“Everyone is born a genius, but the process of living
de-geniuses them.” – R. Buckminster Fuller
Although I never thought about choosing a career path based
on exposure to the arts, math, horrible teachers and the like, I now understand
Fullers’ quote. I agree that our path or
“process of living” shifts humans in either the humanities/arts or STEM
(science, technology, engineering or math) fields, but I would say that being “de-geniuses” is a good thing.
The process of living exposes us to different fields and interests, and as a result, we choose a path to
specialize in. Being a specialist/expert in one area is a better way in my
opinion to make an impact on society.
[Image 1: Comparative Advantage of Fruits]
Okay, Economics lesson is over.
When it comes to juxtaposing math, art and science, I
believe Professor Vesna stated it perfectly. Math is bridging art and science.
[Image 2: Exterior dimensions form a perfect golden rectangle]
When determining my minor, I chose Film that way
I can steer away from the math in Economics. However, I found myself
doing math in Film as well!
In our lecture this week, Professor Vesna goes over a few
concepts, one being perspective. When I think about perspective, my mind goes more towards building a creative viewpoint to create unique meaning for
individuals. Yet, artists, and film directors use math principles such as
vanishing point, planes, and manipulation of lines to create meaning for their
audience. Since I am a film minor and film is a form of art, I thought it would
be great to give you guys an example of art+math within my area of study.
Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining”
[Image 3: Hotel Hallway shot in "The Shining"]
[Image 4: Lines converging to a horizon revealing vanish point]
Math is truly everywhere and in this shot of “The Shining,”
the director chose to utilize “one-point perspective” thus leading our eyes to
a central vanishing point (where the lines converge). This technique,
although aesthetically appealing, also conveys a hypnotic and thrilling
sensation.
One may argue that the director did not use math and that
the lines all go to the center conveniently, but as Marc Stranz in “Vanishing
Points and Looking at Art” puts it, “if we view art from the wrong viewpoint,
it can appear distorted.” If so, viewers may not feel the sense of horror while
watching the film.
Lesson here is, embrace math. It may be the key in closing the gap between art + science.
WORKS CITED:
Clarke, Vincent.
"Directing Website Navigation with Stanley Kubrick." Design Matters.
N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Apr. 2015.
Conley, Gregory.
"WatercolorPainting.com." WatercolorPainting.com - Reference - Perspective
- One Point, Two Point, and Three Point Perspective. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Apr.
2015.
Frantz, Marc.
"Lesson 3: Vanishing Points and Looking at Art." (2000): 1-10. Web.
<http://www.cs.ucf.edu/courses/cap6938-02/refs/VanishingPoints.pdf>.
"Juxtaposition."
Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2015.
"Mathematics-pt1-ZeroPerspectiveGoldenMean.mov."
YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 11 Apr. 2015.
Mortimer, Roland.
"Comparative Advantage Example | ROM Economics." ROM Economics. N.p.,
31 Aug. 2013. Web. 12 Apr. 2015.
Jaime,
ReplyDeleteThis is a very insightful blog post and I really like the way you set out your premise in the beginning. I think you are right. It is very important for people to not choose their life paths based on one or two bad exposures. If that was the case, Albert Einstein, who failed mathematics, would have never become the great physicist he was. However, that is usually how it works: 1 bad teacher can be the difference between a math major and an art major or an art major and an engineering major. I greatly think our education system has failed us, in that it creates more gaps than it does to decrease these gaps that exist between different disciplines. I also do agree with you that being an expert in one probably is better from a utilitarian standpoint, in that it would give you the most utility to a society. However, it does not hurt to have expertise in more than one subject, so long as one subject does not detract from another. I really appreciate the examples you used in your post, especially the film examples because it is very easy to refer to. It is important to accept and embrace math because it truly is the link between the STEM fields and the art fields.
Hi Jaime,
ReplyDeleteI understand how your background as an economics major, especially your familiarity with comparative advantage, has led to you to perceive “de-geniusing” as a beneficial process. However, looking at the global economic market it is evident that comparative advantage has favored some countries, specifically the north, while having a detrimental effect on poorer, developing countries. I really enjoyed your example from “The Shining” and I found it really exemplifies the concept of vanishing point discussed in lecture this past week. This still shot of the film shows vanishing point being used in a different medium than discussed in class, which was limited to mainly paintings. Ultimately, I agree with your point that math may be the key to closing the gap between science and art, and it will be interesting to see how future styles of art may further incorporate math.
-Marissa Hernandez