Movies and Culture

Movies are an interesting phenomena. Most people could not normally sit still for two hours in the dark, however when you give them something to watch, suddenly people will not only willingly sit in a dark room, they will pay often ridiculous prices to do so. Something about movies resonates with a bit of our humanity: these movies depict people doing things we could never hope, or doing things that we wish we had the courage to do. Sure, other kinds of movies exist that do not fall into these categories (such as comedies, documentaries, and many horror films), but the ones that do provide a unique insight into the values our culture holds in high esteem.

For example, take the new movie released just last week, Olympus has Fallen. I will not spoil the movie for those that have not seen it yet, however I will possibly "spoil" this: America wins. The movie, in case you are unaware, follows a secret service agent who has not been on active duty for eighteen months as he attempts to single-handedly retake the White House after it was taken over by the North Koreans. Several elements of the movie stood out to me, one being the security measures the movie depicts that protect our White House. One scene in particular involves the secret service agents hurriedly taking the president out of harm's way. The entire plot of the movie, in fact, is contingent upon high-ranking US officials being more willing to  sacrifice millions of innocent lives than sacrifice the President's life. But why is this considered so patriotic, even at a time when the country is so divided over the actions of the President? I believe that the movie demonstrates the same effect that occurred after 9/11. After the September 11th attacks on our country, our country was unified in a unique way that can only happen after a tragedy. People who are normally split by political party banded together to support the one cause of our nation: Seeking out the terrorist who committed the atrocities. The move Olympus has Fallen allows viewers to relive that emotion of unity. When an audience watches this movie, they will feel themselves cheering for America. Not democratic America and not republican America, just America as a nation. This movie is an especially important movie in today's divided nation.

Movies almost always have a point to them. More often than not, the point the movie is trying to make is also making a statement about the culture we live in today, and popular movies represent finding a commonality in the target audience. Olympus has Fallen, I believe, was popular because it ignites the patriot in all of use and reminds us that we are blessed beyond belief to have our most worrisome problem be balancing a budget.

Nothing Without Proof

High School is a rough time in one’s life, for many reasons. People like to quote biological and emotional reasons, but high school can sometimes be hard educationally as well. This is not always because the classes are hard, but often times because they are setup in a way that is a different pace and organization than Jr. High and elementary classes, much in the same way the college classes are often times not dramatically more difficult (although in many cases they are), they are just different. In my particular case, one of the classes that exhibited this characteristic was my high school English class. I took college English in high school and had the most wonderful professor, however the writing assignments were not always to my liking, and I often times disagreed with my grades when I thought they were lower than they should be. However, the main point of this class was to teach me to write, despite me thinking I already knew how to.

Going into the class, I thought that my writing skills were up to par. Sure, I could use big words here and there; probably convince someone my age that I knew what I was talking about. But when it came to writing with substance, to actually making a point that packed a punch, I was severely lacking. It took a teacher much more intelligent than I to challenge me and point out my flaws to hone my abilities to argue. This was what I learned in my rhetoric class.

As it turns out, this same year I took a Number Theory class at Stanford University. In that Number Theory course, we learned how to prove using all different sources of arguments, and went over, from a mathematical point of view, how to write proofs. As I look back on it now, I got a unique experience in that I got to learn both the math side of argument and the English side of argument within a short time period. I think this positively contributed to my education, and overall improved my argumentative capabilities.

When it comes down to it, I would probably have to attribute any success I have in the future at least partially to the writing course I took in High School. The foundation the professor gave me in writing with a purpose, with evidence and a clear point, has been invaluable in my academic writing at the present, and undoubtedly will come in handy in the future. If I could recommend to any other high school student a certain course to take, it would be a rhetoric course. Even though it will be challenging and seem too rigorous and writing-intensive for high school, the head-start it provides gives an extraordinary advantage not only in college applications, but also in college itself.

A Story From My Father

Stories have great cultural significance, whether they be a story that changes the way a civilization considers a certain phenomenon or a story that makes one thinks about something a bit longer, stories tend to change something, even the stories passed around the dinner table for pure entertainment purposes. One such story came from my father, who was a cargo plane pilot in the navy. A lot of my father's stories stemmed from his Navy past. This probably had to do with the fact that due to his navy experience, he got to visit a lot of different places, from Italy to Kuwait, and many countries that I would have never heard of otherwise.

This particular story involves some country in the middle east, but that is not important. What is important is that it was not a planned landing. Not an emergency landing per se, but a detour from the prescribed path for sure. The problem with this is that now the airplanes were at a foreign airport and did not have enough fuel to return to a friendly airport or to an aircraft carrier. The navy provides pilots with ways to refuel at these airports. One way is to use a military IOU, which is essentially a slip of paper from the US Government that says "We'll pay you back later." One might understand why a foreign, unfriendly airport would be hesitant to take an IOU from the US. Government. The other primary way is with a credit card backed by the US Government. It is just a normal credit card but goes to a military account. Pilots carry these for situations just like this. However, when my father presented this credit card to the refueling crew at the airfield, they shook their heads no. Instead, they motioned to my dad's wallet and said in accented English, "American Express!". They wanted my father to pay with his personal American Express card! So that is exactly what he did. He called ahead to American Express to explain the situation and they pre-approved the transaction, and the order went through. He cannot remember exactly how much it was, but he estimates that with today's price of fuel that it would be around $20,000. Needless to say, my father was anxious to get the military to reimburse him!