reflection 3

I found Professor Hass's lecture yesterday to be very interesting. I did not know that the Vietnam memorial brought about the public pastime of leaving items of sentimental value at places of tragedy. For American people who were mourning the loss of many soldiers, this was a method of recovery, just like the memorial represented American recovery. For some people, it feels good to leave an item that resembles the lost friend or relative. However, to me it shows how materialistic people can be. Americans feel the need to share a visual item with all who will look upon it. In this way, it makes it easier to express sorrow if other people acknowledge a person's feelings by thinking about the representational items left behind. Another thought I had about the memorial occurred when Professor Hass showed the picture where the Washington Monument was seen in the distance. She briefly suggested that it was obvious how the shape of the Washington Monument represented male masculinity while the Vietnam Memorial represented "not-so-male masculinity". I really don't think the artists had the idea of human anatomy consciously in mind when designing the monuments, but it is something to think about and argue over. The monuments are representational but are also art and the perception of their exact meaning is in the eye of the individual.