Narration

Upon reading Some Records of Ethiopia, I am very interested in the author of this text. I feel as though his opinion is biased and this is evident throughout the text. He states in Chapter 20 that he loves Ethiopia more than any other county but also realizes that he sounds very negative about Ethiopia. He has noticed his error of bias but does nothing to correct it; he continues to judge Ethiopia and their culture. The author discusses everything in their culture from weddings to circumcision. He is very thorough in his descriptions of every topic but never draws any objective conclusions. He states quite often that Ethiopia has "converted to the law of Christ Our Lord", making Ethiopia a better place or so it seems. The author places the utmost importance on their Christianity. I believe that this author would not feel the same way he does if Ethiopia had not become a Christian society. He discusses Ethiopian culture and all of its basics but does so with a one sided point of view. I therefore conclude that the author of this text has a very bias and subjective opinion of Ethiopia.

Ethiopia

When discussing Ethiopia in class on Monday, I was moved by the pictures of the women at the church. I thought that it was most telling that these women had tattooed crosses on their foreheads. Obviously these women thought that it was absolutely necessary that everyone knew their religious belief. In our culture, individuals go to great lengths to not be associated with their religious beliefs. In the United States, we are taught to keep our social life separated from our religious life. I realized that this is a major difference between our culture and Ethiopia's. These women wanted everyone to know that they were Christian and where obviously very proud of it. I admire their extreme devotion to Christianity to have it displayed on their faces in a most obvious way. In our culture, religion is a completely separate part of life than any thing else but in Ethiopia religion becomes part of everything these women do. I thought this was a very telling picture that showed the difference of America's religious culture compared to Ethiopia's.

The Big Picture

While watching Metropolis, I was surprised by the intensity even without a script. Fritz Lang did an excellent job at portraying the characters reactions and experiences without using words. The music made the film much more dramatic and interesting to watch. Even though a quarter of the movie was lost, I felt that it was an enjoyable cinematic adventure.

In class on Monday, we discussed the parallels between this film and religion. There are many religious symbols and ties throughout the film that are hard to miss. I will discuss the most obvious and the most interesting such as "Heaven and Hell", "Father and Son", Mary as Maria, the power of sin.

The first parallel is noted within the first ten minutes of the film when the viewer experiences the dark, scary work area that the lower class are forced to work in. The viewer notices the incredible sadness of the workers, the uniformity, and the suppression they are feeling. The workers are more like prisoners working in a Hell that they cannot escape. The underground is dark and dreary where work is the only option. No one present is smiling moving quickly, looks happy to be there or even alive. The underworld represents Hell; where as the upper world, where the upper class live, symbolizes heaven. When the film transitions to the upper world, the difference is vast. The rich live in a bright world where sports and entertainment are everywhere. The individuals in this realm are constantly smiling and thriving in life. This is the first encounter with Freder, the son of Joh.

The second parallel is the connection between Joh, the master of the Metropolis, and his only son, Freder. Joh is a strict ruler of all, who punishes those who don't please him but is understanding towards those who do. Joh can be seen as God, who rules over all and controls everything. Freder is Jesus, his only son, who discovers the injustices of the world.

Another parallel is Maria as Mary. Both the names and their behaviors are similar causing the viewer to notice this striking similarity. Maria shows Freder his "brothers" helping him realize how unfair the world actually is. Maria leads Freder to the underworld where he witnesses the "Hell" that the underclass is forced to endure.

The last parallel that I will talk about is connected to the last. When the film changes to the upper world, the second scene is in a beautiful garden where everyone is happy and free. Maria enters the garden with the children allowing them to see the beauty of it all. Freder follows Maria into the underworld realizing the injustice and bringing on the fall of happiness. This is the representation of the Garden of Eden and the Fall of Man. This is depicted very literally because both have gardens, happiness and a women "causes" the fall. This can be seen as a strictly religious part of the film due to it's intense similarities to Genesis.

All of these parallels lead to the correlation of religion and the movie Metropolis. Heaven and Hell are opposites where one is good and the other bad. Joh is the ruler of all while his only son, Freder, who represents Jesus tries to save the less fortunate. Maria can be seen as Mary who causes the "fall" in the garden. From all of these symbols, I would say that it is a fair assumption to believe that Fritz Lang had certain religious beliefs in mind that he was trying to express through this movie.

God is our Father...

"God is the father, the son, and the holy spirit"- This is the metaphor that I will extend into a specific allegory detailing how family is like religion. In class, we discussed the parent-child relationship that individuals have with God demonstrating the authority figure and also the subservient. God protects us, listens to us but also punishes us for our behavior while forever loving us. With this allegory, God is our parent while his "children" are everyone who lives on earth. I will take this allegory further to say that Jesus is our big brother who stands by our side, gives us an example to live by and keeps harm away. With this is mind, I believe that family is a perfect metaphor for religion. Family and religion have many similarities leading the way for a perfect allegory. The family portrait would look something like this- God would be in the middle, holding his eldest son's hand, Jesus, with every individual standing around them. This is the center and base of my allegory.

First, God will always be there for us because he will always love us and Jesus will be our realistic role model to look up to. This provides comfort and security to those who know they will always have someone by their side and forever be loved. In families, the parents are always there for us but punish and reward us also. Also, the big brother(or sibling) is always looking out for the younger children. Both religion and family offers us guidance, leading us down the path of life letting us make our own decision but also being ready to catch us when we fall. A second similarity between family and religion is communication. Religion offers communication through the bible and church organizations. Families communicate daily through the household and other activities. Compromise is involved in religion and family due to the wants and needs of both parties. God and parents want their children to live life to the fullest, but within the bounds of reason and safety. The need for compromise is always present; it is a give and take relationship.

The final and most important similarity between religion and family is love. God and Jesus will always be there for you. They will never leave you, no matter what and will always be willing to hold you while you cry. Families have such an internal bound that this love cannot be broken. I find this similarity the strongest and the most convincing. Love is a universal trait between both families and religions. God will always love his children, just as parents will always love their children.

I believe that the religion/family metaphor is a perfect demonstration to understanding the deep connection and feeling to religion. Religion gives people comfort, safety,guidance, understanding, communication and love. This is the feeling that one receives from their family creating a strong bond between parents and children and siblings.

Globalization or Destruction?

The article discussing the Crow Indians discusses the globalization of the America's at the cost of an entire culture. The Crow's way of life was entirely dependent on warfare and the gaining of land. The Crows developed a culture honoring bravery and courage while shaming cowards. During warfare, the Crows set boundaries which depicted where their land began with "coup sticks". These coup sticks symbolize the Crow culture. The coup sticks represent the Crows freedom and lack of boundaries. The Crows developed an entire culture on the assumption that warfare would always be waged and other tribes would need to be conquered. The Crow's world was turned upside down when they were conquered, captured and torn apart. Boundaries were set up while an entire culture was broken apart.

When the Crows were put onto reservations, warfare was no longer an option or a need. The Crows were forced to become "civilized" and leave all of their old ways of life behind. War was a way of life for the Crows; it defined them and created their culture. When it was taken from them, the culture was destroyed as a result. Every Crow was affected by this change, woman and male, they didn't understand how to live anymore. The Europeans said this was for globalization and believed they were doing the Native American a favor by "civilizing" them. The end result was a complete destruction of a culture and a part of history.

Today in class we watched the movie Grizzlyman and discussed Timothy Treadwell's passion for bears. When watching the movie, I felt Timothy's love towards the bears and how he truly connected with them. Timothy discovered himself among the bears where he felt most comfortable. I believe that Timothy felt a deep spiritual connection to the bears and developed a sort of religion with them. Timothy lived with the bears 1/4 of the year and during that time tried to become a bear. He felt like he protected the bears and also became part of their family.
Timothy's religion was very similar to those who are deeply Christian but only have time to go to church for Christmas and Easter. Timothy was only allowed to live with the bears in the summer but he was dedicated and deeply connected with them.
When the class discussed Timothy and his passion, I felt most people disagreed with his choices. In the movie, many people stated that Timothy crossed the line between animal and human worlds. They felt that Timothy had actually harmed the bears rather than helped them and that Timothy was crazy for living with them. I was distraught at the fact that this man was simply doing what he loved and enjoying life. A lot of people have interesting passions, for example cliff diving, but no one chastises them for their interests. Why is it that people get so upset when Timothy Treadwell lived with the animals that he felt most comfortable? Isn't everybody's aspiration to be the happiest they can be? I felt it was very upsetting to see one man's life choice criticized and disagreed with. Timothy Treadwell lived for bears and educated people on these highly misunderstood creatures. I believe Timothy should be respected for standing up for what he believed in and making the ultimate sacrifice for his passion. Timothy Treadwell formed a religion with bears that we will never understand but I do not think he should be judged for this.

We left the Paleolithic art and ventured into the Holocene era which vastly differed from all other eras . In the Holocene era, the people started to settle down and farm small areas of land. Consequently, there was an abundance of food which created an increase in population. The people started to specialize in certain areas of work which formed a community sense in their small villages. The people of the Holocene era formed small groups which started to create a sense of group identity. These groups were small, about 30-40 people, which formed a concrete group identity. A social hierarchy formed in the villages enforcing the importance of the group but also defining an individual's role in the society. Religion formed identities for all individuals within a group and also explained many situations with spiritual/religious answers.
With the Neanderthals and in the Paleolithic era we saw certain aspects of religion, but certainly never a solid religion. We know that Neanderthals formed communities and had some sort of social order but were not as organized as the Holocene era. In the Paleolithic era, a more naturalistic "religion" formed with emphasis on icons and nature. Art was extremely important for people during the Paleolithic era but an organized religion was not able to be formed due to the lack of reasoning process. When the Holocene era arose a more modern religion formed with spiritual importance. One huge difference in the Holocene era is the realization of self awareness. These individuals were aware that they were alive and were not alone in the world. The Holocene era's religion was deeply spiritual and was created for many reasons. Once this people were self aware they wanted explanations of uncontrollable situations. Religion was a perfect explanation for all of these problematic times. Identity was more defined with the use of religion; people would feel a sense of worth due to religion. People also conformed to the community or group identity with religion strengthening the bond between people in the villages. The institution of religion was formed for multiple reasons but ultimately joined people together and formed a strong sense of identity.

The Cave of Lascaux

When taking the virtual tour of the Cave of Lascaux, I was incredibly impressed with the advanced art depicted throughout the cave walls. These beings were less intelligent, thinking more about survival rather than with reason but still created beautiful works for art with the supplies they could find. The cave drawings were very advanced for these early humans; they created three dimensional masterpieces with multiple colors and mastered the use of shading. They made an assortment of colors ranging from dark brown to yellow further increasing their art to become more lifelike and original. The art work was preserved extremely well with minimal damage to the painting showing the quality of the supplies the artists used. The artwork was precise creating a sense of the animals running of the walls. The artists painted certain animals and etched the stone for others. This gave a great variety to the different chambers in the cave.
In the Cave of Lascaux, many different chambers were discovered each having their own theme. One hall was dedicated to the great bulls that roamed the land while a short passage was solely created with man in mind. Animals are honored in these drawing with elaborate techniques and greatest detail. Some animals depicted in the caves were bison, bulls and horses. This shows the vast difference of animals that roamed the land at the time this art was created. These fantastic forms were painted or etched from the ceiling all the way down the walls to the floors showing the vast amount of time put into the art work. The artists were not experts in communicating which is a possible explanation for all the artwork in the caves. Noises was the common way of communication; this artwork would have furthered the communication process between these early humans.
In conclusion, these fantastic work of art showed the advancement in human development. This art was extremely advanced for its time demonstrating the coping skills of early humans for their lack of communication.