I'm writing this assignment on Maya Deren, which is who I chose to watch three films of.
The films I watched were:
- Meshes of the Afternoon
- At Land
- Ritual in Transfigured Time
While watching these movies the thing that was always in common for me that I noticed were:
- There was always a blank, strange sort of opening when it came to starting the film out. Some sort of bizarre act would occur.
- They were all in black and white.
- They all had very lovely soundtracks.
- Each film had a very dream-state trance-esque feel to the films.
- There was a lot of symbolism with the themes of these movies.
- They all had a woman as the star of the film.
- There was a lot of abstract symbols and characters in the films. (Character with a face for a mirror in Meshes of the Afternoon)
Her voice seems to always have a sort of dream-like quality to her movies, as well as trying to tell a story with some form of self expression or feelings about a certain way things are going in a relationship, or in life. She loves to use symbolism for these movies especially, adding to the dream-like quality that always occurs in these films.
Monday, March 20, 2017
List of things in Common with Jim Jarmusch films
- Almost a film noire-like thing in all the films
- Two are black and white for that false old-look
- Have very moody or depressing themes/tones/attitude
- Teeter on the line of being almost too real of a situation
- There's always some sort of couple relationship in the movie
- Very complicated characters that have their own thing going on
- Multiple stories going on in one film (though sometimes only two stories)
- Traveling and running away from things
- People being put out of their elements
- Significant things always happen on the corner of a street/intersection
- Characters are all developed by some sort of unfortunate circumstance
- We never really see anything from a first-person point of view, we're always looking at the characters from the outside
- There's always a character that doesn't have english as their main language.
- Two are black and white for that false old-look
- Have very moody or depressing themes/tones/attitude
- Teeter on the line of being almost too real of a situation
- There's always some sort of couple relationship in the movie
- Very complicated characters that have their own thing going on
- Multiple stories going on in one film (though sometimes only two stories)
- Traveling and running away from things
- People being put out of their elements
- Significant things always happen on the corner of a street/intersection
- Characters are all developed by some sort of unfortunate circumstance
- We never really see anything from a first-person point of view, we're always looking at the characters from the outside
- There's always a character that doesn't have english as their main language.
Monday, March 13, 2017
The Goose Father (In-class writing assignment)
Copy-pasted from our Google Docs session from class today.
Order of Things to happen:
- Views of newspaper talking about goose-fathers, Gilho’s daily life, eating junk food because wife/kids were in America, but he was better off with money and planning his life/fortunes. Scene of him hugging dirty baseball mit. Next would be putting out ad for tenant, to help with his lonely feeling.
- Show meeting Wuseong and introduce goose at doorstep.
- Show balcony scene of confrontation between Gilho and goose. Gilho was checking on plants.
- Show scene with pancake and then develop into montage where they start more separate but get a lot friendlier and close with one another.
- Show night going out to drink and do stuff, close moment, show Gilho slapping Wuseong, Wuseong disappears for a day or so. Show empty apartment, then show him getting visas, calling in sick, etc.
- Passage of time, show him drinking with other guys, show him bringing other dude home.
- Show them coming back and Wuseong comes back and he’s sitting on the balcony with the goose.
- Drunk guy tries grabbing goose feathers, gets bit, Gilho has another confrontation with the goose, eventually lets goose go after Wuseong talks to him.
- Gilho wakes up, new moon, sees Wuseong standing on balcony with goose-corpse-mom scene.
- Show visual representation of Gilho coming to terms with loving Wuseong with goose wings enveloping the both of them in a hug for end. To show the end of Gilho’s internal struggle with feelings.
Visual Important things:
- Bright colors for when Wuseong and Gilho are around each other
- Desaturated for when they aren’t around each other
- Normal Actors (Not an Animated Feature)
- Importance of Goose-mom scene, heavy visuals on this scene to imply importance of it.
- Lots of focus shifting for scenes
- Sharp cuts for most scenes; Fuzzy/soft cuts for passages of time.
Visuals (Locations and Theme?):
- Korean based still like original story
- More focused on the romance; less on weird goose corpse mom?
- Show even amounts of the backstory between Gilho and Wuseong since we’re learning about both of them.
- Definitely keep goose.
- Modern time (2016-17); It still keeps economic issues and also common theme of families staying apart and people staying, etc.
Sunday, March 12, 2017
Writing Assignment: Costume Designer (Empire Strikes Back)
When approaching a script like this I feel that a lot of the elements of this movie could be very mysterious and strange looking, something that would invoke a sense of not really knowing what kind of creature or alien that the audience is looking at. I would approach this script with costume designs for the characters that would only be 'familiar' on the main characters, or even just the human ones, but for things like the aliens and mysterious monsters, they would have to have some truly bizarre looking designs and things to make them look almost in the realm of uncanny valley.
I would want my costumes to be really memorable, though I feel they might not age that well due to how exaggerated they would have to be to teeter on the realm of uncanny valley.
I would want my costumes to be really memorable, though I feel they might not age that well due to how exaggerated they would have to be to teeter on the realm of uncanny valley.
Sunday, February 26, 2017
Questions - Whites
How are our characters connected to the world?
Well, I think our characters are very connected to the world in this short story "Whites" by Julie Otsuka. They are stated as being a very real part of California's history in farming and existing in the country while having a sense of honor-bound duty to their families back in Japan. They are very real and entrenched in the underbelly of American's society during that time, and do a wonderful job of bringing us a view of that world with the ways they have to talk to Americans, do their work, and speak about their own places where they feel they can be safe. Calling the little Japantown in San Francisco 'more Japanese than the villages in Japan' was a really unique way of bringing us into this perspective of the situation these Japanese people were stuck in, specifically the Japanese women.
Well, I think our characters are very connected to the world in this short story "Whites" by Julie Otsuka. They are stated as being a very real part of California's history in farming and existing in the country while having a sense of honor-bound duty to their families back in Japan. They are very real and entrenched in the underbelly of American's society during that time, and do a wonderful job of bringing us a view of that world with the ways they have to talk to Americans, do their work, and speak about their own places where they feel they can be safe. Calling the little Japantown in San Francisco 'more Japanese than the villages in Japan' was a really unique way of bringing us into this perspective of the situation these Japanese people were stuck in, specifically the Japanese women.
Sunday, February 19, 2017
Short Story Questions
Are there any female characters in the work that you identify with?
• I don't really personally identify with a lot of the female characters in these stories. I've never really been in these situations that a lot of them are placed in, so I don't find a whole lot relate-able to them. Possibly the instance of being lost due to trauma, but that's about all.
How are relationships between men and women (or characters assuming male/female roles) portrayed in the story?
• It, to me, just always looks like a very heavy one-side-has-freedom/power while the other side has little to none, and the one without power always finding some joy to getting that freedom, or the character feeling sadness or whatever when they're having that power used against them.
What are the power relationships between men and women in the text?
• The men usually have the most power, and either use it or don't outright use it in the story but it's implied due to the sorrow of the female character.
How are male and female roles defined?
• The female characters are almost always relegated to being trapped inside the house, or trapped doing things they absolutely don't want to do. The male characters are always running around doing really whatever they want.
What constitutes masculiniity and femininity in the world of the story?
• "Femininity" is usually defined by staying home, cleaning, being quiet/submissive, being pretty for the husband. "Masculinity" Is usually defined by always bringing home money/food, being aggressive and in control, always keeping a hold on the situation and not letting any threats appear.
Do characters take on traits from opposite genders in the story? How so? Does this change others reactions to them?
• I suppose in the one that I read, Where are You Going; Where Have You Been, one of the male characters that the main character originally finds interest in takes on a pushover, easily manipulated, submissive role to the aggressive, bad male character. I suppose that could be 'taking traits' from opposite genders.
What does the work reveal about the ooperations (economically, politically, socially, or psychologically) of patriarchy?
• That the men of the society are extremely entitled and believe they are owed whatever a woman has.
What does the work express or imply about the possiblities of sisterhood as a mode of resisting patriarchy?
• That women need to spend less time being pitted against each other by men, and spend more time working together to survive and have success.
What does the work say about the history of women in literature or the arts or about women's creativity?
• I think it implies that women are insanely creative in various fields, but they're often pushed aside or purposely written out of history/stories because they don't want people finding out that women can be successful.
• I don't really personally identify with a lot of the female characters in these stories. I've never really been in these situations that a lot of them are placed in, so I don't find a whole lot relate-able to them. Possibly the instance of being lost due to trauma, but that's about all.
How are relationships between men and women (or characters assuming male/female roles) portrayed in the story?
• It, to me, just always looks like a very heavy one-side-has-freedom/power while the other side has little to none, and the one without power always finding some joy to getting that freedom, or the character feeling sadness or whatever when they're having that power used against them.
What are the power relationships between men and women in the text?
• The men usually have the most power, and either use it or don't outright use it in the story but it's implied due to the sorrow of the female character.
How are male and female roles defined?
• The female characters are almost always relegated to being trapped inside the house, or trapped doing things they absolutely don't want to do. The male characters are always running around doing really whatever they want.
What constitutes masculiniity and femininity in the world of the story?
• "Femininity" is usually defined by staying home, cleaning, being quiet/submissive, being pretty for the husband. "Masculinity" Is usually defined by always bringing home money/food, being aggressive and in control, always keeping a hold on the situation and not letting any threats appear.
Do characters take on traits from opposite genders in the story? How so? Does this change others reactions to them?
• I suppose in the one that I read, Where are You Going; Where Have You Been, one of the male characters that the main character originally finds interest in takes on a pushover, easily manipulated, submissive role to the aggressive, bad male character. I suppose that could be 'taking traits' from opposite genders.
What does the work reveal about the ooperations (economically, politically, socially, or psychologically) of patriarchy?
• That the men of the society are extremely entitled and believe they are owed whatever a woman has.
What does the work express or imply about the possiblities of sisterhood as a mode of resisting patriarchy?
• That women need to spend less time being pitted against each other by men, and spend more time working together to survive and have success.
What does the work say about the history of women in literature or the arts or about women's creativity?
• I think it implies that women are insanely creative in various fields, but they're often pushed aside or purposely written out of history/stories because they don't want people finding out that women can be successful.
Monday, February 6, 2017
Wonder Woman
For the question for writing this week:
I would like to design a female character that is okay with being pretty, she's smart, she doesn't put up with the 'not like other girls' bullshit (it's a tired rhetoric, very embarrassing to read.) She's allowed to display emotion, without being put down for expression emotion, for her to be able to have friends that are men without her immediately being shackled to them as a 'love' interest. I'd like her to be able to love another woman, without being reduced to just fetish material, or the fact that she loves another woman be seen as wildly inappropriate or only ever sexual.
This week when we read the book talking about Wonder Woman and her history, I was actually very surprised to find out so many things connected to her creation, as well as her 'lore' in the comic series.
I had no idea that wonder woman was even remotely connected to the creation of the lie detector, or that murders and other scandals were connected to her history and the people who created her. I will admit, reading the book was somewhat hard for me, because the format of it was very hard for me to follow.
Stuff and chapters felt very fractured to me, making it hard to connect the chapters together as I was reading. It was a good book, but was hard for me to follow and read.
The film that we watched in class was pretty good, but I'm pretty, personally, tired of people immediately attacking women who like to use makeup, and who immediately assume they are vapid and are only doing it to impress people.
Most of the content in the film I agree with, especially with the perspective of people being called bitchy because they are a woman in power. This attitude has gotten especially worse, with the rise of people immediately attacking a woman (or anybody that challenges the normal) when they point out something wrong, calling them 'triggered', annoying, 'sjw', etc.
The attitude is even worse towards women who don't fit the 'norm' either, including fat women, disabled women, women of color, trans women, are always put down and made fun of.
I would like to design a female character that is okay with being pretty, she's smart, she doesn't put up with the 'not like other girls' bullshit (it's a tired rhetoric, very embarrassing to read.) She's allowed to display emotion, without being put down for expression emotion, for her to be able to have friends that are men without her immediately being shackled to them as a 'love' interest. I'd like her to be able to love another woman, without being reduced to just fetish material, or the fact that she loves another woman be seen as wildly inappropriate or only ever sexual.
This week when we read the book talking about Wonder Woman and her history, I was actually very surprised to find out so many things connected to her creation, as well as her 'lore' in the comic series.
I had no idea that wonder woman was even remotely connected to the creation of the lie detector, or that murders and other scandals were connected to her history and the people who created her. I will admit, reading the book was somewhat hard for me, because the format of it was very hard for me to follow.
Stuff and chapters felt very fractured to me, making it hard to connect the chapters together as I was reading. It was a good book, but was hard for me to follow and read.
The film that we watched in class was pretty good, but I'm pretty, personally, tired of people immediately attacking women who like to use makeup, and who immediately assume they are vapid and are only doing it to impress people.
Most of the content in the film I agree with, especially with the perspective of people being called bitchy because they are a woman in power. This attitude has gotten especially worse, with the rise of people immediately attacking a woman (or anybody that challenges the normal) when they point out something wrong, calling them 'triggered', annoying, 'sjw', etc.
The attitude is even worse towards women who don't fit the 'norm' either, including fat women, disabled women, women of color, trans women, are always put down and made fun of.
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