Hi, everyone!
To wrap up the class for our final blog week, I'd like to ask you about the class as a whole. What did you learn/gain from this course? What translation did you like best/least and why? What did you like best overall? Least? Would you change anything about this class?
Have at it! :)
16 comments:
This is probably the most interesting honors class that I have taken. It was really fun to explore the different mediums of art rather than just film or just books. I learned to appreciate all types of adaptations as well as how to adapt works. I think it was really effective in how we approached the pieces. For example, we really immersed ourselves in the pieces such as watching them or reading them and then discussing all aspects of it.
The translations I liked the most were "Phantom of the Opera" and "300." I think both the original and adaptations were really good! The translations in particular seemed to be the most effective. The one I liked the least was "Diving Bell and the Butterfly." I actually didn't mind the film, but I think that since I knew a little bit of the background for the film I didn't like it very much. I lost appreciation for it knowing that the ex-wife ruined the story haha. Something I would change about the class would be maybe to incorporate more short writes. I really enjoyed those, it may be because I really am not the talkative type so it gave me the opportunity to discuss in a way that is more comfortable for me. But I also think that short writes allow people the opportunity to really think about their thoughts on pieces they have read/heard/seen.
I agree with Candace this was the most interesting Honors class I've taken so far. I like the different media we explored...books, film, poems, paintings, spoken poetry...all of which helped me to realize that there are many forms of art and adaptations go far beyond from book to film. Each form has it's own uniqueness and brings out a certain aspect of the piece that might not have come through. For instance when I was reading poetry I focused primarily on grasping the poem's message, yet when we listen to spoken poetry I was impressed with the flow and ease with which the poems were performed and by soaking this in the message was made quite clear. I also thought it super cool that this last Tuesday students pursued translations I had never even thought of. Book to etching/multi media art piece, music to story, song to dance...these were all beautiful.
I enjoyed watching the films, and going to Wicked. I've always loved Phantom of the Opera so I was super excited when I realized this was on the list. I had never read Gaston's book and I'm pleased to say it has become one of my favorite books. I thought the class was awesome but I do think a couple of things could be added in to enhance the overall effect. I really enjoyed the activity where we all wrote a line of the poem because we were actually participating in an adaptation from painting to poem. I think more activities like this....for instance listening to music and writing what comes to mind, would be really cool and it would be neat hearing how different people translate. These types of hands on activities are really fun and also contribute to discussions as you would present your piece. I also think it would be neat to watch more live performances as we did with Wicked. Performances at pope joy whether theatrical, musical, or dance would be awesome to watch and discuss first hand.
Otherwise I think the class was great. My all-time favorite part was actually watching the SLAM poetry. I was both completely entertained and inspired by some of the amazing works I heard. I thought it was a neat idea to have us perform a group poem and I had a lot of fun with it. I will miss this class!!! Great job Kathryn and Laura!
Awww! I'm so happy you both enjoyed the class so much. Laura and I had a ton of fun prepping for it and creating it, and it's been really, really great seeing just how talented and creative you all are this week for the final presentations.
Aubrey, I like your idea about more hands-on, creative activities. It's hard to balance those out with more critical thinking ones because some people don't like creative stuff as much. But this class has totally proven you would've gone with us on it. Good to know!
Oh, and I love, love Slam Nation. I can't even begin to tell you all how many times I've watched that documentary. I'm so happy you liked it, too! :)
Yay!
This class was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed being able to compare the original work to its adaptation. It helped me understand the many aspects that are taken into account when a translation occurs. I also learned that there are many different arts that can be translated. It's really interesting to think about all the translations we studied in class and know there are still a whole bunch more out there. I really enjoyed analyzing the translations in depth and determining why certain parts were or weren't changed.
I liked all the translations we talked about in class. They were all great!! My favorite was "Diving Bell and the Butterfly." There were many contradictions between the movie and the memoir and that made it really interesting to talk about. It was a good thing that we read that article though or we would have ended up with misconceptions about the whole thing. It would have also been fun to try to guess on our own why the director and screen writer made those changes in the movie and see what we would have come up with. It would have been really hard to come up with answers like "he couldn't make up his mind on which kids to use so he just chose all three."
I really enjoyed the spoken word poetry and acting out the poems, that was a lot of fun to do and watch as well. Watching Wicked was awesome, and like Aubrey I think it would be nice to watch more live performances.
Looking and listening to everyone's translations on Tuesday was really great and can't wait to see the last half of translations!!
I really liked this class! It widened my perspective of what is an acceptable translation. I definitely have learned to love drastic translations instead of the exact same story. I want to see pieces of art that challenge what people know and push boundaries so that people do become excited to see change and experiment with art- because it is art, and there is no right or wrong answer. This class was a nice change from the math and science classes that have one correct answer.
Choosing which translation I liked the best was a little hard because of my new found acceptance to wider varieties of translations. At first I would have said that “300” was my favorite because I liked that they kept it so similar, but as time passed I grew to appreciate that yeah, it was a good movie and graphic novel, but it was the exact same thing as before. I think that now my favorite was “Wicked” because they knew that they had to change it in order for it to become a family friendly musical. The producers knew that some of the content was not appropriate for the piece and changed it accordingly. My least favorite probably had to be the art translations, just because I am not big on art and because half the time I did not understand what was going on in the picture and how it translated over into the poem that was written for it. Maybe it was just that I am not very fond of written poetry.
This class made me accept poetry a lot more than before. It made me realize that not all poetry was out of my reach of understanding and I now have developed a love for spoken poetry! If I could add to the class it would be to have more written and active projects like both Aubrey and Candace suggested. I think that it was an excellent course that covered a wide variety of translations. Overall, I really enjoyed this class.
Per usual I loved this class! I remember when I heard about this class last semester, I was totally in awe of the fact that I could watch "Wicked" as part of a class. I absolutely love musicals and as I looked at the reading list and saw "Phantom of the Opera" and "300" along with "Wicked", I was obviously excited by the course material as well as by who was teaching it.
This class was incredibly facinating to me; the things that we were studying were not only interesting, but also was incredibly pertinent to modern society. In my own life, I also feel like I gained a lot of knowledge that is pertinent to my own life. This may sound odd, but I feel like I have always assumed so much about the translation of a work from medium to medium. I always assumed that it was relatively simple, and that any adaptations that were made were made simply due to the artist's preference rather than a necessity. Now, whenever I watch a movie that has been translated from a book, or something along those lines, I'll have a greater appreciation for all of the work and expertise that went into the translation itself.
Id have to say that my favorite translation was "Wicked"; I feel like I learned so much from reading the book after watching the musical. I will never again assume that the book and the movie are exactly the same in any way, shape, or form!!
Honestly I loved this class; during a semester that has been less than perfect in my personal life, this class was a nice break from my life. As always, great job Kathryn & Laura! Thanks for everything :)
I also really enjoyed this class! I had never given much thought to translations and adaptations, though I always love when I find a reference to another work in whatever piece i'm reading, listening to orɜ watching. I thoroughly enjoyed discussing what is an acceptable translation, and why people translate.
Asɜ for what might make the class better, I agree with many ofɜ the suggestions already mentioned. I amɜ a quiet person, and felt like the short writes allowed meɜ to express what i was thinking best, so i would have liked a few more ofɜ those. I really liked all ofɜ the creative activities, like the jury and clay modelling! I think a creative activity during the music translation class would have been fun, maybe a free write like Aubrey mentioned.
I enjoyed this class so much, itɜ went by too fast! Thank you both for planning such an interesting and fun course!
This class was so fantastic! I will try to refrain from getting all mushy since this is my last class in Honors, I will miss it *sniff*
I, like Perla, really enjoyed "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" because it brought up the most issues and in depth discussion. That's a translation that really makes you think about documentaries and the things that are presented to us as true. I also loved the Slam poetry and ekphrastic poetry, mostly because I like poetry.
If I were to add anything to the course I would include some dance. It would be interesting to discuss how different cultures choose to interpret their music. I would also have enjoyed looking at some video art inspired by music without lyrics. The change from an auditory medium to a visual medium can produce some really creative stuff. The only thing I don't like about the course is blogging, but no surprise there :)
Thank you classmates, Laura and Kathryn for an awesome semester!
This class has pretty much been the highlight of my week all semester. I really enjoyed all of the materials—usually I feel the need to truly despise at least one assignment, reading, activity, or something from every class I have ever taken. This was the first class I have had in a very long time where I didn’t just skim through at least some of the readings (although, perhaps I shouldn’t admit to that). I genuinely like liked the readings, which inspired me to actually read them (shocking, really). I don’t often read memoirs and don’t often like them when I do read them, so I was surprised to find that I really loved the Diving Bell and the Butterfly. It may be on my list of favorite books from here on out (I have been trying to convince my sister to read it). I felt that the music- and art-inspired poetry units were fascinating because they covered things that I would never have thought about if left to my own devices. I think the pacing of the class was really good. There were a lot of readings, but I wasn’t swamped by it, which gave me time to enjoy them. I would say that I agree with the people who suggested more short writes. I can’t believe that I would suggest such a thing, because I really am not fond of short writes, but I felt that they were probably good for me.
I am going to miss this class when it is over. I am still sad about that snow day.
One thing that I really gained from this class was learning how to appreciate adaptations for themselves and not as lesser versions of the original. It has helped me learn to keep an open mind when it comes to experiencing an adaptation. I think this will help me in being able to enjoy adaptations of books, movies, whatever, that I really like and focus on the translations merits and shortcomings as it's own piece of art, not just in relation to the original. My favorite parts of the class were the slam poetry and the diving bell and butterfly, Slam poetry is just awesome in general. I've been to a few slam competitions and have seen Danny Solis, who was in the film, in person and they are amazing events. I think it's a really new, interesting and inspiring art form that everyone deserves to be exposed to. I also really liked the unit on the diving bell. I loved both the book and the film, though we all know the unethical stuff that went into it. Because of my new found ability to appreciate an adaptation as it's own piece, I'm still able to say it's a wonderful movie even though I have moral issues with the alterations in the story.
Thank you for all of your comments! I really like the idea of incorporating more creative activities, because I feel like I learn the most through hands-on activities. Actually translating something is the best way to learn about art.
I'm surprised about the interest in more short writes (but yay!)--that's also good input. We all have different ways of learning and expressing ourselves, and writing is really good for those of us who are quieter. When I took Legacy of the Family Story with Kathryn my freshman year, the only reason I talked in class was because she made us. She never believed me when I told her later that I am usually shy in my classes.
I have learned a lot about facilitating discussion, class logistics, and teaching in general this semester--thank you for all of your support. When I get to teach English or music in the public schools, I will use what I've learned here. I also will make sure to incorporate a lot of different activities to help out with all kinds of learning styles.
I'm so glad you liked most elements of the class!!
I gained a lot from this class! I gained the ability to view translations of art from a much more critical/analytical perspective. I also gained a much broader definition of art translations and because of this I am beginning to see translations pop up all over the place! It is really wild to me how so much art is a translation of another piece of art or at least inspired by one.
My favorite translation was the Phantom of the Opera. I think that one is my favorite because the translation process from the book to the film is so rich in cultural and artistic history. As in every honors class, my favorite element of the class is the discussions we have. It is so interesting to hear the thoughts and opinions of my amazing peers!
In answer to something that I would change, I think that it would be really neat if one element/project in the class was for each student to research and present the history of an art translation. I think there were so many really cool elements of the processes of translation that we were unable to explore in our class and the above change might allow some of the depths of these processes to be explored.
I agree with you all! But Aubrey, I especially agree that exploring all of the different art mediums was really awesome! I think it is really easy to get stuck in a rut of only acknowledging and taking time to appreciate certain genres of art. This class was great in helping me realize there is so much more art out there to explore!
Claudia, I also agree about learning to appreciate more drastic translations. Before this class, I considered a translation that did not stick close to the original as a "bad" translation, now I can appreciate and look at it as having its own beautiful elements.
It has been a great class overall, and I am really grateful for the opportunity to meet you all and hear your insight into art. Thanks everyone!
I have to admit, this was my favorite honors course to date! I really enjoyed not only the material but also the challenges that were asked of us. I gained a better appreciation for art and the many mediums it is expressed on. I learned that I need to pay more attention to whether something is an adaptation or an original. My favorite translation (in that the original was translated beautifully) was Wicked. I am completely in love with the music, the acting, the set and costumes. I wouldn’t say that I have a least favorite translation. I think it is without saying that I did not enjoy the Wicked original, however. My favorite thing about the class was all of the interactive activities we did like the one line poetry. The only thing I would change about the class is the blog entry “due date.” I am a very busy student and am not available till this time (Monday night). I sometimes feel like I had to scramble to put in a response so that I wouldn’t get points knocked off. Maybe having the blog available till the hour before class, but other than that, ONE OF MY MOST FAVORITE CLASSES AT UNM!
I have always been the type of person who enjoys reading a book and then seeing the movie version of it. This class has definitely expanded on that. I also enjoyed the different types of translations, such as the week about music. I think that this unit could be elongated in to two weeks though. The first being the same as before, with poems being set (translated) into music. The second could focus on what I did in my final project, where we would listen to and discuss the same song with multiple versions.
The reason that I signed up for this class was due to the perk of seeing Wicked, and it did not disappoint. The book on the other hand... Reading it definitely made me appreciate the musical more, I just wish that I could have done without it.
I think the reading list was awesome! I can only imagine the struggle that Kathryn and Laura went through to finally get it down to this particular set of works. Really, I think that there could be a class next semester called "The Art of Translation, Part 2" where we read, watch, listen to, and discuss a whole new set of translations. This class could just go on forever.
Finally, I LOVED seeing everyone's final projects from this past week, and I look forward to tomorrow's. This is a class of talented and creative girls, and it has been a privilege to be your classmate for the semester. : )
One last thing, I have a love/hate relationship with the blog. Yes, it is hard to remember to do on top of everything else that we as busy college students have going on, but it has also exposed me to a lot of interesting art and ideas throughout the semester.
I thought Holly's posts with deaf poetry were awesome! As well as remembering WAY back to the beginning of the semester where we all talked about our favorite translations. I think this has been a really great forum. I'll kind of miss it in a way, but not the threatening deadline.
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