Responses to Unit 2 Blogs

During the course of Unit 2, I found myself doing a better job of delving a bit deeper than I did in my Unit 1 blogs. For example, I was able to connect the theme of hopelessness that ran rampantly in the New York Times articles to the element of pathos. It was clear from the descriptions of children and other Cambodian citizens that the newspaper was attempting to appeal to the emotions of the reader. I feel that the I have gained this ability to think more broadly about our readings since Unit 1.

The main idea that I focus on in my blogs of Unit 2 is that of hopelessness and pathos that I just detailed. I find and comment on this theme in the New York Times, The Death and Life of Dith Pran, and The Killing Fields. Along with the blatant portrayal of children suffering in all three mediums, I also was apparently struck by the emotional response created by Dith Pran's forced stay in Cambodia as Sidney and the others are able to leave. I feel that the purpose of this scene was also to evoke emotions from the American public, just as the pictures of children crying and descriptions of the destruction in Cambodia did.

After looking at my blogs as a whole, the effect that the media portrayals of the Secret Bombings of Cambodia and the following fighting is clear. I was most struck by the misery and unfortunate circumstances in which the Cambodians lived. It is alarming to me to see the helpless lives that the Cambodians lived at this time. All three mediums evidently did a great job of relaying this to me and other readers.

In the wake of re-reading all of my blog postings, it is clear what I believe the three mediums we viewed are all about (The Life and Death of Dith Pran, The New York Times, The Killing Fields). These three sources are concerned with the horrors and destruction that the Cambodian people experienced. Their story is told through the photos and descriptions of children and others, crying and alone, in the New York Times, and the plight of Dith Pran and Sidney Schanberg in the movie and article. While all three are reporting on the actual facts of the events, I believe that the portrayals of the Khmer Rouge, Cambodians, American response, and individual characters are used to demonstrate the miserable quality of life that the Cambodians had to deal with.