Catfish Response

        Throughout the semester, the topic of web 2.0 and democratized media has been a very popular point of interest in class lessons. The documentary “Catfish” sums up the dangers of web 2.0 that have been discussed throughout the semester. As defined previously, Web 2.0 is basically more user generated as well as open- source content being available on the web. This means that users are basically able to post whatever they want to a site as well as take on any alternate persona on the web. The film Catfish displays this definition adequately, and truly defines the basic ideas and values of Web 2.0.

The basic plot of the movie began when photographer Yaniv Schulman received a painted reproduction in the mail of one of his published photos. His brother, filmmaker Ariel Schulman who had already been making a documentary about Yaniv, basically kept cameras rolling for this interesting new twist to the documentary. Yaniv, who goes by Nev, soon finds out that these extremely advanced paintings are actually being reproduced by an eight-year-old-girl, Abby Pierce, who resides in Michigan with her family. Nev tries to get in touch with Abby and is able to do this through Facebook through her mother Angela.

       

After Nev’s pen- pal – like relationship takes off with both young Abby and her mother, he comes across Abby’s 19 year old sister Megan’s Facebook page. Megan appears to be an extremely fun and attractive young woman, and Nev is immediately attracted to her. The two then embark on a very intimate online relationship which leads to constant texting as well as constant phone conversations. Nev quickly becomes infatuated with Megan, and it seems that Megan feels similarly about Nev.

       

From here, Nev and his two filmmaking buddies take a trip to Michigan to surprise Megan and Abby, but instead the story takes a wild turn that is extremely unexpected. Nev soon finds out that Abby is not a painter, and Angela her mother is actually the painter of the family. To add to this, Nev also finds out that there is no Megan, she does not reside with her “family”, and is conveniently unable to talk on the phone or visit her mom while Nev is visiting. Nev soon finds out that Angela, Abby’s mother, has a voice which is extremely similar to that of Megan’s. Nev soon uncovers the chilling fact that he was being lied to by Angela all along. Megan’s facebook was completely fake and Angela was actually the one who was having the intimate relationship with Nev behind the persona of Megan.

        The film Catfish basically uncovers the world’s fears of Web 2.0. The fact that people could so easily lead a double  life and trick the world around them is something that is indeed chilling. People often criticize websites such as Facebook because it allows people to be whoever they would like to be, and could dupe or hurt others in the process. Nev was actually in love with the girl who he was having a relationship with via Facebook, and was lied to constantly throughout the film.

        I think that this film shows the effects and changes Facebook and other social media networks have had and will continue to have in the lives of many. People rely so much on Facebook, but often do not realize how dangerous and faulty it can be. Any person can take on any identity on these networks, and Catfish truly harps on this scary reality.

        Earlier in the semester, we discussed Andrew Keen and his opinion that social networking is the downfall of American society and intelligence. The documentary Catfish truly bolsters his opinion. Catfish directly shows that Americans believe everything they see online and are extremely likely to let their guard down while hiding behind a computer screen. I believe that this film is a perfect example of where our society is headed, and that it displays the dangers of the internet extremely well. The fact that Angela Pierce, one woman, was able to manage 15 different facebook profiles and consistently lie to an innocent man, shows that anyone can do anything online.

This documentary truly made me wonder what I would do if I was in Nev’s position. It also made me wonder for the first time if my information and photos that are posted online are safe. Angela used a collection of photos of a random model to form the identity of Megan Faccio and trick Nev into falling in love with this fake person. I think that this film displays the scary reality of social media and democratized media in general, and should be taken as a fair warning for viewers of the film as well as internet users everywhere.

Exit Through The Gift Shop Response

         In the film “Banksy’s Exit Through the Gift Shop”, the whole culture of street art and graffiti is revealed by an anonymous narrator by the name of Banksy. This film was originally supposed to be directed by the featured Thierry Guetta, but when Banksy offered to edit his film, he decided to film Guetta and his first experiences and successes with becoming involved in street art. In the film Thierry goes from knowing almost nothing about the culture and how it works to actually opening his own gallery and becoming extremely successful in his endeavors despite the fact that he ripped off established artists such as Shepard Fairey and Banksy.

Thierry Guetta is quite the outgoing character throughout the film, and begins to explore street art and make his own street art as well throughout the film. He discovers and discusses in the film how street art has changed immensely throughout the years. Street art was originally an illegal and frowned upon culture, but it has now become respected, valued, and desired by art galleries.

Guetta had approached Banksy, the street art mastermind, in creating a documentary about street art, how it has changed, and what it has become. Banksy suggests to Guetta that he will edit the film himself, and instead the film will feature Guetta. Banksy remains anonymous throughout the film in commentaries and in his artwork. At the same time Guetta makes a name for himself, and becomes an extremely successful street artist. He also takes on the persona of “Mr. Brain Wash” in the film. He makes many many pieces of “artwork” over the duration of the film, and towards the end of the film he holds a gallery for his artwork. The art show was held in Los Angeles, and was called “Life is Beautiful.” Tickets presold for this show at 100,000 US dollars, and this gallery set off Guetta’s whole future and success. At the close of the flim  Banksy contemplates whether or not he made the right choice in helping Guetta with this documentary because of the way in which Guetta “ripped off” Banksy’s own work.

          According to the article “Here’s why the Banksy Movie is a Banksy Prank”, this film was questioned after it premiered because many viewers and art professionals feel that this film is an outright lie, and that the artwork of MBW (Mister Brain Wash) is actually that of Banksy himself because of his anonymous personality to begin with (http://www.fastcompany.com/1616365/banksy-movie-prankumentary).  

As I watched the film, I did feel as though Thierry used Banksy’s art as well as other artists such as Andy Warhol’s orginal work as a platform for his own creations. After all, most of his “artwork” was merely other artists’ work that was photoshopped or changed via illustrator rather than his own creation.  However, Mr. Brain Wash did know how to market and promote himself in the correct manner, and I feel that this is why is work caught on so much. He advertised himself through graffiti in the street, as well as telling as many people as possible about his art show and I truly believe that this was the key to his success.

However, I do not think that Mister Brain Wash was being a “legitimate” artist or creating “meaningful” artwork per se. He happened to speak to the right people such as Banksy, and promoted himself to the right people, but he was not necessarily legitimate. Some of his most well known artwork such as the Campbell’s Soup can and Elvis with a toy gun were not original works of art and were simply altered from their original form. I also feel that much of his work was extremely resonant of that of Andy Warhol, and that he most certainly ripped off Warhol's creations.

I also do not think that the artwork of Guetta was meaningful by any means. Most artists’ work comes from their heart, and this shows in their finished product. From my personal perspective, I felt that all of his artwork was interesting to look at because it was peculiar and strange while all being too similar to other works of art I have seen in the past. I think that he just made these pictures to make a name for himself rather than his work coming from his heart, a quality that is instrumental for many other artists.

               

             

Grade Report

Vector Trace Assignment

The image above is my original. After tracing it and editing it, my final image is below:

vector illustrator remake

For my vector image I decided to remake the above Pepsi logo in a more futuristic manner by using Adobe illustrator - My final image is the image below: