Department of English
Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University
Unit 4 Wakudoki Video Project Guidelines
In four groups of six students, you will develop a World Order-inspired performance that looks critically at one of the issues addressed in the four sections of Unit 4 using the Wakudoki song (1:46 min.) and record your message on video to be shown in class at the beginning of week 11, on Tuesday, October 21, 2014. Make sure that you include end credits (the names of your group members and their role or responsibility in the performance and making of the video) at the end of the clip.
Unit 4 Topics and Issues
Choose one of the following topics, and, in the World Order spirit of visual creativity, social commentary, and commitment to change for the better, develop the chosen issue for your 1:40-minute performance. Use your sense of humor, be incisive, and have fun!
4A: Fears and Phobias
We read about fears and phobias in this section. As you brainstorm ideas for your performance and discuss the topic with your group members, think about our human relationship with fear and phobia. Fear is certainly one of our oldest human instincts. What is it, what does it do to us, and how does it shape us? How do we adapt to it? In a way, you might consider fear and phobias a record or map of some of our most intense relationships with our environment—things around us, things we encounter in our and our ancestors' lives. What things are we afraid of? Why? Investigate some fears that seem justified or others that seem ridiculous. Explore the different ways people react to fear or things they fear. What aspect of our fears are puzzling, funny, meaningful, worrying, thought-provoking, or surprising? You can work your observations, ideas and information about fear into the performance.
4B: Bullying
In this section we listened to some accounts of bullying, and our classmates have discussed how words can inflict greater pain and do even deadlier damage than physical force. Look around you and in the contemporary world at the kinds of bullying that happens and what it means to us. Cyberbulling has emerged with the popularity of computers and internet use. Explore the various ways, predictable and unexpected, that bullying happens in our digital culture. Is Thai bullying the same as elsewhere? Does bullying occur in other provinces as well as in Bangkok? Discover as well the vast range of responses to bullying, from how an individual copes with or succumbs to it, to numerous powerful campaigns, support groups, resources in person and online, and documentaries (ex. Bully 2011) that have been created to inform and to persuade. Design how your performance can present some of these ideas and also what you as a group want to contribute to the issue of bullying.
4C: Land of the Brave
"Land of the Brave," a misquote of the US national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner," describes a country of courageous people though in reality America does not always live up to its ideals. What fresh look at the United States in the world and in Thailand now can you give? From the point of view of creative, thoughtful Thai teenagers learning about your place and part on our earth and beyond, how is America doing two hundred years after the proud words of Francis Scott Key have been penned? In what ways have you/we been influenced by this "land of the free and the home of the brave"? What is beautiful, ugly, troubling, sad, funny or absurd about US presence and actions that you see around you? In choreographing and filming your performance, think about how you can communicate your ideas about the United States visually in your group act using the video medium.
4D: Fascinating Snakes
To humans from ancient times to the present, snakes have been gods, enemies, food, poison, medicine and more. Notice that the snake is part of the emblem on the Ministry of Public Health seal. Giant snakes also lead the path up to the former school buildings in our own Faculty of Arts. Learn about snakes, watch documentaries about these animals like The Reptiles: Snakes from National Geographic's Nature series or The Beauty of Snakes from Animal Planet, delve into history and literature, observe culture at home and abroad, and see how the snake is and has been in stories, fables, design, children's games, songs, dance, martial arts, fashion—that is, a part of our lives. What Thai sayings involve snakes? Looking at how snakes have inspired human activity, what do you find fascinating, adorable, horrific, mundane, quirky, or hilarious? Put together a provocative performance to communicate your views and findings.
Last
updated October 15, 2014