Reading Blog - Practice

Title: The Milgram Experiment
Text Type: Article
Author: Saul McLeod

The Milgram Experiment by Saul McLeod, is an informative article about Stanley Milgram's study on human obedience. To help Milgram's research, he conducted an experiment where he would found out how long people would follow a figure of authority and their instructions, even if it meant hurting hurting another person.

This article gave me a strong insight of how other people feel about a subject which matters to them.  The text states that "Milgram was interested in researching how far people would go in obeying an instruction if it involved harming another person" and that basically explains his reasoning for going ahead with the experiment. Reading about this specific event, made me realise that people are actually willing to go ahead a do what they want just because they are curious enough to do so. It can sometimes be seen as a good thing, however, I feel that this can also be proven as dangerous for some sort of ideas which pop into the heads of people.

Along the lines of danger, and how the ideas which some people may have with their great curiosity, there is a real reason for why Milgram wanted to go under way with conducting this research. This can be seen in part of the aim of the article, where it stated that "He wanted to know how easily ordinary people could be influenced into committing atrocities, for example, Germans in WWII". This allows us to see a deeper part of Milgram's thinking and how he wanted to know about something, which should've been taken care of much earlier. Hitler was a very powerful man, but his rise was mainly successful due to his persuasive speaking skills. Just be speaking with great force behind his words, people followed, and people were forced into following him.

English - Song Lyrics

Music Lyrics - Similes & Metaphors

She's Always a Woman by Bill Joel

She can kill with a smile
She can wound with her eyes
She can ruin your faith with her casual lies
And she only reveals what she wants you to see
She hides like a child
But she's always a woman to me

She can lead you to love
She can take you or leave you
She can ask for the truth
But she'll never believe
And she'll take what you give her as long as it's free
Yeah, she steals like a thief
But she's always a woman to me

[Chorus:]
Oh, she takes care of herself
She can wait if she wants
She's ahead of her time
Oh, and she never gives out
And she never gives in
She just changes her mind

She will promise you more
Than the Garden of Eden
Then she'll carelessly cut you
And laugh while you're bleedin'
But she'll bring out the best
And the worst you can be
Blame it all on yourself
Cause she's always a woman to me

[Chorus:]
Oh, she takes care of herself
She can wait if she wants
She's ahead of her time
Oh, and she never gives out
And she never gives in
She just changes her mind

She is frequently kind
And she's suddenly cruel
She can do as she pleases
She's nobody's fool
But she can't be convicted
She's earned her degree
And the most she will do
Is throw shadows at you
But she's always a woman to me

"she steals like a thief" - simile

Year 11 Art - 5

Planning my Portfolio

So far, I started to plan my portfolio. My idea is to draw emotion from the audience. In order to gain an emotional response, I'm wanting to start off by working with different textures. So I will be beginning with square blocks trying different forms of textures. I'm using Vincent van Gogh's work to give me a few ideas on the kind of textures I want to use. He used quick but expressive brushstrokes, but also used intense colour to help show how passionate he was about the art he created. I'm also heading in the direction of abstract art. I feel that this genre of art, could hold a deep meaning, attempting to draw out an emotional response.

Year 11 Art - 4

Monday 27 February



Swamped
Artist: Peter Doig
Year: 1990
Medium: The medium used in this work is oil. It is applied with brushes with fine strokes to a canvas.
Genre of art: Pastoral
Period: This artwork is from the time of Magic Realism time period

I chose to look further into this piece of artwork, because the purpose of some areas within the work, leave me questioning. Why is the reflection of the forestry different to what is displayed on land? Why is there short tree stumps in the reflection which look incomplete? And one that really gets me is, why is there a canoe in the water, with no one actually using it.

Year 11 Art - 3

Wednesday 22 February

So far, I have completed a few idea pages, and two pages with of drawing to help me get a fair idea of what I'm heading towards. I've decided that I want my artwork to be along the lines of ambition, optimism, positivity, and looking forward into the future, because I feel that there isn't enough of that happening.
For me, I'm ambitious in the way that I'm determined to do well in the things which I enjoy doing the most. I like being able to build on the things which I enjoy doing, and trying to make it something which I'm good at. I've found that keeping an open and positive mind helps, therefore, I will be holding onto that when it comes to working on my portfolio.

Year 11 Art - 2

8 February 2017

This year in art, I am wanting to produce more work than last year. I also want to put a lot more effort into my work and I feel that I need to come up with more detailed ideas to gain a stronger idea of exactly I want to produce. Last year, I found myself not knowing exactly what I wanted to do, so I just added to my work as I went along. Doing my work that way, usually ended in me not really liking the finish as much as I had hoped. So, this year, I want to ensure that I have a stronger idea as to what I'm actually doing, and taking more care of the ideas I have by writing them down more often.

So far, I still haven't completely decided what I want my overall theme to be this year as I have come up with a few which I quite like. At the moment, I'm still looking through books on some artwork from different artists. I'm looking more in depth on the work which catches my eye and I'm trying to find out how they got the ideas shown in their work.

I'm leaning towards something along the lines of being an individual and showing strength in my own opinion. But, I am also considering going ahead with a topic which I personally am not involved in, but more to show my awareness of any crisis going on around the world. I am interested in making people more aware of things like refugees not being allowed into safer countries - in particular, the United States. Also, something which concerns me, is that there are supposed leaders who are trying to run the world to their preference rather than what they're actually meant to be doing - leading.

I have also considered basing my art on something which I enjoy in general, and that is softball. Although the sport is something which I am passionate about, I'm not really sure how I would develop artwork from that source.

Year 11 Art - 1

7 February 2017

Starting this year, I have begun with finding some ideas on what to produce. Firstly, thinking of things I care about or have a strong opinion about. I started off with family, human rights, and the environment. I have managed to come up with a few ideas under the area of human rights. So far, I am heading along the lines of equality in our society - or the lack of.

With a broad idea of inequality within our society, I am beginning to branch off into more detail. Some ideas I have come along are gender, ethnicity, or religion. These ideas also made me think about the topic of discrimination and stereotyping. I feel that I could tie that topic in with the idea of inequality in our society.

I feel strong about being your own person and not trying to be like everyone else. I have found that this topic feels natural because of the way that I'm trying to find an idea which no one else in the classes would think of. Although there is still the chance of someone else having this idea, I feel as though it could be interpreted in many different ways. I just depends on their own understanding of individuality.

For me, showing yourself as an individual, even in a group, means that you're okay with making a point of being where you are. Standing by your own decisions and believing in what you feel is right. There are some people who I feel get individuality - making a point - and attention seeking mixed up. The difference is that seeking for attention usually involves doing the wrong thing and you knowing, whereas showing individuality means that you are making a point which you believe is correct. It may not be right in the end, but you understand why it isn't. All that really matters is that you stood for what you thought.