1) Explain why you selected each of the three videos you choose from the selection listed above.
- I chose the video A World Inscribed: The Illuminated Manuscript because I was interested to know more about the early scribes that wrote the books by hand, how long it took them, and when did the invention of the printing press finally take over. I chose the video Cairo Museum because I have always been interested in Egyptian history and I know that the Cairo Museum is huge in Egypt, so I wanted to see if there was more to learn about it. I chose the video The Measure of All Things: Greek Art and the Human Figure because, like Egyptian history, I am very intrigued with the ancient Greek gods and goddesses, and I do know that the Greeks made a lot of their sculptures to represent them. So by watching this video I might have learned more about the ancient Greek gods and goddesses.
2) For each video list/ discuss the key concepts you learned.
- From the video More Human Than Human the key concepts that I learned about were that images dominate our lives. Even back thousands of years people have been obsessed with images of the human body. The Venus of Willendorf is a great example the video uses, the artist of that figures focuses their attention on the breasts and the stomach, emphasizing them, but at the same time the artist barely shows the head and arms. The key concepts from the video A World Inscribed: The Illuminated Manuscript I learned was that many monks and scribes complained about writing the books but at the same time they were willing to work on the books, this confused me because in the video it showed that the monks and scribes documented the pain they had in making the books. Also the monks and scribes were so into their work they even drew what would happen to people that would try to steal their completed books. After watching that it made me laugh that people had some type of a sense of humor back then. The video Cairo Museum I found out a lot of key concepts that I didn’t know about Egyptian history that was very interesting. I found out that there are still artifacts that people have found over 100 years ago that have not been opened. Another interesting thing I saw in the video was that the ancient Egyptian’s performed plastic surgery, even back then, because they wanted people to be comfortable in the afterlife. The key concepts from the video The Measure of All Things: Greek Art and the Human Figure had a lot do with the human body. Even as far back as the Greeks can remember they were obsessed with the body. In their sculptures they tried to make the bodies perfect. In the Classical Period of Greek art they were able to accomplish 2 things: they captured a perfect human being, and while capturing this they were able to make that body naturally.
3) How do the videos relate to the readings in the text?
- The videos relate to the readings in the text because both, the videos and the text, talk about the ancient worlds. Chapter 14 focuses on the oldest art, Greek art, and ancient Egypt; this ties into the videos, Cairo Museum, The Measure of All Things: Greek Art and the Human Figure, and More Human Than Human. Chapter 15 talks about The Middle Ages, and the early years of the Renaissance; where the video A World Inscribed: The Illuminated Manuscript would make more sense in because the video and the text both talk about the monks working in the monasteries copying books.
4) What is your opinion of the films? How do they add depth to understanding of the readings and art concepts?
- I thought all the films were very interesting. My favorite one was of the Cairo Museum, I was shocked to learn that there were artifacts that people have found over 100 years ago that still have not been opened. I remember Professor V.S. Ramachandran being in an earlier video in the semester and I was intrigued in what he had to say, and watching him in one of the videos now I still am interested in his findings on the human brain and how it functions.
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