Q & A Movie Time! Pt 1 of 2

The questions you need to answer while viewing:

1.    What do drugs mean to Ickarus?

Drugs to Ickarus in Ickarus’s words a way to relax, but it seems apparent he genuinely enjoys doing them as well.

 

2.    Why, when, and how are his fans taking drugs, and which drugs do they take?

Mdma was a popular drug taken, as was Ecstasy and Ketamine(The Horse tranquilizer) though surprisingly I didn’t hear anything about anyone smoking Marijuana. The drug use shown is always done in a private room, or while partying in a bathroom.

 

3.    While we can see that his drug habits get him ill and into a psychosis, and while we witness his relapse and inability to work successfully, why does the subculture Ickarus is in focus on drugs?

The focus on drugs is not made directly apparent however it can be inferred that a difficult job market (as seen by Ickarus’s brother) could be part of the root. Also, people tend to follow a few stronger leaders.

IE Everyone’s doing it!

 

4.    Compare the standards you know from your home society with the people you see depicted in this movie. Which are the stark differences and contrasts?

In the culture I grew up in Marijuana was the drug of choice. A great deal of kids got into some heavier stuff. But it was very clear, you either only did Marijuana, or you did everything that came into your possession. Meth was the hard drug of choice. Not Ketamine or MDMA.

The kids in my community that got into stuff harder than Marijuana were generally ostracized. Forced to hang out amongst themselves as they couldn’t be trusted if left alone.

 

5.    Germany is considered a strong industrial nation the world over. Do you think that the youth culture as depicted here could change that? How about work ethics of Ickarus and of Alice, the label director who fires and then re-signs him?

Yes. I think the youth culture in Germany if left as the movie depicts it will become disenfranchised welfare leeches. Their lethargy will leave a power vacuum when the current people in command eventually die out leaving a window open for a great deal of bullcrap.

 

Ickarus’s work ethic is questionable. On one hand he does produce for the society. But I think he does it because he enjoys it. As he gets older his tastes will change and he may quit producing for society. I think it would be interesting to see him in twenty years and see what he’s up to. Assuming he lives that long being he seems to live by the phrase, “A short but merry life”

 

Alice is lazy. Little doubt about that. She fires a man for being mentally unstable and then has a change of heart isn’t very business savvy. The man is clearly a liability and I doubt he’s the sole person keeping the record company afloat. Especially when it seems clear that artists like Ickarus are a dime a dozen. She didn’t even renegotiate his contract.

 

6.    Which similar "cult movies" of US origin have you seen, if any?

Fear and loathing in Las Vegas, Lost Skeleton of Cadavra, Santa Claus vs. the Martians, Our Island Earth. I’m a big fan of cult movies actually. Friends and I get together on our quest to find the stupidest movie ever made. Low budget films are a great time.

 

A Few Small Expansions

A Small Expansion on the Roll of Women.

From what I found Women granted the ability to vote on November 12, 1918, however they did not get the ability to exercise their new found right until the election in January of 1919. So a main point of our discussion in class can finally be settled. Both groups were right about when women got the right to vote. The general school of thought as for what to do with women before was "Keep them barefoot and pregnant" Though probably worded a little different.

Women's primary purpose was for maintaining the house and breeding.

 
A Small Expansion on Healthcare

Disease was problematic in the 19th century, and up until the 18th century they still treated disease in the same way as the ancient greeks. Using the four humors. Over time however laws were passed which helped fix some of the health problems. Washing hands before surgery being a fun new rule. Death rates dropped and plagues became less common.



A Fun Famous Name!

Willhelm Maximillian Wundt

 

Physician

Psychologist

Physiologist

Philosopher

Professor

 

(I ran out of P words that applied to him)

 

Regarded as the Father of experimental Psychology. He is famous for having studied the nature of religious belief

 

The Wundt illusion was developed by Wundt. The two red lines appear curved however they are straight.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wundt_illusion

18th Century!!!!!!!!

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1I565MgMODXoZ5BMcgcMt-YhcF4a2KTmJmxEbc7nEkI0/edit

Five Points and an afterthought.

1. War is not something to be glorified.
2. The war desensitized  the young men to a level that should not have occurred.
3. Those that survived may feel they would have been better off dead.
4. The book ends at the same moment Paul's life ends. It purposefully does not portray Paul as a martyr or show that Pauls contributions to the war made any difference whatsoever. Paul's whole participation in the war in the grand scheme of things meant nothing.
5.I feel the book was an important read and unusually relevant to the day and age we live in.


That being said, I am glad I read the book. But do not care to read it again. Though I am no veteran and cannot even pretend to be from a military standing, I felt the book got to real at points. It showed me that one can enter a conflict innocent and throughout the course of it become a new individual walking in between two worlds.  There was no glory in what he had to do, and his whole presence in the war had no effect on the eventual outcome of the war. Yet he was forced to endure and watch as the world he loved was made to fall. The war made him indifferent to it. Something I don't care to ever experience. Paul see's people dying that he had known his whole life and shows no sorrow that they have fallen. He doesn't seem to care that his friends have all died. "Such is the life of a soldier" he even says at one point.

In closing, this book scared the crap out of me, and removed a great deal of the romanticism I had previously held about being sent off to war. Also, appreciating the friends I've got in Afghanistan a little more.

Kat the Awesome

Kat is the oldest member of the group forty years of age at the start of the novel, he is also the most experienced member of the group.  A Cobbler in civilian life (Shoe maker), and the primary mentor of the group. He shows his charisma by persuading the cook to allow his small squad to eat the food that was rationed for the hundred some men when only forty had arrived to eat.  He has a sixth sense for finding food that the other boys very much appreciate him for. In one incident he finds four boxes of lobster and another time he finds some geese for the Men to cook and eat.

 Kat is the most positive member of the group, and the boys generally look up to him. He leads his men by example and gets angry with them when they have a negative outlook on their disposition. Kat is a survivor.

Kat is practical and humane, in one incident he finds a man who had his thighs blown off, he was in intense pain and Kat was the one that suggested that they do a mercy killing by putting the man out of his misery rather than sit in the hospital bed for three days dyeing from a slow grueling death.  He is forced to stop from the mercy killing by the return of the other soldiers from the front.

 His death is exceptionally traumatic to Paul as it is that point in the novel where Paul gives up on life. Shrapnel from a mortar explodes wrecking Kats shin. Paul realizing that Kat is hurt tries to carry him back to camp. On the way back to camp Kat makes a small moan to which Paul urges him to hang on only to discover upon his arrival back at camp that Kat had died on the way. A piece of shrapnel that had hit him in the head. Kat had been the last member of his original group to die. After this Paul is seen as the old man as many of the new recruits are under seventeen. 

Chapter 9 Summary!!!!

Paul has just returned from leave and is curious as to the fates of his entourage, especially Kat.  Being as no one is aware whether or not other men in his group have survived Paul heads to the orderlies to see the fate of his men.  Paul finds out his friends are still on the front and instead of joining them waits three days and they return.

Upon return from the front they are forced into doing heavy drills and are put through heavy inspection as the Kaiser is coming to the front to personally inspect the troops. Paul explains that these drills are more humiliating than being on the front and that the front is preferable to the drills. The Kaiser eventually comes and delivers a few medals before leaving. Upon the Kaisers departure the fancy uniforms are quickly confiscated back.

Paul and the troops are disappointed by the appearance of the Kaiser. They imagined him larger, more powerful and to have a thundering voice. 

Instead of going to Russia, Paul and his men are sent back to the front. There they see a totally decimated line. Men laying naked having been blown out of their clothes and body parts scattered.  The soldiers become aware of how strong their enemy is shortly before a long burst of machine gun fire, a bomb lands close to Paul but narrowly misses him. Paul jumps into a trench and starts navigating the trench but has forgotten the way back to camp.  Paul ends up in no mans land where he comes face to face with a French soldier. The two engage in hand to hand combat and Paul stabs him 3 times. The French soldier falls and starts gurgling, Paul realizing that he’s not dead starts trying to take care of him. Offering him water and patches up his wounds. He finds a photo of a woman and a little girl in the French Soldiers pocket book and offers to write to them and send money. He later says that everything he promised he would do for this man he suggests he probably would not do.

Paul waits until nightfall and crawls out of the hole to find Kat and Albert went out searching for him. The next morning Paul tells his comrades what he had done to the French soldier and was consoled.

Christian Democratic Union

Presentation

My work on the Christian Democratic Union!

The first class period where we were assigned to the groups we swapped emails, then after class part of the group assigned who would get what jobs. I was given the duty of finding out information on the party platform. The CDU is the largest party in Germany, being the catch for those aligned slightly right of center. They seem comparable to our American Republican Party.

Their relationship with the CSU is an interesting one, I find it very similar to the relationship the Democratic party has with the Democratic Farmer Labor party of Minnesota. Where the CSU operates nearly exclusively in Bavaria and the CSU binds to the CDU for national politics. Again, very much like the DFL and Democratic Party here in Minnesota.

Anyway, on to the party platform!

Officially the CDU is Christian, There isn’t a separation between church and the organization, The party emphasizes “Christian understanding of humans and their responsibility toward God.” People that belong to the party however do not need to belong to a specific religion and often don’t belong to any specific religion. As conservatives they believe in harsher punishments for criminals, as well as a need to be fiscally conservative. (Not spending so much money)

They are openly against the nation of Turkey joining the European Union. They claim that Turkey violates multiple basic human rights and also does not believe they should be admitted on the grounds that Turkey has yet to recognize the Republic of Cyprus as an independent nation. Every nation admitted into the European Union must recognize every other nation in the European Union. They instead favor what they call a “Privileged Partnership”

In regards to how I felt the group project worked. I was rather disappointed by how everything panned out. We did communicate via email. But we were unable to meet due to scheduling conflicts and no notice before meetings. The two times the group did meet it was announced same day. It’s actually my understanding that only three of the group members met face to face. We did all email our parts in but being as the first time we saw the power point was when we were giving the presentation I was incredibly annoyed by the feeling that I was completely winging the presentation. All in all, I think the group was just too big to keep things from being done efficient.



Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Democratic_Union_%28Germany%29 accessed 9/15/12
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4434812.stm     accessed 9-15-12
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/115109/Christian-Democratic-Union-CDU accessed 9-15-12
http://www.cdu.de/en/3440.htm   9-15-12