Blog Post 12 - Allana Jiwa

I loved the second class on transgression. This is a concept that will stick in my head forever as it is very plausible to my own life. I love how the professor spoke of transgression in the lecture. In addition, I think about the transitional aspect of transgression a multitude of times throughout my day as I move back and forth between the sacred and profane. I believe that this concept helps individuals understand why they make certain decisions that may defer from societal norms and conditions. I loved taking this class, and coming to your lectures. Thank you for an amazing semester! This has so far been my favourite class. :) 

Blog Post 11 - Allana Jiwa

An example from current affairs is one from my own religion. The religious leader appoints himself as a father figure for the community as he calls his community “my spiritual children.” In addition, he and his lineage may not marry from within the religion. In retrospect, he may fulfill illusory ideals and desires for a loving and paternal father figure. In addition, many people in this religion worship him, they may be sublimating their ambitions and desires onto him. Perhaps, they are using him as an outlet for the love and devotion. This can especially be seen in my great aunt who lives alone and has never had a lover. As appointing himself as the communities father figure, he is strengthening the metaphorical bond and attachment to his devote followers or what he would call “his children.”

Blog Post 10 - Allana Jiwa

A current example I can think of is the world cup game in Qatar at the moment. The world cup game has ought to be a social conjugation of people to experience collective entertainment and social bonding. Although this may be the case there is also a dark side to the world cup that is unknown by many as it is kept under the radar. It is estimated that approximately 6,500 underprivileged workers have died in the process of building the stadium. This is not continuous of what the world cup should stand for. I think that this is a perfect example of a capitalistic society that rakes the benefits from the hard work of the underprivileged; and their literal blood, sweat, and tears. The atrocity of the world cup is masked by the glamorization of the world cup.  The “capitalists” who indulge in the viewing of the cup get the benefits in the form of entertainment. 

Blog Post #5 - Allana Jiwa

The worst job i’ve ever had was as a dishwasher at Earls. We worked in the back of the restaurant where no one could see us. Hence we were alienated from the rest of the restaurant and ‘the front of the house.” I worked long hours that seemed twice as long due to the mundane, gnarly, and laborious work required from us. In some sense Marx’s account of alienated labour did apply to this scenario. As the people dining in the restaurant are oblivious (if they haven’t worked a job like this) to how restaurants operate and all of the hard work that goes on in the background. In addition, people dining in a restaurant aren’t necessarily obliged to think about this as they are paying a premium to have their food served to them and their dishes taken care of. It makes sense in a capitalistic society that the gnarly work that goes on behind the scenes is private and this applies to many businesses and operations. In this example, the exposure of “the back of the house” is private as if it were public it would ruin the dining experience. In addition the diners could be seen as the capitalists and the waiters and hosts could be seen as the “pretty picture” painted for the customers to feel good about their dining decisions. As they are dressed in nice clothes and walk around the restaurant yet they also do some grotesque work in the backrooms where the customers cannot see them. This gives the restaurant an illusionary aspect for the customers to live in oblivion and bliss. This is a reflection of capitalistic  society as a whole.  

Blog Post 9

One technology that exhibits pharmacological dimensions is a smart phone. There are many pros such as being able to immedietly get in touch when in an emergency, as well as helping people stay in touch. I know I am very greatful for smart phones being able to video call because I am in a long distance realtionship. Although there are many pros, there are also quite a few cons. For example it has made people lazy. Everything now is accessible at the touch on a finger, from ordering food, to starting your robot vacuum from an app. This is why smart phones exhibits pharmacological dimensions.

Krupa M

Blog Post 8

The one example I came up with for a religious phenomenon is a Hindu religious ceremony called pooja. This is when family and a priest all gather with statues or pictures of hindu gods (depending on the purpose of the pooja) and say prayers, serve god, and do certain rituals. Durkiem believes religion is collective and an unified belief system. This aligns with this belief because poojas are done together with family and friends all present. Also, there are different poojas for different scenarios, yet all include a few similar prayers and beliefs.

Krupa M

Blog Post #7 - Krupa

An example of confession that relates to the catholic ritual of confession that came to my mind immediately, was when people "come out" in real life and in television. This is because people who come out are very vulnerable and gives power to the person who they are telling to. This is similar to catholic confession because you are confessing your sins which is a very vulnerable thing to do and you are putting the power of all your information to the priest.

Blog Post #6 - Krupa

This is one example of Ego, Superego, and Id. Ariel is the Ego. She wants to be human and kinda will do anything to make it happen. Scuttle the Seagull is the id. He is very immature, and doesn't really think about what can go wrong. Sebastian is the superego. He cares for Ariel and prevents her from making the bad choices.

Blog Post #5 - Krupa

The worst job I ever had was when I worked at this fast food salad bar. My manager refused to hire new people and we were very understaffed. As you probably can conclude, I had to work alot more and was not compensated for it. This does align with Marx's thepry of alienated labour because I mentioned many times that I am being overworked and to think about hiring more people, but my manager refused to consider my feelings and wouldn't budge.

Blog Post #4

*Spoiler alert for the film- Midsommer

The first example that came to mind is a horror film called Midsommar. It’s about a folk festival in Sweden that has ceremonies correlating with mating and sacrifice. The foreigners who come to this so-called Swedish festival are killed throughout the film, serving as sacrifices in the ritualistic ceremonies. At the age of 72, the community members commit ritualistic suicide, where they jump off of a cliff onto a rock below.  The sacrifices are an offering of life in exchange for a life. In the final ceremony of the festival, Dani a foreigner who is granted the position of the May Queen chooses the most important person to be sacrificed. She has the option to choose a community member who is a stranger to her or her boyfriend… She chooses her boyfriend. He represents the unholy and evil that the community wants to cast out in addition to Dani’s source of pain she wants to expel from her life. I think that she realizes that as he is a contributing factor the source of her despair whereas this newfound cult is a source of belonging and comfort for Dani. I think this relates to Girard’s theory of sacrifice as the community members conducted ritualistic sacrifices that banished the impure from their society. The ritualistic ceremonies were sexual and violent in nature. In addition as Gerard’s theory summarizes “the scapegoat has a social function.” In this sense, the scapegoats served a social function to the community members as they theoretically rode the community of the unholy in addition to bringing the community closer together through a shared common understanding and practice. They were able to channel their very violent and disturbing actions upon outsiders. Furthermore, we can also see how this Midsommar perfectly outlines the Greek pharmakos- the foreigners could be seen as mostly insignificant contributors to the community, and they are killed off one by one. However, the elders who are ripe with knowledge and who run the community and commit ritualistic suicide are also sacrificed and essentially seen as less important than the new life that will come after them. This juxtaposition of the sacrificers highlights the ambiguous, mysterious, and perplexing society.

Blog Post #2 Allana Jiwa

I am reminded of my favourite Czech surrealist film named Sedmikrasky. It is about two adolescent best friends-both named Marie- who decide to be spoiled as the world is spoiled itself. They embark on a series of wild adventures to rebel against a materialistic society. They do things that people usually do -but to an extreme- divulge in fancy meals, dress up, go on dates, dance (especially on tables), laugh, and have fun. Throughout the film we see the girls get bolder as their antics become more shocking and surprising. Most remarkably at the end of the film, they are shown divulging and wasting a tremendous amount of food that was not made for them, set out in an extravagant manner. You can actually see how the girls transgress societal norms and how their rebellion takes on more extreme forms as the film carries on. I think this film correlates greatly with pop culture in today’s age as there is much debate and discussion on the decadent portrayal of the fancy and elaborate lifestyles of the rich versus the poor. In a way, I feel as if people who overindulge in society are in a way transgressing social norms. Especially in a world where the rich are viewed as greedy in juxtaposition to poorer societies. For example, in society, a moderate amount of fun mixed with the mundane is seen as appropriate and “normal”. Although, indulging profusely in the decedent, especially as a woman, is seen as something impure. The film was actually banned in Czech for its portrayal of “wanton women and over-excessive food wastage”, which went against the values promoted by the Czech Communist Party and the censored film industry.

Blog Post 4 - Krupa

I couldn't think of any example, so one question that i had that was slightly discussed in our tutorial was if the picture was staged or not. On one side it could be staged to show the realness, but on the other hand it looks as if it was taken without concent at the time.

Blog post #3 Allana Jiwa

An example of manifesting the actualization of unconscious thoughts is consuming mind-altering substances, for instance, alcohol. When intoxicated people often do and say things that they wouldn’t normally do in their daily lives. While drunk, our repressed inner desires and thoughts more easily come to fruition and the drunker we are the easier it is to disregard our rationality. In addition, I think that dreaming, especially lucid dreaming (when we are aware that we are in a dream state) allows us to do things that may be socially or physically implausible in our lives. I think that lucid dreaming is a healthy way to explore the depths of our subconscious desires without facing any serious consequences!

Blog Post #3 - Krupa

I'm not completely sure if this is accurate example of lapsus that could be interpreted as evincing the existence of unconscious thoughts, but one example is how I want to be a teaher of some sort, but am not pursueing that in school. My friends and I would always make jokes about how I am like a teacher and I would be good at it. Soon later, I unitentionally got a job at an Academy to teach kids which I am currently working at. I never thought I would ever be some sort of teacher, but all the jokes my friends and family make came true. I thought this could have been an example because it plays into the aspect of manifesting and convinving/tricking your mind to believe similar to the unconious. Becoming a teacher was always an unconcious thought, but didn't come true til after.

Blog Post #1 Allana Jiwa

Hi, my name is Allana Jiwa, I am in my first year going into film and psychology. I am taking this course because I am intrigued about humans repressed subconscious desires and how our innate desires have shaped our society and continue to do so. I have a few critiques about Bataille’s argument: Firstly, Bataille states that what distinguishes humans from animals is their ability to comprehend death. Although, there is much recent scientific evidence that supports the idea that some animal species are aware of death and in addition may ritualize and mourn the deceased. In the text, Bataille says that in the presence of a dead fellow creature an ape showed indifference. Although, scientists in the modern age state that apes and monkeys have an awareness of death in the same way that humans do. This makes me wonder how much of Bataille's argument was opinion based on his observations rather than facts backed up by evidence and studies. In addition, there is an accumulation of scientific research that shows that animals partake in sex for pleasure. An example of this is same-sex bonobos having intercourse. Due to recent scientific evidence and studies, I feel as if this text is outdated and not as compelling as it would have been a century ago. I am curious about how exactly death is linked to eroticism. What makes having an innate awareness of the inevitability of death erotic?

Week 2 Blog

If my understanding of transgression is correct, one example could be Billie Eilish. She is a music artist who constantly defies norms and strives to be different. For example, her sense of style and fashion. It is not what typically a women "should" wear accourding to society. Yet her style was fairly simple. Another example is her voice/music. When she was first just starting to get popular, many haters said that she sang too soft and it sounded like a whisper, when that was her intent. Again, different from the norm. Surprisingly, these are the things that made her more famous. This example conforms to Charles Gleyre's painting because in the painting there are many naked women, which is against what society asks for from women (to cover themselves). This is my example of transgression.

Week 1 Blog

Hello! My name is Krupa, and I am in mt second year taking the Econ and Commerce Program at UTM. I decided to take this course because I loved Rosalind as my TA last year and was interested in the topics this course will discuss. One question that sparked my thinking regarding this weeks reading was: How Georges Bataille both supports and disagrees with the Christian values regaurding erotism?

Blaze