When a Reporter Becomes the Story

In the TED Talk, When a reporter becomes the story, Giles Duley states at the begging of his talk that, "by listening to other peoples stories we can learn about the world, about other people, and get a better understanding." So to prove his point, he tells his story; what inspired him, and how he inspired others. Giles Duley was a fashion and music photographer for 10 years, but he did not feel like he was doing the "right" thing. He eventually decided to drop from the photography business and he became a care worker. This is where Duley met his first inspiration to tell other peoples stories, his inspirations name was Nick. Nick was an autistic child who self-harmed and described his life as, "living downstairs at a party." Through working with Nick, Duley realized that he could tell someones life through photography, and be able to share their story to potentially help them even more by doing so. This realization actually proved to be true because Nick received more help after Duley shared his photograph of him, and he is currently doing a lot better and no longer self harming. 

Giles Duley's next inspiration came from a refugee camp site at the border of Burma and Bangladesh. The people here had been, "left to rot for over 20 years," and they were living hopelessly. Many people showed up to the place where Duley was taking photographs, but not because they thought he was a doctor, because they knew he was going to share their story. This reaction showed Duley that his work was truly worth while to the people at the other end of the camera.

In Odessa, Ukraine, Giles Duley met his next inspiration: street kids. While many people warned him of the street kids, Duley actually made the decision to live with them, and towards the end of his trip with them he even trusted to kids to hold his camera and bag while he entered the water with the oldest of the kids in the group. A boy named Lilic held the camera, and seemed to enjoy the idea of photography, so Duley promised to bring him his own camera and teach him photography. But unfortunately, Lilic was found dead the next day from drinking an excessive amount of vodka while taking pills. Duley took this incident as a reminder of why he documents these people because their lives are just as important as ours. 

Then, Giles Duley tells how he became part of the story. While on patrol in Afghanistan he stepped on an IED. He thought his work was over. But from this incident, he realized that he didn't travel the world just for the photographs, he wanted to make change, and now his body was a living example of what war does to somebody. So, he began to use his body and experience to tell that story, and it was the stories that he had previously documented that inspired him to do so. Giles Duley ended up taking a self portrait. One that shows what a bomb does, that shows that losing limbs doesn't end a life, that shows you can have what people perceive as a disability and not be disabled, and shows that you can be able to do anything if you put your mind to it and believe in it. 

So the purpose of this TED Talk, and having Giles Duley share his story is to show that everyone has the ability to use something to make a difference in the world, and there is nothing that can stop us from making that difference once our mind is set to it. Life goes on even when dealing with terrible things, but if we share those stories then we can inspire each other to get through those bad times. The speaker, Giles Duley, gets this point across by primarily utilizing ethos, and pathos. The speaker is extremely credible, considering he was a professional photographer, and had an extremely terrible personal experience that relates to this idea of story telling for inspiration of others. His expertise of photography were presented in this talk with photographs from the 3 stories previously mentioned, and also a self portrait of himself that revealed his injuries. Emotional appeal was also highly present in this TED Talk. Appealing to emotion was an effective strategy for the argument being discussed because the speaker was trying to evoke a sadness for others from the audience, so that the audience would then feel obligated to help others and also be inspired by his story of how he has continued with his life. The speaker is appealing to the emotions of the audience by describing the lives of the people in the three stories in such a way that no one would want to live like they do. In the second story, the lives of the refugees are described as "hopeless" and pictures are also shown displayed a child who has a tumor growing out of his face and he "is slowly suffocating" and he can't get help. Parents would not want their children living in those situations, and children would wish their parents could keep them out of situations like this and be able to help them, so this appeals to the emotions in the audience because the audience feels that they must do something since those families can't. 

I chose this TED Talk initially because the title of the talk grabbed my attention, and the photograph of Giles Duley as the cover of the video made me extremely curious to what could have happened to a man in order for him to loose both legs, one arm, and go from a reporter to the story. Then as I watched the TED Talk, I genuinely enjoyed listening to his story. His story from a professional fashion and music photographer, to care worker, to photography again but helping share the stories others lives, then sharing his own life story. I enjoy reading and watching inspirational things, and this TED Talk was extremely inspiring. It makes me want to go out and use something that I love in such a way that I can help make a difference in the world. 

Double Indemnity, Baby

In your mind, are there any heroes in Double Indemnity? If so, who?

Double Indemnity is a 1944 American film noir that is about the story of an insurance salesman, Walter Neff, and his place in a murderous game involving the Dietrichson family.

Walter came to the Dietrichson home one afternoon to renew their insurance policy, but was instantly attracted to Mrs. Dietrichson, Phyllis. As Phyllis and Walter discussed insurance plans while Mr. Dietrichson was not home, the topic of an 'accident insurance' for her husband came up. Walter was an experienced and smart salesman, so he immediately noticed that this insurance policy would be made intending for the death of Mr. Dietrichson, because she would receive money from it. At first, Walter refused to help her in the murder of her husband, but when she explained how abusive he was, and how unhappy she was with him, he agreed. Together, they tricked Mr. Dietrichson into signing the accident insurance policy. This policy insured Dietrichson's life for $50,000, but if Mr. Dietrichson's death was deemed to be an accident, then this price would be doubled. In the eyes of Phyllis, this amount of money was enough to make her kill her husband,and free herself from him. And for Walter, this amount of money was enough for him to help her, so he can also have her to himself. Walter and Phyllis carried through with an elaborate plan of murdering Mr. Dietrichson, then staging it so that it looked like Mr. Dietrichson had fallen off of the train that he was taking to attend a college reunion, and falling to his death. However, certain people, such as Walter's boss Mr. Keyes, had suspicions about this "accident" and felt that it was not actually an accident. But in the end, both Walter and Phyllis ended up shot. Phyllis shot Walter in the shoulder first, then Walter responded by taking the gun and shooting her twice, killing her, and Mr. Keyes found out the truth about Walter and this murder.

Now, with this summary of the film 'Double Indemnity' is it possible to identify any heroes?

From an outside perspective, there is no single hero. Everyone in this film noir committed an act that was unethical or unmoral based upon our societies ethics, morals, and values, and most actions were made upon greed. However, each character in this film views some one else as their personal hero.

For example, Phyllis views Walter as a hero. Walter aided her in the murder of her husband because he knew she wasn't happy with him. Her husband was a drunk, who was both oppressive and controlling. Walter tricked her husband into signing the accident insurance policy, which meant that when he was killed Phyllis would receive the money from his death. Phyllis viewed Walter's willingness to help her in the murder as an heroic act, and she loved him for that. Walter also did other "heroic" things that made him more of a hero to her. He created the great alibi for the two of them, so when the murder is revealed to the town the two of them wouldn't be suspected, and he was also able to fix her car after the murder was committed when they were trying to drive away. Walter is her hero in the film noir. However, Mrs. Dietrichson was not his hero. Even though Walter loved her, she was not a hero because her intentions with the accident insurance policy were selfish, greedy, and she was manipulative.

But Walter did not feel like a hero in this situation. Walter had a feeling that everything would go wrong, and his nerves were pulling him to pieces, especially after his boss began confessing about his suspicions that the murder was no accident and he believed it to be an act of murder committed by Phyllis and her lover. Walter was going to drive himself insane, and after the murder he, "couldn't hear his footsteps..." (Double Indemnity). This phrase said in the film noir directly correlates to the story of Macbeth after Macbeth's first murder and he, "couldn't even say amen..." (Macbeth). Even though Walter's actions were not stereo typically heroic, he was still viewed as a hero by most characters in the film, for example Mr. Keyes, and Phyllis's daughter Lola.

Mr. Keyes views the man that was "last to see Mr. Dietrichson on the train..." (Double Indemnity) as a hero, because he holds the knowledge that could lead Keyes to making a conclusion about his suspicions. But neither man performs an heroic act. Mr. Keyes also views Walter as a hero because Walter is one of his best insurance salesmen. As for Lola, her hero could be both her boyfriend that she loves, and also Walter because she can talk to him about anything.

This American film noir is a deceiving film that includes lies, and murders, and with that there could not possibly be any overall heroes that match the heroic standards of our society today. Even though Walter was viewed as a hero by most characters in the film for different reasons, his actions were neither ethical nor moral, so there is still no identifiable hero who includes all of the characteristics of a typical hero by today's standards.