Forget about forgetting,” says Robert Bjork. “People tend to think that learning is building up something in your memory and that forgetting is losing the things you built. But in some respects the opposite is true.” See, once you learn something, you never actually forget it. Do you remember your childhood best friend’s phone number? No? Well, Dr. Bjork showed that if you were reminded, you would retain it much more quickly and strongly than if you were asked to memorize a fresh seven-digit number. So this old phone number is not forgotten — it lives somewhere in you — only, recall can be a bit tricky. And while we count forgetting as the sworn enemy of learning, in some ways that’s wrong, too. Bjork showed that the two live in a kind of symbiosis in which forgetting actually aids recall. “Because humans have unlimited storage capacity, having total recall would be a mess,” says Bjork. “Imagine you remembered all the phone numbers of all the houses you had ever lived in. When someone asks you your current phone number, you would have to sort it from this long list.” Instead, we forget the old phone numbers, or at least bury them far beneath the ease of recall we gift to our current number. What you thought were sworn enemies are more like distant collaborators.
Representation and News: Australia Day Edition
Of course nothing in the news is “actual reality”, merely a chosen representation of what the events were. Every day news editors have to make decisions about what to show and more importantly what to leave out.
On Australia Day this year there was an incident where the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader had to be escorted away from a group of protesters, creating some dramatic coverage.
Below is the front page of both Melbourne’s “Herald Sun” and Sydney’s “The Morning Herald” the next day. (click to make bigger)
Both front pages are covering the same event but through careful selection and manipulation of images have created two different narratives.
Questions worth considering:
- How does the selection of the photos change the narrative being presented? What story does each photo tell?
- How has each photo been manipulated? Who has been concentrated on or left out? What else has been done to the photograph?
- How does the text on each page add to the narrative?
- Overall, how has the Prime Minister been represented on each front page? Who are the good and bad guys of each story?
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The Biggest Loser Australia: The Backlash
A new year, a new season of The Biggest Loser Australia. TBL has now become a bit of an institution on Australian television. Every year it comes fresh on the box with a whole new set of hopefuls introduced by whatever life affirming song Southern Star could afford the rights for this year.
There are few shows on television these days as decisive as TBL. Some people love watching the “transformation” aspect of the show whilst others see the show as nothing less than “bullying”. I have watched most episodes of most seasons and not really thought much on why I do. It’s easy to argue against the show. In the current daily show iteration the show is repetitive to the point of redundancy, the situations they are put in are absurd and it seems the producers behind the show are putting as much effort to make everyone cry as humanly possible.
Couple that with the cries that the show is simply here to allow viewers to revel in the pain and suffering of the contestants or the unrealistic and unhealthy expectations it’s setting up for others.
With this season things are now just close to uncomfortable with it being “singles” year. All contestants are without partners, many never having one, and all of them talking about how they think nobody could love them in their current state. It’s easy to jump at this - complain that it’s a dangerous thing to say on television that you can only love or be loved if you are skinny. The advertising leading up to the show didn’t help things, showing the trainers naked for some reason or another.
All things listed to show it’s easy to dismiss the show or rile against it. Plenty have, even without watching a full episode. But this is why I watch it. TBL has what I look for in any show I watch. Good Narrative and Good Characters.
The narrative is the obvious part, you are seeing characters change before your eyes. There’s a reason that the makeover episode is the most important one of the season - it’s easiest to see the change at that point.
The narrative is heavily constructed, obviously. Most people watching this show have seen it all before. Most plot points are planned by the producers, from the weigh ins to the vote offs and immunity challenges. Nothing here is new - which is why the characters are so important.
It’s the casting of TBL that will make or break a season. Common sense really for any reality tv show, but especially important for this show.
The thing about TBL is that I think that it’s one of the most honest portrayals of people on screen. All reality shows contestants are very aware of the camera and how they may be and want to be represented. The contestants on The Amazing Race will try to give themselves nicknames with corresponding t-shirts. Most seasons of Farmer Wants A Wife is a strange mixture of looking good for the camera whilst figuring out if your girlfriend is also trying to do the same. Recent entry Four Weddings is an exercise in making yourself look as good as possible whilst trying to make everyone else look as bad as possible (why anyone goes on that show is beyond me).
On TBL there really is nowhere to hide, even more so than Big Brother. The fact is no-one looks good working out or spewing into a bucket and crying on national television. So whilst the situation and narrative couldn’t be any faker it’s the contestant’s honesty that keeps me watching the show. What an incredibly brave step it is to go on a show where you will look as bad as you can imagine. Yes, and it may seem exploitative, but very few times contestants are made to look bad. Even if they are they are usually given a chance to repent. There’s plenty of shows where that doesn’t happen (recent season of Celeb Apprentice comes to mind).
This isn’t a post saying why TBL is the best. It has massive problems and the accusations levelled at it certainly are worth the time. I’m just pointing out why I’m watching. From what I have seen so far this season has some of the best casting the show has seen. I only watch this show if the characters are interesting and so far they are.
Steal! to be sure they may; and, egad, serve your best thoughts as gypsies do stolen children,—disfigure them to make ’em pass for their own.
Things I Learned from Watching the IMDB Top 100 (100-51)
In an ongoing yet on and off process I have been working through the top 100 films as according to IMDB. Starting at number 100, I am now officially half way through the process, and here is what I have learned so far.
1. This is taking a really long time
I started this process over two years ago, which isn’t a great track record. Usually what happens is I will get on a streak of films and then get stuck at one film that I don’t really want to watch. Except in my head I am not allowed to skip any films so it will sit there for a long time - usually months.
Group this with when the American TV season is in full swing or when there are actually good films to see at the cinemas ans you could see why I may sometimes not so keen to sit through three hours of Das Boot (#66).
Now that I am inside the top 50, I hope I will be somewhat more methodical about the viewing.
2. The list isn’t exactly perfect
The IMDB top 250 list is from user votes and constantly changing. This usually means that films popular at the time tend to be high on the list. Since I made up the list two years ago Avatar (#40) is high on the list as well as The Dark Knight (#09), The Lives of Others (#56) and Up (#70).
This is fine because the list eventually adjusts itself after a period of time, just something to keep in mind.
3. The list is kinda depressing
Thanks to this list so far I have decided that Nazi’s are pretty bad guys. (The Great Dictator #97, Downfall #81, Life Is Beautiful #79, Inglorious Basterds #68, Das Boot #66, The Pianist #53 plus more!)
Nazi’s aside, a lot of these films don’t end up with the most cheerful of endings. It seems a good film needs to end up on a bit of a downer (to name a view: Braveheart #91, Life is Beautiful #79, Das Boot #66, Reservoir Dogs #64, Chinatown #60). Usually lists like this lends itself to more Drama films than Comedies - but it’s surprising how many end without the often much needed happy ending. Is it that the unhappy films are the ones that stick more with people?
4. I don’t love all these films
Far from it. Some films I can have cinematic respect for but not like (Metropolis #94, The Bridge On The River Kwai #72) but others I just flat out don’t like. Mostly I learned that I really can’t stand Chaplin films (The Great Dictator #97, Modern Times #85, City Lights #71).
5. But I did love some of them!
Watching this list is mostly about filling in the gaps of the important films that I haven’t seen. We all have these gaps and in order to feel better than other people I am trying to remedy this. I hadn’t seen any Billy Wilder films before this but after watching Some Like it Hot (#78) and especially The Apartment (#99) I have become a fan. I really do love The Apartment and now sits high up in the list of my favourite films.
I also really enjoyed The Maltese Falcon (#82) somewhat surprisingly as i was never much of a Bogart fan but here is great and seemingly full of energy which I loved. Also, it was nice to revisit someof my old favourites such as Full Metal Jacket #87, Back to the Future #80, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind #59 and Aliens #54.
Now that I am up to the top 50 I have decided to have a good look at each film from now on, specifically from a film teacher’s point of view. I’ll be watching each from for good examples of structure, production elements and story elements, finding the clips that best show examples of how these work.
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Beyond the Frame: Jim Jarmusch's Golden Rlues
Rule #1: There are no rules. There are as many ways to make a film as there are potential filmmakers. It’s an open form. Anyway, I would personally never presume to tell anyone else what to do or how to do anything. To me that’s like telling someone else what their religious beliefs should be….
(Source: jim-jarmusch.net)
