Sontag

I think we can connect with Sontag's view because our opinion on this matter is distorted by the media and how we perceive things. I feel that pictures of war victims often ignite the same feeling within ourselves. I like what the author said about there being a consensus. I think he is hinting that because of our social order and upbringing that it is only possible to feel a certain kind of way when regarding these pictures.

The Ecstasy of Influence

Zach Hubert-Allen

I think he is saying that if there are sources from the past that would normally never come tonight, then use can be described as encoding. The Muddy Waters story is interesting. How he comes up with so many different explanations to the songs origin is a bit scattering. It makes it difficult to depict who should get credit. Also, at the time Blues and Jazz artists often reworked already established pieces. Copyright infringements weren’t really a thing at the time, causing basically anybody to rip someone else’s work and make it their own.

                As far is a failed attempt at combining subtle ideas from a source with yours is concerned, I think the thought and basis of the source is always there, making it relevant. However this being said, if the source has nothing to do with the context then one is violating another person’s work being trying to make this false comparison. This ties into the gift economy. When I think of this gift economy I think of knowledgably giving and receiving credit for an idea. This is a very important facet to sharing intellectual ideas. 

The Hurt Locker

                The Hurt Locker is a great movie to compare to the general theme of this class in war. One of the most eye catching things is how the soldiers treat the Iraqi people. It is assumed that everyone is a threat and while watching this movie you believe this to be true. I'm fairly certain this was the directors intention. Every time James is walking towards a bomb there is an eerie vibe in the air. You can just sense the build up.
             
               However, I think the real question here is if this stereotype is justified. Clearly not everyone from Iraq is evil and out to kill US citizens. Even so, everyone in this film was viewed as an enemy in my opinion. This stigma is set from the get go when Eldridge fails to save Matt's life by not pulling the trigger. I almost feel that viewers get a "better to be safe than sorry" type of sense from this scene. This leads viewers to resent the natives for the rest of the movie, even if innocent.
           

Talked about the portrayal of "Zero Dark Thirty". Argument was about torturing and how it was being portrayed to the american citizens. Interesting point in movies taking a journalistic approach. I believe the director should have some artistic freedom. It is not like the film was of the documentary format, like restrepo was. Also, the audience should expect things to be exaggerated for entertainment purposes. There will never be a nonfiction movie about killing people from other countries along with inside access to top secret CIA interrogation rooms. Due to the safety these rooms provide the american people, while "morally wrong" events take place, these establishments are necessary. People should not have overreacted to the exaggeration of the events.

Wenderoth Writing

I thought this was a good piece of writing. I think the main point he was trying to make was the fact that American's are a little too domestically centered. I think the author wants us to take a more humanistic approach to dissecting these matters, rather than a national one. The point I found to be most interesting was his statement that most wars are due to religion and nationalism rather than an "evil" source. I find this to be true looking into past wars. For instance, both of the World Wars were completely centered around nationalism and wars between countries like Israel and Palestine have a primarily religious catalyst.