Extra Credit- Alexis Evans

The documentary, The Square, directed by Jehance Nojaim, is a very educational drama released in 2013. This film was not only powerful for the viewers, but very evident. While viewing this documentary, it brought me to become sorrowful to seeing the real value of what has ever gone around us. One thing that really stuck with me in this film was all the violence throughout it. We are lucky enough as Americans to never actually experience this rather then just seeing it on national television. This documentary did a good job of showing the real stuff of what was going on in the streets of Cairo. 

The strengths to this documentary would have to be the realness of it. Not only could the viewer get involved by taking part in watching some of the actions of people in the streets, but having the chance to listen to actual people speak about this issue was very personal and made the film even more satisfying. The weakness in this document would be the lack of english translation. At points during the film it was hard to keep up with the subtitles and sometimes you need the movie to just speak to you without having to read. The most important theme I believe is in the film, The Square, would be brotherhood and companionship. People stuck together throughout this time and with all the difficult things that would occur. 

Social media is a huge issue when dealing with protests and the attacks on people of the world. The character in the film, Khaild, wanted to make known of what was happening over in Egypt and that is when he started making videos for YouTube. These videos were instantly viewed and publicly shown by news stations across the world. It really shows you that we would rarely have any idea whats going on in some parts of countries if social media wasn't around. Now anyone in this world can hop on a computer and see what is going on 1,000 miles from them. 

We see social media playing a prominent role for mostly people in China with all the stuff that they have going on. Ai WeiWei whom is a popular Chinese contemporary activist, played a large role with using social media to get in contact to show people various things going on in his country. Ai has been highly and openly critical of Chinas government stance on democracy and the human rights. He has investigated a variety of government corruption and cover-ups which social media has helped him reach out to many individuals. I learned from reading about him that it is crazy how powerful the internet is and how many people he could reach out to just when he wanted too. 

Through different news casts, we only get to see a glimpse of one of the bloodiest battle, an election, and or a million man march. This film did a great job at showing the real life stuff going on the streets of Cairo. The stories of the many individuals made the film not only inspiring, but very educational. I recommend this documentary to anyone liking to know the different events that have taken place in the world around us.