The Effects of Violence on Humanity

Is the human race heading to an obvious and imminent destruction?

What happened to the values of humanity? With the ethical corruption evident in each endeavor and humans undertakings, it is obvious that destruct will visit the earth. Greed seems to be the chorus of everyday life. Militarization of most of advancement in technology seems a priority for every other government. The basic ideology about living, the principles of empathy and the dreams of our fore fathers are being corrupted. Ideologies, foreign and selfish to the population are being propagated and made to look, feel and sound normal. There is a shift to the general thinking by the human mind. Individualism (self and group) is the way to go and there is a general shift towards the feeling of apathy to one another in the world.

Objectives of the process portfolio.

We aim to explain how throughout time, how humans have turned technology that was meant for their betterment and used it in their destruction.

We seek to dig deep and explore how violence has affected the general human kind and his development. We seek to delve deep into the evident effects violence has on humanity both in the context of their development both in line with their social and economic life.

We aim to depict human beings preoccupations such as power and the constant struggles to have control of it. We seek to answer the questions if the power struggles have played any advantage in the human race or has contributed to the misery of the human kind?

To provoke the thoughts and minds of the audience and make them realize the how these activities, which have been made to feel and look normal have a detrimental effect on the human kind.

We seek to explore the close human relationship with violence in the context of war.

We seek to draw back from time and ask provoking queries on the human preoccupations such as power and the crave for it has lead to detrimental effect on the general human condition.

We seek to draw references from different periods of time and from individuals who have lived through different war periods in order to understand how violence has affected their lifes, and progress in achieving the human goals.

We also seek to understand the perception of individuals who have had a direct relationship and encounter with violence (in this context war) was has on power and greed.

We seek to make a provoking and mind awakening feeling to the audience on how war and violence can affect everyone however far he/she is from the zone of conflict.

We seek to have the audience to develop the perception about how everyone is a stakeholder in the processes of war, violence, and conflict.

We aim to employ history as a great teacher in getting us learn about events of the past. History will also be a great indicator especially in the matters of human psychology and behavior as it will indicate how human kind has been behaving from the ancient times to the current times.(Le 2018) History will also help us compare the early happenings to the current happenings.

The use of Ai is brought into the whole context. This is tool shall take us back into time. It shall be used as a tool for research into what has lead humanity to engage in self-destruction. (Schechner 2017) This is after humanity is wiped off almost in its entirety from the face of the earth.

The Ai takes the role of the main character. What shall appear in set is completely designed by Ai tool. The Ai tool takes us back through history. This tool shall teach us of the different events and happenings through the past times. The tool shall be used to explore various outcomes violence (war) has had on the human race and to explain whether these outcomes had positive or negative effect on the general life of the human race.(Thomaidis and Macpherson 2015). The choice of artificial intelligence was advised by the fact that it goes to the levels beyond the human mind and as a learning tool it can be programmed to make or simulate events and draw conclusion just like the human mind.(Parker 2015)

Set 1.

The initial set draws from the history of the ancient Rome. The theme of the set is such that how violence was put to use in the kingdom of ancient Rome and how it (violence) took the position of a social wonder/spectacle. It takes the show of how violence was used as a source of entertainment. This is just a scope to indicate that how some acts such as violence were tolerated and made to seem normal.

Flow of the story

There are two gladiators for the set. The first gladiator will be fighting a friend and a partner who once saved his life. The costumes of the gladiators are such that one of them has a face covered in the helmet whereas the other has a face exposed. So one of the gladiators can clearly see and know the other gladiator, whereas the other has not a knowledge of the fellow gladiator.

Murmillo, the name of one of the gladiators takes hesitation for killing the other gladiator who he once saved. Resulting from the hesitation, Murmillo is killed by the fellow gladiator as he takes the advantage of his hesitation.

As is obvious for any set, much time went into creativity and brainstorming. Weeks passed and it did not feel like much was being achieved. The members of the set (we numbered six) had different backgrounds, knowledge, and expertise. It emerged complicated to come up with a common plan and agreement as the group could not agree owing to arguments experienced. As is the case, arguments do not arguer well with every other individual so the majority was left to have their way. The character that was assigned to me was that of the human who survived the apocalypse.

I subscribe to the idea that an actor must be left to explore different ideas. However, one of the greatest setbacks suffered was that the director for the set did not allow for exploration of ideas. The director took the whole role of control. He directed the set in that he dictated on every other aspect required for the writer. He directed on where the actor was required to stand, walk to, and these aspects of control hindered on my ability to explore my inner characters.

Other instances, that can be described as retrogressive for the set cropped up. We, for example, could not agree on ideas. Pointless arguments were common. Communication for the whole group was difficult. To cite an instance, one time when I had an idea of changing the costume for the set, this idea did not go down well with the director.

The whole team was disoriented. Sometimes the director took other persons’ roles. The idea of the director taking other people’s roles was according to me a good idea since the set was supposed to take the nature of collaboration. (Baugh 2014) It was supposed to be teamwork.

Taking the role of the costume designer, I wanted the set to look completely different. I wanted the set to take the look of the future. The set of the costume had to be out of this world, something unique and not seen before in any set. Something genius. The costume had to be completely imaginative and catchy. Something of a spectacle.

It was for the majority with their way and the majority with their say. Ballot for deciding on something that could not be agreed upon was conducted. (Emunah 2015)Voting took place to decide on such matters and issues. However, even as voting always had its outcomes, the group that lost to the result did not quite always agree to lose thereby bringing with itself another set of conflicts.

Character description.

The character takes the form of a girl from the future. The mother of the girl leaves her a note. In the note, it is stated that the government was in the undertaking of a secret project. The location for the undertaking of the project is a site that is located not far from where she lives. The message is based on a rumor that went round during the childhood days of the mother. In the note, it states that computer was the answer to all the curiosity the girl may possess. It was a complex character however easy it seemed, it involved a lot of research, and it took a lot of investment in effort in terms of rehearsals.

The character piece does not paint much background about the girl. It does not explain what she had been engaging or involving herself in before she stumbled on the computer.

The set piece does not explain how the girl accessed the computer. It does not explain if the girl went to the extent of killing someone to obtain the computer. It does not explain how long and tedious her journey to access the Ai in the computer was. The set piece also does not explain how different she is from the others as she is from the future. The set also does not explain how she stands out from the rest of the characters. The set does not explain all this to the audience. Keeping trail of the character for the audience is not also covered in the set piece as.

The Costume design.

The theme for the set is the future, so the costume is based on the specific period of/or time. To take as an example is the fact that the sniper will have his or her full gear on. Other characters in the set (navy and the gladiators) will also have their full combat gears on.

References

Le, A., 2018. The Language and Culture of Costume Design(Doctoral dissertation, UC San Diego).

Stutesman, D., 2018. Film Costume. Feminist Media Histories, 4(2), pp.84-89.

Schechner, R., 2017. Performance studies: An introduction. Routledge.

Thomaidis, K. and Macpherson, B. eds., 2015. Voice studies: Critical approaches to process, performance and experience. Routledge.

Emunah, R., 2015. Self-revelatory performance: A form of drama therapy and theatre. Drama Therapy Review, 1(1), pp.71-85.

Parker, W.A., 2015. Playbuilding: Devised Theatre in the Classroom.

Baugh, C., 2014. Theatre, performance and technology: the development and transformation of scenography. Palgrave Macmillan.