FINAL

Those who wish to heal, find, and share themselves must step outside of the boundaries set by society and create themselves through revelations and the utilization of resources that surround them.

Seven Pounds

In Seven Pounds, Ben Thomas is face with a daunting internal guilt. He feels that he owes a debt to society and must give himself to redeem himself. He helps to save seven people’s lives to replace the seven he killed. Throughout the story he must struggle through his painful memories and his love for Emily Posa. To redeem himself Thomas gives parts of his body to people in need but first he makes sure the people he donates to are good hearted. “He’s punishing you. How is he punishing you?” (Seven Pounds). Thomas probably doesn’t think of himself as a righteous man and he doesn’t believe he deserved to survive the accident. Now he is making sure that the people he’s donating to are deserving of his gift. Thomas is helping other people because he believes it is literally impossible to fix his. “In seven days, God created the world. And in seven seconds, I shattered mine” (Seven Pounds). Thomas had a perfect life until the car accident. After that, he lost everything and is forced into a life of guilt. Because he can’t fix his own life, he decides to improve other people’s lives. “I haven’t felt like this in a really long time” (Seven Pounds). Thomas brings life to Posa and shares a feeling with her because they’ve both gone through a lot. He improves her life not only emotionally but physically as well when he gives his life to save Posa with a heart transplant. Even in a time of deep depression, Thomas is able to find empathy for his society because he feels responsible for his actions. Thomas does want to heal his metaphorical wounds from the car accident. He can only do this by healing others and filling up the hole he dug when the accident happened.

PressPausePlay

                In PressPausePlay, new technology is proven to allow more people to have access to music and artistic creation. The new technology lets users easily create, publish, and share art. This lets the artists have a false sense of impact on society because they can share anything on the internet. They believe they can make a change on current culture with their art. "Slap up their early stuff on Facebook. On YouTube. It would get lost. It would get lost in the ocean of garbage" (PressPausePlay). As Keen describes, there is so much information on the internet that an artist’s chance of becoming noticed becomes extremely slim. The reason so many people swarm the internet with their art is because of new technology. Talent isn’t even a necessity when creating music anymore. “A big difference is that around that time you had to be around 30, 35, know people, and have a little bit of money to be able to record stuff” (PressPausePlay). Robyn elaborates on how in older times the artist created themselves whereas now people can easily buy their own recording equipment and make songs electronically without any musical theory or talent. There are few exceptions of artists who become famous or successful with such an overflow of other artists. Olafur Arnalds is an artist who became known through technology. He electronically creates classical music with computer software. “It was not some years of preparation. It was just a few months” (PressPausePlay). Arnalds explains how he quickly became famous without much musical knowledge and how simple technology had made it for him to spread his work. In rare cases, internet sensations may become famous. Most of the time, good artists are self-created and work to get where they are without the help of too much technology. Putting art on the internet makes it lose its special properties and becomes engulfed by other artist’s work. An artist on the internet is the same as a grain of sand on a beach.

Media

                If one wishes to heal themselves and find answers in life they must step out into the world with their arms open. Contrary to belief one must go experience the world instead of looking within themselves to fix their problems. In Media(Krznaric Lecture), Krznaric elaborates on how the human race must become more connected through empathy to function as a society and as individuals. “…empathy is the way to revolutionize our own philosophies of lives, to become more outrospective, and to create the revolution of human relationships that I think we so desperately need” (Media). To become healthy as a society, people must become more connected so cultural struggles can be understood by everyone. Krznaric has interesting ideas on how to help the realization of these struggles. "It’s not about dusty exhibits, but an experiential and conversational public space where there is a human library where you can pick out people for conversations" (Media). This idea of a museum could help people to find their place in society, learn about other cultural struggles, and perhaps share some of their struggles with other people.  The key to a better society of “enlightened” people is empathy. “Of course, empathy is more popular today as a concept than at any point in its history” (Media). American society holds great empathetic potential. The feeling of being closer as a nation would greatly increase if American society would try to understand each other instead of fighting. It is a society’s duty to take care of itself collectively and this will only be achieved when people realize each other’s struggles and acquire empathy.

Ceremony

                Some people become ill from emotionally impacting events. In Ceremony, Tayo is scarred from losing a close friend in a prisoner of war camp. Some of the deepest emotional wounds can be cured, but not by medicine. Tayo embarks on a journey to heal himself through connection through nature and storytelling. “I will tell you something about stories . . . They aren't just entertainment. Don't be fooled. They are all we have, you see, all we have to fight off illness and death” (Ceremony). Storytelling is one of the main factors in Tayo’s healing. Stories can relate to an individual’s life and teach lessons that help fight their illness. It is human nature to lose touch with nature eventually. They begin to lose a sense of connection to the Earth and that makes them sick. “Josiah said that only humans had to endure anything, because only humans resisted what they saw outside themselves” (Ceremony). Humans destroy and neglect nature, therefore they must endure the pain of separation with nature.  Many of Tayo’s friends never tried to recover from the war. They used alcohol to forget about the war and submerged themselves deeper into the illness and confusion. "They went off to the war...Bars served them booze, old white ladies on the street smiled at them. At Indians, remember that, because that's all they were. Indians...These Indians got treated the same as anyone...They were America the Beautiful too, this was the land of the free just like the teachers said in school. They had a uniform and they didn't look different no more" (Ceremony). If an individual doesn’t attempt to heal themselves, they spiral into an endless void of illness.

Craigslist Joe

                In Craigslist Joe, Joe Gamer steps outside the boundaries of a normal life and lives off of his community using only people on Craigslist. Gamer is testing the empathy and sense of community of modern society by using the resources available to him. “Some say we’ve lost the sense of community that used to carry us through tough times” (Craigslist Joe). As people become more involved in technology, they also can lose their sense of community. Gamer sets out on a journey and finds many adventures lie in his path. “Reality is far stranger than any fiction Hollywood can come up with” (Craigslist Joe). Gamer finds that even though sense of community seems to be completely gone, society still has empathy and unconditionally will heal its members. It is amazing that such an old community can still take care of its individuals. “It was truly inspiring, you know, just on humanity…to know that we can take care of each other” (Craigslist Joe). Gamer finds that even though our community has possibly lost some of its connectivity due to advances in technology and social media, its people can still take care of each other selflessly.