Thank You for Secondary Resources
Alas, the final two weeks of school and humanities core is coming to an end. From Waiting for the Barbarians, the Incan empire and to the racial differences in the United States, lessons of humanities core have taught me how to be a critical thinker and how to view these differences in a new light. This new light is defined as the interpretation of different views and ideas on such issues. Emphasized throughout the breadth of the course was using secondary supplements such as journals and case studies, to either make an argument for myself or extend the authors’ conversation. This type of analytical work has allowed me to delve into my interests into the visual analysis of drawings or anything involving illustrations. I believe that one of the ways I have utilized these skills I have honed over the year was in my visual analysis of paintings (one of my favorite lessons taught in humanities core).
Take children books as an excellent example of visually analyzing works and paintings. I have found that front covers and drawings in children books are not only visually appealing, but are implicitly utilized to tell compelling stories or narratives. In the journal entry titled Reading Visual Narratives by Claire Painter, J Painter and Leonard Unsworth, they attempt to examine how “...individual picture books make meaning, extending current social-semiotic accounts of the visual modality and exploring the relations between visual and verbal meanings” (Painter, Unsworth). I believe that this goes for any visual picture, for every image holds a certain meaning. One particular essay, a visual analysis, tested my abilities as a writer to interpret a certain image and draw conclusions all while incorporating secondary sources into the essay.
Silverstein, Shel. The Giving Tree. [New York] :HarperCollinsPublishers, 1992. Print.
Another instance of being able to utilize secondary sources to create an argument for myself was in my blog Intrstng. Referring back to my April 13 entry, I decided to use the film Pocahontas as a way of interpreting film to ascribe film narratives. Often times, we find that film is utilized in a certain way that manipulates current history or portrays people and their culture in a harmful manner. With this particular blog entry, i decided to pull the expertise of Karen Rile’s article, Getting Historical Movies Right: Hollywood vs. Historians. I highlighted that her inclusion of Mark Carnes observation of films was that Hollywood directors, “...justify their claims that their movies are truthful by faithfully replicating the look of the past by creating historically accurate costumes and settings” (Rile). This particular blog post sparked my interest in film analysis, and even considered it as a topic for my Spring research project. However, i found it fitting that with the political climate in America, the female experience is riddled with sexual assault cases by celebrities and truly just inequality leading me to do my project on Rihanna’s abuse scandal.
A film essay on the analysis of the late 1990's Disney film, Pocahontas by YouTube channel NostalgiaCriticArchives
Rihanna’s abuse scandal had sparked a national debate on how victims of abuse cases should be validated and how this particular case is an example of voyeurism on black bodies. This spring research project is allowing me to not only make an interpretation of the photograph of Rihanna’s injuries, but demonstrate how i can incorporate secondary resources into this essay. I have acquired many skills from humanities core that will not only help me in this essay, but will make me an even better write in the future. Something that is invaluable and that i will hold close to me for years to come.
“Rihanna Beat Up -- Brutal Abuse Photos.” TMZ.com, 24 Feb. 2011, www.tmz.com/2011/02/24/rihanna-photos-brutal-beating-chris-brown-attack-police-attack/.
Works Cited
Painter, Claire. “Reading Visual Narratives: Image Analysis of Childrenâs Picture Books Clare Painter, J. R. Martin and Len Unsworth.” Linguistics and the Human Sciences, vol. 10, no. 3, 2015, pp. 312–321., doi:10.1558/lhs.v10i3.19618.
Rile, Karen. “GETTING HISTORICAL MOVIES RIGHT: HOLLYWOOD VS. HISTORIANS.” Daily Jstor, 3 Feb. 2015, daily.jstor.org/getting-historical-movies-right-hollywood-vs-historians-2/.