Introduction

Hello!

Rationale - The Life of Pi was chosen as the subject matter for this creative response. A blog was chosen as the method through which to represent the philosphical ideas of the movie/book.

Reason for choosing a blog
The reason a blog was chosen was because of the challenge of conveying difficult information to the audience that a blog presented. Difficult ideas are often rejected by some readers on the basis that they require too much thought. The use of a blog therefore allowed the challenge of trying to create a work that could reverse this trend. Through the use of an informal style and an informal style of media the aim is to bring philosophical ideas to normal people, idead that they would not usually be interested in trying to understand.
Another reason for using a blog was to show people who use the internet that instead of dismissing a film without thought, it is possible to understand and analyse movies/books. On the interent people tend to dismiss or praise a film without any evidence. We hope to present an example that other people can follow of critically assessing films based on detailed explorations of their content and ideas.

Structure
In this chain of blogs, there will be a total of 3/4 blog posts, excluding the rationale. In each blog post one philosophical idea from the film and book, Life of Pi, will be discussed. The reason for choosing one blog post per idea is to not confuse the audience. Each blog will follow the same basic structure. In each blog there will be, an introduction to which idea from the film/book is being presented, the philosophical idea will then be explained, how the film explains this idea will then be explored, then we will evaluate how well the film explains the idea through content and presentation and I will give my opinion and discuss the idea. To present the philosphical ideas in a way that can appeal to ordinary people simple example, diagrams, and simple language will be used to present the ideas in an accessible way, free from the normal academic sytle which turns off most people from philosophical subjects.

The blogs will be presented in the following order:

blog 1: To what extent are we capable of creating our own reality?

blog 2: Religion and science- do religion and science share the same truth in that they are both belief systems created by humans which become true because people believe they are true?

blog 3: Do we live in our own reality or do we change our reality to meet others expectations of other people?


The ideas behind the film-

1. To what extent is reality forced upon us by other people? (start with an explanation of how the argument is represented in the film. Then explain the philosophy)

2. Religion and science- do they share the same truth in that they are both belief systems created by humans which become true because people believe they are true? (start with an explanation of how the argument is represented in the film. Then explain the philosophy)
eg if I believe an ant always climbs up a tree and I find water at the top of the tree most of the time then it becomes my scientific belief that ants going up trees means water. However the truth may be that ants climb trees to get to sap and have no interest in the water at all. I am wrong but my belief in association becomes a scientiific truth. Religion is the same truth- I believe in God and so I look for evidence to justify this belief eg saying the world works so wonderfully. Actually there are so many problems but I explain them as God's will etc. I act as if the religion is real and so religion becomes real for me. Explain how this concept is related to the film/book.

3. The creation of a false reality to meet the expectations of other people- do we change our reality to meet others expectations of reality. If we do we are hiding from ourselves in order to fit in to other people's reality. (start with an explanation of how the argument is represented in the film. Then explain the philosophy)