This documentary--a visual fieldworking project--gets me every time! And, it's a great example of a well-rounded field study. Drawing from your notes and from your memory of the film from Friday's class, write to us this week in response to these questions:
1. What made this study of a senior citizens chorus so effective for you, the viewer and "reader?"
2. What kinds of things did the filmmaker/researcher/writer do to make the presentation of this subculture so engaging?
3. How did it help you envision your own fieldstudy of a subculture and place?
4. What questions did this study bring up for you regarding your own work in this class this semester?
Please post a paragraph of at least 350 words this weekend. You should post by Sunday night at midnight. Thank you! I look forward to reading what you write.
I thought this video was very interesting. It brought to light a new way of thinking of senior citizens. In the movie they were all very funny and outgoing. The all seemed to be willing to talk to Stephen about their choir. I noticed that they all seemed to be in a tight knit community. When Bob and Joe pass the entire community of singers is heartbroken. But they push on and they all agree that the show must go on because that is what the others would have wanted. They are very passionate about the choir. Going to the rehearsals is like the highlight of their weeks. The love to sing together. You can tell from the energy and the strength that they put into their rehearsals that this means more than them than the audience can even begin to understand. They are a very passionate group of people that have a lot of faith and courage as well as ambition and drive. It takes a lot for them all to get up and go to rehearsals and then to perform in front of tons of people. Especially since they are all very old. My favorite character is probably Fred Knittle. He shows a lot of courage to come back to the choir after his health has been declining. Later in the video it is learned that after his heart attack he was given only two more years to live and at the time his two years was up four months ago, but yet he still got up and went to that show and sang with everyone else. Even after his partner Bob had passed, he still told everyone that he was going to do the entire song by himself because that is what Bob would have wanted. He is a very strong passionate man. I like how the researcher, Stephen, showed the emotions of the people and their lives outside of the choir. It made the move more real and it touched the audience when he showed the choirs emotions.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely adored this documentary, my mother has worked with senior citizens/elderly since I can remember and every time I go to her job they all say lovely comments and seem very nice and not many people know that. A lot of the time people assume they are mopey, depressive or angry. Seeing these elderly people in a choir singing all different genres of music made me realize just how alive they can be. I think the filmmaker did a good job to make this documentary engaging, he did it in a way that you felt as if you were the ones actually talking to them, he interviewed them in their living spaces which helped make you feel as if you knew them and the way he transitioned into the next scene. I also loved the car scenes, within those scenes you saw three seniors hanging out talking and it made you realize that they even have little cliques and groups of friends, something you'd see teenagers do or even my age group doing. Going into doing my field study I thought it'd be boring and I felt unenthusiastic but after watching this documentary on Young at Heart it made me realize how much more exciting you can make it.
ReplyDeleteWatching this video on Stephen’s field site really impacted me. Prior to watching this video, I always viewed senior citizens as old, smelly, mean, people who generally hate life, and many more things. I barely see old people that are happy and have smiles on their faces. After watching Stephen’s video, I really do see another side to elder people - I love them now. I liked how he didn’t go to a nursing home to study senior citizens; yet he found a choir group of them who absolutely loved to sing. They formed a community and always looked forward to going to practice and their events. I think they just generally liked each other’s company as well and looked forward to seeing each other. He studied them outside of the choir too to make it more personal. He made you feel like you were there. He also didn't talk for hours at a time, yet he inserted short clips of them actually singing and of what they had to say. He made sure he included everyone and their “story” as well which made it all the more better. In addition, he really made you feel emotionally involved with the “Young at Heart” choir when you felt the heartache that everyone else felt. After the passing of Bob S. and Joe, I actually wanted to cry. It broke my heart. It’s such a sad thing to happen and you could tell by everyone else’s reactions that they were extremely devastated. Yet, they’re much stronger than they look (the elder people) because although this terrible event occurred in their lives, they still pulled through and carried on in their events and did a fantastic job singing at the jail. By watching this video, I learned that I can bring new perspectives to others eyes on studying the costumers. Some people may have certain stereotypes on college students (specifically from Bryant University) as well as the older people. I hope by putting countless time and effort into this field study that I can show people new things about people that they wouldn't have known before.
ReplyDeleteThis field study was effective to me because it is almost as if the field site wasn’t a place but more on the people. I noticed that all the people in this film were very proud and extremely passionate about what they do. They also share great care for one another and even though they are all close to death they act like they have so much life left in them, which is what is most effective for me. The viewer probably found the deaths of the senior citizen choir members very effective along with the reader because of how sad and emotional the other choir members felt after they heard the news. The researchers had many interviews with the choir members and also the choir instructor. The interviews kept the audience engaged in my opinion because it gave more insight on the group and help the viewer or reader feel more apart to the senior citizen choir group. The researcher also interviewed some the choir members in their car or even at their houses. I also stayed engaged on the sole fact that the group is so full of life and eager to learn new things and also the compassion they shared for one another. Obviously my field study isn’t going to be as engaging as this one but it helped me envision my field study of my subculture to be more engaging like I should go the extra mile to make my field study and subculture that much more engaging. I also envision my field study to be a place where everyone can relate to why they are there at that field site. I also now envision my field study as a more united group of people like a team. The questions that this study brought up about my study is what is relation to the people that they are working out with? I would also like to know their passion and why they love what they do just like how the senior citizen chorus members share a passion about singing and they can also relate to each other.
ReplyDeleteThis study brought a new perspective on senior citizens in my eyes. The study showed me that these people have all different life stories can come together at this age and show such passion in the chorus. Even the members that were ill still wanted to put there all into this group. The study truly showed an emotional side to me as a reader. The researcher Stephen did a great job of putting this field study together. He made it all about the people, and it seemed very real and not forced. I loved how he went to the homes of people in the chorus and got a better look at their life story and why they like performing in the chorus. It made me laugh when he talked to Eileen who was the 92 year old women in the nursing home. She was able to show her sense of humor and I loved how the nursing home gave her special privileges for being in the chorus. I thought it was so adorable watching Eileen, Joe, and Lenny (the three amigos) all car pool back and forth from practices. Also, Stephen did a respectable job when showing the emotional aspects of losing members of the chorus. I could not help but tear up when the chorus sand Forever Young in dedication of Bob, and when Fred sang the duet by himself at the end of the documentary. I also felt the emotional aspect when Joe passed away and they sang Nothing Compares to You. This study helped me get a better idea of how I should go about asking questions for my field site. I liked how Stephen made the conversations very casual and not forceful. I know that I should be confident and comfortable when interviewing some of the people at my field site. Furthermore, with my field site I hope to find out the owners passion about being a fourth generation owner of the dairy farm.
ReplyDeleteI really liked this study because it shows a world that no one would have thought about or even bothered to find out about. I work in a place where I encounter elderly people all the time and have to interact with them. This caused me to believe that most of them are unhappy and don’t really want to be around people. The study shows that you cannot judge anyone, including old people, without talking to them or learning about their life and experiences. The researcher made the presentation of the subculture so engaging by making it not just about the chorus and them singing, but we also got to know the people in the group which made it more personable. The way that they filmed each person so that the viewer was able to learn about their lives outside of the chorus and their previous experiences and what they were experiencing at that time really had an impact on me. This study helped me envision how I want to represent my subculture and the place I find them at. It made me think about how everyone in my fieldsite will have their own experiences with fishing and the place. Also, it made me think about the different stories I will hear and learn about and the way the changes in the fish populations has affected their recreational fun, but also how it has affected people’s jobs. This study made me think of many questions regarding my study and the work I will be doing. It made me question the people I will interview because it made me realize I want different views and not just the same thing repeated a million times. Also, it made me consider whether I want to find out who is out on the bay for recreational fun or for their job. I now feel like if I only interview people who fish for fun and don’t understand that the changes that are happening with fish can affect someone’s life then my study won’t be as well rounded. Now I am going to find people who both fish for fun, but also understand that these changes are affecting someone’s life and family.
ReplyDeleteThis study was very interesting and engaging to me. I think that fact alone shows why this was a very well-constructed and expressed study. Since I am young I do not have very much in common with the young @ heart chorus and I was still touched by the study. I felt like I knew them and I was a member by the end of the movie. The things that made the study so effective were the fact that it was very personal. We got the chance to be a part of the groups lives leading up to the show. This allowed us to build a connection with them. Also what made it effective was that it was a relatively unknown and very interesting topic. Who wouldn’t be interested in senior citizens singing modern songs? This helped me realize how in depth my study should be. I need to put the people that are reading about my study in Pawtucket House. They should feel like they are sitting in a booth smelling all the food. This documentary also helped me realize that the readers of my study need to be connected in some way. The connection with what I bring forward is key to a successful and well-constructed study. I did not really come up with many questions from this film. I guess the main question I would ask after thinking long and hard would be how I can make my study even better than this one. The documentary had some of my classmates, including myself, fighting back tears at some parts. What can I do to make my study as connectable, interesting, and great as the study that was conducted in the documentary?
ReplyDeletePersonally, I highly enjoyed the movie documentary Young at Heart and would definitely recommend it to others. I loved how the elderly people in the choir had a great sense of humor and were very good at singing even at such an old age. I thought it was amazing that some of them were so passionate about singing that even on their death bed all they wanted to do was perform, which I find very touching. My favorite choir member in particular was Eileen, the 92 year old woman who was very humorous and loved to sing more than anything. I thought it was hilarious when she was given solos because not only is she one of the oldest members, but hearing her little old lady voice sing 80's punk rock music such as "Should I Stay or Should I Go" was just the cutest and funniest thing I had ever seen. I think that this study of a senior citizens chorus was so effective to me as the viewer and "reader" because it reminded me of my grandmother who also LOVES singing and is in her 70's. The kinds of things that the filmmaker/researcher/writer did to make the presentation of this subculture so engaging is that one the choir was elderly people 70 and older, two the song choices were 80's punk rock, three the members of the choir all had an awesome sense of humor, and four the way the members performed the songs to make music videos was hilarious. This movie helped me envision my own field study of a subculture and place because it helped me understand that you can't judge people's personality and background by their age or looks and that I am able to dig deeper into the details of the subcultures I see at my field site. Some questions that this study brought up for me regarding my own work in this class this semester is what kind of stereotypes do I hold at the moment, and how can I improve my research. One thing I forgot to mention is that I loved this movie so much that when I went home this past weekend I told my mom, dad, aunt, and uncle all about it and recommended they see it. ;-)
ReplyDeleteYoung at Heart was such an engaging field study to watch! I think this is so because it was such an interactive video. The film maker was able to put us right in the room and let us get to know the senior citizens on a one on one basis. He really took into consideration the viewers point of view and was able to use different screen shots and locations to hook us and give us an inside view of their every day lives. We got to understand and learn who the citizens were inside and out of the chorus. I like how the film maker showed us a different perspective that countered my pre-conceived notions of who senior citizens are and what they are about. He helped me open my eyes and wonder about my own project, about what I can reveal about my field site and its subculture. I think it was easy for the film maker to project his vision of the story he was trying to tell because it was a video. It just worries me a little because a video is very different from a paper. But in all, now even more than ever I am determined to open up others eyes on my topic and the ideas people already have surrounding it, like how the film maker opened mine.
ReplyDeleteOverall, this documentary was very touching and interesting. I think the way the Young @ Heart chorus was presented was the key to success in this documentary. Viewers got to know some of the individuals, and we either got a good laugh or some watery eyes. I loved how the filmmaker highlighted the determination of these people, such as Fred and Bob Salvini, who even though were very sick, still tried their best to make it to every rehearsal. When Bob passed away, the whole group agreed to move on and keep singing in memory of him. The tone of this documentary was very optimistic, and I think in a lot of people’s views on senior citizens, they wouldn’t think of them as being optimistic. I believe the way this film was presented is a good strategy to follow in terms of my own fieldstudy. Senior Citizens are overlooked, and so are people with mental disabilities. I want my reader to understand and have some sort of things in common with my subculture, to view them as they view themselves. The only questions I have however, is how I can use my words and interpretation to achieve this. I am not videotaping, and some people relate better when there is a visual aid. Also, most families have an older person they know, but not every family knows someone with intellectual disabilities. It is definitely going to be more difficult to get people to understand them especially when they have no experience with them.
ReplyDeleteYou folks are so smart! And, I'm so pleased that so many of you were touched by Young @ Heart. I've seen that film eight times, and it still gets me every single time. You loved the characters, and you loved the story, and most of you (above) pointed out very observant and precise "moves" that the storyteller (filmmaker) took in helping us to "get inside" this unfamiliar subculture. I've cut and pasted your words from your posts here, and I've created a handout that I'll distribute in class tomorrow, one that highlights all the smart connections you made between Young @ Heart (a film) and your Local Inquiry Project (a paper). Storytellers and folks who research people need all the same tools, whether we are writers or filmmakers: we need a setting, we need interesting characters, we need some tension (death! failing health! not learning lyrics!) and we need a goal to achieve (a concert for the public!). When we have all these ingredients, and we communicate them effectively to our readers, a story...with emotion, with connection, with passion...is born! Thank you for your thoughtful comments about the film. We will talk more about it tomorrow in class. See you then!
ReplyDeleteI found this field study to be charming, adorable, and eye opening. The elderly are constantly looked down upon in our society and it’s extremely upsetting. This documentary showed that not all senior citizens are “cranky old people that are horrible drivers”. Stephen discovered a charming group of senior citizens are cheerful, full of life, and motivated to fulfill a goal that has no purpose other than making themselves and others smile. The field study was on a group- a community unlike any other- that defies many stereotypes and preconceptions that exist in society. The whole production team of this documentary made the story engaging by not only showing us what this subculture is, but also by telling individual stories, making us feel like we were there and welcomed into their community. My goal with my field site, much like this, is to shine a light on what isn’t as well known or discovered, rather than just pointing out the obvious things, or proving preconceptions. Also, I want to portray passion in my field study. Originally, I was just going to interview employees on what it’s like to work there/how they got their jobs, etc. Now, I’m more interested to hear WHY they love their job, what makes them so passionate about what they do. Also, I’d like to maybe hear from the people who visit there on a regular basis and find out what about the aquarium makes them so happy; why they love it so much. There are so many wonderful stories that the world may never hear if people aren’t given an opportunity to share them.
ReplyDeleteWhen I began to watch this film I didn’t know what to expect. I knew that some older people can be rather difficult to get along with but I also knew that some could be rather entertaining and fun to be around. This film allowed me to see much more of the happy entertaining side of the elderly. The dedication that this group displayed regarding their practicing was amazing, during all of the various heath problems and other struggles they still just wanted to sing. I enjoyed how the film didn’t just focus on the singing aspect of the chorus it also dove into many members personal lives as well. Many of the member’s backgrounds surprised me. It’s funny to hear a little bit about what and older persons life was like when they were younger. To find out that the little sweet old lady was some type of exotic dancer in her younger days was comical but also gave me a better sense that they lived their lives too and just aren’t miserable old people. The emotional response that my self and my classmates felt towards Bob and Joe’s passing demonstrated how well the film was made and how there was somewhat of a connection to these people none of us knew. I believe that this film was a great example of how stereotypes can ruin a specific sub-culture and I am interested to explore my field site more to find out if this is true for possible sub cultures at my site.
ReplyDeleteI thought the Young At Heart field study video was very different, and more touching than I had expected. I personally am not the biggest fan of the elderly or anything that has to do with them. The study was eye opening, perspective changing, and enjoyable. I think the film really shed some light on how we view the older generation. It was effective because it shows how happy and enjoyable the little things are in life, and I believed they demonstrated that very well. It was real, and genuine. The biggest thing that got to me was no matter what they never allowed a circumstance to negatively affect what they love to do. It gave me something to appreciate. It opened my eyes to my own field study to how open minded I need to be; every little detail really makes it that much better and more effective. Everything is relevant. Watching this film got me excited to see how different, entertaining, and far I can take my study and make it all that more interesting. I hope to see and learn some things I maybe wouldn’t expect.
ReplyDeleteI thought that from the very first scene where it shows an old lady, who latter we find out is a stripper, singing the classic, popular song “Should I stay or should I go” by The Clash, I was going to hate it. She sang it with so much effort and passion .her voice was cracking at the high notes she had to hit and at times she out of tune and out of tempo, sorry I am a musician and tend to pick at this things, but as the documentary progresses on to the members’ personal life and I had quickly realized that the filmmakers intention derived from the musical aspect of it to a more emotional and relatable to his audience. I think that the aspect of illness and death of some of the member in the chorus was what made this film engaging and emotional. Just the fact that the film follows real people opposed to actors depicting a story based on the chorus, kind of like a reality show where the audience wants to dig into the members personal life and daily struggles as well as the suspense of how the final performance would come out as some of the singers did not have their music ready for the show. This made me understand better how to approach the people that constitute the subculture that I’m studying without being seeing as an invader but as a person who wants respectfully share their lives and personal story. The purpose of the story is to show the true nature of a National Guard soldier on a weekend drill and this documentary has given me a different take on how to work on my research for my project.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first saw the opening scene of Young@Heart I did not know what to expect. Having to write what we thought when we heard ‘old people’ I figured that it would be a documentary on an elderly persons life. Come to find out.. I was completely wrong! These old people were having more fun with their life than I was with mine. They were hilarious and seeing them sing those songs were even funnier. Some of them could barely move but they got up on stage and performed a show that I would never do in my life. It looked like they were having a blast and I’m happy they were able to enjoy themselves. Stereotypes aren’t always right, as you can tell. But we still do it.
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