video response

I selected the three videos out of the selection because I was interested in learning more about Greek culture and the arts, because I wanted to know more about the production of books and writing in monasteries, and because they were shorter compared to 50 or so minute videos. I videos I chose to watch besides More Human Than Human were, A World Inscribed, A Measure of All Things, and The Greek Awakening. Some key concepts I learned from the first video (More Human Than Human) were, no other image besides the human body dominates our lives so completely. All these images of the body, for whatever use and where ever they appear all share a sense of unrealism. In media and in art the images of the body seem to be unrealistic. Venus figurines in the early ages, were made to represent what mattered most on the body. Certain features were exaggerated more than others. There was a theory that the brain favors exaggeration of certain features more than others. The Egyptian society didn't want their style to change because they wanted to keep a consistency and order in their art. Grid systems were used to keep the order and precision. Images can reflect different aspects of our society, culture, and values.
A World Inscribed described Charlemagne, and how he wanted to learn to read and write. Not many people could read, so monasteries produced the most books. Monks carried handmade books constantly, and each book was copied by hand, and the spread of knowledge was very slow. Monks had the duty to preserve and deliver knowledge because they were literate, unlike others. Books were even thought of to be a pay-off for sin. Within 50 years of its invention, printing presses replaced scribes.
The Measure of All Things talked about and showed Greeks conveying emotion and powerful feelings through stone and sculpture. It discussed how Greeks were obsesses with the human body. Sculptors started a revolution by using realism, with the human body in 3-D. They depicted the soul and inner beauty through sculpture. In reality, all Greek stone and sculpture was painted in bright, vivid colors. Pottery was used to advertise everyday art. Because of the Greeks' obsession with the body, it has come to settle and influence our modern culture today.
The Greek Awakening talked about Greek literature living in our art, philosophy, and politics today. Greeks gave us our sense of history through these ways. They created a sense of thinking and doing. Figures were portrayed as realistic, rather than stylistic. The Greek vision that is told of as the awakening allowed influential sculptures and architecture of Western culture to emerge. The architecture in the video clip explains the relationship between the monuments in Greek times, to classical Greek identity.
The videos each relate to the text because they further emphasize the ideas and themes discussed in the reading. Most of the videos took off from details like the topic of Charlemagne, and went even further with them, describing more parts of history. They relate because they quickly went over the main topics learned in the text, while providing further examples, and imagery to support. I gained a further understanding of the topics because the videos went into further, more interesting detail, along with a lot more images. Not only was the topic of the Greeks' love and constant use of the human body discussed in the book, but many of the videos went over the exact same details as well. I didn't particularly like the videos, I found them very boring, and pretty much repeating the same things.