finding the right words

I was totally shocked. Is that even the right word? I was disturbed, I was moved, I was enlightened, I was uncomfortable... the effect of the films we watched in today's class made me lean back in my seat and go "WHAT". Sometimes I think I forget the power of film and animation. I forget what it can be used as. It can be entertainment, it can be a weapon, it can be an escape, it can be purely art, too. In this case, it was a little more on the political side. The films today were created by women for society to see, for the purpose of making women's perspective known and getting a reaction from it. And that they did. I think each of the things we watched today had their own impact that they left on me. The Dove ad is especially powerful because it is so true of society today. The ads today are all about not loving yourself, but changing yourself. The women of today have grown up with these ideas and it's rough. It's not easy. (Not saying that guys don't have pressure on image too, but specifically this ad focused on girls). Some other films today focused more of women's love: this sense of a deep and sometimes maternal love that is given and spent, but can be taken advantage of and thrown away in a heart beat. For example, in Un Jour, when the 'man in her belly' left one day. She had given her all to him, and he didn't even have to do anything in return, but then he left, and she was never the same. Or, from a lighter perspective, when the old lady in Second Class Male squeezed her 'special man' so hard that he blew up, and he didn't even have to say a word. :) 

The Stain was simply disturbing. I literally had to just sit back and shake my head to get it all straight. The images were so dark, but they were also really powerful. The intensity of the story and all of the sick things that were happening were pretty overwhelming. I can see why a lot of people when it was originally released wanted nothing to do with it. It's one of those things that people wish they could ignore and believe it doesn't happen. But things like that do happen, we just don't know. Sometimes we need art like what we saw today to smack society in the face and remind them that while their world is all fine and dandy, not everything in the world is going well. The fact that women brought all of this to the table is super cray and super awesome.