View source for Video/LB Lesson 3 can we understand clip.m4v/transcript

'''Transcript'''

T: Can we actually really imagine what it would have been like (to be in the trenches during the war)? Is it possible for us to do it? Jonathan, any thoughts on that?
 
Jonathan: We can't do it, not really.
 
T: What do you think Felix, about that, because you've sectioned that out there? Marcel is actually challenging the notion that it's actually possible to imagine it. What do you think?

Felix: Yes, well it probably is, but there's people who lived then, and there's so much information about it. Because there's propaganda. But there's what actually happened and we have quite a lot of sources and, back then when the DVD was made there must have been quite a lot of people that were there.
 
T: Very good. Robert is going to make a point in a minute that I'm going to ask him. Ricky, what do you think? Actually imagining that?
 
Ricky: I don't think you could imagine being there unless you've been there and done it.
 
T: So is it one of those things that’s just too hard for us to imagine?
 
Ricky: Yes, it's like when you imagine winning the lottery. You can imagine what it would be like, but it wouldn't necessarily be like what you think.
 
T: Very good. I think that's quite a nice analogy. I mean it's different, but it's almost beyond our experience. Alex?
 
Alex: I think there are probably bits we can imagine and bits we can't imagine. So we might be able to imagine bits of it.

T: We might be able to imagine certain bits of it. All right. Robert, can I take the point that you made? It links in with what Alex said. Listen to this. This is Robert's view.

Robert: You can imagine what it would look like, but you can't imagine what it would feel like or how you would be feeling.

T: Ok. What do you think about that Owen? You could imagine what it would look like, but not actually what it would feel like. I quite like that.

Owen: Yes, because on the DVDs or on the films and the poems and stuff, it explains and you can see what it looks like, in wasteland, and you're both in trenches, but you wouldn’t know what it was like to go ages without food or water.

T: Ok. Go on Ricky.

Ricky: That's partially true, but you wouldn't know what it would be like to be shot by a bullet or be bombed or something. You wouldn't see what it looked like either.

T: Owen is nodding his head there in agreement with what you were saying. It's true isn't it? I like that idea. You know, this notion about it’s something completely outside of our experience. Can we really imagine something? I tell you what then, why not add in, let me try, or someone else help me out here. Is it possible for us to imagine, well, yes, what it would look like? I like that Robert and it wasn't what I'd thought of. I thought I was going to write something else on here. Yes 'what it looked like' ''<nowiki>[writing on board],</nowiki>'' not 'what it felt like'. You were then able to bring in all the things that Felix and Adill or Joe or whoever it was who came up with this idea ''(indicates the first three categories listed on the board)''. So yes there are some things we can describe about it, but the actual feelings are rather difficult.
 
T: Any other points to make here? Felix?
 
Felix: Well, about the feelings, every single person's experience with it would be different. Can't really say that... Everybody's got different feelings towards the war, and that.
 
T: Ricky would you agree with that in view of what you said? I suppose different people would react in different ways to winning the lottery or imagine winning the lottery in different ways. Felix?
 
Felix: You can't really say... You wouldn't know what anyone would have felt like, even if we were there, you would only know what you felt like.
 
T: Yes, can we ever achieve a common understanding of anything?