the first half is mostly nature shots in the desert, indian cave paintings, slow motion of cloud formations, plants blooming , that kind of stuff
We picked thisup in the second half where man kind puts the organizational hierarchy on the system.
Koyanisqaatsi means life out of balance or a state of living that calls for another
in the remaining time in class email me a 1-2 paragraph summary of what you think the message was in Koyanisqaatsi and whether or not its relevant to Generation X
Here are the responses. In general, I think we have made a significant breakthru in class and now your are ready for your term assignment which is available on the class home page. In general, the responses below are very well thought out if not often spelled well.
From Jonathan Timothy Moran
I really enjoyed the film and the message of how our lives are trully
pathetic. It was entirely obviuos to me that this was the point before the
ending with the Hopi statement. The repetive and pointless nature of our
lives was trully evident to me on me on two scenes in the film; The
mutitude of "gerbiles" waiting for the escalator and the assembly line
workers. Pointless. It showed a scene with hot dogs. Were they trying to
make a comparison between pigs and humans, an quasi-illusion to Animal Farm
perhaps?
In relation to generation X I feel that this could be taken as a wake up
call. If one could view this movie and change the course of his or her
life, then that would be a start. If we could all do this then all the
better. Yes this is pure idealism, but if only it was possible.
Generation X, if possibel, could turn things around, end this teadious
and distructive cycle of life that took a much worse turn back in the
industrial revolution and get us back on track. If this is possible, I
doubt, but the system needs to be revamped, or use Lockes idea, if the
system doesn't work, destrooy it and start over. Besides, that is what
the constitution was based upon, correct?
a summary... it seemed to be a depiction of life today, the pointlessness, the almost
laughability of it, when looked at abstractly... also, the incredible state of unchange,
illustrated by the assembly lines, the never ending hotdogs, etc... from the meaning of the
word, "a state of living that calls for another", maybe the authors were trying to wake
people up to the fact that this state of living does require another, a change, or...
something. something bad will happen, who knows what?
in relation to generation x, i think the people at the end were representitive of the way the
members of generation x feel, at times, or maybe the way they will end up when they reach old
age.. it could also be that the entire film was related to those members of
generation x,
where the pointlessness, the unchange, those are the things they are feeling and dealing with
right now.
From: Ryan James Zeagler
I think the obvious message was the de-huminised, de-senseitised of
humans. In the movie the compared humans to machines and doing
repetative activites. If you think that the so-called "generation x" is
de-humanised, de-sensetised drones going no where than this movie would
be a good representation. I personally don't beleive that I am to
de-humanised and de-sensetised. I might be a lot more than the average
person of a prior generation but are generation is not all drones with no
minds, just a few of them are. This movie, I thought, was more of a
movie made by someone with a phobia of technology. The era in which this
movie was produced came out when computers and other technology was first
getting intergrated into society. I think it was a reaction to all of
the technology chaos that was at first caused by the intergration into
daily life. Overall I found this movie to not be a very relevant
representation of my generation.
I think that the message in koyanisqaatsi was that the world is
moving too fast, but getting nowhere. We see in the movie how chaotic
everyday life is and how people just rush through their lives with out
any regard to the world around them.
I think that the message in the move is relevant to generation
X. The people in the movie seemed to be just rushing from one thing to
another not putting any thought into anything. Just like the
people of Generation X are supposed to do.
From: Muir Reuben Cohen
I picked up two things in that movie. One, We live in a fast paced
society, and two, everything in society runs in it's on little system.
For instance the cars, they have there own rules, and every car follows
those rules. If one doesn't follow those rules then we have mass chaos, and
lots of accidents.
We (humans) are very busy. In the movie, the highways, and freeways were
never empty. and inside the buildings, it was a constant flow of
people. Every stop light had cars, every crosswalk had people. For our
society to operate, we all must follow these rules. Yes, it looks like mass
chaos, but if there were no rules (don't cross when you see the red hand,
or red means stop and green means go.) then we would really know what
chaos was.
I think the movie is very relevant to generation X. If in our discussion
the other day, we came up with the conclusion, that we don't have a
common bond. We don't all agree on one thing. We can't really come
together. Right now we are like a runaway train, randomly setting down
tracks. We are going to turn into this fast paced society, without any
rules. We won't be getting jobs, because we are too lazy. Drugs will
start to take over, pollution will rise. Are lifes will be out of
balance. Chaos has no control. One of the excerpts at the end of the
movie said something like, "This ash will come down from the sky, and
burn the land and boil the water." What is this substance? I don't
know. Maybe it's acid rain. Maybe if we can't control our generation.
If we can't pull together, to conquor (sp) some of these problems facing
society. We will invent this ash. That will totally devastate the earth,
and destroy our civilization!
From: Erica Lee Johnson
The message that immediately jumped out at me while watching
Koyanisqaati was the idea of centralization on the self. What
I mean by this is that we have a tendancy to think in terms of
what will make ME prosperous, what will make ME live a more
comfortable life, what will make ME happy. This isn't always
necessarily a fault, but to an excess it is; of course,
everyone must think of themselves, but as a human race we have
taken it to the extreme. We can see our selfishness in just
about every aspect of our lives: our deteriorating
environment, cut-throat competition in the work place, etc,
etc. By focusing solely on ourselves, many people have shoved
aside and trampled on many aspects of life that should be
respected and enjoyed, such as nature.
The message from Koyanisqaatsi most definitely applies to
Generation X. This age group is at that time of
self-exploration; we are trying to decide where we are headed,
formulate our own idea, and discover who and what we are and
want to be. I think we are balancing on the line between
merging into the out of balanced life that so many people live
or deciding we want something different.
From: Alexander William Aumann
As I see it, this film was trying to get a very important message
across to us about the turmoil and chaos going on in the world today. I
noticed the photos of the homeless people and disasters such as the
challenger shuttle explosion along with fires, which led me to the
conclusion that the movie is explaning that we must do something about
the problems in our world before it gets out of hand.
The point being, we need to take control of the things that we have
let get out of hand. We need to look over each other and stop being
concerned with things that only affect ourselves so that we can prosper
as a whole and not individually while others are left in the cold. The
only way to this is through cooperation from everyone , which seems far
from becoming reality any time soon.
I do believe that this film can tie in with generation x because
as I see it, our generation needs to do what the movie was stressing in
order to advance in society as past generations have. I think that part
of our generation is lacking the desire or imagination to advance into
the future. I do see this, but not from nearly as many people as there
should be at this point in time. there are a lot of individuals who must
choose a route to take in life, but have not chosen one yet.
From the beginning of the film, we are shown how much of the nation lives
every day. Rushing everywhere, not thinking about how we get there, or
what the consequences of getting there will be. I cannot pretend to one
who is not counted among those. If I have a place to go, I would love to
get into a car and drive there. This has been engrained into my life as
an everyday aspect. This fact and other characteristics of today's
society are the exact things which give the word koyanisqaatsi meaning.
The major problem is that we have become so reliant on these everyday
doomsday habits, that we fail to realize what they are. Even when we do
know what we're doing, we are to lazy to try and initiate any change for
the better. I think koyanisqaatsi is relevant more to generation x than
any other before. The way things are going, generation x will be
running the country and will be forced to change something about
the way we live so we may try and maintain some of the luxuries we
have today. If not us then it will be our children. In either case,
generation x is going to have a profound impact on the changes that need
to take place. Recycling is one of the largest things this generation has
taken part in. If the sceptics of generation x are right and it is a
group of lazy losers interested only in themselves, me are in serious
danger. If, on the other hand, the progress made in recycling is any
sign of what generation x can do, we might have hope for the future.
From: Heidi Joy Rogers
I liked how Koyanisqaatsi was filmed and put together. My
reaction to watching this was depressing. It makes me want to go and
live in a shack in the woods, and never to go into a big city. I would
rather die than work in a factory and live in a smelly, crusty city like that.
People are so caught up in the routine of work, bills, shopping, and
driving, that they forget what it's like to climb a tree or smell the
earth.
I think people should do what they want to do in life as long as
it isn't hurting anyone. I think people should be able to live in the
woods and have a garden without having to worry about paying for land.
People in cities probablly get trapped in a way of life, and don't know
how to get out to do the things they want to in this short life. The
people looked like zombies. They seemed to be walking around dead. Why
waste your life like this? I guess I just don't understand. It would of
been cool to see the nature one too.
From: Kelly O Hann
The movie definitely had a very environmental message in it. It
showed many of the problems that we as a civilization are facing.
The movie alo seemed to be showing us many of the errors that we are
currently making. It showed how we are taking far too much from
the earth at a rate that is much too fast. It also kept showing things
that we as humans own but don't really need, like twinkes and
hotdogs. The idea that we have too many desires and we do not think about the long
term was perhaps the main idea of the movie.
The movie was very good at showing the mistakes and problems in our
society and how we are not doing the right things to take care of them.
For example it showed how many elderly people are homeless and in need of
more support of some kind. The movie also showed our immense use of
automobiles and how they dominate our lives at times. All of these
different problems are definitely going to have a major effect on the
lives of generation X. The reason for making this movie was probably to
try and get the attention of generation X and others in an attempt to
influence the future. This was a very relevant message for my generation because it
will be my generation that will have too deal with the majority of these
problems if not all of them.
From: Annie Chen
The film was definitely one of the most bizarre things I have ever seen.
The music was really cool because it coordinated well with the activity
ocurring on the screen. The fast forward parts were so fast paced and it
was like everything was flashing right before your eyes. I think it was
tryihng to show that people just live their life in such a fashion that
they just do things and don't really care about the little things... such
as the simple pleasure in life. In the near the end of the film, there
were up close shots of people. People who were almost all depressed
looking. I think that part was showing that life was so meaningless to
them because they were just sitting there doing nothing. That is
probably because they didn't know how to make the best out of life. I
think this film was really really depressing. As for the X generation, I
believe that some (or rather the majority) of the young people have lives
like that. They just go with the flow along with the rest of this
unappreciative world. They don't take the time to enjoy life, they just
live it like a routine. It's really sad if you think about it.
From: Julie Michelle Riedl
(Just to let you know, from now on I'm going to refer to Koyanisqaatsi as
"K"...It will make it easier.:) )
After watching "K" just for a few minutes I already began to get a strong
message. It wasn't exactly clear, but I got the feeling of being small.
The world is so full of people hurring about their lives at such a fast
pace that they don't even realize what they are doing to themselves and
the rest of the planet. We live in such a technologically advanced
society that we don't realize that all of the machines, gadgetts, and
automobiles, that we can't live without, will be that exact thing that
will begin our path to destruction of our planet.
"K" was definetly relevent to Generation X. We live in a automated
society. We're the most compettitive society, I believe, that has ever
come along. Maybe not compettitive in the aspects of our lives that we
should be compettitive in (learning, opening our minds), but we always
have to have more. MORE MORE MORE!!! We need to have the better car than
the other guy. WE need to have the better clothes that the other guy.
We need to own more things than the other guy. WE need to slow down a
bit and look at what we're doing to ourselves. Unless we start doing
something about the destruction of our civilization, we will soon no
longer exist.
From: Sarah Caryn Feinstein
Koyanisqaatsi is a movie about all the effort that modern human
beings put into being miserable. It is about the lack of difference between
the machines that we have created and ourselves. It makes us take a
look at how easily a person can be one in a mass of thousands, with
nothing making us different from each other. It demonstrates how far we
have come from the basics of life. It shows that when we manipulate our environment enoungh, it merely becomes a concrete
jungle instead of paradise. The paintings on the wall of the cave were
of people just being together, nothing else. It seems like people
can't just be anymore. Modern humans aren't appreciating the simple. We try to
save time by technology, so that we can have leisure time. We realize
that leisure time is scary unless we are doing something. Otherwise we
get too close to the voids that we try so hard to fill with material
possesions. The harder we try to escape, the more destractions we must create.
In the whole moive, no one was any different from an ant or robot. We
have come so far (or moved back so far), that we barely resembled the
paintings on the cave wall, which comes from nature. Is is possible to
sit in the home without T>V> or sit in a car without a radio.
As I understood it, the film was trying to point out the dehumanization
of urban living and mass production. The scenes of circuitry followed
by aerial shots of cities, as well as the
time-lapse repetitions of assembly line tasks being performed by robots
and humans alike were particularly effective at comparing modern life
with the inner workings of a large machine. The importance of this in
our generation (whether or not you believe the great ash-vessel prophecy) is
the need to question whether or not there is fulfillment in mechanical
living, or if we are, in fact, living a Koyanisqaatsi-type lifestyle.
It is my belief that there is no substance to a life of repetition
day-in, day-out, although what the film did not show was what the people
individually were doing (in the scenes of mass humanity), and there was
no footage of time away from work (to balance out the assembly line
footage).
I think it is safe to say that
for most people, the course of their daytime life does take them
nowhere, and that assembly-line jobs have no redeeming spiritual value, but those
same hordes of people must have been going somewhere, and I'm sure that
all those robotic
factory workers were employed in repetitive positions, not for the
positions themselves, but because they supported a more human lifestyle
outside of work. In my opinion, attempting to place order on the natural
chaos of the world is about as futile a goal as they come, but I also see
it as a somewhat ingrained tendency of mankind, and a helpful distraction
when dealing with the huge population we have today. For example, the
series of six or seven escalators all jammed with people made me wonder
what could possibly be so important that all those people needed to be on
the upper floor at the same time, but the order imposed by the escalators
themselves probably did help them to get whatever it was they wanted so
badly. In conclusion, I think it is important for our generation to be
aware of the dehumanizing process, and find a balance between the order
necessary for a population our size, and the natural chaos within
humanity (things like emotions, and the need for spiritual
fulfillment) that makes us human.
From: Leon Jesse Lee Smith
I don't know whether I liked this video or not. I dont know whether
I'm supposed to like it. As I watched pictures of society, sprawling
urban jungle, mass amounts of people, cars, and concrete, I thaught to
myself how insane it all was. There was scarcely a tree visible in the
whole movie. I was reminded of an ant colony. The people pictured seened
morose, thoughtless, and completely trapped in their artificial worlds.
The word Koyanisqaatsi, a lifestyle in need of change, indeed seemes a
fitting title, and even a fitting theme for all of humanity.
Perhaps I was only surprised because I have been a sheep within this
system for my entire life, and blind to global insight presented in this
video. Maybe I'm still blind.
Has our evolution been flawed? Have we become a society doomed
to self-destruct? Have we become zombies trapped in this flawed and
self-destructive system? Does my generation epitomize the
dehumanization and absence of global thinking that is demonstrated so
vividly in this video? Is this generational progression inevitable? I
don't know.
The images in this movie portray everyday life as many cannot see
it. From far away, society looks lke a well tuned, fast moving, and
efficient machine. The cars speed by and the people move quickly and
siently past eachother. All of the pieces fit and move togather in
harmony. However, when the motion slowed down, and the focus changed,
you could really see the inner mechanics of society. The people. The
pain, confusion, and the disorder that our society operates on.
This concept relates directly to Generation X. From a distance,
our generation looks good. There is a lot of diverstiy, but we all seem
to fit togather. However, when you slow down and actually look into the
people and themes that our generation has, you can see that we are really
"not all there." Our generation strives off of a sort-of mutual combined
chaos. Like the film, people go through the motions but do not stop to
think about what they are doing.