English Presentation Dialogue
- Why did we choose this particular ambiguous image? (Love)
Aaron: I decided to come up with this notion of love because it is a simple yet complex concept to understand. Love has both negative and positive connotative meaning and association throughout time. It is a common feeling we all have experienced at one point or another in all of our lives. It is relatable and everybody has demonstrated an example of love through certain actions or gestures whether they realize it or not.
Weihan:
- Why is this ambiguity relevant?
Aaron: This ambiguity is relevant because we had just finished reading a play about Shakespeare’s understanding and criticism of love in Midsummer’s Night Dream and in his sonnets. While we only briefly discussed love broadly in class, I thought it would be a good idea to explore and dig deeper with this concept since most if not all literary works and readings we have evaluated have shown some instances of love. It remains relevant today, especially with movies and the media because of how love is perceived through the vision of the public.
Weihan:
- How was our attitudes affected by this ambiguity throughout our process?
Aaron: Throughout our process of researching love, I never realized how love is often mistaken for lust and it shows based off of Shakespeare’s work. I became more aware of many literary works seen today such as with many love stories from Disney movies that embody the same template Shakespeare used in his plays.
Weihan:
- Why did we decide on doing a Prezi format?
Aaron: We wanted to do a Prezi format because I realized that we could incorporate visuals and examples of love rather than explaining its meaning through words only. It was also one of the best creative and structured ways of organizing the work amongst ourselves since we were all too busy to do it together in one sitting. With this format, we were able to access the slides individually whenever any of us had free time to work on the Prezi on our own convenience.
Weihan:
- How did we develop this idea of exploring love?
Aaron: Well from the sonnets we reviewed in class, it gave me the idea to explore love because Shakespeare views love as this painful yet beautiful image and I wanted to challenge Shakespeare’s criticism of love by offering different versions of love that exists which does not have to be sensual. I think too often we view love as this desire for affection from a significant other, but love can come from the affection of family and friends, not necessarily from finding someone you have to find a certain attraction to.
Weihan:
- How did we divide the work between ourselves?
Aaron: So with the Prezi slideshow we created, since there were 6 slides in total, we each did 2 slides. I did the first two slides regarding the history and common symbols of love represented today. We each came up with additional research that we did that to allude to certain aspects of readings we examined in class and to certain aspects of how it connects with society.
Weihan:
- What was the most difficult aspect of this process?
Aaron: The most difficult aspect of this process for me was definitely the research because there was an overabundance of ideas, examples, and context of love that it became overwhelming to find which details were specific and relevant for what we wanted to demonstrate to the class. I remember I had to pinpoint and bookmark certain documents and ebooks that I found useful because I was afraid of losing the information that actually correlated with what we wanted to discuss in the slides.
Weihan: It’s more difficult for me to have a discussion for me since I am not a English native speaker.
- Did you guys learn anything from your research that contributed to today’s work?
Aaron: I learned how to distinguish the different types of love that we had felt throughout most of our lives. Since love can come in all shapes, size, and form, it mainly depends on the certain actions that individuals take on towards the people they value or hold dearest to them. Love can also be mysterious in that you never know who you will meet that you will find a certain attraction to and it can be dangerous because this feeling can be rejected by anyone which can be painfully expressed through the art of writing, drawing, dancing, etc.
Weihan:
- At the end of this process, do you guys recommend any advice for those confused with the notion of love and how it works?
Aaron: Take and accept love with a grain of salt. It is a powerful feeling that we have all experienced and it is a comforting feeling to know there are those who care about you and your well-being, but love can easily leave us feeling vulnerable because we will be susceptible to loss, grief, and pain associated with love. Love can even misguide us or lead us to do things we normally wouldn’t do for others or even ourselves. Just be careful with how you use and feel love and always remember to take a step back and be conscious of the person you are before and after experiencing what love is because it can change any one of us to be better or worse without even realizing its effects.
