Peace Through Jewish Eyes

This documentary is a small tribute to a Jewish couple whom we interviewed and spent time with. They opened our eyes to how they live and some philosophies on life. As college students, we need to understand that there still is a struggle for anti-semitism, and we have the ability to change our actions. This film educates and challenges.

There is no better way to adverstise for our documentary than by presenting our poster! This sums it up to our target audience. In the meantime, I can give my own personal view - come see this movie! Our participants are wonderful and everyone will learn something by watching this. Although we just have the rough cut done, that on it's own is fantastic. Once everything is refined and perfected we are going to have a powerful mini-documentary.

Shalom!

That means 'peace' in Jewish. I learned this during our morning of filming. We had a wonderful time, actually. I didn't feel like we were filming at all, more like we were talking and learning.
As of now, we are in the process of transferring our film to a hard-drive where we can watch it and get an idea of what we need to do next for our rough-cut.
We are all very eager to begin editing (even me and I don't really know much about what I am doing!)

I <3 Grey's...

This is my favorite TV show, in fact, this is about the only hour of television I watch all week long. I get all worked up about, plan around it and talk about it with my Mom the next day. So now you know it all.

Since I have been reading the New York Times, I can keep up with the Neilson rating every Wednesday when they are reported in the "Life" section of the paper. Normally this would not interest me, but I pay attention due to Grey's Anatomy.

This week the ratings are a bit lower than the past week (I believe that is due to the fact that last week was a re-run). It still rates second for it's viewing slot, 9:00 on Thursday. CSI takes the cake for first place, and I have to say that CSI is tough competition. From week to week, the amount of viewers is very constant. We Grey's fans are hardcore.

If Grey's were moved to a different day, I think it would uphold very high ratings. I say this because it has changed times from season to season already and it only became more popular. Although, it would be important to keep the 8-11 time range. Most of the viewers are people work all day. Having the show at 9 is a great time because most everyone is assured to be off work and ready to relax.

Experiencing Pictures that are not in my Head

My primetime viewing experience (since I normally do not sit down and watch TV for 3 hours) involved, of course, Grey’s Anatomy. The shows which surround it are Ugly Betty and October Road. These shows are all very current – the characters are portrayed in settings that look as if I could be there with them. Although I am not familiar with the layout of a hospital, the doctors are showed relaxing at a bar, or cooking in their kitchen. I know about these places, I can almost relate! Ugly Betty, to me, is not as relatable. Although Betty is appealing to a wider audience of viewers than say, the desperate housewives, I cannot relate to her lifestyle. However, it is cute to watch and think of what it would be like to be hip in the fashion realm and wear cool clothes. I mean, I can still daydream. October Road…well I don’t particularly care for this show, so I didn’t spend that much time watching it. It seems a little too hokey and drawn out for me. Although the setting is a middle-class neighborhood – it does not show a lifestyle that is too far out of reach for many people.

Although the shows I watched have characters that I can relate to and take place in towns that I can envision, I do not think I can relate to all the events they experience. Of course primetime television is extremely dramatized; this is the part that does not fit with my life. The plot line of Grey’s Anatomy is very involved. If one of my roommates misses a week or two, I usually spend more time catching them up then I would telling them how my day was. I just do not have as much drama in my life. I also get to be in on the major surgeries that occur. In real life, there is no way I would be near an operating table when someone is coming off of bypass. (Now I really know what that means, I didn’t before Grey’s)

Certainly this creates a sense of hyper reality. This hyper reality is even stronger when I watch the show with my roommates because we get into it, talk about it during the commercials, decide which characters we like and which ones are acting like jerks. We make judgments on people and pull for other characters. It is like real life sometimes! When I student-taught I saw how large this hyper reality can become. On Friday morning, many of the teachers and aides would gather and talk about the episode of Grey’s that was aired the night before – just like it was real!

There is a factor of hyper reality, but I do not feel as if the shows I watched are creating pictures in my head that are totally bogus and monitored by gatekeepers. If I stayed interested enough in TV to watch the 11 o’clock news I am sure that I would feel differently.

I would like to comment on Joshua’s article. I like what he says. Being involved in school and in the lives of young children has really opened my eyes to what children learn from TV. In one school the things they learned were not positive. These children loved to watch MTV and they certainly learned more about Beyonce and Shakira than I could ever teach them. Because they were unmonitored at home, they had free choice over what to watch. Giving fourth graders this choice will not always lead to a positive television pick. It will lead them to a hyper reality which will then influence them to try and dress a certain way, say certain things or treat people differently.