Are you a Transcendentalist?

From my understanding, Transcendentalism is a way of life, a way of thinking. A true transcendentalist will focus on themself and on their own mental well being and thoughts. While they will be aware of their surroundings and of God, they will not let outside activities or entities influence them more than they influence themself. When the time comes to voice their opinion they will do so but in a non-violent non-disruptive way.

In transcendentalism I agree that people should get to know themselves and that people should do what they believe is good and right. I like that it is so focussed on doing what the individual wants and not so much what the group wants. It is like nonconforming but still fitting in.

I don't like how strongly transcendentalists spoke of their beliefs. It was as if they preached to people to be more open minded and to stick with their gut but if they didn't, they were a bad person. Transcendentalism just seemed a little forced to me I guess.

I would say I am somewhat of a transcendentalist. I carry my own beliefs and if asked will share them, but I still put faith in God and the government. I would say I conform more to society than a true transcendentalist would, but not so much so that I just get looked past because I totally blend in.

The Great Gatsby

I really liked The Great Gatsby movie. There were many appealing elements that went into this movie like the music and special effects. I also enjoyed it because it helped clear up the confusion and frustration that The Great Gatsby book left me with.
I always notice the music in movies and I really liked the music in The Great Gatsby. It was very cool how the music was both from the 1920s but also from the current time period. Energetic swinging jazz was intertwined with the rap and pop we are familiar with today. The song, "Young and Beautiful" was also played periodically in the background, sometimes quickly and sometimes drawn out and longingly. I fell in love with this song before I had even seen The Great Gatsby but now that I have seen the movie I can appreciate the song more. The lyrics really fit with some of the major themes in The Great Gatsby.
I also loved the special effects and setting of the movie. The environment that the characters were living in was just so different than the one I am used to and it was so vividly portrayed that it was almost as if I was in the same room as Gatsby himself. My favorite scene was probably when we first meet Daisy and Jordan as they are sitting on the couch. The way the white curtains dance around the room and just the airiness of it all is magical. It was like a dream that made it so life could go on in perfect happiness forever.

Bowling for Columbine

In Bowling for Columbine Michael Moore attempted to discover why it is that Americans own more guns and kill more people with them than any other country despite the fact that other countries do indeed have firearms. While he was unable to answer his question, Moore was able to really make me think about gun control issues in a new way and ironic way.

At one point in Bowling for Columbine, Moore played "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" followed by "What a Wonderful World." Both songs exert a peaceful emotion, but when combined with videos showing people dying via bullet wound and graphics illustrating the victims of war, the emotions turn sour. These two very contrasting medias also create confusion. Did I really just watch someone get shot while Louis sang, "'I see friends shaking hands, sayin' ,'How do you do?' They're really sayin', 'I love you.'?" This makes people think.
At first it seems so normal to be watching people get shot because it happens all the time in video games and action movies but once the realization sets in that Bowling for Columbine is not a fiction, there is no longer anything normal about the matter. It is also to hear "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and "What a Wonderful Rainbow" as background songs in movies and TV shows, but never when people are dying and blood is strewn everywhere. Maybe it's just me, but the combination of the two makes me think that either Moore was indeed just being terribly ironic, or that he was trying to send the viewer a deeper message about gun culture in America. Could it be that gun violence is so prevalent in America today that it is on the cusp of normalcy? Could it be that in order to create a wonderful world we need to shoot people we don't like? Or is Moore relaying the longing desire for there, somewhere over the rainbow, to be less gun violence?

Another approach Moore took in order to pull the trigger inside the viewer's mind was to take his documentary into everyday life. The viewer is introduced to multiple Michigan residents who all happened to be bomb enthusiast, gun loving, bullet crazy people that said they would never ever ever take someone's life with a weapon. They simply had weapons because the American Constitution said they could. Having guns simply because they can is something I think a lot of Americans can relate to. I used to think that people only had guns for hunting or for sport, but to have a gun just because you can seems childish. Moore also ventured north into Canada where he, as an American might call it, broke in and entered random homes. What was interesting about Moore's "crime" was that it was not seen as a crime in Canada as most people just leave their front door unlocked and often open anyway. They have no fear of someone breaking in much less breaking in with a gun. I think that fear-free mentality is something Americans should strive to adopt.