The Life of an Individual

The two panels I attended were called “Doomed to Repeat It” and “There Will Be Blood”. The panel I will focus on for my blog post will be There Will Be Blood.

The panel discussed the issue of blood through many different lenses and interestingly enough, finding one common theme was not as apparent as it was in the panel I presented on, and the other panel I attended. Yet, by the end the panel had established a common theme that came from the question of how the characters in each one of films or novels present a skewed reality. One answer that I found particularly interesting came from Isabella who wrote an essay on Bloody Sunday. She discussed the manner in which both the protestors and the military had entered the “battle” with a certain perception of how the protest was going to end. She claimed that due to this preconceived notion of what will/should happen the events transpired in a much more violent way than they could have.

When asked about the skewed reality she responded that if you think about it, it could be argued that every experience and interaction we have as human beings is framed in a somewhat subjective manner. Nothing is truly objective. I tried to think about that in relation to the texts we read this year. In the Virgin Suicides the narrators are completely skewing the events by making the Lisbon Sisters into these hyper-sexualized objects, in Black Swan the camera presents a certain subjectivity and skewing of reality through the use of mirrors and the physical harm that Nina inflicts on herself. We can make these statements about every work we’ve read.

So maybe Isabella was right. And if she is right, is there anything that we’re supposed to do about it? Probably not. You live your life through your own eyes, so your experiences are entirely your own. Nobody else will share the same exact experiences as you, and that’s what makes each experience so unique.  

-Ameet