Blog 4 - Bridget

 

This week’s works came in a lot of different forms. “My Father Out to Sea” was really the only work that was solely words and it was interesting to compare to Coffin’s TED talk, where we are able to hear more of his tone and see his body language. I think that hearing and seeing his story going through customs with his mother was much more impactful seeing him in person. We were able to hear his impressionable pauses, giving more depth and intensity to the story. I think also seeing what he looks like helped me visualize the whole situation. The content of both works was interesting too. Watching the TED Talk which focused more on his mother first, reading the article after made me angry! After hearing about all that his mother has gone through to provide for his family as a single mother, it was infuriating to hear Coffin relate to the selfish decisions of his father. I guess his point by the end that his father is just as human as he is should make me feel sympathetic… I really enjoyed the medium of “Adventures in Depression”. I totally related to a lot of the things she included in her writing and her comics, but in a way that made me laugh. I think the medium worked really well in making light of something that a lot of people struggle with. We can feel understood in a way that makes us feel a little bit better, laughing at the way that depression can bring us down. Comparing Watsky’s video excerpt to his TED Talk was also interesting. I think his TED Talk showed the bare bones of his work, where we just got to hear his voice (obviously something very important for a spoken word poet). Combining his voice with visuals added a lot, because as he told the story the quickness of the shots added to the repetitiveness of his travels. Seeing the scenes he had written acted out made them funnier to me than I think they would be if he just told them like a story with no visuals. I think this medium definitely boosted the story in a cool way.