<p>For my AP masterpiece class, we have to select a novel, song, work of art, anything and prove to the class in a 15 minute presentation, that it is a masterpiece. Some people are trying to be funny, like using the TV show “Scrubs,” and others are going hard core by using movies like “A Beautiful mind.” I (stupidly) had a “I’M A SENIORRR!!” moment and chose the “Where’s waldo?” series. My major point is that it came out in the 1980s and flourished in the beginning of the 1990s, when the Baby boom was beginningto take it’s effect. I’m correlating it with individualism in that era, and the need to stand out amongst millions of faces.
I have no idea how to drag this out for 15 minutes, so does anybody have any suggestions of creative/interractive things I could do with the class to prove my point?
Thanks</p>
<p>I suggest that you create a 20’ X 20’ “Where’s Waldo?” puzzle as a “sample”. That should take 'em more than 15 minutes.</p>
<p>cool idea. i’m not that great of advice, but this somewhat reminds me of my concentration for ap studio art. i was exploring the idea of how people are easily able to recognize buildings in a city but not people. i thought about, when i’m in the city, i can stand/sit next to someone for 30 min without being able to recognize them an hour later.
have your class recall everyone they passed during passing period. see if there are a few similar people. analyze what makes those people stand out. discuss how in today’s society, people are programmed to look for a few characteristics (name brand clothes, quirky/out of the ordinary outfits, loud voices, laughter, charismatic personalities, etc), and if they don’t instantly spot them, they just dismiss the people. relate this to how people have a goal in mind of finding waldo when they pick up one of those books. everything else is just a distraction.</p>
<p>lol… award prizes. Also have a slideshow on the different scenes that waldo was in to depict the changing of times and of society. Give lots of examples like a wheres waldo from 1980 vs. a wheres waldo from 2004. You can definately use this topic and do tons of stuff with it.</p>
<p>Woww, thanks so much for the ideas, guys, it’s really helping.
On the awarding prizes thing, I’m definitely considering doing that because everytime we have one of these presentations, nobody speaks, and then once a group bribes the class with candy or donuts, everyone suddenly raises their hands.
Wuwei: I loveee that idea, do you think it would make sense if I asked everyone what use to look for waldo (like his clothing and stuff), and then give them a black and white copy of the same scene and see how difficult it is to find him then?</p>
<p>that’s an interesting idea, but don’t the publishers already try to distract people by including similarly-clad people? also, if you give them the same scene, they’ll already know where he is. they’ve already programmed it into their minds…which i guess you could relate to how it’s easier to spot the same thing (similarly dressed people etc) in different environments if you already know (are programmed) what to look for.</p>
<p>oh, and what’s ap masterpiece?</p>
<p>also, you can discuss how, b/c people are so focused on finding waldo, they miss all the other interesting characters. they seek something that may not be quite so interesting. i mean, sometimes, waldo is just STANDING there. doing nothing. just staring at you, waiting, like a predator. and then you have fat men in intertubes pracing down a mountain (maybe not quite). but what i’m saying is, discuss how we oftentimes seek the homogenous character just because that is what we are told to do. because out task is to find that “ideal” person and emulate them. so that we can be just like them. same big old american dream. our journey in pursuit of finding the unique makes us very unremarkable.</p>
<p>wow. never commented so much at once before. i really should get back to studying art history…or facebook.</p>
<p>Negin? lol</p>
<p>wow, you guys are way too introspective for my blood. </p>
<p>I just want to add that proving “Where’s Waldo” as a masterpiece was a truly excellent idea!!!</p>
<p>AP Masterpiece is my school’s way of saying AP Literature.
I thought that I’d score some points for choosing Waldo over “Life is Beautiful” but my teacher just gave me a weird look and said that she hoped I knew what I was getting myeslf into.<br>
On another note about what Wuwei said, Where’s waldo has some pretty crazy stuff in here. There’s woman getting her top ripped off by some guy, and this other lady being distracted by someone while a little kid steals her purse… oh and my personal favorite, 2 people about to get run over by a train.
And yes, this is Negin, this is Negin regretting not picking an obvious masterpiece and trying to be original.</p>
<p>That would be a cool point to concentrate on. Have a where’s Waldo with weird things happening, and ask people to find Waldo. When they find Waldo, take away the picture and ask them to list what else was happening in the picture. </p>
<p>May not work out though, since you seemingly saw the stuff when looking for Waldo.</p>