"The visual environment for the young has become confused, fragmented, and
unstable. Students now understand moving but not still images. The long, dreamy,
contemplative takes of classic Hollywood studio movies or postwar European art
films are long gone. Today, rapid-fire editing is the norm in commercials, music
videos, and independent films. Education must slow the images down to provide a
clear space for the eye. It must strengthen and discipline the process of visual
attention."

I feel that students now indeed understand moving but not still images. “Think out of the box” is one phrase students are getting a lot recently, as innovation and creativity are the keys to the 21st century. So what exactly is the box? In my opinion, the box would be the television, or the theatre screen.

Through the watching of programs, we are often supplied with the plot, the climax and all other details nicely laid out for us. In that case, we become “vegetative receptors” not thinking much about the program. When the whole story is put into a painting or a picture, we are often unable to get the details out. We do not have the ability to think deep into the picture to get the message, while on the other hand, the message is clearly given to us in television programs.

Another point to whether one can understand still images is how much one can see the details in the images. The details are things often thrown away by students now as we focus just on the big picture without observing the small details. Our observational skills are not good enough for us to observe a still image and be able to see the big picture. We’re all seeing but not observing these days. For example, how many people remember the colours and the details of Ms Wu’s clothes on Friday? I admit that I do not. We've been looking at her during lessons on Friday but we weren't observing her, were we? At the same time. I believe the people of older generations have this ability to see, observe and are able to list details of objects and people and most definitely, images.

Thinking out of the box… I believe that students nowadays should think more about just what they see in the box, the box is just a comfort zone that do not bring us far in the 21st century. Maybe students can turn to images, instead of just watching moving pictures, and try to understand them rather than to read the description first. Descriptions beside art works limits our imagination as we will be set just to think along that line, and in this case, the line becomes the box we must step out of. 0 comments