Category — Jack

An eccentric yet animated documentary, Waltz with Bashir took the audience into a surreal world of fear, confusion, and internal struggle. Directed by Ari Folman, Waltz with Bashir won six Israeli Academy Awards for its innovative style of reinventing a piece of Israeli history that claimed more than 3,000 defenseless Palestinian refugees. Waltz with Bashir took me off-guard, and soon during the film, I found myself paralyzed with the bizarreness of the massacre and the insanity of war itself.

“It could only be done by animation,” the director answered in a frank manner during the talk. If the film were a live interview of seven men, it wouldn’t have been possible. The animation format integrated the dream sequence of the vicious dogs and the emergence of men from the water with the overall theme of guilt and helplessness for the veterans from the 1982 Lebanon war. Veterans, similar to Ari Folman, found themselves unable to cope with the psychological distress, for they knew nothing about what had happened to them during the war. As memories were told from one to another, one usually found memories evolve overtime. In the end, the memories might not be what had exactly happened but what one wanted the memories to be. [Read more →]

I never finish reading Reading like a writer, by Francine Prose. Even with all the accolades her books have received throughout her career, I took her novel lightly. It was one of those books that I would keep in my aged shelf under the dust, but I knew it would enhance my writing style and be an inspirational source of writing. But after attending “A Reading and Conversation with Francine Prose”, I found myself absorbed into the content of the book. “I want to be like Francine Prose,” I thought to myself while reading the book on the ride home. The event not only changed my perception of Francine Prose but also my understanding of good writing. [Read more →]

We often idealize war. When we think of war photography, we try to look for smiles of the people, welcoming the victors in the war, or the war heroes, who risked their life for the people of their countries. Susan Meiselas’s war photographs tell a different aspect of war, the millions of casualties. [Read more →]

I had always looked down upon Hip Hop culture, partially because the gibberish language was too much of a distraction. I carried that thought with me when I arrived at the Duke on 42nd street, with a free ticket in my hand. It wasn’t until Clay, Hip Hop musical, started that I began to understand why Professor Bernstein chose this piece. It was different. Watching theatrical plays for the whole semester, I have always wanted to explore other form of art. Clay not only altered my view of Hip Hop culture but also exposed the audiences to Clifford’s World of broken promises and internal struggles. [Read more →]

What is the best approach to shoot street photographs? While some street photographers considered that the techniques of photographing are the most crucial parts of their work, Jeff Mermelstein emphasized simplicity and “perpetual hard work.” Taking the time out of his schedule, Mermelstein not only delivered his interpretation of street photography during the slideshow presentation but also gave the students an insight into creating their own themes for their street photography project. [Read more →]

The audiences recognized the success of the play. South Pacific, opened at the Vivian Beaumont Theater at Lincoln Center, captured the audiences with the originality of the music by the orchestra and the theme of love and racial prejudice. Although the original play had a bigger impact, South Pacific was able to convey the idea that many issues from the past are still relevant today, such as the debate on the legality of gay marriage, very similar to the arguments on interracial marriage sixty years ago.
South Pacific centered on the love story between Ensign Nellie Forbush, naïve Navy nurse from Little Rock, Arkansas, and Emile de Becque, affluent French planter owner, with the subplot of love between Lieutenant Joe Cable and Liat, daughter of Bloody Mary. The play advanced with the struggles both couples have had for facing racial prejudice from the society as well as inner conflicts within the characters. The play also showed other elements of struggles of soldiers during World War II, particularly the African Americans. During one of the musicals, they were separated from the rest of the Seabees. By including this small part of the play, the director achieved his goal of not only questioning interracial marriage but as well as military segregation.  [Read more →]

I was born in a small town near city Wen Zhou, China. Opportunity was limited. People were expected to work in the fields or seek minimum payment jobs in the city. My mother was the exception. She, dropped out of middle school in order to support her family, started a successful door knob manufacturing business when I was three years old. By the time I reach eight years old I was rebellious. I was fascinated with the city life and envied those that who attended elementary school in the city —their parents would bring them to KFC. I begged my mother to let me go to school in the city and promised her I would behave. She finally succumbed, “promise me you will study hard.” It was my mother’s determination to provide the best learning environment for me that I entered the most prestigious elementary school in the city at the age of eight. [Read more →]