Today in class, January 7th, we presented what we saw, read or listened to over break. We broke up into groups and read them to each other. The assignment was to do one of these great works and write what it shows about society in that time period. Dylan, Nick, Nate, Leo, Olivia and Annelese were in my group.Dylan Karle went to Moma for his project. He looked at 4 paintings. He described how none of the paintings had any definite shape, or meant anything in particular. Dylan connected the fact that society has no definite shape or meaning to the paintings.Annalise listened to Rubber Soul, which she described as a very transitional and influential Beatles album. She explained a few of the songs on the album including Norwegian Wood. She explained how this album strayed from their previous albums by delving into songs not only about men and women’s relationships. Now they were starting to write about government, politics and regular life. An example she gave of this change was the song I’m Looking Through You, which she noted as being about deceit and treachery in a relationship, instead of a boy meets girl tale.Olivia watched the film Dr. Strangelove. She discussed how it was somewhat of a dark comedy that was a spoof of the cold war, and how it made fun of the government.Leo listened to a few albums for his project. He listened to Billy Bragg-Back to Basics, Bob Dylan-Bringing It all Back Home and Neil Young’s-After The Goldrush. He said how Billy Bragg’s Album was about war, love and Vietnam. After the Goldrush was about relationships ending and starting and about racism. Leo Described how Bob Dylan’s Album told about the life of an artist and a songwriter in a difficult and controversial time.Nate Chumley saw The Third Man and The Searchers. Nate showed how in The Third Man and in the Searchers, there were committing atrocious acts for nothing more than greed and how no one was there to govern them.Nick read Cannery Row. This book was about a small town during the depression with no organization, and with bad conditions but they still got by peacefully. He connected this society to any non-fictional place or town in the depression.
