AUGUST - EPISODE VIII: SUMMER 2020

 WISDOM OF THE SAGES
EPISODE VIII: SUMMER 2020

Hello People of the World;

 

Here we are, still in the middle of all of this. The weather has broken and it has been cooler of late. We had some heat and some thunderstorms of late. Oh well. Who care about the weather now when we haven't even reached the middle of this yet?

 

As always: Stay safe. Stay home.

 

 All right, let’s get going:

 

1:[ If I were to cave in and start doing movie reactions, I think I would be commenting on how they are made and on boring stuff like tracking shots and lighting and character motive setup and how the script works and how setups pay off and basically ruining the movie for viewers. So, I tend to stay away...

 

2:[ Media Literacy Corner: On the Supreminal Message:

 

The overt message is the message in plain sight. The subliminal message is the unspoken message and most people seem to be on the look out for this. Which is fine. But people never look for the supreminal message. The Surpeminal message is the overt message that is everywhere. There is no escaping it. That is why most ads have become overly simplified because they are easily digestible and can be placed everywhere – like Geico ads.

 

But this works for other forms of visual media besides ads as well. An example is the soundtrack to Kubrick’s “2001” which is made up of classical overtures. If has become so familiar and widely recognized that we immediately associate that music, when we hear it, to the films. Little known is that while “2001” was in productions, Kubrick tasked Alex North to compose score for “2001”. Kubrick was using the classical music pieces as placeholders, as many directors do, however, once North completed his score, Kurbick was so enamored of the temporary track, he tossed North’s score in favor of the classical music.

 

In 2005, I think, North went ahead and released his unheard score to “2001” as a standalone album. Lately on YouTube, many have been editing the North score to clips from the film to sort of gauge how it would have been had Kubrick stuck with North’s work. However, audiences are so used to the classical score they immediately judge the North score as terrible. Which it is not. It’s different.

 

We are just so used to the classical score. This is an example of supreminal messaging. Where a counter or differing point becomes ugly to us.

 

Another example would be the Star Wars Special Editions. We are so used to the old version, never mind that George Lucas was tinkering with the first film even AFTER it was released, that when Lucas further tinkers with his films we get upset.

Another, more recent example would be the “She-Ra: Princess of Power” cartoons. Grown men were getting sooooo upset and MAD when the new cartoon, A CARTOON depicted She-Ra as a young adolesent girl rather than a grown woman. Which is hilarious because, no grown man or boy would watch “She-Ra” when it first came out.

 

But we get so used to thing that this is actually stifling innovation and change. The best example of the surpreminal message is that “Indians are Savages/Extinct”….

 

3:[ Movie Reviews:

“First Cow” – it was enjoyable. But why does the Chinese guy have to be the conniving one? And once again, in any historical period piece, all I see are the missing Native. Sure, Gary Farmer was in it, but was depicted as a foreign princess for some reason. The opening seemed like an excuse to have Cousin Maebe in it.

 

“Birds of Prey” – is probably the best DCEU film out there right now. It was fun, action-packed, and I liked the characters. Basic comic book fluff. Go see it….

 

4:[ I finally completed my video review of “Wind River”. Titled "Once Upon a Time on the Rez: A Northern Arapaho's Review of 'Wind River'." You can watch it by CLICKING HERE. It is an hour and five minutes long. I hope well worth it….

 

5:[ In quarantine, I have been in my element as an introvert and creative. People are stating that not to feel bad if they have not been creative during this time. My issue was that I never had time. To me, waiting on inspiration is the lazy man’s path. Anyways, during this time I actually finished my novel “A Rez Tale” and I am up to a fourth draft and have readers going through it and giving me critique and feedback. I hope to get it done and self-publishing it by December 5. Stay tuned….

 

6:[ With all the things going on there, I think I’m going to do my Spring course at UW Parkside online instead….

 

7:[ We CANNOT go back to “Normal”: With everything that is going on I am very tired and wary. I barely go out because idiots think they don’t need masks or worse, they think this thing is over, or they act like it’s over. We are barely through the FIRST WAVE. Even people whom I think are intelligent are acting like it’s done and going out like saps. The other thing that worries me is that the people I see in the store or around the neighborhood, I cannot trust that if things get worse, they would rather have me shot than listen to me. I cannot trust them to not think about my safety. That is a shitty place to be right now….

 

8:[ With the recent death of Charwick Boseman, what comes to mind is how excited the black and Latino kids were when they walked out of the theaters at ICON Showplace Theaters. “Black Panther” was and is such a big deal, people from the Black community were lining up to take pictures with the poster. ICON only had the Okoye character poster, but since a strong, black woman is such a powerful thing, they took pictures with it anyway. We can never understate the importance of that film nor Boseman’s portrayal in it….

 

That is it for this month.

 

I hope all is well with you. Take care. Mask up. This shit ain’t over yet. Not by a longshot.

 

As always, I invite you to comment, correct, or contradict anything I write here. I am open to a critical debate. Thanks for taking the time to check out what I write here and I will see you in a month.

 

Until next time, remember “I try to show the schemers how pathetic their attempts to control everything really are.”

 

 

 

2020 Ernest M Whiteman III