This past week we watched clips from Koyaanisqatsi, Powaqqatsi, and Naqotqatsi. These were much different than anything we have read or watched thus far. The first two films of this Qatsi trilogy have no dialogue. The second film, Powaqqatsi, is the one I want to focus on for the purposes of this blog. Powaqqatsi is a Hopi word that means ‘life in transition.’ This film focused on much of the conflict in less developed countries. It showed traditional ways of life and the effect of the transition to new ways of life introduced with industrialization and Western modernization.
The film captures images from rural areas of developing countries, then slowly switches to scenes of urban centers. Powaqqatsi has great depth to its scenes. With the combination of the music and powerful imagery as the camera scans the landscape, I found that I watched in a mindless manner. During the movie, I just watched, but did not truly think about the film until after it ended, which was weird for me. It seemed that the film was meant to be an overview of the entire concept of globalization. Each scene offered a little glimpse of life in that community. Without words, it kept personal bias out of the picture. Rather, the film was not about how people should or should not live, but gave an impression and insight into how life is changing. What made the film even more fascinating was the fact that it blended different cultures and lifestyles. It showed a global transformation and diversity. The film was a powerful portrayal of the effects that modernity is having on the less developed populations across the world that continue to live the same way that they did many years ago.
Scene after scene there were shots of people working. They look ragged, drained, and are performing difficult, back-breaking tasks. Some people are carrying heavy bags of dirt over their shoulders; others are carrying baskets on their heads, etc… In each scene, we see the effort required in these less developed countries, in order to industrialize in a shorter time period. The imagery used throughout the film was striking. Right from the beginning, we sit there in shock watching one of the fallen laborers being carried up the hill by some of the other workers. I feel like as a citizen of a developed country, I have not thought about the difficult working conditions some people face on a day to day basis. Learning about the Industrial Revolution and modernization in school, I always knew there were unsafe and strenuous working conditions. However, with so many people protesting working conditions in today’s society simply asking for an increase in pay or social benefits I found that it was easy to lose sight of the hardships people face globally in the workforce. Personally, this film was striking to me because it really caused me to draw out the differences between our society and those portrayed in the film that are playing “catch-up”. The filmmaker caught on camera the sacrifices that people were making in order to help build their modern society. In a sense, this idea of hard works seems to have been lost in our society today. Listening to my grandparents talk about work and then babysitting and even talking to the kids from the I Have a Dream Foundation it is very apparent that children and even my generation has lost quite a bit of the drive to work hard. We appreciate hard work, but many kids are driven by financial motivation, such as an allowance, just to complete simple tasks like taking out the trash. In the film, we saw even young children helping out with much more difficult and meaningful duties that contribute to the family’s health and even ultimately their survival. It further drove home the idea of how grateful we all should be and made me realize how much we really take for granted. I know that personally I have always made an effort to help out around the house and am very willing to participate in manual labor. However, we often do not think about how during our own industrialization, we faced the exact same hazards, trials and tribulations, and even hardships before we emerged as a stronger economic power.
I feel like what the Powaqqatsi film inspires is thought. It causes you to think, not about new concepts because those in the film are not new in any way, shape, or form, but rather it causes you to think from a different angle. It helps connect these growing communities to our own existence and history of industrialization. It helps you to empathize, yet simultaneously acknowledge the lack of a global education. When I watched the film and then thought back to my own childhood and then thought about the children at the I Have a Dream Foundation I realized how oblivious they are to all of this occurring. I know when I was taught about the Industrial Revolution I was taught about it in context of a “past” event. I never realized, until I was older, that it is something that is happening around the world in other countries even today. What this film explored well was the ancient ways in which people still live where manual labor is used instead of factories, and people are self-sufficient living off the land and working simply to maintain their lifestyle rather than produce on a large scale. The images are all equally moving. Close-ups of people’s expressions give the viewer the feeling that something wrong is occurring and the people seem helpless. They appear to be caught up in a cycle simply trying to stay alive. Watching the film even made me uncomfortable because it really opened my eyes to the truth about the poor quality of life that some of these people faced. It brought back the memories of my study abroad in Central America where I saw similar living conditions and the toll that industrialization was taking on the lives of the citizens there. This film was a familiar reminder and it made me feel uncomfortable to be sitting in a classroom, knowing I am that much more privileged than the people in the film.
This past week we watched clips from Koyaanisqatsi, Powaqqatsi, and Naqotqatsi. These were much different than anything we have read or watched thus far. The first two films of this Qatsi trilogy have no dialogue. The second film, Powaqqatsi, is the one I want to focus on for the purposes of this blog. Powaqqatsi is a Hopi word that means ‘life in transition.’ This film focused on much of the conflict in less developed countries. It showed traditional ways of life and the effect of the transition to new ways of life introduced with industrialization and Western modernization.
The film starts with a dull, barren landscape. The area is congested with numerous people in a procession line (up and down) carrying heavy bags of dirt up a steep slope to a distinct location.
The film captures images from rural areas of developing countries, then slowly switches to scenes of urban centers. Powaqqatsi has great depth to its scenes. With the combination of the music and powerful imagery as the camera scans the landscape, I found that I watched in a mindless manner. During the movie, I just watched, but did not truly think about the film until after it ended, which was weird for me. It seemed that the film was meant to be an overview of the entire concept of globalization. Each scene offered a little glimpse of life in that community. Without words, it kept personal bias out of the picture. Rather, the film was not about how people should or should not live, but gave an impression and insight into how life is changing. What made the film even more fascinating was the fact that it blended different cultures and lifestyles. It showed a global transformation and diversity. The film was a powerful portrayal of the effects that modernity is having on the less developed populations across the world that continue to live the same way that they did many years ago.
Scene after scene there were shots of people working. They look ragged, drained, and are performing difficult, back-breaking tasks. Some people are carrying heavy bags of dirt over their shoulders; others are carrying baskets on their heads, etc… In each scene, we see the effort required in these less developed countries, in order to industrialize in a shorter time period. The imagery used throughout the film was striking. Right from the beginning, we sit there in shock watching one of the fallen laborers being carried up the hill by some of the other workers. I feel like as a citizen of a developed country, I have not thought about the difficult working conditions some people face on a day to day basis. Learning about the Industrial Revolution and modernization in school, I always knew there were unsafe and strenuous working conditions. However, with so many people protesting working conditions in today’s society simply asking for an increase in pay or social benefits I found that it was easy to lose sight of the hardships people face globally in the workforce. Personally, this film was striking to me because it really caused me to draw out the differences between our society and those portrayed in the film that are playing “catch-up”. The filmmaker caught on camera the sacrifices that people were making in order to help build their modern society. In a sense, this idea of hard works seems to have been lost in our society today. Listening to my grandparents talk about work and then babysitting and even talking to the kids from the I Have a Dream Foundation it is very apparent that children and even my generation has lost quite a bit of the drive to work hard. We appreciate hard work, but many kids are driven by financial motivation, such as an allowance, just to complete simple tasks like taking out the trash. In the film, we saw even young children helping out with much more difficult and meaningful duties that contribute to the family’s health and even ultimately their survival. It further drove home the idea of how grateful we all should be and made me realize how much we really take for granted. I know that personally I have always made an effort to help out around the house and am very willing to participate in manual labor. However, we often do not think about how during our own industrialization, we faced the exact same hazards, trials and tribulations, and even hardships before we emerged as a stronger economic power.
This past week we watched clips from Koyaanisqatsi, Powaqqatsi, and Naqotqatsi. These were much different than anything we have read or watched thus far. The first two films of this Qatsi trilogy have no dialogue. The second film, Powaqqatsi, is the one I want to focus on for the purposes of this blog. Powaqqatsi is a Hopi word that means ‘life in transition.’ This film focused on much of the conflict in less developed countries. It showed traditional ways of life and the effect of the transition to new ways of life introduced with industrialization and Western modernization.
The film starts with a dull, barren landscape. The area is congested with numerous people in a procession line (up and down) carrying heavy bags of dirt up a steep slope to a distinct location.
The film captures images from rural areas of developing countries, then slowly switches to scenes of urban centers. Powaqqatsi has great depth to its scenes. With the combination of the music and powerful imagery as the camera scans the landscape, I found that I watched in a mindless manner. During the movie, I just watched, but did not truly think about the film until after it ended, which was weird for me. It seemed that the film was meant to be an overview of the entire concept of globalization. Each scene offered a little glimpse of life in that community. Without words, it kept personal bias out of the picture. Rather, the film was not about how people should or should not live, but gave an impression and insight into how life is changing. What made the film even more fascinating was the fact that it blended different cultures and lifestyles. It showed a global transformation and diversity. The film was a powerful portrayal of the effects that modernity is having on the less developed populations across the world that continue to live the same way that they did many years ago.
Scene after scene there were shots of people working. They look ragged, drained, and are performing difficult, back-breaking tasks. Some people are carrying heavy bags of dirt over their shoulders; others are carrying baskets on their heads, etc… In each scene, we see the effort required in these less developed countries, in order to industrialize in a shorter time period. The imagery used throughout the film was striking. Right from the beginning, we sit there in shock watching one of the fallen laborers being carried up the hill by some of the other workers. I feel like as a citizen of a developed country, I have not thought about the difficult working conditions some people face on a day to day basis. Learning about the Industrial Revolution and modernization in school, I always knew there were unsafe and strenuous working conditions. However, with so many people protesting working conditions in today’s society simply asking for an increase in pay or social benefits I found that it was easy to lose sight of the hardships people face globally in the workforce. Personally, this film was striking to me because it really caused me to draw out the differences between our society and those portrayed in the film that are playing “catch-up”. The filmmaker caught on camera the sacrifices that people were making in order to help build their modern society. In a sense, this idea of hard works seems to have been lost in our society today. Listening to my grandparents talk about work and then babysitting and even talking to the kids from the I Have a Dream Foundation it is very apparent that children and even my generation has lost quite a bit of the drive to work hard. We appreciate hard work, but many kids are driven by financial motivation, such as an allowance, just to complete simple tasks like taking out the trash. In the film, we saw even young children helping out with much more difficult and meaningful duties that contribute to the family’s health and even ultimately their survival. It further drove home the idea of how grateful we all should be and made me realize how much we really take for granted. I know that personally I have always made an effort to help out around the house and am very willing to participate in manual labor. However, we often do not think about how during our own industrialization, we faced the exact same hazards, trials and tribulations, and even hardships before we emerged as a stronger economic power.
I feel like what the Powaqqatsi film inspires is thought. It causes you to think, not about new concepts because those in the film are not new in any way, shape, or form, but rather it causes you to think from a different angle. It helps connect these growing communities to our own existence and history of industrialization. It helps you to empathize, yet simultaneously acknowledge the lack of a global education. When I watched the film and then thought back to my own childhood and then thought about the children at the I Have a Dream Foundation I realized how oblivious they are to all of this occurring. I know when I was taught about the Industrial Revolution I was taught about it in context of a “past” event. I never realized, until I was older, that it is something that is happening around the world in other countries even today. What this film explored well was the ancient ways in which people still live where manual labor is used instead of factories, and people are self-sufficient living off the land and working simply to maintain their lifestyle rather than produce on a large scale. The images are all equally moving. Close-ups of people’s expressions give the viewer the feeling that something wrong is occurring and the people seem helpless. They appear to be caught up in a cycle simply trying to stay alive. Watching the film even made me uncomfortable because it really opened my eyes to the truth about the poor quality of life that some of these people faced. It brought back the memories of my study abroad in Central America where I saw similar living conditions and the toll that industrialization was taking on the lives of the citizens there. This film was a familiar reminder and it made me feel uncomfortable to be sitting in a classroom, knowing I am that much more privileged than the people in the film. This film was very moving and truly gave insight into the differing priorities across civilizations today especially with the movement toward modernization.
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