This was the first Classics course I’ve ever taken (and I was surprised by how much Percy Jackson prepared me for it). I wanted to take a fun class to offset my thesis for the last semester of undergrad. I’m really glad I took this class. It was a lot of fun, and I loved all of the conversations we had. Like someone else said during our last class, there wasn’t anyone in the class that I didn’t like.
After taking this class, I have definitely noticed myself paying more attention to how bodies are portrayed in media. I just finished the most recent season of Westworld (whose protagonists are super-realistic human robots), and I found myself considering how the robots were portrayed versus the humans and how that helped communicate the series’ message. Even in non-fictional media like documentaries, I find myself looking at how people’s bodies are portrayed. I am noticing how police are depicted in Law and Order and in as part of the protests. I keep noticing what the cops’ protective gear does to the silhouettes and makes their bodies look more conventionally masculine or strong.
During this time at home, I have also been thinking about food a lot. Like, I keep wondering what Rabelais would think of McDonalds. Would he love the greasy, salty addictiveness of it? Or would he be disappointed that food has become such a convenient thing, just something to put into our bodies to stop hunger instead of something to really chew on and enjoy? And what would he think of those recipes you get from mommy blogs, where they tell long stories before they give you the recipe?
I am also thinking about my own relation to food and my body–am I finding my meals joyous? Or boring? My body is definitely changing during quarantine. Am I becoming more delightfully grotesque? Or am I eating to cancel out the boredom/trauma of living during a pandemic? I would love, love, love if we could just do eternal appetizers. I loved hearing what everyone wanted to discuss that week, and I loved having help digesting my own ideas. I’m so glad I took this class, and I’m actually really sad that it’s over.
