A THOUSAND CROSSINGS X

Dear Diary...
March Holidays
vendredi 12 mars 2010

YAY! :D The March holidays are finally here. This term had been an extremely eventful one. First is my move into a completely new environment. After a decade in Catholic High, I have to travel to Bukit Timah early every morning to Hwa Chong. And It's now coed :/

Then there was orientation. And then there was our classes. And then, the most detested, LESSON PROPER - which eventually led to test after test, and of course, failure after failure ):

Talking about failure, I think I totally failed today's GP test :/

"Movies today are entertaining but rarely enlightening." How far is this statement accurate. (something like that...)

This was my response:

Watching movies is a form of entertainment. It is a popular way of relieving stress and is also a popular activity for gatherings. However, apart from just providing entertainment, movies are also enlightening. In my opinion, an enlightening movie allows the audience to learn and take away something from it when they leave the theatre. Some values that can be spread include teamwork, leadership and care for others. I feel that most movies are able to affect the audience in such a way as there are morals and values to be learnt from them. Therefore, I feel that movies today are not only entertaining, but also enlightening.

An example of an enlightening movie is "Invictus" The movie is not only a form of entertainment, but it is also a form of documentation of an incredible milestone of South African history, when a rugby game reunited a nation which had been torn apart and is starting to recover from decades of racial discrimination, prejudice and apartheid. I feel that values such as teamwork, the power of unity and good leadership can be learnt from the movie. Nelson Mendela was the newly-elected president and face the challenge of reuniting a broken country. He learnt during a rugby game that the South African natives support for the visitor team, while the immigrants to South Africa would support the local team, the Springboks. He learnt that the Springboks, which is a team made up of immigrants except for 1 player, reminded the locals of apartheid and their past, thus they detested the team. Nelson Mendela decided that he had to teach his people to forgive and forget so that they can move on. He overturned a petition to dissolve the Springboks, a decision which risked his presidency. The Springboks were a weak team, however they eventually went on to win the World Cup, with everyone in the stadium cheering proudly for the Springboks. A line of Matt Damon's illustrated the idea of unity and the power of people very well, "There were not only 450,000 people in the stadium supporting us, but 6.5 million South Africans behind us." Thus, I find this movie enlightening as it perfectly illustrated the ideas of teamwork and tenacity which was displayed by the rugby players who were given the formidable task of winning the World Cup to repair their country; the importance of good leadership which was displayed by Nelson Mendela and his good foresight; and the power of a united nation which was excellently portrayed in the final scene where the entire stadium of South Africans, natives and immigrants alike cheering on their national team, the Springboks. Therefore, this shows that movies today are not only entertaining, they can be moving and enlightening as well.

Another example of an enlightening movie is "The Soloist". It showed how music could grant a schizophrenic musical genius moments of sanity and tranquility, and the healing power of friendship. Columnist for the LA Times, Steve Lopez had ran out of ideas for his column until he met Nathaniel Ayers, a musical genius he described as "the man who has the world on two strings". The power of music can be seen when Nathaniel Ayers was sane and tranquil for the moments in his confused life when he is playing. An unusual friendship between Steve and Nathaniel was formed. The movie offered a perspective of an unusual friendship - a relationship where 2 people are willing to do anything for the other - which can be seen between Steve and Nathaniel. Steve risked straining his family ties, dedicating his time to help Nathaniel Ayers recover and reintegrate and risked being beaten up during Nathaniel's moments of madness. While Nathaniel had to step out of his comfort zone and try to adapt so as to not disappoint his new and only friend's efforts. Thus, in my opinion the movie was enlightening as it showed the power of friendship and how the passion of music could help preserve the sanity of a schizophrenic genius. Therefore it shows that movies today are not only entertaining but also enlightening.

However, there are indeed movies which are purely entertaining with no educational value. An example would be "Jonas Brothers Live in Concert 3D". Since the movie was merely recorded concert footage played in stereoscopic format, there is nothing to learn from the movie and it is thus not enlightening and only serves the purpose of entertainment. Other movies such as comedies like "Duplex" only serve to provide entertainment but are not enlightening. However, since this is only a small proportion of movies being screen in cinemas today, it is unfair to say that movies today are rarely enlightening just by using the small proportion of movies as representation. Thus I feel that non-enlightening movies are rare cases and most movies are entertaining and enlightening.

In conclusion, there are movies which are not enlightening, they are movies with no educational value like Jonas Brother's Live in Concert. However since this only represents only a small proportion of movies, it is unfair to say assume that movies today are rarely enlightening. Therefore, I feel that a movie is enlightening as long as values and morals can be learnt from it. Since many movies today fit the bill, the statement "Movies today are entertaining but rarely enlightening" is not an accurate description of movies today.

something like that...

I think fail already.

):

Au Revoir

yongliang

he closed his diary at {23:09}