Extra Credit: The Master

The Master, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, is not your typical piece of cinema. The lack of a traditional plot form could leave some people unsatisfied. However, I felt that the character study and acting were rich enough to make for a compelling watch. Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s Lancaster Dodd, and Joaquin Pheonix’s Freddie Quell are two deeply flawed if not broken human beings. One would not have to reach far to conclude that their relationship is almost a love story. They seem to feed off each other in every aspect filling the holes left in each others lives. This is also evident in the way that Anderson films the movie. It can be tense and uncomfortable at times, especially when the camera lingers on Quell’s face. There is also a clear juxtapose created in the way that Anderson chooses to light the scenes with Dodd always being cast in bright rooms and Quell followed constantly by literal darkness. The score sets the mood well, being tense and hesitant at times setting a great mood for the film. The relationship between these two individuals, one being soft and charismatic, and the other being volatile, and hostile, trying almost in vain to co-exist. I feel as though you can most definitely see Dodd’s character as a sociopath, he clings to the idea of being “The Master” of these people that want to love him. Dodd feeds them ideas to create himself as this all knowing being. I also believe this intense relationship between Dodd and Quell formed because Quell was the total body encompassment of a totally lost animalistic man. Quell’s entire body language suggest animal like traits; his hunched shoulders, almost timid at times. But once provoked Quell lashed out like a wild animal toward anyone that spoke against Dodd (Quell being as an animal and Dodd acting as his master).  The Master is unconventional, brilliantly presented and compelling, which takes you on an emotional ride.  That ride however is the point of the movie, and in my opinion a ride most certainly worth taking.  

#7: Cited Sources

Emerson, Ralph Waldo "Self-Reliance" Essays (1841): http://www.emersoncentral.com/selfreliance.htm

Francis, Mark. 1987. "Some Different Meanings Attached to a City Park and a Community Gardens." Landscape Journal 6(2):101-12

Guthrie, James R. Above time [electronic resource] : Emerson's and Thoreau's temporal revolutions. Missouri: University of Missouri Press, 2001.

Thoreau, H. D., Rossi, W. J., & Thoreau, H. D. (1992). Walden: And, Resistance to civil government : authoritative texts, Thoreau's journal, reviews, and essays in criticism. New York: W.W. Norton.

Wehr, Kevin. (2012) DIY The Search for Control and Self-Reliance in the 21st Century. NY: Routledge.

#6: Monsanto

Monsanto may portray itself as a company that wants to help the local farm industry but the reality is far from it. Monsanto is an American leader in the genetically modified seed and food industry. In addition to the modified seeds they have also created a pesticide that protects the genetically modified seed from insects. So in a nutshell Monsanto does not sound all that bad. What is very disturbing about this whole process is the fact that Monsanto has started to patent all of these genetically altered seeds. This means that everyday farmers cannot use and sell their produce without a license directly from Monsanto.

            The company Monsanto has gone on to sue farmers who have been found with their seeds on their farm. They send workers out to collect and test the farmer’s seeds without their consent. If they find that the seeds have traces of the Monsanto genetically altered seeds they now have the right to sue the farmers and this often causes the farmers to go bankrupt and they can no longer sell their crops. Farmers do not even have to intentionally buy Monsanto seeds to pesticides to be sued. In one case a Canadian man Percy Schmeiser proved that he had not bought the Monsanto seeds and that the seeds were possibly carried from another farmer’s crop or even blown off of a truck carrying the Monsanto seeds.

            Monsanto is creating a monopoly of our food supply, shutting down farms that bring us organically non-altered grown food. I find this to be a huge problem; this company is putting many farmers out of business so that their industry can grow. This could also possibly mean making them our only source for food and this food could be altered in a way that everyone could have a bad reaction to. Once they gain a full monopoly they could do anything they wanted to food and we might have to eat it because it is the only source. 

#5: Hemp: Saving our Earth and Stimulating our Economy

The short video Hemp for Victory was made during World War II to encourage American farmers to grow hemp for the war effort. During this time many of the fibers we used came from other countries, and they were short in supply. The video goes through the steps of creating hemp fibers to make things such as thread and ropes. I think that hemp should still be used regularly today, and as the video mentions Kentucky provides the perfect soil for the crop to flourish. Is it is not hard to maintain and creates rich soil for the next crop to be planted in.

            If we were to move to mainly hemp fibers grown within America we could continue to stimulate our economy. As it stands right now hemp products are very expensive because farmers do not subsidies for growing it. If the farmers were able to have the government back them up on growing hemp it could easily become one of the cheaper products to produce and buy, thus creating more stimulation in our economy. Plus if the hemp is grown within our country by American farmers the money stays here in America.

There are many uses for hemp, many of them more environmentally friendly than our current solutions. Houses are now being built with hemp, hemp plants can lift heavy metals from polluted soil. Hemp paper is stronger and also does not require us to cut down as many trees and wait for more to grow. And hemp biomass fuel produces no sulphur and can be effectively used as a relatively clean power source due to its 95% fuel to feed ratio. I think because the government has such a bad taste in their mouth from hemp being associated with “smoking weed” they have a hard time giving money to farmers that do produce it. If they even just gave it a chance I think they would easily realize that hemp would become a large cash crop for America.