Third Video Review

The first two videos I chose were the Buddhism and Hinduism videos. I chose them in hopes of getting a better understanding of the two religions, and to better be able to differentiate between them. I read about Buddhism in the text, and when reading about the eightfold path, and the cycle of life, it was all familiar to me, but Hinduism, not so much. In the Buddhism video, they talk about the "middle way" of living, as Buddha referred to it. It discusses how they could exist on earth, but not be a materialistic part of it. They practiced simplicity and meditation of the spirit, following the eightfold path. After Buddha died, Buddhist art and architecture expanded. The narrator speaks of how each building is beautiful and narrative, as each one has a story, whether its how it was formed, or within the symbols carved into its detail. The Hinduism video starts off discussing beliefs--they believe in many gods, and believe in reincarnation and the cycle of death and rebirth. They show a cremation ceremony in which they believe the flames release the soul from the body, and allows it to come back in another life cycle. Art and architecture flowered, and shifted from wood to rock(Panch Rathas example). They loved their temples, as well as their homes to be decorated lavishly.

The third video I chose was African Art. It states that African art is based on tradition and is found everywhere. From hairstyles, to clothing, to clay pots and everyday objects. A lot of the African art is based on ritual and created for ceremonies and celebration. It is mentioned that animals, plants, and even rocks, are said to be effected by spirits. They show several different traditional art such as rock art and carvings of animals and humans and the symbolism behind it. The book goes into a little detail about rock art, and early carvings of humans and animals, and like the video states that they were stylized, but recognizable. The meaning behind them was unknown, but maybe they didn't have any symbolic meaning behind them, maybe they just carved what they knew--what was common surrounding to them.


The last video was African Art, Legacy of Oppression. Narrators discuss different sculptures within the collection, mostly human figures. They discuss masks, and the twisted form of one of the male sculptures, which was uncharacteristic of normal African art. There was also magic art, which had doors for 'potions', and were used as tokens of revenge, and most common in magic art; masks. There are several different types of masks, all sending different messages, and some for ritual use. The book discusses masks, mostly for ritual use, but the way in which they were designed said a lot about their uses and purpose.


I liked the two videos of Buddhism and Hinduism the best. Although they were tougher to understand than the others, they had good content, and went into just the right amount of depth for proper understanding of the culture, and religion. Seeing the practices, like the cremation ceremonies, and seeing some of the artwork, gives a much better understanding than just reading about them in the book, and seeing still photos.