Month: January 2018

Today we were able to see Christina Lau. She explained how a dramatic life-changing car accident affected her and her life. She talked about how the accident ending up changing her relationships with not only her husband but also her family, as she was so consumed in her work before but after the accident, she was able to take life at a slower pace and knowledge the joys of spending time with her loved ones. This really stuck out to me as I can personally connect to that feeling of being consumed by something and leaving time out for the people you love and who love you. As many times during stressful periods at school, I bury myself in my work as I get so focused on getting a good grade this sometimes end up with me coming home very late after studying in coffee shops etc. However, after listening to Christina Lau I realize the importance of that time that ignoring with my family and friends. Christina Lau also talked about how being disabled has restricted her is many ways. One of which being getting a job, a connection I made here was I used to work with a group called EpicArts in my old school, which is an organization which helps disabled kids in Cambodia because in Cambodia the stigma behind disability is huge as they think that they have done wrong in their previous life and that is why they are disabled now. Thus I found that even in a highly developed country like Singapore, peoples views on disabilities still restrict the disabled and their opportunities.

Movies are made to entertain, made to show the audience what they cannot experience themselves, whether it is movies about love, crime or war. However, with that poses the question To what extent can a movie show us what it is like to experience war?. 

I believe it is hard to depict what war is really like through a movie, this is because when people want to go to a movie they want to escape reality and a movie that portrays the extremities of war, in most cases will not appeal to the audience as it would seem to real to them. Thus, the directors will glamorise aspects of war, which in turn will incorrectly represent what it is like to participate in them. This is commonly be done through small details, for example, the actors in many war movies are famously known for being attractive (For example using Harry Styles in Dunkirk).A consequence of this is many peoples perceptions of war significantly changed

However, in contrast, there are some movies that get close to what a representation of war should look like. This allows for many positive implications as it does not glamorise war and violence so allowing for veterans to be praised  and reconsigned for their hardships and efforts in the war. Some of these movies include: saving private Ryan,Glory,  The Hurt Locker.