The Power of Creative Constraints by Brandon Rodriguez
This video caught my attention because of how applicable it is to this class. Rodriguez focused mostly on scientific aspects of creative constraints, but they are just as useful in writing. When you are told to just write something, anything, without a set of guidelines, you feel lost. Having guidelines or boundaries for writing focuses the piece and helps you narrow your thought process. For this class, those constraints are the reading we do to prep us for our weekly stories, the research we do for our projects, or the videos we watch about creative constraints and zombie nouns to help us write about creative constraints and zombie nouns. For me having total freedom when writing does not give me any creative control because the scope is so broad. However, I think it is important to keep in mind that while creative constraints are beneficial, too many or too few hinder more than help.
What "Orwellian" Really Means by Noah Tavlin
I was really interested in watching this video as soon as I read the title because I have seen 'Orwellian' being thrown around a lot recently in regards to today's political and social climate. I never read Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell in high school, so I did not have a clue what 'Orwellian' meant other than it being related to this book. I gathered some ideas when I read through commentary that threw this term around, sometimes correctly but most times not, but I never looked into it further. This video gave me such a clear picture as to what 'Orwellian' actually means and why it is being applied to current times. I thought Tavlin did a fantastic job of explaining the concept. When you really think about it, language is a powerful thing. I was especially fascinated by doublespeak. I have a habit of reading through comments while I watch videos, and many people commented examples of doublespeak that I had never considered. One such example was the Department of Defense, implying that we are never the military aggressors, that someone else is always to blame. It is a fascinating, terrifying thing to wrap my head around.
Beware of Nominalizations (AKA Zombie Nouns) by Helen Sword
Zombie nouns is a revision category for our projects, but I did not understand what it meant, so I usually glossed over it. This video perfectly explained what zombie nouns were. And, I did not even realize that they appear frequently in my vocabulary. In fact, I have probably used a few in this very post. I read Orwell's Politics and the English Language, littered with nominalizations, in high school and I distinctly remember 1) not at all understanding what I had just read and 2) my teacher not touching on the use of zombie nouns, possibly because they did not know what zombie nouns were or saw an issue with the wording of the piece. I think the concept of zombie nouns is fascinating, and I am curious how/why they emerged. I know Sword said that they sound fancy and make someone's speech seem more important, but I feel like there has to be another reason. I would love to know.
Bibliography:
"The Power of Creative Constraints - Brandon Rodriguez" by TED-Ed. YouTube.
"What 'Orwellian' Really Means - Noah Tavlin" by TED-Ed. YouTube.
"Beware of Nominalizations (AKA Zombie Nouns) - Helen Sword" by TED-Ed. YouTube.
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