Artifact 4: Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry Discussion, May 13th

1. Reflect on any other thoughts you were left with from the film. Then, describe how these thoughts are connected to course content/texts, your essay project ideas, ideas for the portfolio project, etc.

I really liked how they put an emphasis on when Weiwei tried to file an assault charge, they kept trying, even though they knew it was probably not going to work. This ties well with my essay topic because even if we know something, like bullying, will probably never cease to happen completely, the important part is to be persistent and put effort in trying to make it end, even if we already know the outcome.

I chose this discussion as one of my artifacts because it is a great example of how a group of people can collaborate and share their ideas about a specific text individually, and then comment on other’s ideas to create more inquiry about what the text is all about. Watching the documentary Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry gave me great insight to what life in China is like as an activist against communism and the way the Chinese government runs the nation. After watching this documentary and then answering questions about it, it made me realize and begin to understand what transliteracy is. Ai Weiwei used an abundant amount of mediums to portray what he thought about the Chinese government. This great example of how transliteracy is used and it got me thinking of how I have and can continue to put it to practice. This discussion showed me the importance of other people’s ideas besides my own. When there are other notions thrown into the circle, it allows other people to develop more of their own thoughts about that same text, idea, point, etc. Overall, seeing transliteracy in action and being used to spread awareness and knowledge, and having other’s views about this texts besides only my own was very helpful because that in itself was transliteracy being put into action within our class, and it helped with the expansion of my inklings on the subject.