Didst thou ever see a white bear? cried my father, turning his head round to Trim, who stood at the back of his chair:——No, an' please your honor, replied the corporal.——But thou could'st discourse about one, Trim, said my father, in case of need?——How is it possible, brother, quoth my uncle Toby, if the corporal never saw one?——'Tis the fact I want, said my father—and the possibility of it, is as follows.
(Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy V:xlii.
)

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

For Credit: Can One Experience the Sublime on the Internet?

Well????

Respond to this post with a link. Or an analysis of whether someone else's link is sublime, beautiful, or sublime-according-to-a-post-C18-conception-of sublimity.

If your link has audio, please post lyrics, a captioned version, or a transcription if at all possible.

Deadline: Friday (4/15), 1pm.

26 comments:

KW said...

I'll start:

http://youtu.be/z3qu-sCei3U

(there is audio: "BOOM" and screaming)

217 said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNNTcHq5Tzk

217 said...

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2DJKyQ/www.flickr.com/photos/chucksutherland/4795091807/sizes/l/

something associated to nature!

JRD said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttz5oPpF1Js

Even sitting in my chair at home, this looks pretty terrifying, especially in the scenes with the camera attached to the wingsuit. Also, the scenes that show the men actually jumping off the cliff and the scenes that highlight how fast they are traveling seem pretty sublime.

Aaron White said...

At least one of these is a joke...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtX8nswnUKU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sal-bp_ciC4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17jymDn0W6U

Westyn said...

http://www.fanpop.com/spots/weather/images/250418/title/severe-weather-wallpaper

I think I would be afraid driving towards a sky that looked like this.

DelayedKarma said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
DelayedKarma said...

terrifying, awe inspiring, great, too big to comprehend, produced by nature, sublime....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njAJEOjhr_U

BenScott said...

Like some of the posts above, this is a natural instance of the sublime: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZN2_czSBSD0&feature=fvwrel

Jillian Holmes said...

I've watched all these videos and don't feel the "sublime." I find it hard to be overwhelmed or terrified by something so small. I wonder if my opinion would be different if I were watching these on the big screen. Maybe I'm numbed by attempts to reach the sublime through the media. Nothing compares to seeing the real thing.

the said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZTeHYpGq9E&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44kBN340vd4

http://www.hoax-slayer.com/images/oil-rig-tornado.jpg

theblackbear said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZTeHYpGq9E&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44kBN340vd4

http://www.hoax-slayer.com/images/oil-rig-tornado.jpg

theblackbear said...

I'm going to have to agree with Jillian. It may be interesting to note none of my selections are real in any way. While interesting and certainly capable of attracting and maintaining my attention, they do nothing to captivate firmly that interest, and especially not to the degree of an overwhelming emotional response.

The one exception I might make is in regard to the post viewing the events of 9/11. The content here details a horrific reality, and one to which all of us can sympathize to at least some extent. I think the ability to be able to identify to a personal level with what is being observed is key to the experience. When we view in person an element of nature particularly awesome in stature, we internalize that event as a significant moment. The same type of experience can be compared to 9/11. Although most individuals in the country were not even remotely near to the activity, we can identify with the effect as it is personal to our interests.

Martin said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njAJEOjhr_U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwoI9t0e11k

http://www.maninstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/everest-summit-view.jpg

Paul Suh said...

Yeah there are a ton of clips people are posting and I would agree with some of the previous comments--some of them are "meh". Not too awe-inspiring.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-Tym_6YLUI&feature=fvst

This is a lengthy clip and I can't provide a transcript for it cause it's so long. But I remember watching this clip in my physics class in high school and being initially unimpressed by the production quality. But by the end, it wasn't scary, but it was a profound thing trying to wrap my head around just how much of a speck I am in this universe.

smab said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxQSJj3pypA&feature=related
(no speaking, just a song playing over the video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IO6c07v8kfM
(the quality isn't so great but there are subtitles)

I've been feeling the same way about these clips because they're small, and also because we see all this other random stuff on the youtube page and it isn't overly thrilling. But, with the second clip, I remember seeing the movie in theaters in 2005 and when that scene happened, I remember being so scared at hearing the lightening and because I we are only able to see it partially, through reflections mostly, it was exciting, too.

Michelle said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2i4XS0Esks&feature=related
(audio=background music)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aO_Qs3BAMKU&feature=fvwrel
(audio= rumbling)

For me, these videos were void of the 18th century version of the sublime (fear and terror). However, for many of the videos I found myself thinking wow or holy s*#t. So I was still having awe responses they just weren't driven by fear. I also think I was responding more to the real videos rather than movie clips. This makes sense because if I were actually witnessing the real events happen I would be overwhelmed by the sublime. For example, my video of volcanoes does not produce the complete sublime but if I were witnessing it in person every definition of the sublime could be applied (awe, fear, terror).

lexijoma1 said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4EBMgWZC0M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MH9R6MpC3AQ&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vO7k8sHhMic

I have posted three different videos featuring the Milky Way. I think we can find examples of the sublime on the internet. However I feel that to truley experience and understand it in the way that our 18th century authors did it has to be a first hand experience.

I don't know how many of you have ever stood out in a pitch black midwestern night in the middle of a cron field on a clear night. But if you haven't you should. It is nothing short of spectacular. Without fail, every time i do this I am reminded of how very small we are. The very idea that we are just a speck is utterly fightening to me. Still I cannot get past the euphoria that this amazing sight creates. It is in truth, sublime. Now I know many of you will point to the space school video and ask. "How can that be when we know so much about it." and my answer will always be, "it is still unkown frightening and beuatiful to me." in fact the sheer magnitude of the numbers rattled off in that video add to my fear. For some it may not have the same effect. But for me it does. It is my sublime wich I think is very close to the 18th century maening of the term.

Ms. Kelly said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxpOuf5C7pI

I found this link that discussed sublime art in the making. I agree with some of my peers in the sense that I have been numbed by so much of what I already witnessed through real life experiences: death, natural disasters, terrorist attacks, etc. to even be slightly affected by a short clip posted on the internet. In my opinion, things that are projected onto the internet, especially via youtube loses it effect or credibility, because I feel like it is solely based on someone's expectation that something will or is in the process of happening, because you really walks around with a recording device with their hands ready to push record at any given moment. To me this is very different than a real genuine experience, because during the times of tragedy or the sublime, I can't remember a time when I even thought to stand still long enough to capture "the moment" to refer back to or share with others at a later date. In fact, there are some things that I wouldn't even want my worst enemy to encounter. I don't know this is just my opinion.

Soooooth said...

Well I think some of these clips do demonstrate the sublime, it definitely shows how the meaning of the word has shifted with the advent of technology. I agree with Michelle that these videos do not induce the same feelings associated with the sublime in the 18th century. Despite this, some of these videos did elicit a strong emotional reaction.

http://wallbase.cc/wallpaper/279517

This picture induces some fear despite its tranquility. It seems to be never-ending and in the top right corner you can see the moon. This puts in perspective how small a fragment I am individually. And the picture is beautiful!

KMS said...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110328.html

This website does a daily astronomy pictures (sometimes they are ilustrations or videos). Every time I check it, I get that feeling. I feel for me, the sublime has just gone to a larger scale. Sometimes, things on Earth have become a bit less overwhelming. When I see pictures of space though, my mind is able to top trying to think and just take in the awe-factor.

Jeff said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q_GQqUg6Ts

I think this video correctly demonstrates the vastness to which technological advancements have enhanced our conceptions of the sublime. This video, although there are no captions, I've transcribed a part from the end:

"in the tenth dimension, there are all the possible branches of all the possible time-lines of all the possible universes and we treat that as a single point in the tenth dimension. But this is where we hit a roadblock. If we are going to imagine the tenth dimension as a continuing cycle, then we have to draw a different point. by the time we have imagined all possible time-lines for all possible universes as being a single point in the tenth dimension, it appears that our journey is done"

At this point, the narrator tells us that superstrings vibrating in the tenth dimension are what create the subatomic particles that make our universe, and all the other possible universes that exist. In other words, EVERYTHING that could ever happen, has happened, just in a different universe and the realities we experience in our universe are contained to ours only. However, possibilities are now, quite literally, endless. I find this idea sublime because it takes the notion of a singular universe (which is already arguably sublime in the way we conceive it)and extrapolates it to infinite universes and possibilities. Whoa.

Sara said...

I have to agree with many of the posters above; while I thought the videos themselves were very interesting, I don't think they necessarily invoke the sublime. When we first talked about how technology has impacted how we perceive the sublime, I didn't really think that it had much of an effect, but after watching the videos and looking at the pictures online, I definitely feel that we have a type of sensory overload and are numb to many of the images. However, while some may think that we need to see something totally outrageous to shock or surprise us now, I kind of think that we need to go in the opposite direction, and let our thoughts travel in the direction of the littlest thing in order to feel that overwhelming emotional response. I think we need to experience the unexpected to get that feeling of the 18th century sublime.

Gberry said...

http://www.cbs.com/primetime/survivor/video/?pid=ht4X4gWpNGMpPL_8ANqUZRrbNR2rzMq0&vs=Default&play=true

Skip to the 30 minute mark.

I think the reactions from the contestants on Survivor convey their awe appropriately. When I watched this for the first time I kept thinking to myself how exciting and dangerous it must be to stand near the volcano. I feel like technology or the internet helps us tap into the experience of the Sublime, but I don't think it will ever give people the full experience. It's not just the image that's important, it's the smell, the touch, the wind and in this case the fear (or not). I feel the sublime affects all your senses. That being said, I think the sublime is an individual experience. Not everyone will be affected strongly by the same thing. It's that person's job to find what is sublime for them, what shakes them to their core.

RS said...

I don't want to say that the sublime is dead or anything, but technology and modernism have made people pretty numb to things that would have once inspired awe.

The closest I've seen people come to the sublime in normal life (excluding crazy once-in-a-lifetime experiences and sights) is seeing something really, really adorable, causing some kind of "awwwww!" reaction.

With that in mind:

http://cuteroulette.com/#/

Matthew Jones said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FStBLkj8mmE&feature=related
The universe, ohhhhh yea.