Why Do We Like to Watch Rich People on TV and in the Movies? (EXTRA CREDIT BLOG)

http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/01/23/why-do-we-like-to-watch-rich-people-on-tv-and-in-the-movies/?_php=true&_type=blogs&module=BlogPost-Title&version=Blog%20Main&contentCollection=U.S.&action=Click&pgtype=Blogs&region=Body&_r=0

There is a huge coincidence. Today I watched the Wolf of Wall Street, had A LOT to say about the film. First and foremost, the movie was really good, BUT it is just ridiculous how much money, greed, drugs, and sex can just change a person. To answer the question above, "Why Do We Like to Watch Rich People on TV and in the Movies?" is very simple to answer. The reason we do this is because for years America has made living "fancy" a sort of trend we---the people who wish could live like the rich---have seen as model figures we wish we could be like someday. Since the mid 1900s, when have you seen a film where women weren't poised gracefully with a maid or butler in the house, a husband who is the supplier of income, and lets not forget the children who never do anything wrong and are just heavenly angels. On top of all that, the "perfect" family lives in a big home. It is something Americans always looked to when they needed an escape from their own lives, so that they could find entertainment in the lives of fictional characters who are living ten times better than the viewer himself.

I agree with Farnoosh Torabi in the sense that she says, "...Soaps offered an entertaining escape to where budgeting constraints and bad hair days didn’t exist, where we could see how the “rich” lived, and experience — even if just for an hour a day — a part of their fictional lives that seemed vastly more exciting than our own." This not only refers to soap operas but for anything we watch on TV/Movies in general. I agree with Bruce Levine because he makes an effective point that today greed is seen as both normal and acceptable by the mass media and mainstream politicians. Greed is something that is common in people everywhere it is one of the seven deadly sins but it shines brighter when we obtain a deep desire. With desire sometimes comes greed. Just like in the Wolf Of Wall Street, which is based on a true story, when Jordan Belfort got a good amount of money coming into his hands, all he could think was obtaining more and how fast he could get it no matter what the cost. I think all people can become like that, but it doesn't mean everyone necessarily will.

On that note, we watch people with money on television and on movies become the reason we stay home on a 9'o clock PM time slot because we would rather sit and watch how other people are living the rich life because it is good entertainment from our own lives, just like everything else we watch on television non filthy-rich and greedy related.

Heart of Darkness (CRR)

In English class we have finished up the book the Heart of Darkness. In my opinion, I disliked reading the book, because it was very difficult for me as a reader to understand. That was my initial thought during the first few pages of reading the book. Once I finished the book, sort of, I began to understand the symbolism behind the book while also understanding the main character, Charles Marlow. This book isn't exactly the best book ever written, in my opinion at least, but this book did show how much the impact of your environment can truly consume your inner being and change you without you realizing how. Marlow was just an innocent being who had little to no experience of what it was like being surrounded by African natives in the Congo. Not only did he not know how to react towards them, he didn't know or understand the hatred they were getting by the Europeans who dehumanized and enslaved them. Marlow was an innocent soul who arrived to the congo at the wrong place at the wrong time. His ideal perception on life was completely turned over as the book continues to depict each timeline of his life there. Before I give away the entire book, this book was an utter disappointment but eventually found some place in me that made me understand why the characters were written the way they did, and why this book was written in the first place. This book is a version of how life is set up in the form of a semi-fictional tale. Greed and corruption basically sums up the story, but it is a perfect example of just how much people can easily change when these two things enter your system.

Hairs & Fibers (ID)

In my forensics class, we are currently studying the cuticle patterns, medullas, cortex, and hair origins of both human and animal hair samples. I never realized how interesting the human hair was. I was able to identify what my hair type was which i would have never known without this class. It was very interesting finding out how to identify the differences between hair types and specific classifications of hair. I'm not a huge fan of science but anatomical science is my favorite, and I feel like a little scientist in the making.

Endless Time By Rabindranath Tagore (FC)

Time is endless in thy hands, my lord.
There is none to count thy minutes.

Days and nights pass and ages bloom and fade like flowers.
Thou knowest how to wait.

Thy centuries follow each other perfecting a small wild flower.

We have no time to lose,
and having no time we must scramble for a chance.
We are too poor to be late.

And thus it is that time goes by
while I give it to every querulous man who claims it,
and thine altar is empty of all offerings to the last.

At the end of the day I hasten in fear lest thy gate be shut;
but I find that yet there is time.