Thesis: If Ronald Reagan was to campaign today he still run on family values but would shift it to appeal to everyone.

Ronald Reagan’s presidency was built on a platform of “family values”. This was his idea of the American dream and what he thought the best version of America was. He saw it as a place where people would settle down as a unit and start a family. His views go against our modern views and new traditions of having diverse and unconventional families. He thought a family was a man and a women with a couple of kids that are of the same blood. However I feel he would not go after this new way of life but would rather see it as a new opportunity, a new demographic to impress, a new silent majority. He would have appealed to both the traditionalists with his cry for the American dream while also telling those who demand their new way of life that they can also be apart of the “family values” ideal, but not necessarily the quintessential example of it.

This week in PLP: We learnt about the 1970s and had yet another facilitation Friday, there was betrayal and intrigue, scoundrels and roughens and best of all sex drugs and rock and roll. 

So a couple of things to clear up. A facilitation Friday is something that is new to PLP as of a couple of weeks ago and takes place at the end of a week of lectures. We have done similar things before in class where a group leads a topic and teaches the class about it. However this time it is up to an individual to give a brief summary of their topic than ask a few questions to open the class up to discussion. I personally really like this model of discussion on topics and lectures and feel with the whole class their to discuss it makes it more memorable and leads to a deeper understanding. 

So on to my topic. I chose to do sex drugs and rock and roll after in all honesty I saw Vietnam was taken. Most of what I knew about this topic I learnt from the documentary that we watched in class. I have actually really enjoyed the CNN decade series so far and the episode we watched on my topic was no exception. The only information I knew up to this point was the Beatles and their involvement and album “sgt peppers lonely heart club band” which I had listened to before. Needless to say I was very invested in the documentary and retained a lot of the information. There were a few stand out moments for me but I think the one I remember the most and that sticks out in memory was a clip from Altamonte. This clip stood out for a number of reasons but I will first describe the scene. It depicts a band onstage being lead by a female singer who was in front of the microphone, when all of a sudden some of the hell’s angels that had been hired for security rushed the stage and started a fight with members of the band knocking one of them out. However it was not this scene alone the stood out. It was the words of the female singer. As all this madness ensued around her, as the hippie movement bleeds out before her eyes she simply raises her arm in the air and says “be kind”. It was not aggressive but calm and collected. This to me stood out because it represented the end of the hippie movement in poetic way. 

After the documentary I felt I had very good grasp of the 60s sex and drug movement. I felt like I had a good sense of not only the history but also the mindset of the time. I knew the origins of the movement and its roots with the beats in the late 50s and with Timothy Leary in the early 60s promoting the use of LSD. But I felt more so a view into the mind of these people. The aspect of love and peace. Some wanted to have a perfect utopia and their government didn’t fit in that equation. But most of all they all wanted to expand their mind. They wanted to tap into a hidden knowledge that only drugs and a simple lifestyle could unlock. They thought they had unlocked a secret way of life and that the “grown ups” just didn’t get it. 

I am fascinated by this mindset and ideals, although I would never adopt them myself. So I let my presentation and discussion reflect that. I was curious what class thought about this and couldn’t help but imagine what it would have been like if the PLP cohort had been alive and kicking in the swingin’ sixties. That’s why a lot of my questions reflected on not only their knowledge of the era and movement but also their opinions. On reflection this may not have been a great idea but I feel like I learnt a lot about my friends in PLP and it was engaging for the audience. However I would not change my questions I would change the keynote. I felt like I could have shortened it to more of a brief summary. This is because we had just learnt about the topic just a couple days ago and it was pretty fresh in everyones minds. So I felt like I was spending less time facilitating and more time monologuing about something the class was already familiar with. 

In general I felt that the session went well and that I engaged the class in some thoughtful discussion which to me is the most important part of a good facilitation Friday. 

Here is my review of a movie I thought could have done a little better with the material.

When learning about WWII it was clear to see the 2 stages of the war from a western standpoint. There were the 2 pushes in the war the first when the war broke it and a second one that culminated in D-day. The first will be the one I focus on today. This first offensive to Wikipedia it was an absolute “failure” in the late spring and early summer of 1940.

However there is another non-Wikipedia explanation for it. This is the one I heard about first. The almost mythic story in the UK is something that everyone knows and respects. In a nutshell Dunkirk was a large military evacuation in northern France of British and French troops. However what makes it unique is the way they were evacuated. Over 300,000 people were evacuated in large part by civilian boats. They were called to aid by the navy and the British people answered the call. This is why I put failure in quotation marks. While it was a military failure, it was an evacuation, to the British it was seen as a triumph of not only the military but the people as well. It was a deep personal victory for the British people.

It is on this backdrop that Dunkirk sets its scene.

https://youtu.be/3zP4s_Tuqlc

How did what Britain wanted going into the conference differ from what they got out of it?

Britain being Britain was extremely concerned by the health and unity of the British empire, however the integrity of the empire wasn’t in question for much of the meetings so they had more pertinent things to discuss. The prime minister and nation had just recovered from a brutal war and those at home were starting to hear stories of the horrors over seas. This made the nation and their leader hungry for peace and justice. Some of their major concerns were the security of France and the Rhineland. They also wanted to cripple the German navy while also hopefully boosting their own. On top of these two main concerns they also wanted to maintain peace by settling territorial disputes and pushing the League of Nations.

During the conference there was one notable shift in the British empire although they did not lose country because of it. Canada demanded a separate seat from Britain and eventually the British prime minister decided that they would get their own seat as a minor power. This while not a huge shift was not how Lloyd George saw the conference starting. French safety was hard to get. Not because Germany wanted to take it but because each country had their own idea of what that would look like. France wanted to split up Germany into smaller, independent states to economically and militarily cripple them. Eventually the conference came to an agreement that allowed for France to be safe but for Germany to remain whole. They agreed to demilitarize Germany to a point where they could defend themselves but had no ability to invade. They also demilitarized the Rhineland, this allowed France a buffer of neutral German land between them and the rest of Germany. While the League of Nations was ultimately a failure Britain did promote it with some of the allied forces however it did not include Germany or the USA who are 2 of the biggest players.

Overall Britain got what they wanted but only to a point. They sort of got what they half wanted. On top of all the other stuff they did have one major failure. When Germany agreed to give Britain its navy instead of actually handing it off to them they blew it up. They got half the League of Nations, no navy, French security and Europe was calm, not peaceful but calm. So Britain did get what but only to an extent.

Learning about history is something I have always found interesting no matter the type of history. Of course there are lots of events that I find more interesting than the rest but I still find it all interesting. However learning is not the right word when talking about this assignment. I already know everything anyone could know about myself yet it’s putting it in perspective that is the true test here. No I must self reflect which is something that I have gotten very good at recently. The assignment was to include important parts of your life using some sort of visual. I chose to draw mine as a sort of reference to a fifth thing I didn’t include. These are all hand drawn and not traced in any way, I scanned on to my computer to make it look better and add the texts and pictures.

The first had to be our birth.

Then I had to chose moving to Canada.

After this I chose getting my dog.

And finally me receiving my first practise sword as a Christmas gift.

https://youtu.be/wJjruRPjATg

Above is a video I made detailing a day on set behind the scenes. It also includes brief sections where in I describe my thought process throughout that day of filming.

The final product for this movie is something I look at with both pride and contempt. However I am not here to rant about the production and by feelings but to look at it as a piece of art. So that is what I’m going to do. The question for this project was how does horror reflect and comment on our society. Well the movie has an interesting way of going about it in its final form. As someone who worked on the script I know the meaning behind everything and why scenes are the way they are. I have to put that aside and look at it as someone who hasn’t read the script. When I look at it like that I can’t help but feel like the message isn’t really there as strongly as it should be. The whole technology aspect is incredibly underplayed and its hard to see the point of the film. The message is diluted.

As a piece of art the film actually has a few very creative parts especially the strangling and head smashing death scenes. The acting was good and the camera shots were well done. The production value was actually fairly high. I am extremely proud of everything did on this movie. Just the amount of devotion, time and passion still amazes me from the same group of people who made MacBeth last year. As a script writer I put in a lot of work in this project, some of that was included some wasn’t but I won’t go deep into that here. When I watched the movie in its final form sure I saw things that could be improved on with time but what I saw most was pure passion.

However my overall opinion and voice come in my 10+ minute video above.

https://youtu.be/KwD8aCgTo30

 At first when presented with satire I thought it was going to be a fun group project emulating the good old days of what was then called flight with us going iff performing raps, filming videos and most recently building tents. I think PLP is at its best on projects like these everyone is always much more creative and proud of the work they made and ultimately we get the job done. A good example of this would be last years December exhibition.  But I suppose I should have seen this coming, something different for our first official project in senior year. The surprise didn’t come in the difficulty of the project but the subtleties associated with satire and the unwelcome change of making it a solo endeavour. So we embarked on this project that felt more like a parody of what had come before rather than a satire. Pun very much intended. I knew exactly what I was going to do for me a short film about a struggling reporter who has five days to get a good story for his network after a few days of reporting on terrible non-story’s he sees a tweet from the president that interests him. This is when I decided to take liberties but still base it on the CNN vs trump story. It goes from here to public outcry and eventually a news report of the president being impeached.

 As for style I use some classical film techniques like at the beginning the reporter is inside and standing still while on the phone showing how he is stuck in his ways, trapped. But near the end when he’s on the phone again he’s outside and moving representing his new found freedom. It’s not that I want the audience to pick up on this but it’s a subtle thing the brain notices while watching. The form of a short film is ideal for something like this as it’s the best way to get across all the points and style of the satire. It’s a superior way of getting across the character and ultimately the satire. 

Here’s the video

https://youtu.be/smx_VxhyfK0

“What?” I hear you ask. “Where is the funny sarcastic title?” You say. Well this is a serious title for a serious occasion. We are adressing the question why do you think your ready for grade 12? Well I feel ready because of my failures in grade 11. Not everything happens the way things are planned or you hoped they would happen but that can sometimes be a good thing. You learn from your mistakes that’s a fact of life that applies almost universally. “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” I am not one to shy away from a challenge and often embrace one. I often think that I am one to take on the almost impossible and expect to win. And if I don’t win I am not discouraged. I am also not afraid of the unknown, I often except it in fact. This has somewhat translated to my school work as I see myself taking on many online and physical courses often above my level of capibility despite others saying I can’t do it. 

I would quickly like to highlight a couple of things I am proud of the first thing I would put on this list would be the class debate. I would say I execelled at this and my speaking skills have improved a lot since the beginning of the year. 

Also my southwest video. I’m proud of this not necessarily because of the final product although I do think that’s good but because of the new things I experimented with. New techniques and ways of telling a story.

The debate shows skills in teamwork with people I haven’t worked with before and preparation with of course public speaking skills. 

The southwest video essay shows creative thinking and increased editing skills.

Macbeth

Macbeth, I mean MacDonald, I mean Everett

 How did the deadliest execution squad of the 20th century help build a city in the middle of the desert? The mob or more specifically organized crime is perhaps one of the most interesting topics in recent history. Organized crime has effected nearly the whole world in some way or another. The most famous example being the mob in Las Vegas, Nevada. The neon city of sin in the silver state. Casinos, brothels, murder, the mob is in it all. The mob used murder. Inc to send messages of fear and fear in general to help build Las Vegas.

 Have you ever hated somebody enough to want them dead? Hated them to the point were you cannot stand to have them being alive. Probably not, but if you have then to you it’s a big deal, something to remember. Not for a gangster, for a gangster it happens a lot. And here we have a demand, a demand for killings to be taken out. Now who would supply this? Murder. Inc. Started in New York by Albert “The Mad Hatter” Anastasia (leader of operations) and Louis “Lepke” Buchalter after the creation of “the committee” for organized crime in America. Mobsters from around America hired them to eliminate witnesses and opposition. Early on in the first years of the business they made a name for themselves by murdering witnesses to prosecutors who would have them put in jail. This is the first message that murder. Inc sent: Don’t testify against them or even think about it for that matter. Without them Las Vegas would be a very different place. 
 Murder. inc specialized in all of this, based out of Browntown, Brooklyn they were ready to kill on a moments notice. Las Vegas mobsters had a major need for this and with murder. Inc was the perfect candidate with their long resume of kills and experience. They started by killing a long list of people involved in the legal system like the witnesses I mentioned and people like lawyers and sometimes even judges but that was extremely rare. The last thing you wanted was this Italian and Jewish mafia execution squad to show up at your door it was death sentence. Out of all these complex messages and codes of killing the driving thing they were trying to get out was not to mess with them. In 1938 police started cracking down on illegal gambling forcing gamblers to move to Las Vegas. This led to a boom in business for murder. inc and the mob.
 “It’s not just who you kill, but how you kill”. Murder. Inc’s biggest weapon was fear. They got this from sending messages with their ruthless killings. This can be seen in one of the groups most infamous killings, the killing of Dutch Schultz a former member of the group. He ordered a hit on an attorney that was trying to prosecute murder. Inc against the will of the higher ups. You may be thinking “isn’t that a good thing?” I say no and so did the higher ups like the “lord high executioner” Albert Anastasia. They knew if the attorney as killed then it would give the mob an even worse name in the press so they went as far as to save his life and killing Dutch Schultz. This was 1935. At this point the mob was in the getting into businesses in Las Vegas and once that crackdown in 1938 came in the mob was waist deep in it, counting on murder. Inc to keep them there. Without they’re resourceful nature the mob would not have lasted nearly as long and may have even been kicked out of Vegas before the building of the flamingo and the start of an era that led to what we see in Vegas today. 
 Don’t mess with the mob in any way. It’s a one way ticket for you to become an example like the ones I used above. Murder. Inc was the organization that the mob used to instil the most fear to enemies and would be betrayers by sending messages with other killings and setting examples. They kept the mob in power and made anyone who wanted to cross the mob think twice.

First I want to establish the grittiness of the mob by opening with a cinematic shot of the desert covered by music. Then as the music fades out we hear quotes from famous mob movies about killing and power. After this it cuts to black and everything goes silent. Cuts in with me and my hook about them changing Las Vegas with a background of an old map of Vegas in background. Then it shows a board from the mob museum about killing and I give my Intro to murder. Inc. Cuts to video of me at the Pima air and space museum comparing the warthog and the stealth bomber and why.
How did the the deadliest execution squad of the 20th century help build a city in the middle of the desert? Simple doing what they do best. Killing people. (Cuts to black)
Organized crime has effected nearly all parts of the world in some way or another. There aren’t many more famous examples than that of Las Vegas, Nevada. The neon city of sin in the silver state. Brothels, casino, murder the mob was it all.
The mob used murder. Inc to send messages of fear and eliminate anyone who was halting their progress to help build Las Vegas.
What made murder. Inc so famous is no one quite knew what they were going to do next and no one knew what they were capable of.
The demand for killing in the mob world was high and filling this was murder. Inc from New York to Los Angeles they always got the best contracts. Started in New York by Albert “the mad hatter” Anastasia aka the lord high executioner for his love of killing and Louis “Lepke” Buchalter after the creation of “the committee” for organized crime in North America. 
They made a name for themselves by killing witnesses to prosecutors who would put mobsters in jail. Attorneys and traitors of any kind.
The last thing you wanted was this Jewish and Italian mafia hit squad showing up to your door, it was a death sentence. (Cut to radio noises)
1938 a time of political unrest and a crackdown on illegal gambling. So were would all these gamblers go? Vegas of course. This meant a large increase in business for Las Vegas. 
This was the beginning of the early 20th century boom for Las Vegas. (Kiss the sky). As song plays we see a compilation of gangsters and casinos. 
Song cuts out (rewind sound). “It’s not who you kill, but how you kill.” (Over black then the words: “3 years earlier appear”). The mob ruled through fear. If you weren’t part of them you feared them. But what if you were a part of them?
Dutch Schultz was a former member of the group that ordered a hit on a high profile attorney that was in the process of prosecuting Murder. Inc. (video pause and pause symbol comes on screen.) So what’s the problem, you may ask? Well believe it or not the mob had PR problem and higher ups like Albert Anastasia and Luciano Buchlater knew that the killing of this attorney would put an even worse name to the mob. So they killed Dutch and in an ironic twist ended up saving the very man who was trying to end them. 
By now the mob was waist deep in business in Las Vegas and the ban three years after this came at the perfect time. If it wasn’t for the resourceful nature of murder. Inc in the years leading up to this crackdown the mob would have been run out Las Vegas and the flamingo would have never been built, meaning Las Vegas wouldn’t be the city we know today.

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This project was a change from ones we have done before and for that reason it was a challenge to get ideas, video and inspiration. We had to create a video essay about our fear factor unit. We watched many examples of good video essays to get an idea of what the teachers were expecting from us as a class. Our first step was to write a full essay on our topic mine being the mob. After this long process we edited and edited and edited some more. Then we highlighted everything as you can see above and pick what to keep and what to leave out. After this we wrote our script consisting of what we were going to say, what music we were going to play and what would be on the screen.

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