WEEK 9: Space and Art
Space has always been a fascinating topic in our culture. The United States took part in its first space explorations during the Cold War between 1947 and 1991. The space race, the competition between nations regarding achievements in the field of space exploration, took place between the United States and the Soviet Union. The public was excited about the new possibilities this era brought. Literature and film started to touch base on exploring the universe and discovering a new scientific field. American youth became exposed to technology, scientific innovation and space, through television shows like Lost in Space (1965-1968) The Jetsons (original series from 1962-1963) and novels such as Logan’s Run (1976).
Space has always been a fascinating subject for me. The discussion of distance and scale was interesting in this weeks discussion. Contrary to last weeks topic about particles being too small, this week we talk about a scale that is so large we can’t grasp it all. When discussing space we do not discuss it using “meters”, rather distance is measured in light years. In 1990 the Hubble Space Telescope was released giving the world real photographic perspectives of what might lie beyond our atmosphere. The telescope works by receiving uninterrupted light waves from the universe. Those light waves are then digitized and transferred into photographs. In the first photograph that was received planets, galaxies, stars, and nebulae could be seen. This photograph inspired awe in many people, artists started to create films, music, and art based on these images.
Some specific forms of art that really impacted our society was the creation of Star Wars and Star Trek. The demand for sci-fi films increased with the beginning of the Space Race. Star Trek came out in 1966 and is one of the biggest TV/film franchises to this day. Star wars as well have created multiple films starting in 1977 and have continued making them into 2019.
Vesna, Victoria, dir. “Space Part 3”. 2012. Youtube. 24 May 2016. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=xCvFdfjj404>
Vesna, Victoria, dir. “Space Part 1”. 2012. Youtube. 24 May 2016. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2O5C0Iv6ROo#>
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I thought your comparison between last week’s discussion of tiny particles and this week’s discussion of something so large we can’t quite grasp it was very interesting. I also think the Hubble Space Telescope was a good topic to discuss and explore how it brought images from space to our world. I think the success of sci-fi films shows just how captivating society thinks space is, and the endless discoveries it holds. Good work!
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Myna, I like that you talked about the size of space. I often forget that the size of space is unimaginably large and that it is expanding all of the time. Likewise, I sometimes forget science fiction novels and movies are not always accurate. I was surprised to discover that scientist have been taking ideas from these mediums for modern-day space exploration.
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