Outside Event - Kraftwerk

On April 20th I attended the Kraftwerk concert at the Eagles Ballroom. The show I saw was a combination of sound, visual, and presentational elements. Kraftwerk is one of the pioneering bands of electronic music they focus on how to capture the sound of a certain subject. They began by creating their own instruments such as electronic drum pads and various sound boards for altering their electronic tone. They were considered to be minimalists and experimental especially back in the early 70s. Their music was a new idea at the time that many people were unfamiliar with. Their style of minimalism and creating a visual with music was evident in the song Aerodynamic. When this song was performed it had what one would visualize as a smooth, fast sound that wasn't being slowed down by anything. This idea was also strengthened with the visualizations that one of the members were controlling. They showed bikers pedaling keeping a low profile and minimal wind resistance. The visual part of Kraftwerk's show is also very interesting. While they perform they project video clips that they created in their studio, which one of the members controls during the show. They also replace themselves with robots for the song We are the Robots. At the end of the show they also changed outfits and had black suits that had a flourescent green grid covering them. It became hard to see the performers except for the grid that moved and their face. It was a great effect. The presentational aspect of the show also can't be overlooked. Kraftwerk is four members and they space themselves evenly in the center of the stage. Their images are at times silhouetted against the projections behind them or at the beginning of the show it was silhouetted against a curtain in front of them. The image of the four performers evenly spaced behind their workstations is what Kraftwerk developed as their symbol.

Duck Soup

Can a comparison be made between Duck Soup and The Way Things Work? These movies are entirely different the only similarity that would stand out is that they both can be considered to be narratives. Duck Soup was quite a silly movie. The title seemed to be strange at first and then after seeing the characters the movie got even weirder. While watching duck soup I realized that the story behind all the gags may have had another message behind it. In the movie, war was started over a simple insult at a tea party. Even after trying to make amends war was started. The war in the movie seemed to be similar to World War I. Duck Soup told the viewers how silly war was and how it was started for stupid reasons. Becuase of an insult at a tea party, peace was broken in the country and lives were being lost. The Marx Brothers used humor to convey their narrative while the story had an underlying meaning that commented on war.
After watching How Things Work I found it hard to realate and compare Duck Soup to this. These seemed like two completely different films. Only after thinking about these films for a while was I able to come up with a way to compare these films. Although How Things Work doesnt have a flat out anti war message, there are similarities with the narrative of Duck Soup. How Things Work was a chain reaction of events that led to one explosions and various mixing of chemicals. The viewer has to look at this as a chain reaction process and go back and remember what actually started it; the spinning garbage bag. This is how a comparison could be made with Duck Soup. They are both a series of events that snowballed and started a chain reaction that couldn't be stopped. In Duck Soup it was war and in How Things Work it was chemistry and physics.