Mini Experience: Patriot's Day Movie
Every student that takes the Gateway to Honors class has to partake in a mini experience which is ultimately where the student has to choose five interests of theirs and based on these interests is placed in a group with others of similar interests under one thematic area. These thematic areas include research, creativity, community engagement, global studies, and leadership. The mini-experience that was chosen by my group was to watch the movie Patriot’s Day. This experience was chosen because everyone in our group wanted to explore something creative and because it was something that was intriguing and informative. Patriot’s Day is a movie about the Boston Marathon Bombings that happened in April 2013. All of us went into the movie obviously knowing much of what really went on during the bombings since it was widely covered by the media during the time therefore, the movie’s events itself were not shocking.
Throughout the movie and even after, I went back and researched events of the attack to see how closely related the movie was the actual events because there are so many movies which take artistic liberties on the information portrayed in the movie. The movie kept true to the major sequence of events but took a lot of liberty with how the events themselves played out. Certain events were researched using a variety of websites such as TIME magazine, History, and others. History was used to learn about the general event and when it occurred and who the bombers were. TIME Magazine was used to learn about the citywide lock down in Watertown District.
The learning outcome that fits with this mini experience would be “articulating the broader significance of the creative project and the value of it contributions.” This learning outcome is part of the creativity thematic area. The purpose of this movie is to inform the audience who is watching the movie about the Boston Bombings. It is meant to be an informative movie. The wider contribution of the movie was decided to be that it is meant to reiterate that the bombings happened to real people to create sympathy for the victims, I know it definitely did for me. A lot of times, when we hear of bombings and other attacks, we are shocked and saddened in the moment but for many around the world, we merely move on if we are not directly affected by the tragic event. By making this movie, the director was aiming to reach an audience that is most likely not affected by the event and help them understand that this is affecting the lives of real people who have in turn worked to overcome their issues to help others. After discussion with my group about the significance of the movie, it was finally decided on that the significance is that the movie helps those affected realize how strong they are and help them cope with the attacks. For those not directly affected, it helps to put faces to the survivors and the warriors of the attack and realize that this is much deeper to many people than “just another attack.”
Throughout the movie and even after, I went back and researched events of the attack to see how closely related the movie was the actual events because there are so many movies which take artistic liberties on the information portrayed in the movie. The movie kept true to the major sequence of events but took a lot of liberty with how the events themselves played out. Certain events were researched using a variety of websites such as TIME magazine, History, and others. History was used to learn about the general event and when it occurred and who the bombers were. TIME Magazine was used to learn about the citywide lock down in Watertown District.
The learning outcome that fits with this mini experience would be “articulating the broader significance of the creative project and the value of it contributions.” This learning outcome is part of the creativity thematic area. The purpose of this movie is to inform the audience who is watching the movie about the Boston Bombings. It is meant to be an informative movie. The wider contribution of the movie was decided to be that it is meant to reiterate that the bombings happened to real people to create sympathy for the victims, I know it definitely did for me. A lot of times, when we hear of bombings and other attacks, we are shocked and saddened in the moment but for many around the world, we merely move on if we are not directly affected by the tragic event. By making this movie, the director was aiming to reach an audience that is most likely not affected by the event and help them understand that this is affecting the lives of real people who have in turn worked to overcome their issues to help others. After discussion with my group about the significance of the movie, it was finally decided on that the significance is that the movie helps those affected realize how strong they are and help them cope with the attacks. For those not directly affected, it helps to put faces to the survivors and the warriors of the attack and realize that this is much deeper to many people than “just another attack.”