Manifesto

By- 

Neha Shirkande

              Parinita Mahindrakar

Film Review

Assignment 6

Capitalism A Love Story

In this documentary my Michael Moore capitalism was the target. It was about the impact of corporate dominance on the everyday life of American people as well as transformation of world.

Capitalism is a system of taking and giving, mostly taking. After watching this film I will likely recall one of the boldest message that is capitalism is somehow evil. In this film they have shown how capitalism affects the normal people’s life.

Increase in the technology affecting the less use of man power which causes trouble for normal people and this is the main reason to increase the gap between a rich and a poor. Rich are becoming richer and poor are becoming as poorer as they are not able to satisfy the basic needs of their family. 

In this film this argument has been shown very provocatively that Capitalism is not good and it is amoral.

         

Have you seen the Arana?

The documentary ‘Have you seen the Arana?' by Sunanda Bhat was about the beliefs of tribal people of Wayanad. These people believe that their goddess has turned into the lizard Arana which is getting dissolved by the time. She used this belief as a metaphor to show how forests and their traditions are vanishing in this world of modernism.

In this documentary they have shown problems faced by these tribes and it has been shot by the people’s point of view that still follows the tradition and not really ready to accept the new growing world and their traditional believe.

She tried to capture complex issues around tradition, change, mythology, livelihood and environment as well as how the new generation is not ready to take the traditional legacy ahead. Why they don’t want to take this farming further? Why they are not willingly ready to welcome these transformation and development. Why farmers are committing suicides?

In this documentary they have captured beauty of Wayanad. To get the essence of their lifestyle they tried to capture every seasons in their life.

I feel that their life is so restrictive and mainly revolves around their customs. If they keep thinking in the same way they will never move ahead.   

Reference- http://dearcinema.com/article/have-you-seen-the-arana/2942        

Plagiarism vs Homage

Assignment 5

Plagiarism is stealing someone’s idea, use others work without crediting the source or taking credits for an idea which is derived from an existing source. It’s a form of cheating.

Homage is how what similar to plagiarism like using others ideas but the difference is ‘credits are given to the original one’. Even if the work is replicated or imitated by anyone’s work, the acknowledgement is mentioned. 

Emamples of Plagiarism-

1. Stephen Ambrose was an American author who got caught for plagiarism and inaccuracy in many of his published writings and other works. He was accused of lifting of lifting entire passages and sentences from other books.

http://www.politico.com/gallery/2014/07/10-high-profile-plagiarism-cases/001951-027794.html

2. Fareed Zakariya-

Journalist Fareed Zakariya was promptly suspended from Time Magazine and CNN for using a photograph from a New Yorker article for his writing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXehvhAXHPo

Emamples of Homage- 

1.Film adaptations are also an example of homage.

   Eg.  Maqbool by Vishal Bhardwaj is an adaptation of a famous Shakespeare's play Macbeth.

2.A fourth year student of Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology, Krishna Sheoni has made an animated film by taking iconic shots from Steven Spielberg’s movies to give a tribute and Steven Spielberg liked it and wrote him a letter with a good feedback. It is also an example of homage according me.

https://www.behance.net/gallery/STEVEN-SPIELBERG-An-Animated-Tribute/14364527

 

What I would like to Do

Assignment 4-

The questions given to us made me think about what I really want. As well as what kind of work I wish to work with. These were more about personal opinion oriented questions than logical aspect of looking towards any situation. There are no right and wrong answers for these questions but it was about what I personally feel about it.

For most of the question my initial answers and final ones was the same. But for some questions it changed after discussing them among us and looking at it by others point of view. Initially I was looking at it as a designer’s point of view rather than consumers. But I thought about it by the other way round my opinions were different. Like for some questions I thought if I am getting an opportunity to do it then why not? Or someone else will do it, so might just do it. Unless as a designer if I am concern about my social aspect that, ‘it should be harmful for people I don’t mind doing it. But if it is affecting people or environment I won’t even support that. According to my principles of working as a designer I would always like to work where I will feel satisfied and comfortable. So I would never design something where I feel it’s wrong. 

The issues like woman’s rights, environment, workers’ rights, equal opportunities for education and poverty are close to my heart and I would like to fight for it and as a designer I will keep these in my mind. 

I would like to work on self-directed side projects as well as on social issues. If I want to change anything first I have to start by changing myself then only I shall work for it. I want to work on a social issue- Save Environment and for that I would like to make posters and signboards. For the same issue in foundation I have created a huge installation which shows how human beings are converting the nature into the garbage bin. I would like to take this idea further and make some illustrations or installation.  

As well as I would also like to work on social issues of woman abuse. Since I was a child I have heard of so many things about women abuse and have seen it around me. Many times I wonder about it so much that why woman? So I would like to make illustrations and posters for it. 

*Terms and Conditions applied.

Assignment 3-

Scenario 1

Geeta gets a discount coupon for a store. So she goes to that store and picks out some clothes for her seven year old niece.

(At the billings counter)

Geeta:

Excuse me; I wanted to ask you if you accept this coupon?

Manager:

Yes ma’am, we do. But it’s only applicable on minimum purchase of Rr.500.

Geeta:

Ok. So I want to use this coupon. Could you please make the bill?

Manager:

Yes ma’am. Sure. Give me a minute.

(She is waiting patiently while he makes the bill)

Here it is. Your bill is Rs. 800. Are you paying by cash or card?

Geeta:

I will pay by cash.

(She gives him the money.)

Manager:

Thank You Ma’am! Here is your bill. Visit Again.

(She takes the bill and leaves. The dress is not the right size and it’s too small for her niece. So the next day she comes back to the shop)  

Manager:

Hello Ma’am how can help you?

Geeta:

I need to get this dress changed as it’s small for my niece.

Manager:

Can I see your bill please?

(Geeta hands shows the bill to the manager)

Sorry ma’am we have a no exchange policy on clothes bought with the coupons.

Geeta:

What!  You are telling me now! You should have told this to me before. This is not right.

Manager:

I am really sorry ma’am, but now we can’t help it.

(Geeta gets furious and leaves the store.)

Scenario 2

Geeta gets a discount coupon for a store. So she goes to that store and picks out some clothes for her seven year old niece.

(At the billings counter)

Geeta:

Excuse me; I wanted to ask you if you accept this coupon?

Manager:

Yes ma’am, we do. But it’s only applicable on minimum purchase of Rr.500.

Geeta:

Ok. So I want to use this coupon. Could you please make the bill?

Manager:

Yes ma’am. Sure. Give me a minute.

(She is waiting patiently while he makes the bill)

Here it is. Your bill is Rs. 800. But mam I would like to inform you that, if you are using this coupon you can’t exchange the dress because we have no exchange policy for the coupons.

Geeta:

If that the case then can you keep this dress aside. I am not sure about my niece’s size. So its better that I get her here tomorrow so she can try it out before I buy it.

Manager:

Sure ma’am.  Thank you. Visit again.

(Next day she gets her niece and buys that dress after the trial so she doesn’t have to get it

changed.)

Role of Empathy

Assignment 2-

Empathy is the quality of experiencing the feelings, thoughts and experiences of others as embodying another person’s state of being. It means to try and find a solution of a problem by putting ourselves into the troubled person shoes. Until the problem doesn’t seep into us we can never really solve the problem. Like as a designer when I am creating a floor mat for kids, my first and the last design vary a lot because in the starting I am only thinking about it from a designer’s point of view. But when I observe the kids and try to understand them well, then the design improves and it becomes better than the first

But sometimes it may be about not embodying empathy. Its good if a designer embodies empathy and makes his designs accordingly but it’s not always possible because many a times the products are made to give an aesthetic appeal rather than for any productive use.

Earle Dickson invented band aid in 1920 for his wife Josephine Dickson, who frequently cut and burned herself while cooking.so it’s a nice example of embodies empathy.

Empathy involves awareness and understanding of others’ feelings as opposed to one’s own. But not all the time it’s same. Sometimes he might create something for himself which might or might not be useful for others or is aesthetically appealing but not useful at all which is like anti altruism.

Because when you do something for yourself or for someone we always get something back as a reward which can be anything but always self-satisfaction. So I think there is nothing as selfless exists. Because when we give away something that we don’t want, at first place it may not be selfish but may not be selfless either. When we walk on the road we see many beggars, and we feel sad so we do something for them. Donating something is selfless but we are getting self-satisfaction out of that so it’s again selfish only. At the end unconsciously everybody is selfish.

Every kind of designer is empathetic at the end. Empathy plays a very important role in everything. So it’s not only architect or graphic designer but any designer. Everyone solves their problem; find their ways by its own. So for every designer empathy plays an important role.    

Sefl Oriented Creation

Power Point Presentation- Self Oriented Creations

Assignment 1

As we saw in the presentation, self-oriented creation means an individual performing an action which is at a cost to them. In short creation which is created to satisfy our own desire or to achieve goals. Many of these creations are mostly problem solving solutions. The part of distribution or thinking about others whether it is useful to others or not, comes next. So at the end it’s for self-satisfaction.

It is pure creation of a single mind which may or may not fulfil other’s needs, but yours. To invent anything first we have to be self-satisfied with own design and without fulfilling our own need we can’t invent anything. It means self-oriented creation is the backbone of the world.