I notice that the Professor has been covering a lot of material based around the history of aviation. Such as the development of hot air balloons to "wingwalking" air circus stunts. To me this shows how human with technological ingenuity and bravery have conquered the skies. The dangerous endeavor of attempting to make a hot air balloon simply life off the ground with a high chance of the entire thing going up in flames. A little more then a century later people are walking on the wings of airplanes risking their lives for a quick buck. This is a testament to the bravery and the determination of the human race going to any lengths to survive. It's also an interesting note about aviation in the US; while the first flight was pioneered by the Wright brothers it was also the Wright brothers that held back the progression of aviation. After the First Flight was made they almost immediately secured a patent for all things "airplane" while other entrepreneurs wanted to improve on their idea the Wright brothers stubbornly denied all future aviation development in the US. Perhaps if these events did not occur aviation could have progressed a little sooner in US history.
History of aviation is very fascinating especially as you mentioned such as development of hot air balloons to “wingwalking” air circus stunts. It’s definitely takes courage to try some of the new technologies that have been invented. Thanks to Wright brothers, who started things of, we would not have such amazing improved airplanes and other right now.
While it is true that the Wright brothers attempted to dominate the aviation industry by threatening to sue anyone who incorporated any designs resembling their own, I feel like the Wright brothers inspired a movement, instead of holding aviation progression back. The Wright brothers set a standard for aviation and challenged others to attempt to surpass them. They started the race for aviation progression that inspired others, such as Sherman Fairchild and Norman Bel Geddes, to join.
I understand both opinions on the Wright brothers. On one hand, they were the ones who started the aviation movement, or at least are credited for doing so. On the other hand, however, they did not want other people to expand and work on their ideas. The Wright brothers may have started off the aviation movement, but maybe it is true that they held back the progression of aviation and planes.
I find it interesting that the professor has been discussing a lot on aerial views, aviation, and how popular it was with the public. This Tuesday,we discussed the topic of people doing crazy stunts on planes, and the obsession with planes. Later that day, I went to Wingstop, and to my surprise I saw that the walls and tables were decorated with movie posters and flyers that were all about planes and pilots! It reminded me of what we had just learned in class. This plane theme fits well with the name "Wingstop".
I definitely agree with the popularity of aviation and aerial views. I actually have a similar experience with restaurants and aviation. There is a restaurant called "Proud Bird" in LA that serves food, but also has a close view to the landing planes at LAX. In addition, they have model airplanes and structures all over the property. When I went, I loved looking at all the planes and reading about the different models. I definitely think it's pretty cool that aviation and flying is so popular that so many eateries are themed with it
In lecture Professor Kaplan discussed the Futurama Exhibit at the World’s Fair of 1939, which truly shows the unique obsession people had with aerial views and flying. I really enjoyed learning about the World’s Fair because of how large and extensive it was. I couldn’t help but draw a comparison to the Olympics. From the maps of the World’s Fair shown, the amount of land taken up, and the time it took for the fairgrounds to be built, the events are very similar. They require large sums of money to build the event infrastructure, and the cities chosen to host these two types of events go through a selective bidding process. In addition, hosting the event itself is an honor. But most importantly, both events are able to unite the world for a small period of time. For the Olympics, countries unite over the competition of top athletes, and based off the testimonies of the 1939 fair attendees, the fair brought the world together despite the state of chaos the countries might have been in, with a glimpse toward the future.
This is such an interesting comparison, and I agree with you. The Olympics seems to bring a healthy competitive spirit between nations, and especially with it being held in different places each time, people get a glimpse of many different cultures. In more recent years, I have also been noticing lots of aerial shots in cutaway segments, giving people a view of the scenery.
I also think that your comparison between the World's Fair and the Olympics is very interesting. I also saw a similarity between the World's Fair and the Super Bowl in was that you saw for the Olympics.
After reading and learning about how aerial photography progressed through time was very interesting. It took a lot of brave people, lives lost, and hope. It was also interesting to learn a new way that they came up from photographing from the balloon. One specific making was the panoramic photography. I have always loved anything panoramic. You could see so much looking at them, things you haven’t thought of that you notice by looking at panoramic view. It wasn’t easy to get to such advanced making. There were also a lot of non believers that many aeronauts and others had to go through.
I agree with this idea of panoramic photography and how the small things that don't catch your eye when you take the picture only appear after you look at the image again. Recently my friend took a panorama of a our apartment complex and by sheer coincidence, she caught me in the faint background walking home from class. Unknown to both of us, I was in the picture. With the use of the zoom button, we only realized I was in it after the picture was taken. It's kind of fascinating how such advancements in photographic instruments manages to even surprise the photographer at times. It's different than aerial photography because as neutral as it wants to be, it still somehow manages to reflect that subconscious point of view of the person who took the picture.
I think one interesting advancement to panoramic photography is the new Facebook (and other social media) feature "360 photo". In this, the user can look at an image as if they themselves are standing in the photographers shoes. I remember my fifty-five year old father showing me this for the first time, and how excited he was to see this new technology. I think that new aerial views (especially in photography) are being used and created every day.
Whenever I think of people being obsessed with aviation, and it's occurrence in media, I remember this movie called Kiki's Delivery Service. The main character is a young witch who uses a broomstick to fly and travel around. When she meets the main boy in the movie, she soon learns that he loves aircraft and flying, and is enamored by recent technologies that allow people to get into the air. The main conflict in the movie is all based around flying and aircraft when the witch, Kiki finds out she's not confident enough to use her powers, and when a zeppelin has an accident and is about to crash with many people on it. The movie even shows a lot of aerial views. I think it's interesting to see an homage to when such a fascination with aircraft happened.
I like how you related the aerial views to Kikis Delivery Service. When I was thinking about aerial views, I thought of the movie Star Wars. But when thinking about it again, I think of Godzilla or King Kong because of the different angles the movie shows. These two movies are very old, yet the aerial views were incorporated into the movies like how they were used when first invented.
In lecture we talked about how the point of view from an airborne passenger is different than being the pilot. J.B Jackson spoke of this "passenger experience" and how the view from the passenger's vantage point is different than when you're flying. This is probably because the pilot must only focus on what is in the front of the plane while flying. The passenger, on the other hand, can shift views, look behind, and glance up. I think the passenger has slightly more freedom when it comes to their aerial viewpoint. It got me thinking of how when I am driving long distances in my car and there's plenty of landscape surrounding me, I only focus on what's directly in front of me. Whereas if I'm sitting in the backseat, I take more time to look at the landscape and take it all in. It's interesting how these aspects of ground and aerial transportation sort of relate to one another in that way.
I totally agree. I had to drive down to LA this weekend and while all the passengers were looking at the mountains and landscape I was unable to shift my head like them. It is much nicer to be in the back looking around than the driver that just has to look at the road or the cars in front.
In Professor Kaplan’s lecture, and the reading about the World Fair in New York, I found many connections to the theme park, Epcot. Similarly to the 1939 New York World’s Fair, Epcot, a theme park in Orlando, has a display of culture circling the park and rides that relate to what the World Fair brought to its visitors in 1939. For example, Soarin’, a ride that allows visitors to have a giant bird eye’s view while being in a paragliding simulation. These people get a taste of what it is like to fly across California, just like how the World Fair brought in aspects of aviation. Epcot also has many features that show futuristic, now realistic, innovations. The Futurama exhibit showed ideas of the highway system and how cars should be designed; similarly, Epcot has a ride called Test Track that allows riders in cars that they design and lets them race against the riders next to them. It also has an exhibit called, Journey into imagination with Figment, which, in relation to the Futurama exhibit, shows “american exceptionalism through displays of innovation.” Epcot’s attractions have many links to what the 1939 New York World’s Fair and may have even based some of their ideas off of the popularity the Futurama exhibit had.
It's crazy how similar these things are. In Disneyland's California Adventure they also have the Soarin' ride and the area around it is aviation themed. It is interesting that aviation is still as prominent in our culture as it was almost a century ago.
While discussing and reading about the 1939 New York World Fair, I couldn't help but make parallels to many things today. Although my local county fairs are mostly carnival rides and fried food, I noticed a pattern with the timing of these World Fairs. I found it interesting that this particular fair was in between both World Wars, and right after The Great Depression. I think that historically, people invest time and money into new gadgets and inventions during historically difficult times to distract themselves from their lives or what is to come. This reminded me of the Space Race against Russia, a slightly superficial way to distract political discrepancies between the two nations. It also reminded me of the influx in Apple products during the 2008 Recession. This makes me wonder if we now are currently trying to distract ourselves from the current state of the union with some type of "technological advancement".
You bring up an interesting point about technology and public crisis, especially in relation to the 2008 recession in that technology really saw a push into the future. Everything seemed to improve overnight and I think it is because in times of panic and instability we invest in the idea of the future, whether that be something industrial like cars or planes or the next top of the line smartphone. This becomes relevant under Trump as we see the realization of flexible phones and self driving cars.
We talked about wing-walking in class last week, which reminded me of the Blue Angels. The Blue Angels is the United States Navy's flight demonstration squadron. They perform at airfields and over large cities during certain festivals. Just like how people loved watching wing-walkers, people today gather to see the Blue Angels perform their stunts. Even though the Blue Angels don't have people doing stunts, just the planes, it is still very similar to wing-walkers and shows that people still love watching aircraft perform crazy stunts in the air.
Our recent discussions about the development of aerial photography in relation to aviation has made me think about my own experiences with aerial photography and the rise and regulation of drones. I had the privilege to travel to France this past summer and visit the tallest building in Paris, which has an accessible roof for viewing the city. The view from the top of the building was spectacular and allowed for stunning photos of the sunset and the city, a view of Paris that simply does not match with the view one experiences on the ground. Tight winding streets are suddenly charming lanes home to beautiful buildings that no longer look dirty as the sunset bathes the city in pink light. While this description is very romantic and echoes the language we used to describe the sublime, the view also allows one to view the city under a different light in that Paris feels chaotic and unplanned on the ground, but almost rationally designed from an aerial view. Another topic that has come up in class recently is that of the evolution of aerial photography from planes to drones and the way in which regulations have changed. My neighbor used to fly their drone over our house but has recently stopped because of the increasing regulation on where and when they can be used. This parallels the evolution of regulation on aviation in that at first there simply weren't any and now flying requires a strict plan and schedule.
I have definitely had a similar reaction when getting to view a city from above! I used to live in Montreal and in downtown there is the Olympic Tower from the 1976 Olympics. I went up there once when I was 10, and it seemed to make the layout of the city more reasonable. From the ground, streets and buildings can seem very randomly placed but from above we can easily see how the architects were planning. Not only this, but it makes it feel so beautiful. Especially big and busy cities, getting to see them from a quiet place above is a very unique feeling. Seeing all the action and life happening on the ground while you are above it makes it seem almost fake. You feel very removed from it. I had never really thought about analyzing this view before, so the lectures and discussions in this class are a really interesting way for me to re-see these kinds of perspectives.
You really do see a different city from above! I think that often things look less chaotic and random with an aerial view. From the ground you see old and new buildings, the paint, content, and style of the buildings can vary a lot. Like walking through a neighborhood you can see some nice houses with well kept gardens and other houses with dead lawns and broken cars on blocks. From an aerial view many of these details are lost, but you still see the shapes of the roads and sidewalks, it's easier to see the city as a system from above.
It's also fascinating to see how the usage of drones is evolving and how they are being regulated. It's hard for me not to compare drones with previous innovations we are learning about.
These past couple lectures about aerial views I found pretty exciting. I usually enjoy looking at views from above because it can include the entire region, rather than just a smaller region if taking from ground. These pictures make me think about how much I want to travel the world. While scrolling through my instagram feed, all the aerial pictures show the view of nice a city. This has transformed a lot from the original use of aerial photos. From using photos for military purposes to advertising purposes, photography has changed drastically. Another topic I found interesting was wing walking. While watching the video in lecture, I noticed how far out the camera was to the wing walkers. Later on in the video, the view was a lot closer so we noticed the strings that tied the walkers down. This made me think of how other movies following the same pattern. One movie in particular, Star Wars: Force Awakens, does this in that movie. When showing the action parts, they focus more on the main characters while showing other characters in the background as well as the environment. I really enjoyed this because it was also a clue to what was going to happen later on in the movie.
In class on Thursday, Professor Kaplan gave a lecture on the World's Fair. The World's Fair is a large government sponsored event to promote tourism and industry. This event reminded me of the Super Bowl. It especially made me think of Super Bowl 50 and the events leading up to it. Super Bowl 50 was held at the Levi Stadium in Santa Clara, California, which is the city I live in and work for. Since I work for the City of Santa Clara, I was able to experience planning a program that was part of the "Countdown to Kick off". The entire city hosted programs that led to the Super Bowl but the event I was most involved in was the STEM Bowl at the city library. These programs throughout the city remind me of the different sections of the World's Fair because Santa Clara hosted events that matched categories similar to the ones at the World's Fair. The Countdown to Super Bowl 50 events also reminded me of the World's Fair because it attracted people from all over the country.
I agree, I thought it was interesting how the World's Fair was treated like the Super Bowl in its time. It seems like it was a huge thing considering how much work was put into it, and it attracted everybody in the United States. It seems like the thing you had to do and participate in, which is basically the Super Bowl in today's America, because you can't really get away with not participating in any aspect of the Super Bowl at all. The World's Fair also seemed very prestigious and appealed to the whole world as well.
The reading for tomorrow's lectured was focused on the history of curved screens in the past century. I found this extremely interesting because I actually had no idea that curved screens existed as far back as the early 1900s. As the article said, they are so uncommon these days, we mainly see them used for Imax movies. I didn't know that people almost a hundred years ago had the kind of technology to create a panoramic movie experience. I find it interesting how popular it was considering how not popular it is today. Besides Imax, I have never in my life been in a movie theater and seen a movie on a curved screen. I can imagine how distortion is a large problem for that. However as I was reading I also remembered that there are some curved TV's that have been in some ads the past few years. I've seen them when I go to stores such as Best Buy or Costco. I thought it was strange, especially since I've never been to someone's house who has that kind of TV. I think that right now flat screens are definitely more common, but I wonder if the curved screen will make a comeback. Regardless, I was extremely surprised to learn about curved screens in movie theaters in the 1900s, they are so nonexistent in popular culture today it is interesting to learn about how popular they used to be.
During the last lecture, Professor Kaplan lectured about the World's Fairs, which reminded me of an International Convention I attended when I was in Hong Kong over winter break. The World's Fairs included diverse zones for food, politics, community, communication & business, production & distribution, and transportation. Similar to these World's Fairs, which dated back to the late 1930s, the convention that I attended in Hong Kong had 3 floors or zones. One floor was for food, another for technology and automobiles, and the last for shopping. The technology and automobile floor had some of the newest car models and all kinds of electronic gadgets, such as mini, travel-sized hair straighteners and futuristic designed heaters and hairdryers. The food floor was quite the experience, showcasing foods of all types from mochi desserts, to kabob squid, and top ramen flavored potato chips. Professor Kaplan stressed how the World's Fairs and the Futurama exhibit created a sense of American exceptionalism for America and through these types of events, one is able to obtain a good sense of the culture of the country hosting the event. This feeling is very true. The convention was crowded with people itching to check out the latest products, leading them into a sense of future. As an American in Hong Kong, I was able to really experience the culture of Hong Kong. I was able to witness the technologies and consumer goods that the citizens of Hong Kong were fascinated with and the foods that I would view as exotic, they view as normal. Even though World's Fairs no longer exist to the extent that they used to during the late 1930s, conventions such as the one in Hong Kong provide a near representation of the World's Fairs.
sounds like an incredible experience! I would love to be a part of both conventions and compare and contrast the two. It seems that they both have the similarity of exploration, futuristic, and amazing inventions. I'm sure many parts of their food and cultural floor will be different, but it's interesting to think perhaps overall we're all pushing for the same goal.
I agree with you about how futurama created a sense of american exceptionalism. I think that many of the things we have been discussing in class also contributed to such idea. Aerial photography, panoramic pictures, etc. They all made Americans feel like they were above the rest of the world.
Media, entertainment, and exploration has been coupled together throughout human history. I enjoy learning these events that happened in the past and connect them to events that happen in our era. We learned in class how people would create films, amusement rides, and clothing based on aviation and flight. It became an icon.
Similarly, spaceflight today is like our generations hot air balloon. Movies, games, music, technology and culture are being inspired by and incorporate the idea of space travel. For example, according to Wikipedia, although film has been invented in the 1880s, films about leaving our earths atmosphere were not even thought of until the 1950s (very close to when the first man landed on the moon in the 1960s!). Since then, hundreds of films about space were created and continue to rise at an exponential rate as space travel becomes more and more realistic.
It's very fascinating how so much of our culture is based off our drive for exploration and aviation.
It's weird to think there was a time in history when getting into the air was a crazy discovery, or when space travel was unthinkable... now, living in a society where those actions are normalized, what is going to be our new discovery?
How come, no matter our age or period in life, the super power most chosen (if given the option) would be the ability to fly? Why are we so consumed by the thought of soaring through the air over everything left on earth? In class, we learned about the Futurama Exhibit in the American World Fair in 1939 in New York. The future, for anyone, is exciting. The act of developing new inventions and having more conveniences is crazy to conceptualize. I love reading about new inventions in science magazines so I really wish I could have been there for the Futurama Exhibit. Airmindedness escalated during this time period. Aside from strictly air crafts and aerial expansion the art side of the exhibit reminded me of my mom. She has never been a fan of art deco and styles similar to those. She likes old fashion beach style decor and distances herself from the 1920s visual design. Overall, I wish I could go to a World Fair and take in all the future inventions and assumptions of what time will look like later on down the road. Will something new, besides aerial travel, arise for generations to come?
Whenever I see wing walkers I always think of the twilight zone episode, Nightmare at 20,000 feet. In that episode, a man thinks he sees a gremlin walking on the wing of the plane and tampering with the engine. I remember watching this episode when I was little and thinking “that’s insane” and later finding out that people actually do stunts like that.
It’s fascinating to learn about the rapid development of aviation and the profound effect it had on people’s lives. It reminds me of the development of computers now. In Aloft with Balloon and Camera they tell how as soon as the technology is developed, people immediately try to find military applications for it. It’s sort of like various militaries ‘gobble up’ brilliant innovations and then use them as weapons although to me the idea of "military hot air balloons" just sounds hilarious. Airplanes have all but replaced hot air balloons, but thankfully the technology has not been forgotten, as hot air balloon rides look really fun.
It’s interesting that hot air balloons are making somewhat of a comeback now because of computers. Because of computers, balloons no longer have to be manned. Balloons can be controlled by a very light computer on a significantly smaller vessel, much more is capable with a much smaller balloon.
Google is working on an ambitious project called "Project Loon", it would use hot air balloons to carry computers that would host a network that enables people to access the internet all over the world. Google’s project Loon is not so loony after all, they have just made a major breakthrough with this project.
After reading about the Futurama exhibit at the 1939 World's Fair(and after hearing about it in lecture), I thought about how nearly every vision of the future society comes up with, excluding post-apocalyptic futures, has flying cars. I always wondered why we have included flying cars as a staple of visions of the future. After reading the about the Futurama exhibit, I realized one of the reasons we have this specific vision of flying cars so much. Futurama was about giving power to the audience. The audience were given the ability to feel superior to the world down below. They were able to see the workings of the society, as though they were the creators. Effectively, they could play God and act as a higher force. As the reader describes, the Futurama exhibit gave the audience the ability to play Superman. I think one of the reasons flying cars are a staple of visions of future is that air travel and ascendance announces superiority. As human beings, we are naturally stuck to the ground. Therefore, having the ability to rise above and effectively detach from the ground demonstrates a high command of the world and even physical laws. Having the high ground also naturally gives any creature an advantage over one that has the lower ground. Humans have sought to conquer the planet over history, and having the ability to fly routinely is an act of superiority and dominance over the environment and the world. It's interesting to understand the psychology behind visions of the future, in this case flying cars, since we've grown up dreaming about what the future would look like. I've realized after the lecture on Futurama, that human progress is basically a function of humans trying to conquer the world and be better than nature, to be super-human.
After Thursday's lecture, I noticed that people used to be very interested in aerial photography. It was a new thing that had everybody in awe, just like bird's eye views. Based on the things we have been discussing in lecture, it seems like we will always be shown what used to be the "next big thing". After watching the Movie "Salt" I saw the main character jumping off a plane, and I could connect it to the way in which people were doing all sorts of acrobats on planes in “Flying Down to Rio”. Aerial photography is present in many movies, like “Salt” and “Avatar” and it gives the viewer a better idea or what people are feeling from above. It helps them understand the actors point of view much better. Now I can also understand why people felt the way they did when they watched “Flying Down to Rio”. Aerial imaging allowed them to feel what the actors were experiencing.
I notice that the Professor has been covering a lot of material based around the history of aviation. Such as the development of hot air balloons to "wingwalking" air circus stunts. To me this shows how human with technological ingenuity and bravery have conquered the skies. The dangerous endeavor of attempting to make a hot air balloon simply life off the ground with a high chance of the entire thing going up in flames. A little more then a century later people are walking on the wings of airplanes risking their lives for a quick buck. This is a testament to the bravery and the determination of the human race going to any lengths to survive. It's also an interesting note about aviation in the US; while the first flight was pioneered by the Wright brothers it was also the Wright brothers that held back the progression of aviation. After the First Flight was made they almost immediately secured a patent for all things "airplane" while other entrepreneurs wanted to improve on their idea the Wright brothers stubbornly denied all future aviation development in the US. Perhaps if these events did not occur aviation could have progressed a little sooner in US history.
ReplyDelete
DeleteHistory of aviation is very fascinating especially as you mentioned such as development of hot air balloons to “wingwalking” air circus stunts. It’s definitely takes courage to try some of the new technologies that have been invented. Thanks to Wright brothers, who started things of, we would not have such amazing improved airplanes and other right now.
While it is true that the Wright brothers attempted to dominate the aviation industry by threatening to sue anyone who incorporated any designs resembling their own, I feel like the Wright brothers inspired a movement, instead of holding aviation progression back. The Wright brothers set a standard for aviation and challenged others to attempt to surpass them. They started the race for aviation progression that inspired others, such as Sherman Fairchild and Norman Bel Geddes, to join.
DeleteI understand both opinions on the Wright brothers. On one hand, they were the ones who started the aviation movement, or at least are credited for doing so. On the other hand, however, they did not want other people to expand and work on their ideas. The Wright brothers may have started off the aviation movement, but maybe it is true that they held back the progression of aviation and planes.
DeleteI find it interesting that the professor has been discussing a lot on aerial views, aviation, and how popular it was with the public. This Tuesday,we discussed the topic of people doing crazy stunts on planes, and the obsession with planes. Later that day, I went to Wingstop, and to my surprise I saw that the walls and tables were decorated with movie posters and flyers that were all about planes and pilots! It reminded me of what we had just learned in class. This plane theme fits well with the name "Wingstop".
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with the popularity of aviation and aerial views. I actually have a similar experience with restaurants and aviation. There is a restaurant called "Proud Bird" in LA that serves food, but also has a close view to the landing planes at LAX. In addition, they have model airplanes and structures all over the property. When I went, I loved looking at all the planes and reading about the different models. I definitely think it's pretty cool that aviation and flying is so popular that so many eateries are themed with it
DeleteIn lecture Professor Kaplan discussed the Futurama Exhibit at the World’s Fair of 1939, which truly shows the unique obsession people had with aerial views and flying. I really enjoyed learning about the World’s Fair because of how large and extensive it was. I couldn’t help but draw a comparison to the Olympics. From the maps of the World’s Fair shown, the amount of land taken up, and the time it took for the fairgrounds to be built, the events are very similar. They require large sums of money to build the event infrastructure, and the cities chosen to host these two types of events go through a selective bidding process. In addition, hosting the event itself is an honor. But most importantly, both events are able to unite the world for a small period of time. For the Olympics, countries unite over the competition of top athletes, and based off the testimonies of the 1939 fair attendees, the fair brought the world together despite the state of chaos the countries might have been in, with a glimpse toward the future.
ReplyDeleteThis is such an interesting comparison, and I agree with you. The Olympics seems to bring a healthy competitive spirit between nations, and especially with it being held in different places each time, people get a glimpse of many different cultures. In more recent years, I have also been noticing lots of aerial shots in cutaway segments, giving people a view of the scenery.
DeleteI also think that your comparison between the World's Fair and the Olympics is very interesting. I also saw a similarity between the World's Fair and the Super Bowl in was that you saw for the Olympics.
DeleteAfter reading and learning about how aerial photography progressed through time was very interesting. It took a lot of brave people, lives lost, and hope. It was also interesting to learn a new way that they came up from photographing from the balloon. One specific making was the panoramic photography. I have always loved anything panoramic. You could see so much looking at them, things you haven’t thought of that you notice by looking at panoramic view. It wasn’t easy to get to such advanced making. There were also a lot of non believers that many aeronauts and others had to go through.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this idea of panoramic photography and how the small things that don't catch your eye when you take the picture only appear after you look at the image again. Recently my friend took a panorama of a our apartment complex and by sheer coincidence, she caught me in the faint background walking home from class. Unknown to both of us, I was in the picture. With the use of the zoom button, we only realized I was in it after the picture was taken. It's kind of fascinating how such advancements in photographic instruments manages to even surprise the photographer at times. It's different than aerial photography because as neutral as it wants to be, it still somehow manages to reflect that subconscious point of view of the person who took the picture.
DeleteI think one interesting advancement to panoramic photography is the new Facebook (and other social media) feature "360 photo". In this, the user can look at an image as if they themselves are standing in the photographers shoes. I remember my fifty-five year old father showing me this for the first time, and how excited he was to see this new technology. I think that new aerial views (especially in photography) are being used and created every day.
DeleteWhenever I think of people being obsessed with aviation, and it's occurrence in media, I remember this movie called Kiki's Delivery Service. The main character is a young witch who uses a broomstick to fly and travel around. When she meets the main boy in the movie, she soon learns that he loves aircraft and flying, and is enamored by recent technologies that allow people to get into the air. The main conflict in the movie is all based around flying and aircraft when the witch, Kiki finds out she's not confident enough to use her powers, and when a zeppelin has an accident and is about to crash with many people on it. The movie even shows a lot of aerial views. I think it's interesting to see an homage to when such a fascination with aircraft happened.
ReplyDeleteI like how you related the aerial views to Kikis Delivery Service. When I was thinking about aerial views, I thought of the movie Star Wars. But when thinking about it again, I think of Godzilla or King Kong because of the different angles the movie shows. These two movies are very old, yet the aerial views were incorporated into the movies like how they were used when first invented.
DeleteIn lecture we talked about how the point of view from an airborne passenger is different than being the pilot. J.B Jackson spoke of this "passenger experience" and how the view from the passenger's vantage point is different than when you're flying. This is probably because the pilot must only focus on what is in the front of the plane while flying. The passenger, on the other hand, can shift views, look behind, and glance up. I think the passenger has slightly more freedom when it comes to their aerial viewpoint. It got me thinking of how when I am driving long distances in my car and there's plenty of landscape surrounding me, I only focus on what's directly in front of me. Whereas if I'm sitting in the backseat, I take more time to look at the landscape and take it all in. It's interesting how these aspects of ground and aerial transportation sort of relate to one another in that way.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree. I had to drive down to LA this weekend and while all the passengers were looking at the mountains and landscape I was unable to shift my head like them. It is much nicer to be in the back looking around than the driver that just has to look at the road or the cars in front.
DeleteIn Professor Kaplan’s lecture, and the reading about the World Fair in New York, I found many connections to the theme park, Epcot. Similarly to the 1939 New York World’s Fair, Epcot, a theme park in Orlando, has a display of culture circling the park and rides that relate to what the World Fair brought to its visitors in 1939. For example, Soarin’, a ride that allows visitors to have a giant bird eye’s view while being in a paragliding simulation. These people get a taste of what it is like to fly across California, just like how the World Fair brought in aspects of aviation. Epcot also has many features that show futuristic, now realistic, innovations. The Futurama exhibit showed ideas of the highway system and how cars should be designed; similarly, Epcot has a ride called Test Track that allows riders in cars that they design and lets them race against the riders next to them. It also has an exhibit called, Journey into imagination with Figment, which, in relation to the Futurama exhibit, shows “american exceptionalism through displays of innovation.” Epcot’s attractions have many links to what the 1939 New York World’s Fair and may have even based some of their ideas off of the popularity the Futurama exhibit had.
ReplyDeleteIt's crazy how similar these things are. In Disneyland's California Adventure they also have the Soarin' ride and the area around it is aviation themed. It is interesting that aviation is still as prominent in our culture as it was almost a century ago.
DeleteWhile discussing and reading about the 1939 New York World Fair, I couldn't help but make parallels to many things today. Although my local county fairs are mostly carnival rides and fried food, I noticed a pattern with the timing of these World Fairs. I found it interesting that this particular fair was in between both World Wars, and right after The Great Depression. I think that historically, people invest time and money into new gadgets and inventions during historically difficult times to distract themselves from their lives or what is to come. This reminded me of the Space Race against Russia, a slightly superficial way to distract political discrepancies between the two nations. It also reminded me of the influx in Apple products during the 2008 Recession. This makes me wonder if we now are currently trying to distract ourselves from the current state of the union with some type of "technological advancement".
ReplyDeleteYou bring up an interesting point about technology and public crisis, especially in relation to the 2008 recession in that technology really saw a push into the future. Everything seemed to improve overnight and I think it is because in times of panic and instability we invest in the idea of the future, whether that be something industrial like cars or planes or the next top of the line smartphone. This becomes relevant under Trump as we see the realization of flexible phones and self driving cars.
DeleteWe talked about wing-walking in class last week, which reminded me of the Blue Angels. The Blue Angels is the United States Navy's flight demonstration squadron. They perform at airfields and over large cities during certain festivals. Just like how people loved watching wing-walkers, people today gather to see the Blue Angels perform their stunts. Even though the Blue Angels don't have people doing stunts, just the planes, it is still very similar to wing-walkers and shows that people still love watching aircraft perform crazy stunts in the air.
ReplyDeleteOur recent discussions about the development of aerial photography in relation to aviation has made me think about my own experiences with aerial photography and the rise and regulation of drones. I had the privilege to travel to France this past summer and visit the tallest building in Paris, which has an accessible roof for viewing the city. The view from the top of the building was spectacular and allowed for stunning photos of the sunset and the city, a view of Paris that simply does not match with the view one experiences on the ground. Tight winding streets are suddenly charming lanes home to beautiful buildings that no longer look dirty as the sunset bathes the city in pink light. While this description is very romantic and echoes the language we used to describe the sublime, the view also allows one to view the city under a different light in that Paris feels chaotic and unplanned on the ground, but almost rationally designed from an aerial view. Another topic that has come up in class recently is that of the evolution of aerial photography from planes to drones and the way in which regulations have changed. My neighbor used to fly their drone over our house but has recently stopped because of the increasing regulation on where and when they can be used. This parallels the evolution of regulation on aviation in that at first there simply weren't any and now flying requires a strict plan and schedule.
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DeleteI have definitely had a similar reaction when getting to view a city from above! I used to live in Montreal and in downtown there is the Olympic Tower from the 1976 Olympics. I went up there once when I was 10, and it seemed to make the layout of the city more reasonable. From the ground, streets and buildings can seem very randomly placed but from above we can easily see how the architects were planning. Not only this, but it makes it feel so beautiful. Especially big and busy cities, getting to see them from a quiet place above is a very unique feeling. Seeing all the action and life happening on the ground while you are above it makes it seem almost fake. You feel very removed from it. I had never really thought about analyzing this view before, so the lectures and discussions in this class are a really interesting way for me to re-see these kinds of perspectives.
DeleteYou really do see a different city from above! I think that often things look less chaotic and random with an aerial view. From the ground you see old and new buildings, the paint, content, and style of the buildings can vary a lot. Like walking through a neighborhood you can see some nice houses with well kept gardens and other houses with dead lawns and broken cars on blocks. From an aerial view many of these details are lost, but you still see the shapes of the roads and sidewalks, it's easier to see the city as a system from above.
DeleteIt's also fascinating to see how the usage of drones is evolving and how they are being regulated. It's hard for me not to compare drones with previous innovations we are learning about.
These past couple lectures about aerial views I found pretty exciting. I usually enjoy looking at views from above because it can include the entire region, rather than just a smaller region if taking from ground. These pictures make me think about how much I want to travel the world. While scrolling through my instagram feed, all the aerial pictures show the view of nice a city. This has transformed a lot from the original use of aerial photos. From using photos for military purposes to advertising purposes, photography has changed drastically. Another topic I found interesting was wing walking. While watching the video in lecture, I noticed how far out the camera was to the wing walkers. Later on in the video, the view was a lot closer so we noticed the strings that tied the walkers down. This made me think of how other movies following the same pattern. One movie in particular, Star Wars: Force Awakens, does this in that movie. When showing the action parts, they focus more on the main characters while showing other characters in the background as well as the environment. I really enjoyed this because it was also a clue to what was going to happen later on in the movie.
ReplyDeleteIn class on Thursday, Professor Kaplan gave a lecture on the World's Fair. The World's Fair is a large government sponsored event to promote tourism and industry. This event reminded me of the Super Bowl. It especially made me think of Super Bowl 50 and the events leading up to it. Super Bowl 50 was held at the Levi Stadium in Santa Clara, California, which is the city I live in and work for. Since I work for the City of Santa Clara, I was able to experience planning a program that was part of the "Countdown to Kick off". The entire city hosted programs that led to the Super Bowl but the event I was most involved in was the STEM Bowl at the city library. These programs throughout the city remind me of the different sections of the World's Fair because Santa Clara hosted events that matched categories similar to the ones at the World's Fair. The Countdown to Super Bowl 50 events also reminded me of the World's Fair because it attracted people from all over the country.
ReplyDeleteI agree, I thought it was interesting how the World's Fair was treated like the Super Bowl in its time. It seems like it was a huge thing considering how much work was put into it, and it attracted everybody in the United States. It seems like the thing you had to do and participate in, which is basically the Super Bowl in today's America, because you can't really get away with not participating in any aspect of the Super Bowl at all. The World's Fair also seemed very prestigious and appealed to the whole world as well.
DeleteThe reading for tomorrow's lectured was focused on the history of curved screens in the past century. I found this extremely interesting because I actually had no idea that curved screens existed as far back as the early 1900s. As the article said, they are so uncommon these days, we mainly see them used for Imax movies. I didn't know that people almost a hundred years ago had the kind of technology to create a panoramic movie experience. I find it interesting how popular it was considering how not popular it is today. Besides Imax, I have never in my life been in a movie theater and seen a movie on a curved screen. I can imagine how distortion is a large problem for that. However as I was reading I also remembered that there are some curved TV's that have been in some ads the past few years. I've seen them when I go to stores such as Best Buy or Costco. I thought it was strange, especially since I've never been to someone's house who has that kind of TV. I think that right now flat screens are definitely more common, but I wonder if the curved screen will make a comeback. Regardless, I was extremely surprised to learn about curved screens in movie theaters in the 1900s, they are so nonexistent in popular culture today it is interesting to learn about how popular they used to be.
ReplyDeleteDuring the last lecture, Professor Kaplan lectured about the World's Fairs, which reminded me of an International Convention I attended when I was in Hong Kong over winter break. The World's Fairs included diverse zones for food, politics, community, communication & business, production & distribution, and transportation. Similar to these World's Fairs, which dated back to the late 1930s, the convention that I attended in Hong Kong had 3 floors or zones. One floor was for food, another for technology and automobiles, and the last for shopping. The technology and automobile floor had some of the newest car models and all kinds of electronic gadgets, such as mini, travel-sized hair straighteners and futuristic designed heaters and hairdryers. The food floor was quite the experience, showcasing foods of all types from mochi desserts, to kabob squid, and top ramen flavored potato chips. Professor Kaplan stressed how the World's Fairs and the Futurama exhibit created a sense of American exceptionalism for America and through these types of events, one is able to obtain a good sense of the culture of the country hosting the event. This feeling is very true. The convention was crowded with people itching to check out the latest products, leading them into a sense of future. As an American in Hong Kong, I was able to really experience the culture of Hong Kong. I was able to witness the technologies and consumer goods that the citizens of Hong Kong were fascinated with and the foods that I would view as exotic, they view as normal. Even though World's Fairs no longer exist to the extent that they used to during the late 1930s, conventions such as the one in Hong Kong provide a near representation of the World's Fairs.
ReplyDeletesounds like an incredible experience! I would love to be a part of both conventions and compare and contrast the two. It seems that they both have the similarity of exploration, futuristic, and amazing inventions. I'm sure many parts of their food and cultural floor will be different, but it's interesting to think perhaps overall we're all pushing for the same goal.
DeleteI agree with you about how futurama created a sense of american exceptionalism. I think that many of the things we have been discussing in class also contributed to such idea. Aerial photography, panoramic pictures, etc. They all made Americans feel like they were above the rest of the world.
DeleteMedia, entertainment, and exploration has been coupled together throughout human history. I enjoy learning these events that happened in the past and connect them to events that happen in our era. We learned in class how people would create films, amusement rides, and clothing based on aviation and flight. It became an icon.
ReplyDeleteSimilarly, spaceflight today is like our generations hot air balloon. Movies, games, music, technology and culture are being inspired by and incorporate the idea of space travel. For example, according to Wikipedia, although film has been invented in the 1880s, films about leaving our earths atmosphere were not even thought of until the 1950s (very close to when the first man landed on the moon in the 1960s!). Since then, hundreds of films about space were created and continue to rise at an exponential rate as space travel becomes more and more realistic.
It's very fascinating how so much of our culture is based off our drive for exploration and aviation.
It's weird to think there was a time in history when getting into the air was a crazy discovery, or when space travel was unthinkable... now, living in a society where those actions are normalized, what is going to be our new discovery?
DeleteHow come, no matter our age or period in life, the super power most chosen (if given the option) would be the ability to fly? Why are we so consumed by the thought of soaring through the air over everything left on earth? In class, we learned about the Futurama Exhibit in the American World Fair in 1939 in New York. The future, for anyone, is exciting. The act of developing new inventions and having more conveniences is crazy to conceptualize. I love reading about new inventions in science magazines so I really wish I could have been there for the Futurama Exhibit. Airmindedness escalated during this time period. Aside from strictly air crafts and aerial expansion the art side of the exhibit reminded me of my mom. She has never been a fan of art deco and styles similar to those. She likes old fashion beach style decor and distances herself from the 1920s visual design. Overall, I wish I could go to a World Fair and take in all the future inventions and assumptions of what time will look like later on down the road. Will something new, besides aerial travel, arise for generations to come?
ReplyDeleteWhenever I see wing walkers I always think of the twilight zone episode, Nightmare at 20,000 feet. In that episode, a man thinks he sees a gremlin walking on the wing of the plane and tampering with the engine. I remember watching this episode when I was little and thinking “that’s insane” and later finding out that people actually do stunts like that.
ReplyDeleteIt’s fascinating to learn about the rapid development of aviation and the profound effect it had on people’s lives. It reminds me of the development of computers now. In Aloft with Balloon and Camera they tell how as soon as the technology is developed, people immediately try to find military applications for it. It’s sort of like various militaries ‘gobble up’ brilliant innovations and then use them as weapons although to me the idea of "military hot air balloons" just sounds hilarious. Airplanes have all but replaced hot air balloons, but thankfully the technology has not been forgotten, as hot air balloon rides look really fun.
It’s interesting that hot air balloons are making somewhat of a comeback now because of computers. Because of computers, balloons no longer have to be manned. Balloons can be controlled by a very light computer on a significantly smaller vessel, much more is capable with a much smaller balloon.
Google is working on an ambitious project called "Project Loon", it would use hot air balloons to carry computers that would host a network that enables people to access the internet all over the world. Google’s project Loon is not so loony after all, they have just made a major breakthrough with this project.
After reading about the Futurama exhibit at the 1939 World's Fair(and after hearing about it in lecture), I thought about how nearly every vision of the future society comes up with, excluding post-apocalyptic futures, has flying cars. I always wondered why we have included flying cars as a staple of visions of the future. After reading the about the Futurama exhibit, I realized one of the reasons we have this specific vision of flying cars so much. Futurama was about giving power to the audience. The audience were given the ability to feel superior to the world down below. They were able to see the workings of the society, as though they were the creators. Effectively, they could play God and act as a higher force. As the reader describes, the Futurama exhibit gave the audience the ability to play Superman. I think one of the reasons flying cars are a staple of visions of future is that air travel and ascendance announces superiority. As human beings, we are naturally stuck to the ground. Therefore, having the ability to rise above and effectively detach from the ground demonstrates a high command of the world and even physical laws. Having the high ground also naturally gives any creature an advantage over one that has the lower ground. Humans have sought to conquer the planet over history, and having the ability to fly routinely is an act of superiority and dominance over the environment and the world. It's interesting to understand the psychology behind visions of the future, in this case flying cars, since we've grown up dreaming about what the future would look like. I've realized after the lecture on Futurama, that human progress is basically a function of humans trying to conquer the world and be better than nature, to be super-human.
ReplyDeleteAfter Thursday's lecture, I noticed that people used to be very interested in aerial photography. It was a new thing that had everybody in awe, just like bird's eye views. Based on the things we have been discussing in lecture, it seems like we will always be shown what used to be the "next big thing". After watching the Movie "Salt" I saw the main character jumping off a plane, and I could connect it to the way in which people were doing all sorts of acrobats on planes in “Flying Down to Rio”. Aerial photography is present in many movies, like “Salt” and “Avatar” and it gives the viewer a better idea or what people are feeling from above. It helps them understand the actors point of view much better. Now I can also understand why people felt the way they did when they watched “Flying Down to Rio”. Aerial imaging allowed them to feel what the actors were experiencing.
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