Author: Anna Deng (Page 1 of 2)

I chose to visit the American Museum of Natural History as a means of gaining a deeper appreciation of the scientific world around us. As I continue my day to day activities of going to school or hanging out with friends, it’s easy to lose sight of how far we have come as a society. People have become more focused on their own agendas and have forgotten the scientific world they’re encompassed in. Over the years, people have studied all aspects of the world, and because of this, there’s an abundance of knowledge about earth’s animals, natural gems, and extinct species that’s waiting to be explored in the American Museum of Natural History. 

The exhibit that caught my attention was one of the first exhibits I visited; this exhibit was the Akeley Hall of African Mammals. The centerpiece of this exhibit was the large life size sculptures of elephants that resided in front of the entrance of the exhibit. Surrounding the elephants were various dioramas of different African mammals and their habitats. Though a specific cultural moment wasn’t highlighted by these dioramas, one thing I appreciated was an emphasis of community in each of the dioramas I saw. A trend among all the dioramas was that each mammal represented was accompanied by at least two of its kind. For example, the dioramas of the Greater Koodoo, which was created in 1971 by Carl Akeley using a paper mache method, had three Greater Koodoos within it. The diorama labeled Bongo, which was created by Carl Akeley using the same paper mache method during the 1900s, had two Bongos in it. In the Greater Koodoo diorama and the Bongo diorama, it seems like both species were scouring for food. By having multiple Greater Koodoos or multiple Bongos scourging for food, there was once again this emphasis on community as the mammals were searching for food as a collective. It was significant to find out that the layout of each diagram was a replica of a photo taken by scientists exploring Africa. Knowing that the diorama wasn’t fabricated to show the community made the exhibit seem more authentic. To find out that in their natural habitat, the Greater Koodoos and Bongos naturally ban together to solve problems such as sourcing food makes the theme of community more prevalent in the exhibit.  

Viewing this exhibit helped me realize how important community is. Community encompasses all aspects of life, and to see how different species of animals all encompass community by working together to scourge food, it made me realize the importance of working together with my peers whether it be on assignments or helping each other out with mundane tasks. Hopefully, this message is prevalent when others decide to visit the museum. Apart from that, people should visit the museum because the opportunity to view the unique species in their natural habitat is quite rare. With the advancement of technology, people can easily see the species displayed at the museum online. However, seeing it in person as forms of sculptures is more significant and realistic. Seeing a 3D depiction of these species helps employ more empathy compared to viewing a 2D version of the species and their habitat online. Seeing these animals purely in their natural habitat made me realize humans are not the only people living on earth. With issues of climate change becoming more prevalent in the world, there is more emphasis on visiting the museum. If we are not preserving the planet for our sake, we should at least be preserving the planet to protect these innocent animals and their habitat. This museum should speak to everybody who lives on earth because everybody has an equal responsibility to preserve the earth and ensure its habitants and their habitats are maintained for years. In summary, if not for admiring the sculptures of unique species in their natural habitat, people should visit the museum as a means of realizing the importance of preserving our earth not just for us humans but for the various animal species that also reside on earth. 

Apart from that, I believe the exhibit was effectively organized. The large life size elephants that were created by Carl Akely in 1914 using paper mache effectively helped attract a large audience into the exhibit primarily due to its size and lifelike appearance. As I was walking around the elephant sculpture, my eyes naturally gravitated towards the dioramas surrounding the elephant because the dioramas were lit up compared to the dim lighting of the exhibit. Also, each diorama consisted of complimenting colors that didn’t distract from the main focus of the dioramas, the animals! However, one design flaw was the lack of direct accessibility to the dioramas on the floor above the floor with the elephants. Since the entrance leading to the second floor of the dioramas weren’t very apparent, many might opt out to view the second floor of dioramas. Other than that, I believe the exhibit was neatly and effectively curated to attract audiences to each different diorama. 

Desdemona’s aspirations to get into Princeton was made apparent in Ching Chong Chinaman. Throughout the whole play, Desdemona seemed to be on edge because she was trying to build the best college application that would get her into Princeton. For example, she was eager to discover a niche story about her family’s history to write about in her personal statement for her college application, and she was relentless on winning her school’s canned food drive because presumably it would build her resume and increase her involvement with the school. Apart from that, Desdemona even went against her own morals to maintain her grades; she assumed Jinqiang was good at math because he was Chinese, and she ended up throwing her math problems at him to finish even though she knew it was wrong of her to make Jinqiang work for her.

With that being said, I believe it is normal for students to have aspirations of going to an Ivy League, and I believe it is normal for students to work hard to ensure they get accepted into an Ivy League school. However, in the case of Desdemona, I believe the pressure she has put on herself to get into Princeton is unhealthy. Desdemona’s desire to attend Princeton has taken precedence over all aspects of her life, and this struggle highlights a larger issue among college applications today in the United States of America. Today, the criteria required to get into top colleges like Ivy League schools have reached an all time high, and these exceedingly high expectations for students to maintain good grades, uphold multiple leadership positions, have an exceptionally high SAT score, and start a non-profit organization just to be noticed certainly causes stress on students.

As someone who just recently applied to colleges, I can attest that this growing issue in the US is true. For a large amount of time, I always perceived that going to a top college like an Ivy League would ensure an easy way to success. Success to me was landing a job that provided a stable income because my goal in life has always been to be able to provide for my parents who have worked hard and selflessly to provide for me. In the midst of trying to apply for these highly sought out schools, I found myself feeling unqualified even though I had good grades, was the captain of my school’s Badminton Team, was the cofounder of the Mental Health Club, and was an SEO Scholar who attended an additional 720 hours of classes to prepare for the SAT. With that being said, while reading Ching Chong Chinaman, I heavily related to Desdemona who was feeling insecure about her own qualifications to get into Princeton, and I assure many other students must have related to her because the criteria to get accepted into these top colleges have become absurdly hard. It is a duty of our society to address this issue. Thought some competitiveness is valuable because it encourages students to work hard to seek out the goals they want, too much competitiveness can be negative. The mental health of students can become negatively impacted if they are continuously exposed to the relentless competitive nature of college applications. To protect our students and ensure they have an abundant life that isn’t solely focused on getting into these top colleges, the college admission process must be heavily examined and altered to prevent relentless competitiveness and exceedingly high expectations that only a few can meet.

When Amin Nawabi started talking about his father in the film Flee, I was able to feel his raw emotions; I could recognize and understand how devastated he was when his father was taken away from him. The director’s stylistic and narrative choices certainly helped establish and build my understanding of Nawabi’s trauma.

In terms of stylistic choices, I saw the director Jonas Poher Rasmussen utilize three distinct types of visuals which helped emphasize the pain Nawabi felt when his father was taken away. In chronological order of the film, Rasmussen decided to introduce the topic of Nawabi’s father with a colorful cartoon adaptation of Nawabi’s family, excluding Nawabi’s father, sitting together in their house in Afghanistan. Rasmussen then shifts from this cartoon adaptation to a real televised film featuring the new Afghani government. The final transition of this sequence occurs when Rasmussen transitions to an indistinct black and white description of the moment Nawabi’s father was taken from the family. All these shifts in visuals effectively helped me understand the pain Nawabi felt when his father was taken away from him. With a cartoon depiction of a true story, it is easy to forget what being depicted is an actual true story. It is easy to get lost in the colorful visuals of the cartoon depiction of Nawabi’s story, but Rasmussen manages to reel the audience back by introducing a real televised film that introduces context as to why Nawabi’s father could have been taken, the reason being the new Afghani government felt threatened by Nawabi’s father’s presence. The introduction of the real televised scene helped remind me that the film is based on a true story, and that the events described not only happened in history, but also happened to multiple Afghan families who were all victim to the new Afghani government. Apart from that, Rasmussen’s decision to provide an indistinct black and white visual was also effective. The stark contrast between the buildup to Nawabi’s story about his father, which was colorful, to the actual scene depicting his father’s departure, which was black and white, made me realize how negatively impacted Nawabi was by his father’s removal. In contrast to the colorful animations, the black and white animations are impactful because they are limited and tend to focus on the more traumatic moments of Nawabi’s life. Having a distinction and purposely making Nawabi’s father’s removal displayed in different tones helped emphasize how pained Nawabi felt by his dad’s removal. Also, I thought it was an interesting approach to have the scene of Nawabi’s dad visually indistinct compared to the earlier animated depictions which were very color and detailed focused. The indistinctness of the black and white scene emphasizes how the removal of his dad was a blur for Nawabi; perhaps the moment was so painful, he doesn’t want to remember it.  

In terms of narrative choices, I believe the music accompanying each scene and narration helps reinforce the mood the director wanted to portray. In comparison to the colorful animation, the realistic televised scene introduced eerie background music which helped emphasize a scary mood. This is effective in that it emphasizes how scared Nawabi was by the new Afghani government. He was scared by the fact that they had the power to take his father, but also the eerie music can re-emphasize how the government mysteriously made his father “disappear.” On the other hand, in the black and white scene where the father was taken away, violin instrumental was used to build a sympathetic mood for Nawabi. It makes sense to use a slow-paced violin in the background, because Nawabi frequently mentions how he views the removal of his father as “sad.” All in all, the director Ramussen’s specific visual and narrative choices were very effective because they all helped emphasize how traumatized Nawabi is by the removal and “disappearance” of his father.

In today’s world, there has been a noticeable increase in the public’s use of photography. The catalyst behind this trend can certainly be traced back to technological advancements that allow more people to participate in photography. For example, the inventions of smartphones have reduced the need of an actual camera to take photos, and because smartphones are easily accessible for the public, the action of taking photos have also become accessible and thus popular among the public. With that being said, society’s increased uptake in photography has revealed a lot about both photographers and their audiences. The photographs themselves reveal the subconscious interests of photographers and their audience.

It’s easy to assume that photographs reveal the photographer’s interests because people tend to take pictures of subjects that cause strong emotions for them whether it be a feeling of awe or disgust. However, the specific elements highlighted in the photograph of the subject provides a closer look into the subconscious interests and priorities of the photographer. Author Susan Sontag summarizes this idea perfectly in her book On Photography which states, “Even when photographers are most concerned with mirroring reality, they are still haunted by tacit imperatives of taste and conscience” (Sontag 4). In other words, photographs reveal a world that’s subjective to the photographer. Even if five different photographers were tasked with taking a picture of the same subject, the pictures would be different because each photographer would choose to highlight something that peaks their own interest. This is suggested by Sontag as she mentioned a group of photographers tasked with photographing a sharecropper ended up taking pictures where their subjects’ facial expression “supported their own notions about poverty, light, dignity, texture, exploitation, and geometry” (Sontag 4). As you can see, even though the main subject was a sharecropper, it wasn’t necessarily what they were interested in photographing; you can see the photographer’s subconscious interests by understanding the small details that were taken into consideration while taking the photograph. Photographers who were primarily interested in today’s poverty issue would try to highlight that aspect in their photograph of the sharecropper, while those who may prioritize the daunting conditions of life as a sharecropper may highlight the blazing sun behind the sharecropper.  

Apart from revealing the photographer’s subconscious interests, photographs also reveal the subconscious interests of its audience. Sontag touches on this topic as she mentions, “A photograph that brings news of some unsuspected zone of misery cannot make a dent in public opinion unless there is an appropriate context of feeling and attitude” (Sontag 12). How I chose to interpret this line follows: when you view a photograph, the photograph itself cannot enforce emotions onto the viewer unless the viewer already has an established connections with the subject of the picture. For example, “photographs of ill-clad, skeletal prisoners held at Andersonville inflamed Northern public opinion—against the South” (Sontag 21). As you can see, the depictions of prisoners who were malnourished and weren’t properly dressed for the weather ignited a strong fury among Northern public viewers. This is particularly because the Northern public were interested in the Civil War fight, and upon seeing these horrendous images, it made them feel angry because they realized how inhumane their enemies, the South public, were towards their fighters. To come back full circle, photographs are very vulnerable because, to viewers, they can either ignite strong feelings of awe or disgust depending on the subject portrayed. To have a strong reaction, emphasizes how the subject of the photograph is of interest to the viewer because people react nonchalantly to topics of insignificance to them. All in all, photographs have the power to reveal the subconscious interests of both the photographer and viewers. With the continuous advancement of technology, there have been updates made to allow AI to generate photographs. As to what AI generated photos reveal about the “photographers” subconscious interest is still subject to questioning, but perhaps the interests among the audience will still remain apparent. 

I was born and raised in New York City; however, I always refer to myself as Chinese American because of the way I was raised by my parents. With my American identity, it always felt like a given to me: I grew up listening to artists like Maroon 5 and watching shows like Full House. In other words, I was surrounded by so much American influence as well as consuming so much American culture that it felt easy for me to take on my American identity. This was a different case for my Chinese identity.

For some time now, it was hard for me to take on my Chinese identity. It wasn’t because I wasn’t proud of my Chinese background. More so, I didn’t feel worthy enough to call myself Chinese. I always felt like I had to prove my Chinese identity. For example, while speaking English is a given to me, I am not as proficient in Cantonese, and this always made me feel not “Chinese enough.” The hardest part is, my lack of ability to read, write or fluently speak Chinese isn’t due to a lack of trying. I have attended Chinese school on the weekend, but it just so happens to be that Chinese is one of the hardest languages to learn.

Currently, my mindset has changed. My proficiency with Cantonese is still not as good as it can be however, I realized that my Chinese identity also comes from the way my parents raised me. They raised me under the Confucius concept of filial piety which raises emphasis on respecting our elders, our parents and those who came before us. One way we reinforce this concept is by observing Tomb Sweeping Day.

On Tomb Sweeping Day, my family honors our ancestors by paying them a visit and providing offerings. I vividly remember annually going to the cemetery to visit the tombstones of old family members and friends who have helped my family greatly. On this visit, my family would clear away grass which may have covered the tomb stone, plant new flowers near the tomb stone, lay food and wine in front of the tomb stone (offering food to the ancestors), and burn fake money and gold near the tomb stone (it is believed that the ”money” and “gold” we burn will reach our ancestors for them to use).

As mentioned by Elena Franchi in her article “What is cultural heritage?”, “cultural heritage is not only limited to material objects that we can see and touch. It also consists of immaterial elements: traditions…” With that being said, my family’s tradition of honoring our ancestors through participating in Tomb Sweeping Day is an intangible aspect of cultural heritage. With my family’s tradition, there isn’t necessarily a material item which can be passed down generations to ensure our Chinese heritage is preserved making this aspect intangible. The part of our heritage that is passed down is the action of honoring our ancestors, the action of burning fake currency, and the action of providing offerings of food and wine.

As for how this tradition is being preserved and passed down, my parents continuously make the younger generation join along and actively help on Tomb Sweeping Day. By introducing this tradition to my brother, cousins, and I early on, it ensures that we know how to carry on this tradition once our parents may no longer be around to do so. Once again, in my family there is a big emphasis on obeying filial piety, and fulfilling this tradition and having future generations join along for Tomb-Sweeping Day ensures this concept and tradition will last far beyond our lifetime.