The Power of Films

Sunday marked the last class day of our journey. It began with a luxurious late wake up call of 9 AM and a refreshingly sunny walk to the German Film Museum. Upon arrival at the museum, I was extremely well rested and ready to explore. While I'm not a cinema major, I do have a strong appreciation for the cinematic arts. Movies are one of the strongest communication tools we have.

Pictures and motion pictures give us visual evidence that many other mediums of communication cannot. Sure, everything can be edited, but being able to see something makes it more believable than just reading or hearing about it. That's why films are used so often in newscasts. Yet, conversely, that's also why movies are used as propaganda. Being able to see something helps us believe in it. However, the downside is that these films have the ability to be fabricated just like anything else.

In the museum, I learned that one of the earliest forms of editing included taking individual frames out of reel. Physically cutting and stitching film together would create an edit. This is amazing to think of because of where we are today in terms of video editing. As a communications student, I know about complex editing softwares such as Avid and Final Cut. With a simple click, you can do anything from add music to completely rearrange clips.

One of my favorite exhibits in this museum was about how audio editing can affect a film. There was an interactive screen that had a clip from the movie The Matrix with three sound controls. There was one for dialogue, one for background music, and one for sound effects. You could turn these controls up or down, for example, to see how having louder dialogue and quiet background music could change the feel of a scene. Also, there was another screen that allowed you to change the music along with the clip. One of my peers changed the background music of an intense sports scene to a lullaby. It was amazing how even the slightest change in audio would affect the mood of the clip.

This just goes to show that editing has great power. As we discussed in our fall presentation, the Nazis were very deliberate in their production of films for propaganda purposes. Films released to the public tended were edited to concentrate on themes such as the Jews, the greatness of Hitler, the Nazi way of life, and how badly the Germans were treated. In my previous post about the German Documentation Museum, I analyzed the famous film, The Triumph of the Will, and how it was edited to portray such themes. Some other notable films of the time regarding these themes include The Eternal Jew and Hitlerjunge Quex.

The Eternal Jew was a film made in 1940 by the Ministry of Propaganda in Germany and directed by Fritz Hippler. It sought to  portray Jews in the way the Nazis wanted people to think of them. This meant that each scene was shot and edited to paint a negative depiction of the Jewish people. Most notably, the film showed scenes of Jews living in poor conditions and poverty as if this was a normal state for them. It also utilized narration to compare the Jews to rats. Throughout the film, the narrator would say that Jews spread diseases just as rats do. Putting this audio along with scenes of squalor reinforced the idea that Jews are dirty and undesirable to the German population.

Furthermore, Hitlerjunge Quex was another film that served as propaganda for Germany. It was made in 1933 and was directed by Hans Steinhoff. Similarly to how The Eternal Jew painted Jews in a negative light, Hitlerjunge Quex depicted the socialists/communists negatively. The film showed the story of Heini, a boy that wanted to join the Hitler Youth. Heini was originally rejected by the Youth but later is allowed to distribute leaflets in Berlin for the Nazis. As he is doing so, he is attacked by communists and becomes seriously injured. With his dying breath, he speaks the words of a Nazi marching song. This story is clearly Nazi propaganda and its message is enhanced by the way it was filmed and edited. Cinema specialists Curtade and Cadars once said, "with refined use of light and shadow, integration of the urban landscape, expressive use of the face in close-ups, adroit editing, stirring music, it must be said that Hitlerjunge Quex is technically and aesthetically an outstanding film." With all of these film aspects carefully controlled, the Nazi party was more effective in using this movie as propaganda.

As one can see, film is a vital communication medium. After the aforementioned films were released to the public, they achieved what they sought out to do; people fell victim to the propaganda-driven messages within them. The careful shooting and editing of these films allowed this subtle brainwashing to happen. This goes to show that well-placed shots and audio clips are important to make a film powerful.

Citation:

Curtade, F/ Cadars, P: Geschichte des Films im Dritten Reich. München, Wein 1975.

-Chelsea Weber

My Shoes Against Their Shoes

It took me about a week to be able to write this post because I wasn't too sure how I was going to write it, and I am still not too sure how. Figuring out how I felt walking on to the ground of Dachau was challenging, and it is still hard to put it into words. However, what I do know is that this is an experience unlike any other experience. Everyone will handle his or her experience at a concentration camp differently. Stepping on the gravel walkway that the prisoners stepped on, roaming the buildings that the prisoners worked in and walking through the gate that many prisoners walked through yet, very few had the chance to walk out of is an indescribable feeling that can cause a sea of emotions for many people. 

I am Jewish. I have never been to a concentration camp before, but I have learned about and talked about concentration camps and the Holocaust in history classes, religion classes and with my family members before. However, other than museums I have never been to Germany to see where everything started. It was hard to walk on the grounds of where a lot of my ancestors died on and it was even harder to think that there were even more people who were killed on these grounds for example, Protestants, homosexuals and Jehovah's witnesses. 

However, once you start realizing where you are and what happened on the ground you are standing on, you start realizing that Dachau is one of the many concentration camps established during WWII. That is when it hits you, that there was not just one place where many innocent people were killed, there were many. They were helpless and most of them lost hope.

It begins to get even tougher when you start thinking how many prisoners walked through a concentration camp gate and how many were never able to walk out through those same gates. But you were. You came to see Dachau. You walked through that gate and you had the freedom to walk out of that same gate. That feeling in itself is both terrifying and reassuring. It is terrifying because something so horrible like this happened in history, yet it is reassuring because you know the world would never let anything like this happen again. 

I think an experience like this is not something I will ever, nor anyone will ever, be able to put into words. Yes, you can say it was powerful, sad, emotional and heartbreaking but, it was more than that. However, I do believe that it is something that everyone should take the time to do. 

-Jordyn Jaffe 

Nazi Propaganda

In the fall, it was clear to us that the Nazi's had a very bizarre way of projecting their propaganda to the public. However, the extent to how powerful and thought out their propaganda was, we have learned, is quite scary. We found out that everyone was vulnerable to Nazi propaganda. The Nazi's made all their propaganda something that was targeted to one individual or another, whether framing ones opinion about a concentration camp or becoming supporters of the Nazi party. Throughout the past week we visited the Nuremberg rally grounds. In this location we have seen many different styles of propaganda, that we are not use to today, within the Nazi party.

Nuremberg was the heart of where you see most of Nazi propaganda. Nuremberg was known as the Nazi city because of all the propaganda and rallies that took place there. It was four square miles that lined up with the sun so that the sun would always shine on Hitler-- projecting a positive image of Hitler himself. Something else we learned was that the Nazi's liked to do everything big. For example, big structures of buildings just for the big screen-- so it would catch the attention of their audience. One example of this is the WWI memorial in Nuremberg, also known as the Luitpold Arena. This building served as a location for mass parades and assembles, it was able to assemble 150,000 people before Hitler in the Arena. This building was added onto to create a large impact on the public. The Nazi party made a large granite pathway to make the building stand out. This created a large image for not only the people in attendance before him but also for television-- which made the public view Hitler as a ruling power. At the other end of the arena was a grandstand with a speaker's platform and three tall swastika banners. The tall banners were used on many of their buildings. Not only did they stand out because of their size but they stood out because they were everywhere. This propaganda technique created a lasting image of the Nazi party in the publics mind. 

In addition, the Congress Hall, which was never finished (because the Nazi's lost the war) and is the largest remaining monumental National Soviet building in Germany, has a self-supporting roof and was to stretch over the interior court where 50,000 people were meant to assemble. This building is very unique because the entrance of to the Congress Hall faced the sun-- which meant that whenever Hitler would walk out the entrance the sun would always shine on him. This propaganda technique was very influential for people watching him on television because people would see how much he stuck out on the screen due to the spot light from the sun.

The thing we realized was that the Nazi's had a different way of doing things compared to what we are used to today. Their buildings and the location of their buildings were not in any way ideal, it was essentially all just to look good for the cameras-- in order to affect a larger audience. People are going to be more attracted to something big, bold and lit up versus something small and dull. This is something the Nazi's knew and took advantage of. They knew what attracted people and were able to capture their audience through their bizarre propaganda skills. Their propaganda is what made them gain the power they did.

It is scary to think that persuasion through propaganda lead to such a mark in history and how easy it is to fall for the propaganda we see around us.

-Jordyn Jaffe

The Intricacies of Nazi Propaganda

Propaganda is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as, "Information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote a political cause or point of view." In my opinion, this is a definition that makes propaganda seem more simplistic than it is. After seeing everything within the German Documentation Museum, I know for a fact that there are many ways propaganda can be transmitted.

Whether it be through print, film, architecture, or audio, messages supporting the Nazi party got through to the public. In the fall, Jordyn and I got a brief introduction to this concept through our research. In particular, we learned about how Mein Kampf, Hitler's political book, was one of the most influential propaganda pieces released in print for the National Socialists.  

Therefore, it is not a surprise that Mein Kampf was one of the first exhibits when you walk into the museum. Audio guide in hand, I went straight for the glass box the book was displayed in.

 I then listened to the friendly English-speaking man tell me about the book. He explained how Mein Kampf expresses Hitler's racist ideologies and essentially acted as a political manifesto for the National Socialist party. Because it was available in 16 languages, the book truly circulated not only within Germany but also abroad. Also, what really surprised me was that the book was presented to newly weds in Germany as a wedding gift. This small fact is demonstrative of how the Nazis tried to work their propaganda into every way of life they possibly could. They wanted to get their views into the minds of the public any way they could.

As Jordyn explained previously, even the architecture of Nuremberg was made with propaganda in mind. Having buildings line up with the sun meant that Hitler was always in the light during political events. This added to the heroic persona Hitler wanted to convey. When translated to the medium of television and film, this meant that Hitler was once again the heroic focal point.

After weaving in and out through the expansive documentation musuem, I found myself within an exhibit that showed this concept in action. There was a section of the musuem dedicated to Leni Reifenstahl's film, Triumph of the Will.

In the fall, we learned that this film was arguably the most successful Nazi propaganda film released. It included  scenes of Nazi demonstrations and rallies. The way that Reifenstahl made the film was to show unity and strength. It was 113 minutes of heroic background music and carefully shot scenes. From the audio guide, I learned that Reifenstahl arranged the events and focused specifically on Hitler. She did so in a manner that was more to trigger public enthusiasm than to inform. Thus, she spent extra time getting 16 of the best camera men in the area to help her portray Hitler in the positive light the National Socialists wanted. She did everything from move Hitler on a circular track to getting low camera angles to make him appear large and powerful.

I at first did not realize these small details about the film but, once I did, they were all I could see. I sat in front of a wall in the Triumph of the Will exhibit watching the film play for about 10 minutes. The camera angles, music, and editing all work together to exemplify what a film used for Nazi propaganda purposes was. 

When I walked away from the exhibit, I felt like I had a firm grasp of what propaganda meant to the Nazis. Propaganda distribution was not the simplistic definition described at the beginning of this post. It was an intricate process of conveying calculated messages to the public. All of the different mediums the Nazis used worked together to demonstrate the idea of Nazi control.

Through print, film, and more, messages can get into the minds of the public. What this musuem made me realize was how subtle these persuasive messages can be. I always thought it was so apparent that certain Nazi propaganda pieces were misleading. Yet, I now understand that the messages can be so subtle you barely recognize them.

As I've been walking through these European cities, I've even thought about how this idea applies to advertisements. How many street ads were the reason for my sudden hunger for schnitzel or for my sudden desire to buy a new scarf? There really is no telling for certain. However, I do know that the more I am exposed to these ads, the more I internally believe I need those things. And I think that this subconscious messaging is exactly what the Nazis had in mind with their constant propaganda. Not only was it well planned but it was also extremely effective.

-Chelsea Weber

Connectivity through History

From Gutenberg to Web-- this is the statement that this course revolves around. Not only is it the official name of the class, it is also the phrase that unifies us as a group. In the fall, all of our tweets ended with the common hashtag, #gut2web. This hashtag served the purpose to bring all of our tweets into one place and to communicate that we were tweeting for a common purpose. And while I thought this little hashtag would only be relevant in the context of our fall course, I was proven wrong during this winter term.

Throughout our trip so far, this hashtag has been used often on our personal social media accounts such as Instagram and Facebook. And the more I see it, the more I consider the meaning of this course. The creation of the Internet brought about about so many ways we can be interconnected as people. It lets us share information quickly and vastly. It is what lets us send our abroad photos back home and our text updates with a click of a mouse. The amount of times I have heard talk of wifi during this course truly shows the importance of the Internet in this day in age. Everyone is always on the constant search for Internet access so they can share what they need to share with their networks. But yet, we don't often think about everything that got society to this point. Therefore, this week truly made me consider the concept of this course more deeply.

Before the Internet, there were books. The written word was the communication avenue of choice. We had an impromptu teaching of how these books came about when some of us stumbled into an old time print shop accidentally in Wittenberg. We learned all about how printing presses work and about the man behind the machine himself, Johannes Gutenberg.

After this brief introduction in Wittenberg, we further delved into the topic of printing  the next day at the German Technological Museum. At the museum, we looked at versions of old printing presses and typewriters.

             

      

While these seemed like they were just machines to make words appear on paper, they served the much greater purpose of creating a reusable and mass produced form of communication. The written word brought society far, but the printed word brought it farther. And even further than that, the computer sent us into another dimension.

A couple rooms away from the printing press exhibit, there was the computer exhibit of the German Technological Musuem. This room was full of history on the invention of arguably one of the most useful inventions of our time, the computer. 

Below is a picture and description of the first computer in Germany, the Z11:

         

This computer was the start of the many computers around today. Its invention brought about the iPhones, tablets, and laptops we use everyday. The things that bring us back together no matter if we are hundreds of miles away from home or just a hashtag away.

-Chelsea Weber

Communications is More Than Just a Field of Study

I use to think that communications was all about public relations, journalism and digital design. However, once you step outside your cultural norm you realize that there is much more to it then just the things you learn about in the classroom.

Communications also has to do with how you interact with people in other settings outside of the business world. For example, we have now traveled from London to Germany to Prague, and in each of these countries a different language was spoken. You could tell that people were more comfortable in their surroundings while in London because there was no language barrier-- you could read the menu, talk to locals and understand maps/road signs. Then when we moved on to Germany and Prague things started to change-- it was more difficult to read the menu, it was harder to talk to locals and it seemed almost impossible at times to read maps/road signs. 

People often overlook how much of an impact a different language has on your communication with others. Lacking this sense of communication, that seems so easy, ends up being one of the hardest things to deal with on your time abroad while, interacting with different people from different cultures. 

I believe no one truly realizes that language is also a communications skill. It's not just about the things you learn in your communications classes it is also about being able to communicate with those around you, in their native language. Therefore, learning and experiencing new cultures and languages is an important, everyday life skill because it helps you communicate with others outside your cultural norm.

Personally, as much as I love to travel and continue to make an endless bucket list of places of where I would like to go, traveling is hard for me. It pushes me outside my comfort zone specifically because of the language barriers in other countries. Although this has never and will never stop me from traveling it is definitely a state of anxiety I seem to never be able to get rid of. I like to be able to communicate with the people around me, and not being able to speak to others in their native language is hard for me. However, if there is something I have learned from this trip it is that although language barriers build up some anxiety, it is okay, it comes with the package of traveling. If I do not step outside my comfort zone I will never learn the culture of others and will never learn how to communicate in any way with someone who does not speak English.

Traveling is part of learning to communicate in other ways such as learning the basics of another language such as the words "yes", "no" and "thank you" or simply point at an object. You pick up and learn communications everyday no matter where we are in the world-- we just don't realize it. It also makes you sensitive to other cultures, which ultimately I believe will translate into my communications education at Elon because it will make me more effective at communicating to different audiences.

-Jordyn Jaffe

Getting Hands-On With History

On Sunday we did a Berlin walking tour. We had never been to Germany before this trip therefore, it was fascinating to be able to see some of the most important historical landmarks of Berlin. The city of Berlin has some very rich history within it so it was intriguing to be able to see where history took place-- things we normally only read about in textbooks-- and be able to see the transformation of this city over the years.

From a communications aspect, there were a lot of things on this tour that we learned and that the tour guide spoke about which hit on our fall project of Nazi Propaganda.

Although the whole tour was not focused on Nazi Propaganda there was some portions here and there that did. For starters, the tour guide discussed Joseph Goebbels and his promotion of Hitler and the Nazi Party to the public. In addition, the tour guide showed us some structures that were used and multiple posters used during WWII and explained the many usages of propaganda during WWII.

Included among the propaganda shown to us by the tour guides was the book entitled, "Der Giftpilz." In English, this translates to "The Poisonous Mushroom." 

       

The book itself was a complication of short stories written by Nazi writer Ernst Hiemer and directed towards a German youth audience. Essentially what this book did was brainwash German children to have a strong dislike for Jewish people. In the fall, we learned that this book's title came from the first story in the book. In the story, a German mother talks to her son about how Jewish people are like poisonous mushrooms. She tells him, "Just as a single poisonous mushroom can kill a whole family, so a solitary Jew can destroy a whole village, a whole city, even an entire folk." This utilization of propaganda in the form of childish stories and pictures is important because children are highly impressionable. The implementation of Nazi ideals are easily transferred within this propaganda type.

Another propaganda piece described to us by our tour guide was a poster entitled, "Entartete Musik." In English this means, "Degenerate Music."

This poster is representative of the influence music had as a form of propaganda. German music, a source of pride to the country, was threatened during the interwar period. The increase in popularity of swing and jazz, as well as African-American and Jewish musicians meant a collapse of German values to the Nazis. In the eyes of the Nazis, the degeneration of music meant the degeneration of the nation and its people. This is represented in the poster by the inclusion of a man that appears to be an ape wearing the Star of David. This poster was meant to show the fact that the current state of German musicians is regressing just as humans can regress to their primative ape ancestors.

Our tour guide's description of these pieces on our walk was very relevant to our topic of Nazi Propaganda. We walked away with a more detailed knowledge of what we learned in the fall about the different avenues of propaganda within the Nazi Party.

-Jordyn Jaffe and Chelsea Weber

BBC vs. Sky News

As a communications study abroad program visiting the British Broadcasting Center (BBC) and Sky News is essential. Although these are two different broadcasting centers in London, England, they are both very important and well-known to our world.

These broadcasting centers provide an immense amount of information to the pubic, not only in the United Kingdom but also all around the world. However, through the wonderful tours that we had the pleasure of having at these two places we realized many similarities and differences between BBC and Sky which, made it interesting to see just how different each broadcasting center is yet, how well each of them functions.


BBC:

Before visiting BBC all I knew was that it was a broadcasting center in the United Kingdom that not only broadcasting through TV and radio but also through internet sources and social media sources. However, after visiting BBC I realized they do much more than just that. They also have radio drama and radio TV. In addition, I learned the technical portion of their broadcasting system. I never understood how much work it took to broadcast a "simple" news report. Here are some of the things I learned:

Old building is on the left. New building is in the
middle and on the left.

BBC consists of two buildings, the new building and the old building. BBC operates due to taxes on household television. They broadcast in 26 different languages and everything has to be verified twice before it can be aired. They air world news, local news, radio, radio drama and much more. Something I found very interesting about BBC that I believe a lot of people do not know is that they are very technology savvy-- most of their cameras are remote operated and therefore do not need cameramen. In addition, BBC pays well-known and not very well-known performers 66 pounds to perform on their shows which are open to the public for free.

Two very interesting facts that I learned from this tour was that in 1940, the old building was struck by a bomb. The bomb didn't explode until about 15 minutes after the bomb hit the building. However, at the time the bomb hit, a live live radio segment was being aired in that exact location. The broadcaster did not stutter while on air because he did not want to cause panic among London. The second interesting fact that I learned was that the new building has a structure on the roof that shines a light every night representing all of the BBC journalists that have died while reporting.

In my opinion, I believe the BBC tour was very interactive we were able to participate in mock news reports, weather reports and radio drama story. This was a valuable opportunity because we were able to experience what it is like to be on camera and understand what journalists go thorough everyday.


Sky:

Just like BBC I didn't know much about Sky before visiting. However, it was very interesting to see how different broadcasting centers operate. Based on their size and the technology they have access to.

Inside Sky News 

Although Sky is a smaller broadcasting center than BBC and the tour was less interactive I believe I was still able to learn a lot of information and see a lot more than I was expecting. Our group was able to tour Sky News and Sky Sports. Unfortunately, not all of us were able to get a full tour of Sky News because of what has been happening in Paris. However we were able to get a full tour of Sky Sports and see how busy a news room gets when sensitive information is released about a current event. Here are some of the things I learned from visiting Sky:

Sky News is owned by Sky Sports and unlike BBC  it is a profit company. The Sky News buildings look after itself. What this means is that the windows open and the heat goes on when the buildings reaches 28 degrees Celsius and the windows close when the sensors on the top of the roof senses rain.

At Sky Sports the cameras were operated by camera men and some cameras had prompters-- this is something also very different compared to BBC. In addition, for every hour that is aired Sky Sports is only allowed to have 12 minutes of advertisements and the other minutes are allowed to be used for promotion of Sky News and Sky Sports.

An interesting fact that I learned while touring was that Fox News has a room at Sky News where they hold cameras and equipment to help edit and broadcast small segments.

In addition, one of the tour groups had a unique experience at Sky Sports by running into journalist Jeff Sterling and journalist Jim White. This was able to give the group a more personable interaction. Jim White actually stopped and talked to the group to explain how Sky Sports works, how he likes Sky Sports and the work environment at Sky Sports. It really gave that tour group an inside look at him, his job and a large area of the communications field.

Personally, I am not a huge cinema, broadcast/ journalism fan however,  I believe that both of these tours were very valuable. They both gave us different insights into two very different broadcasting centers and different ways in which each center does their work. It really made me realize that there is a lot more planning and monitoring that goes into broadcasting then one thinks. This really is a remarkable area of communications and these tours made me realize just how wonderful this area of communications is.

-Jordyn Jaffe

Exploring the Winston Churchill War Rooms

In the depths of London lies the famous Cabinet War Rooms. Located discreetly underground, most would not even realize the secret government headquarters were beneath their feet if it wasn't for the Churchill War Room Museum. I, for one, would have just walked right by the Whitehall building it was under. Luckily though, this was not the case thanks to our group tour of the museum on Wednesday.

The museum preserves the bunker that was used to shelter Winston Churchill and his government during the Blitz in World War II. Inside the shelter, there are rooms to do everything from dining to sleeping to carrying out important government operations. Since London needed to safegaurd Churchill and communicate about the bombings, the underground shelter was very crucial.

                       

There were rooms that allowed enough space to hold meetings among governmental officials and for multiple typists and dispatchers to transmit information throughout the government and to the public. The typists were so vital as communication tools that they were even supplied with gas masks to wear as to continue to work even during gas attacks.

Just as vital to the communications effort was, of course, Winston Churchill himself. During the fall, we got a brief introduction to Churchill. I learned more about his role as the prime minister and as a very influential public figure. However, I wasn't aware until this museum trip about how much he impacted people with his words. As a poster in the museum quoting Beverly Nicholos of the Daily Telegraph said, "he mobilised the English language, and sent it into battle." With very few real weapons during the war, he really made use of his words as his artillery. His speeches reached out to people at the homefront and abroad with profound effects. His words united the people and most importantly inspired them during the hard times of war. Even to this day, they still have an effect. For example, I found myself so emotionally affected by his quotes that I bought a book in the gift shop of his inspirational messages.

Truly, Churchill's speeches are great examples of successful communication. Furthermore, the print propaganda campaign his government ran further exemplifies persuasive communication during times of war. Within the museum there were some powerful propaganda posters that caught my eye:

All of these posters are very simplistic in style and consequently very powerful in their messages. The bold print of these ads really stood out to me and made me focus on the words and messages the posters were trying to deliver to the British people. In all, the propaganda campaign of the time was exemplary of the capability of the British communication system.

-Chelsea Weber

Central India at The British Museum

Through my journey at The British Museum I wandered into the  India: Amaravati gallery. Where I found a sculpture called Harihara, Vishnu and Shiva combined. This sculpture is from Central India from the Chandella Dynasty around 1000 AD.  The Chandella Dynasty were the builders of temples and sculptures-- such as this one-- which were placed on the outside of temples.

This sculpture represents half Vishnu and half Shiva. The G-d is shown in two parts: is right side shows characteristics of Shiva-- his trident, hair piled on top of his head and the skull in his head-dress. Where as the left side shows characteristics of of Vishnu-- with the crown and wheel in his upper hand and a conch in the lower.

After looking at this sculpture for 15 minutes I really started to recognize the detail within the sculpture. I started to understand the sculpture a little more as time passed. I realized that the sculpture combines the two most powerful Hindu G-d's in a single structure. Showing that G-d is one in the same.

- Jordyn Jaffe

Passing Time at the British Museum

The first academic experience of our journey began yesterday at the steps of the British Museum. With a map in hand, I entered the expansive building. At this point in the day, my body was feeling entirely jet-lagged. Little sleep on the plane and another full day meant that the museum map became harder and harder to interpret with each passing minute. Yet, I opened it anyway and tried to find an exhibit that intrigued me. I skimmed through the titles until I found myself stopping to locate an exhibit called "Clocks and Watches." The name itself thoroughly piqued my interest and I knew I had to find a way to get there, despite my confusion with the museum layout.

After spending 15 minutes wandering around completely lost, I finally approached upon rooms 38 and 39 of level 3. My eyes lit up as I saw the clocks covering the walls and heard the familiar sound of ticking. I traveled around the room, taking in all of the history within each clock. As I passed through the middle of the exhibit, I saw a huge set of gears turning within a glass case. I read the description on the accompanying plaque and found out that the piece in front of me was the Cassiobury Park Clock and was being used to explain how clocks function.

The Cassiobury Park Clock is a turret clock that was made in 1610 and installed in the clock tower in Cassiobury Park. It has 5 crucial elements that make it work as described by the image below:

Since our instruction for this museum visit was to individually examine a piece that intrigued us for 15-20 minutes, I knew that this would be the piece I would choose. I watched the gears twist and turn as I contemplated the concept of it. This clock is just a set of metal gears and rope, and yet it stands for what gives structure to society. Time is what keeps us moving forward and what numerically organizes our days. It's what causes us to be jet-lagged and to decide when we will perform daily tasks. The ticking of a clock requires energy just as our heart requires energy to beat. Each single part works together to transfer this energy into the seemingly simple task of keeping time. But yet, if this clock taught me anything, it is that time is complex.

-Chelsea Weber