Reflection...

Reflecting on Being Bad..

All in all the module was interesting. Some of the subjects made less interesting lectures, such as Infidelity, as there did not seem to be very much to discuss on the subject.
And the religious cults lecture, which did not actually talk about any religious cults. Besides Jehovas witnesses. There were many interesting lectures, I particularly enjoyed Bad Cinema, though i missed the discussion on Kids, (to run and see another film at the lighthouse) which i would have likedto have attended. To see how other people and non film students react to shocking cinema.

In terms of assessments i enjoyed writing the essays. I chose the subjects i found most interesting. The blog to some extent was a good idea, embracing modern media forms. I believe there should have been an alternative, i would rather have done another essay or creative work, as I found the blog was a chore to maintain, and in many cases found I had little to write and had to pretend I had an opinion on some subjects. When in most cases I am apathetic in regards to religion, smoking, infidelity.

More on Body Modification.

i Agree with Becky.. http://beingbadbeingbecky.blogspot.com/ who said...

A lot of people choose eastern designs without fully understanding their meanings, I have indeed met people who have been offended by a friend of mine having a tattoo in chinese writing 'because it looked good' and yet not knowing what the words meant - it could have said 'kick me repeatedly' or something obscene and she would have no idea because that did not concern her when she got the tattoo.

I remember there being an influx of people with their own name written down their fore arm in chinese letters or even just in English in a gothic font. Simply because David Beckham had one. As soon as David Beckham grows too old to play professional football, his influence will end, and he will fade away. However, these people will be stuck with their own name written on their arm for the rest of their lives. It actually appears as if they need to be reminded of their own name, since many of them are football fans and therefore have the IQ of an aggressive riot prone goldfish.

And here is a web site which Beckys friend particularly needs, as it translates things into foreign languages.

http://www.tattoos-by-design.co.uk/

Bad Cinema

As a film student this is a subject i have a lot to say about.
I find the term "bad cinema" alone is ridiculous, the only bad films in the world are Pornography and Snuff films. Cinema has been blamed for some terrible occurences, like marilyn manson was victimised for Columbine, The korean film Oldboy has been blamed for The Virginia Massacres by Cho Seung-Hui. If the people saying this had seen the film Oldboy they would know that a gun is used only once, and this is when the Villain (sort of) of the film takes his own life. Cho did take his own life at the end his rampage, but there are hundreds of films which portray suicide.

Cinema much like literature can be easily divided into categories similar to fiction and non fiction. Films that have been banned for their content such as A Clockwork Orange, are fictional. They portray rape and murder, but none of the actors were harmed in the making. Cinema is escapism. It can portray some darker aspects of the world, yet this only reflects the darker aspects to some peoples personalitys. Cho Seung-Hui had other motives to his rampage, bullying feelings of alienation from his fellow students. Oldboy was the not the cause of the tragedy.


http://www.freezedriedmovies.com/blog/index.php?/archives/8-MoviesOldboy-Blamed-For-Virginia-Massacre-Tartan-Issues-Statement.html

Response To Luke Gough.

Luke Gough Wrote.
we are living in the tail end of a society that uses scare tactics to stop you from touching yourself, and although this is a little bit of an exaggeration (cause there isnt a god...), its an illustration of the crap we are all told from an early age. "you'll go blind", "hairy palms", "acne". Rewind a couple years and you can add epilepsy and death to that list. So why the taboo? Mostly, its just clinging to the last few victorian morals we have left, generation through generation being told its wrong.

I Agree entirely with this statement. Masturbation is another of the subjects we are lied to about as children. I believe it is more harmful to tell a child they will go blind if they give in to temptation. Than it is to be open with the child and just try talking to them not down to them. If a child believes that what they are doing is wrong and perverted yet they cannot control their natural impulses. They will believe that they are just that, masturbating perverts. Everyone has done it, if this were true, our country is run by masturbating perverts, we are taught in school by masturbating perverts.

On a lighter note, I was amazed at how difficult it is to find a picture for this subject on the internet, that is not pornography.


--"If everyone who masturbates were to turn purple at noon tomorrow, you'd swear that you were in a vineyard." --Harold Ivan Smith (Baptist seminary professor)


http://www.wayneandtamara.com/bigbookofmasturbation.htm

Body Peircing and Tatoos.

I missed the lecture for this subject unfortunately. However, neither of these to me are bad or antisocial behaviours. Unless you tattoo pornographic or controversial images onto your body, these are just forms of expression, the only person you harm is yourself.
I believe some tatoos are a mistake. When you are young a tattoo can look good but as you get older and your skin ages, they can look quite unattractive.

Bad Comedians.

There are numerous "Bad" Comedians. Due to the many Bad or controversial issues out there, some bad things comedians can do are acceptable, swearing has become accepted as has the nasty comedian. However, some things such as racism and Homophobia, with coomedians such as Roy Chubby Brown and Bernard Manning, i have never found funny. Some comedians are considered bad by some parties, where others would see no offensive material. Bill Hicks was considered a very offensive comedian by many religious groups due to his material relating to religion, particularly casting a poor light on Christianity. I however have always found him hilarious.

This blog depicts what i can imagine would be hellish night. At the hands of an ignorant comedian.

--"Then he dug himself even deeper. He said, “Yeah, that family that got lost in the snow in Oregon. Big tragedy, yeah, I feel bad for them.” I couldn’t believe it. I wanted to hold my hands over my ears. I wanted to wing a huge glass bottle at his head. He kept going though. “What can you expect though? Of course they got lost, because everybody knows that Asians are such bad drivers.”

http://www.racialicious.com/2006/12/11/comedian-james-kim-died-because-asians-are-such-bad-drivers/

Bad Cinema Kids.

Kids, a good choice for Bad Cinema. Not as well known as A Clockwork Orange, for example. Which i have come to understand many people have an opinion on (generally Negative) regardless of whether they have even seen it. Therefore, many people have to establish there own opinion rather than simply agree with the standard hatred and shock at bad cinema. Kids is beautifully shot by photographer Larry Clark.

The film itself deals with some deeply controversial issues. HIV, Drug abuse, underage sexuality, underage drinking. To name a few. My only problem when watching the film was the uncomfortable amount of child nudity Larry Clark shows. It would easily have been possible to tell an equally shocking and true story without doing this to the Kids he films. Therefore the film leads us to question larry clarks motives here as a middle aged photographer/photographer. However, though the pornographic nature of the film can be uncomfortable, it is important to see past this and discuss the films many merits.

The film tackles the subject of HIV, the dangers of unprotected sex, and the lack of sexual awareness in young people, expertly. The film highlights The risk of AIDS and brings it much closer to home for many people. Rather than imagining the Virus's effects in Africa thousands of miles away, we are forced to see its horrifying impact in western society.

Lying

Lying, we all lie, if people say they don't then theyre lying. Is lying bad behaviour. In some occupations lying is important, lawyers have to withhold information, police particularly during undercover operations must lie, in some cases for their own safety. We tell many white lies everyday, such as telling a friend they look good if they do not for example. However, lies that hurt other people are not as harmless. Lying to break up with a person, such as someone admitted to in the first Being Bad session, for example can be used to suggest Lying is indeed a form of bad behaviour.

http://www.wikihow.com/Lie -- How to Lie.

http://www.grizedale.org/lying/ -- Festival of lying.

Religious Cults.

An interesting subject. Though the lecture seemed to focus on the Jehovas witnesses and said very little about other religions and cults. It may have been more interesting had we looked at some of the more extreme cults that exist. I believe scientology would have been an interesting subject to discuss, Scientology has become a much debated subject, particularly due to its celebrity members such as tom cruise. And the unusual customs of the religion such as paying to go higher in the religion for example, mark it as debatable whether it is a religion or a cult in non members eyes.

Bandits and Outlaws

Were these men heroes? The definition of an Outlaw one who is literally living "outside of the law" The romanticised image of an outlaw being a man standing up against corrupt officials is a blinkered one. Merely ignoring a court summons made a man an outlaw in British common law, suggesting the line between common criminal and national hero is close one.

One of the more interesting topics on the course.

Field Trip?

So, Ideas for a field trip. a strange choice to leave to students?
It is difficult to think of anything related to the subject Being Bad. Unless we were to go to a seminar on one of the subjects or actually take part in one of the bad subjects on mass I cannot think of anything. If the south park death camp/museum of tolerance was real that would be an excellent place to visit.

A walk down wolverhamptons Broad street would be a bad experience, we could visit all three sex shops on this street, to learn about masturbation, then go to the tattoo parlour on the same street and learn about body peircing and tattoos. And then go and see a shocking film at the lighthouse.

This is wolverhampton however, so i recommend stab proof vests.

Infidelity

Its generally considered that Infidelity is wrong. Though under some circumstances the line is blurred. In handout given out, we were informed of a site that allows people in relationships to meet other people for illicit affairs. www.philanderers.com The people who take part in these affairs defend themselves saying their partners no longer value them, but they "dont want to upset the applecart". This suggests that these people believe it is ok to stay in a loveless relationship because you can sleep with other people as well.

Gender Issues and Masturbation.

There is a distinct gender divide, in the acceptability of masturbation.
Female masturbation is seen as a much more natural act. Females are not considered as sexually deviant if they masturbate. Proof of this is on the high streets. Ann Summers sells female masturbation aids freely, women do not sneak into Ann Summers shamefaced should they be seen by people they know.

There are no highstreet shops that i know of, that sell male masturbation aids, whatever they may be. It was surprising that this point did not surface in the lecture. As it is one that always seems relevant when discussing the subject of masturbation. And it is often a point raised when discussing female sexism.

Masturbation

"Don't knock masturbation — it's sex with someone I love." ... Woody Allen

Masturbation, a subject that divides the population in most cases, between mutual disgust, or mischevious laughter.
Sex is a widely accepted activity. Both recreationally and for procreation. However, masturbation is rarely discussed, and very few people would ever admit to it publicly.

Why is this? There is an unbelievable amount of sex in popular culture, in cinema, television and literary references. There is however a much, much smaller level of reference to masturbation that is not considered pornography, and when masturbation is shown, it is generally in comedic terms, for example in teenage "grossout" films, such as American Pie in which a character glues himself to his penis, and a pornographic magazine, after mistaking superglue for a lubricant.

http://www.dirtyslang.com/malemasterbation.htm

Smoking.

As a non smoker this subject is important. And with the smoking ban looming smoking is increasingly filling the news.

The reasons for smoking covered in the discussion made little sense. The major factor according to the power point was because it makes you look cool. Largely due to film and televisions influence. Apparently Bruce Willis smoking in Die Hard is enough to make someone ignore decades of conclusive evidence that smoking directly causes a multitude of Deadly diseases. I agree here, that smoking can look cool, as Tom Waits to the right emphasises. However, I'm sure the quantity of uncool smokers out weighs the people who can pull it off.

I believe that a much larger contributing factor to smoking is for a parent to smoke. My parents do not smoke, or at least have never smoked since I was born. Though there are Smokers out there who have non smoking parents.

Largely though, I don't care if people smoke or not, Its their decision. I believe that the smoking ban is an excellent idea, Pubs will be much more enjoyable without clouds of harmful smoke. And hopefully as the smokers are exiled to stand outside to smoke, it will be easier to get seats on busy nights in Town.