I took MLAN 360 Paris Through Art in my Spring Semester, Sophmore year, to fulfill the Global Citizenship/Aesthetic Perspectives requirement. I had had an interest in topics like history outside of school for some time before taking this class, and decided to take this class to learn more about the history of Paris through different forms of art. During the first part of the class, I found that I was struggling with the course material and the content in general, not entirely knowing how to evaluate the art and the feelings or meaning behind it. Because of this, there were some points where I would be unable to contribute to discussions or would be unable to correctly answer a question due to a lack of understanding. Luckily, this did lessen as I moved further through the class, and by the end I was even able to contribute new ideas in the class about certain art depictions, and even pointing out a different viewpoint for one movie we were looking at, something not even the professor had seen prior. While I did improve greatly in my ability to evaluate, there were still a couple of times where I messed up, but when this happened I tried to change the way I viewed the art and gain a better understanding on Paris and its history as a result. I am still struggling with this now, even after class has ended, but by using some of the knowledge I gained in class I try to apply it as I can to my situation around me and become more learned of the world around me.
Because this was a class on Paris, there were many assignments and art depictions we reviewed which were in French and had subtitles. I found that, while it was a struggle for me, it was interesting to see or hear the original meaning or emotion behind the art as it was intended. I feel that a lot of meaning is often lost to interpretation when translated outside its original language, but because we viewed them in their original format, we gained the emphasis and emotion which would have otherwise been lost, like for one assignment where we were to watch a Parisian movie, Samba, that contained different dictions. This was important for the movie as they are trying to pass as someone they are not, and this makes it more difficult because of the differing dictions, and this would not be portrayed or fully understood if translated.
Samba; 2015. A movie about a man, Samba, who has lost his legal documents to reside in Paris and was unable to reaquire them legally, and so has to go through different illegal means to stay in Paris.