About The Internship
Class Reflection
In all honesty, I had absolutely no idea what I was getting myself into when I signed up for this class. Desperate for the flags and the various academic requirements the course covered, I sent Dr. Zacharia an email to ask if I could enroll, and the very next day, I was enrolled in CLAR 4270 Representations of Greece: Ancient and Modern. Thus, without any knowledge about Greek culture, and having never thoroughly analyzed a film before, I came in with an open mind to the class, curious as to what this course would entail. During our very first class, we were overloaded with an incredible amount of information. I found myself utterly confused, as I had never heard any of the terms we were presented with. Foucault completely blew my mind, as I struggled to comprehend the circular nature of representation and power. It took a few weeks, however the terms started to come together once we started to analyze Andre Brouillet’s painting, A Clinical Lesson at Salpêtrière. As we started asking deeper questions about the image, I started to understand the way knowledge can be a produced in a variety of ways. I found myself completely blown away by the realization that both the men and the women in the painting were able to convey power through their own representation. This photo truly challenged my personal viewpoint, as I realized that I had fallen victim to simply accepting the world for what it was, rather than attempting to further investigate the theory behind it. Thus, studying this information truly opened my mind, and became a central focal point for the remainder of the class for me. One of the first short films we were introduced to during the class, was Limbo directed by Konstantina Kotzamani. Having only seen a handful short films and absolutely no Greek films before, I really had no idea what to expect to view in the film. I was surprised to see the representation of an albino child, and at first I was very lost as to how to go about analyzing the film. As an English major, I have analyzed countless works of literature before, however I had never properly analyzed a film. As we discussed the film in class, we began to delve into the way the “other” is created through classification. By the creation of an albino character, this child became the representation the “other,” the person who stands out in comparison to the rest of his/her culture. Not only is this child a representation of “the other,” however, this child also exhibits the way scapegoats are created in a society. After viewing this film, we then began our dissection of documentary film and t.v., which was an especially intriguing unit of the course. In our current society, we tend to have an intense obsession and fascination with viewing the way other people live and go about their world. Simply turn on the t.v. and shows such as “The Bachelor” and “Keeping up with the Kardashians” will flash across the screen, all claiming to exhibit “real life.” The reality, however, is the fact that all of these shows are not truly exhibiting real life. As each of these shows are edited/cut, and certain scenes are selected over others, the final airing and presentation of the show does not convey the true reality of these individuals’ lives as promised. The same is true for documentaries: each documentary is not entirely an accurate description of the reality of whatever it is trying to present. Documentaries are similarly edited, cut, and certain scenes are selected over others to present what the director wishes to express. This notion is especially true for the documentary Cannibal Tours. While the film claimed to examine the indigenous tribespeople who live in Papua New Guinea, the film actually accentuated the barbaric nature of the white tourists, who acted as though they were viewing foreign animals in a strange habitat. The film surprised me so much, as it challenged me to examine the way I view other cultures, and to keep in mind the reality that each culture differs in a variety of different ways. And finally, in terms of the various documentaries we examined, perhaps the most powerful short film that truly left me speechless, was 4.1 Miles. This short film was striking to me as it openly captivated the heroic nature of refugee crisis through its observational style. While the filmmaker may have had their own underlying intentions/goals to convey, the technique of relying on an observational technique successfully exhibits the true horror of this situation, and the dangers that accompany not only the refugees, but also the people who are working to help and save them. This film was truly incredible to watch, as it truly touched upon humanity, and reminded me of how blessed I am to simply have a home. After studying the documentary film unit, we then delved into studying masculinity-both as an overall concept, and more critically through the Greek lens. We examined the pressures/the need that men often feel to conform to specific gender norms and analyzed the history of male dominance specifically within the Greek culture. It was during this unit that my group (family) was assigned to watch the first 2019 Greek film submission; we were assigned to watch Pause written and directed by Tonia Mishiali. I watched the film on a late Saturday night, and was completely blown away by what I had just seen. Not only is the film a bit mind-confuddling, however it truly exhibits the extent of how male dominance or living in a patriarchal society can have on a human being. This film captivated my attention so much, I chose to analyze it in my final blog/presentation. I also ended up choosing to create a set of interview questions for the director, Tonia Mishiali, as I found myself so curious as to the reasoning behind her creation of the film. Another feature film that happened to analyze gender, was Nikos Labot’s film, Her Job. By capturing the reversal of typical gender roles/expectations, this film examined the complicated nature of what can occur when standard gender expectations are challenged. And finally, one of the last short films we watched in class, was Flickering Souls Set Alight, directed by Iakovos Panagopoulos. This was an exceptional film, that not only examined the reversal of gender roles once again, however it also examined a culture still recuperating from a terrible financial crisis. In 2008, Greece was hit with a major financial crisis, as the nation fell into spiraling debt. The result of the crisis led to a loss of jobs, limited access to healthcare, and has continued to provide financial challenges to families across Greece. Dr. Zacharia repeatedly discussed the crisis, and the extent to which it affected the Greek people, and continues to affect families, individuals, refugees, etc. today. Flickering Souls Set Alight offers the platform for the minority groups within the Greek culture and offers the world an insight into their perplexing hardships. Though incredibly harrowing to watch, the film truly resonated with me, as a very similar situation occurred in my own family. As my grandfather suffered from an aggressive cancer called Multiple Myeloma, my family and I watched his body completely deteriorate and succumb to his aggressive cancer over the span of a few months (like Aris Always by his side however, remained his loyal wife, who washed his sheets, fixed his breathing tube, and was there until he breathed his very last breath (like Persephone). Thus, after watching these three feature films, I dissected the common themes central to all three, and decided to feature these three films in my blog and presentation. As the additional component of this class required an internship, I was assigned to be a part of the IPDF group. Thus, I took part in reading and analyzing various source treatments for future potential films. Essentially my job consisted of reading a source treatment, and then writing up a final report with my overall thoughts and interpretation of the film. This feedback was then submitted back to the director/writer, so he or she could make additional changes prior to starting to actually create the film. This internship proved to be an incredibly eye-opening experience, and was actually quite fun, as I love to read and am fascinated with the way stories are developed. Throughout the past few months, there were three rounds of films to analyze. Each round consisted of 2-3 films to read through and provide feedback for. I spent much time carefully reading over each treatment, as there was a ton of content to go through. Many of the treatments were about 20 pages alone, plus the director’s statement, the additional synopsis, and the director’s previous works to compare. Some treatments took longer to analyze than others, as they were far more developed and had more in-depth themes to analyze. While each treatment did require much careful attention, I enjoyed reading the various pieces of work. One of the best treatments I read, had to do with a self-driving car that is carrying a group of friends, and the car gets into an accident, killing nearly all of the people except one character. While this may sound ridiculous, the treatment is far more in depth and actually had a great storyline, as it really focused upon morality, and the human conscious. Other treatments centered upon family, and one surprising treatment was an attempted horror film. I would be very interested to know if any of these films succeed in the future Greek Film Festival, and how their final creation compares to the original source treatment. Through this internship, I learned more about the process of writing and narrating a story-specifically through film. While reading books or a novel requires paying close attention and following one specific character throughout the majority of the book, film can captivate so much more simultaneously. It can capture the minds of various characters all at once, or it can simply focus on one character. Additionally, this internship offered me a behind-the-scenes insight into what goes in to making a film; without a good story/plot-a film will have a difficult chance to truly succeed. Finally, I’m grateful Karina was our director, as she was so on top of all of our deadlines and was very receptive of our hard efforts. Ultimately, taking CLAR 4270 was such an eye-opening and incredible experience. I am so glad I stuck with the class, especially in the beginning when I felt absolutely so lost! I am so happy and proud of the way my blog turned out, and honestly, I don’t think I will ever be able to watch a film without analyzing it now. Thank you Dr. Zacharia for truly pushing us to do our best work, you are an amazing professor and your passion and dedication for the class encouraged me to keep working hard and create my best work. |