goods come from. As Christians, it is important to always be aware of the poor who are breaking their backs for our daily comforts. Also, not only being aware of facts but also taking the facts seriously to have impact in our daily lives is important. 

Good Hair

John Jung

1/17/13
DCM

Good Hair

           

          For my film project I decided to do it on, Good Hair directed by Jeff Stilson. First of all I was interested in this film because Chris Rock was in it and second Im a Korean who used to spend minimum of twenty minutes a day to fix my hair and wax it. I would have to first wash my hair with shampoo, use a blow drier to dry my hair, wax it, spray it, and than dry it again. The film begins with Chris Rock giving an intro about how he's daughter came up to him after school saying "Daddy why don't I have good hair?" This was how Rock was inspired to research more about "What is Good Hair?" 

          Chris Rock went around everywhere looking for the answer of "Good Hair," and most of the answers that he got was bright and straight hair, just like an blonde American Hair. The film also showed what African American women would do to try to get the so called "good hair," such as putting relaxer on their hair since they were very young. Another part of the film was of him going to India to see where the wigs came from.
          This film was very interesting to me because there were so many things that I was shocked by. First of all, I always grew up envying people with curly hair, I always thought straight hair was so boring. Second was that they used relaxer which contained sodium hydroxide which I learned from chemistry that it is a very strong base which can burn your skin. Third thing was that if you see an African American with straight hair, it is not their own. Finally, that the hair came from all the way from India, which are sacrifices that were given from the females to their gods. I have learned so much from a very funny film and I have more respect for African Americans.
          This article in my opinion is very legitimate and I agree with what they say. It is true that we have pressure to conform to the fashion of today's world and it's good that Rock pointed it out. Another thing I like about this article is that it gives different points of views of the film and wraps it up for easy understanding. I highly recommend this video.

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2009-10-22-good-hair-main_N.htm

Native American Portrayal in Hollywood

          Last week, my film group and I watched a documentary entitled Reel Injun directed by Neil Diamond: an informative approach to the portrayal of native american peoples in the film industry.  I chose to watch this film because I have had a good amount of experience interacting with Native Americans on the Lakota Sioux  Indian Reservation.  This film resonated with me and I thought that it was factually accurate from what I've seen in real life.  I was shocked by some of the excerpts the film analyzed in which Indians were not considered to have the same human rights as the Caucasian protagonist.  One clip in particular, a bugs bunny clip no less, showed a heroic looking bugs gunning down Indian people from the top of a fort while playfully singing "One little two little three little Indians." This clip becomes even more shocking when one thinks that the main audience of this show would have been kids, shaping a condescending view towards Native Americans at an early age.  Overall, I thought this film was very educational however I think It might be written to capture an older demographic that actually did grow up when western movies were in their prime.
          Mike Hale of the New York Times praises Diamond's work in having a wide variety of sources and movie excerpts however he offers a critique at the end of the article that the last three "celebratory" films of Indian culture feel "rushed and tacked on." (which is ironic because the critique itself feels rushed and tacked on within the context of the article itself.)  I disagree with Hale because I felt that the last three film were crucial in showing the redeeming side of Hollywood's portrayal of Native Americans.  Furthermore, I thought  the last film in particular, Atanarjuat, was an excellent addition to a documentary about Native Americans because people, myself included, often forget about the northern Inuit tribes who also have a rich Native American heritage.

Link to Letting the Arrows Fly at Hollywood Stereotypes by Mike Hale:

http://movies.nytimes.com/2010/06/14/movies/14reel.html?_r=0

Fuel: Film Post

Choices are everywhere in life, no matter who you are. The movie "Fuel" explored some of the choices our culture has to make concerning our environment and energy sources. When looking for a movie review I came across the New York Times review of the fuel movie. http://movies.nytimes.com/2009/09/18/movies/18fuel.html?partner=Rotten%20Tomatoes&ei=5083&_r=0 I have to say the first paragraph could of been a paraphrased review of the entire movie. You can tell the Josh Tickell put a lot of time and hard work into his movie. However he brings way too much politics into his views on foreign oil. Josh argues that the Iraqi war was solely for the purpose of controlling foreign oil prices. I would disagree with Josh on his view of the Iraq war. I believe foreign oil did play a small role in our military presence in the middle east, but i'm not convinced that it's the only reason. Josh's goals are very respectable, but his means of portraying his views on how to get there was very unconvincing. Josh took us on his cross country tour in his biodiesel veggie van showing us his campaign for sustainable energy. It seems counterintuitive to drive across the country to advocate using a greener lifestyle. The two hour movie spent the first hour and a half talking about biodiesel. After that he crammed several other potential energy sources into a half hour segment. Josh seemed very biased towards biodiesel which I find interesting. He failed to show the emissions of regular gasoline compared to the emissions of Biodiesel. Biodiesel engines have been around since 1893 yet we've never made it readily available to public(hmm... I wonder why?). Altogether the movie was pointing in a good direction that our culture needs to move toward, but I don't think Josh's movie will effectively get anyone moving. Americans hold value as a top priority and as a country we're too cheap to value the environment above cheap oil. In order to get America to move towards more sustainable energy, you have to change the values American's have. I think the price of alternatives will have to be competitive and as convinient as our current fossil fuels. Or in the worst case scenario, our fossil fuels will have to become so scarce that it becomes cheaper for us to explore the use of alternative fuels rather then oil. Our society is so focused on short term gratification that they would rather have cheap oil, then a clean environment or sustainable energy. Until society starts thinking about the long term as a whole, Josh's little "fuel" video won't make a difference no matter how educational or well he presents sustainable energy.

The New Normal? Hopefully...

I recently watched a show called "The New Normal". It aires Tuesday at 9:30pm on NBC. The premise of the show is based off of the three main characters, "Blondie" played by Georgia King, Andrew Rannells as Brian and Justin Bartha as David. Brian and David are a happy gay couple living in L.A. The only thing they still want is a baby. They meed Blondie, a single mother who has run away to L.A. from her overbearing grandmother (but she follows them there). Brian and David find Blondie from a surrogacy program Blondie agrees to be the surrogate for Brian and David's baby because the money will help with her dream to go to law school. But as the shows progress, Blondie, Brian, David and Shania (Blondie's daughter) become more of a family. The episodes from this season tell stories and show the preparation everyone involved is taking before the baby comes. I think one of the biggest eye openers in the show is the type of characters created. We have Brian and David, who are in a relationship and aren't afraid to show it, Blondie, who is running away from her super conservative grandmother Jane, and Rocky, who is Brian's African American assistant. The diversity of the characters is helpful for the viewers to keep an open mind and help them connect to the real life as well. Homosexuality is still something that most Americans find "hard to talk about" but I do believe that shows like The New Normal and Modern Family are trying to show Americans that its good to talk about it and there is nothing really different about it. I think this show is crying out to the kingdom so that people all over the world will know about "issues" facing us in the future, especially with homosexuality. I think this show is redemptive to the point that it is making aware differences in American and around the world that may be "new" to some people. Some of the problems that happen in the show are exactly what happen to real people. In the episode I just watched, Brian and David try their hand at being parents when they send Blondie to a spa for a week, while they watch Shania. Human purpose is to love one another,  just as you would want to be loved. God made us all different. But we all live in His image. If a person is different it doesn't give you the right to treat them differently.  The kingdom of God will accept everyone who loves God above everything else. Whether the person is straight, gay, bisexual, black, white, of African decent, loves movies, loves books etc. The empire seems to think that if your not a certain way or keep up with the cultural norm then you don't deserve what others have. This is wrong, and shows like The New Normal are trying to fix that.

Questions:

Would you say that America, or even Calvin College is trying hard enough to understand homosexuality? What is something that you would do to get more information?

Do you believe that the Kingdom of God is everywhere? (In everything and every person?)

Good Hair: Film Post

Good Hair, directed by Jeff Stilson, is an interesting documentary on African-American women and their hair. The movie is scripted and hosted by Chris Rock, who was inspired from his daughter asking him, “Daddy, how come I don’t have good hair?,” The film discussed of African-American women’s obsession on beauty, especially the beauty of hair. They considered a relaxed, light, and straight hair to be a “good hair,” a typical hair of White and Asians. By describing the excess of $9 billion business of hair industry with Chris Rock’s humor, the movie engaged the audience into the graveness and awareness of the racial dominance and conformity.

             The documentary, first of all, was interesting to watch with a lot of humor in the rather serious subject (I really enjoyed this jubilant attitude of African-Americans in their everyday lives). While I could sympathize with women’s concern for beauty, I was amazed to realize how African-American women consider a “good hair” and invest enormous amount of money and effort to conform their hair to “good hair.” I thought the general norm of beauty is shaped by media and everyday life that are under the superiority of White Americans and their culture. As an Asian, I also viewed myself favoring silky and relaxed hair of White Americans than that of the African-Americans. This shallow thought dismissed the irrefutable fact that every race is created beautifully in the God’s eye. This fact not only moved my attention to the racial superiority of White Americans, but also to the side-effect of the third party. The documentary spotlighted on the dark side of the flourishing industry, where it harms a third party: the Indian women and their hair. Poor Indian women devote their hair to temples as sacrifices. However, these sacrifices are used to make expensive weaves of African-American women.

             A film review, written by Jeannette Catsoulis from the New York Times, analyzed the movie from various points. I agreed with review that the movie too focused on the competing Atlanta hair show. This part could have been lessened a lot more and be supplanted by more facts and solutions to the concern. The movie’s humor sides also weakened the seriousness that the concern has to be appealed. Instead of humor, the movie should have concentrated more to offer relevant facts and ideas of solution.

             Overall, I really enjoyed the movie as itself. It helped me to consider about racial superiority, social norms of beauty, and industries’ impact on the Third World. 

http://movies.nytimes.com/2009/10/09/movies/09hair.html?_r=0

America the Beautiful

      I think that this movie was really good. It addressed the fashion, media, and beauty industries. I realized throughout the movie how willing we are to buy into all the crap that the media feeds us about beauty - that we need cosmetics, surgery, or liposuction to look beautiful. We also buy into all the claims that we are not well-made - that we are not good enough. We are willing to suffer the envy and longing of looking like all the images that the media shows us. They tell us that only certain things and people are beautiful and we have to look like that to be beautiful. Not only do these images show us how we should look, it shows us what we should think of other people too. As a result, we become more judgmental of others and how they look. The movie talked a lot about the modeling/fashion industry and how it affects girls at a younger and younger age. Younger and younger girls are wearing make-up, dressing like models, and even modeling as a career. One specific girl in the movie was only 12 and a model. Her mother was pushing her into so many shows and wanting her to look perfect for the agencies. When her school got angry with her missing so much school, the mom transferred her to another school that would comply with her scheduling. In the end, my reaction to the movie was that we need to raise more awareness about all the corruption in the beauty industry.
       This film does not prompt me to change a ton of things in my own life. It does however make me want to raise more awareness for other girls in the world. Yes, I do wear make-up and try to look nice, but not because the world tells me to. Lots of girls do though. They shouldn't feel the need to look a certain way to impress people and make themselves feel beautiful.
      I think that the review below does accurately represent my perspective in some ways and does not in other ways. One way that it does accurate represent my perspective is because of this quote, "The cold fact is that no one can look like a supermodel and be physically healthy." It's true, no one can be perfect and look as skinny as these women are and be as healthy as they should. One reason why I do not agree with this review is because of this quote, "The documentary 'America the Beautiful' is not shrill or alarmist, nor does it strain to shock us." I think that this isn't right. A lot of the things brought up in this movie actually did shock and alarm me. I wanted to stop everything right then and there when the movie was over.   http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/articleAID=/20080508/REVIEWS/277581949/-1/REVIEWS01

Black Gold

http://movies.tvguide.com/black-gold/review/283667 - Black Gold review by Ken Fox

Today, coffee is far more than just a drink. It is a culture – part of daily life of most people. Even in the place where I come from, South Korea, you can easily find streets lined with dozens of coffee shops just in a block. Coffee shops have become a place for meeting, spending leisure time, or even a business. Yet, the movie ‘Black Gold’ and its review, by Ken Fox, reveal shocking behind story of coffee industry and awaken our sense of awareness of disparities.

Ken remarks not just about unawareness of the consumers but also unawareness (or perhaps indifference) between the corporation and the coffee farmers. I certainly agree with his points. It is what numbness, unawareness, or perhaps even indifference is what maintains the unequal system in the coffee industry.

Coffee farmers are often incognizant of the wages they get from eight hours of work. It was not until Tadesse Meskela, the manager of Ethiopia’s Oromo Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union, told them that they are only being paid 0.23 cents for one kilo of beans, which could brew 80 cups of 2.3 dollars coffee. They have no idea that the coffee price is being controlled by two large cities – New York and London.

It is not just the farmers. Ken points that the film is ‘tacitly unkind to the unthinking’, as he refers to the manager of original Starbuck chain in Seattle, who is proud and confident about Starbuck’s responsibility for the people and its roll in connecting people. However, she would not have glimpse of the life of Ethiopian coffee farmers and how her corporation is ‘exploiting’ and ‘disconnecting’ the farmers life, as Ken puts it. And of course, the consumers, people like us, are mostly indifferent about this matter too.

Here, we can see another aspect of the empire that we are in – The coffee industry. Because the process of how coffee is made and transported to the shops and brewed into a cup of Café Latte is too vast and complicated, we often don’t bother to understand the whole process and just enjoy a nice cup of coffee in a fancy coffee shop. We believe that five-dollars for a cup of coffee are reasonable price without any questions. We easily believe what we are offered, without recognizing the mega corporations controlling the coffee price and deceiving the farmers to get more profits out of them. All we know is that coffee is transported from some countries in Africa to the factories and then to the shop. But about how it is done and who takes to money, we still do not know.

Indifference cannot be an excuse. A teacher does not let a student go for not doing his homework because he did not know. Purchasing a free-trade coffee is not just enough. As a people who envision shalom, Christian should bother to know about such issue and develop a sense of awareness about injustice in this world. We should care to speak for the coffee farmers, and also pray for the workers in Starbucks.