Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Weekly Reflection 3: Un-habituating Monet & Semiotic Analysis (Second Analysis)

The legendary artist Monet's paintings are always very neutral. They never seem to contain a moral or social message. This is most emphasized by Monet's focus on painting nature - flowers, and landscapes. It seems that Monet simply wanted to capture and create beauty, and nothing more, which is quite honorable. And this causes his works to be quite ambiguous in their meaning, almost to the point of having no meaning but art itself. What better subject to apply Shklovsky's un-habituation art technique, which I discussed in weekly reflection 2?

In this case, I would like to recall Monet's The Stroll, referenced in my weekly reflection 1. The following is a dialogue (practically a monologue) written for The Stroll in an attempt to un-habituate Monet's neutrality.

"The bastard is dead," the lady says, wielding her umbrella high, as if a harbinger with sword. "He can't hurt us any longer, Chris, dear."

"Mommy," Chris spoke with hesitation, keeping his distance.

"I know what I did was drastic, some might say, wrong. What other option was there? 'Till death' ... the preacher says. But, who is he to talk? A man who makes his career talking, not thinking, has nothing to say. Paradoxical, isn't it? Reality is not so kind as to follow the prescriptions of heaven, though it would be nice. In that case, 'till death' sounded more like a prophecy waiting to be fulfilled to me. I'm a fugitive now - a cold blooded murderer, according to law. Yet, it was merely defense. Physically, I am pristine, but emotionally, the pain runs deep. A court would never accept that. There was no way out. I could have ran, but where is the justice in that? There is a breech between law and justice. It is because of that that I can't show my face again. I now forever don a mask. But everyone has a face that they won't show anybody else. I'm no different. We're all fake to ensure our own survival. It's anarchy - no structure. It's ..."

At that moment, she was cut off by Chris' words, "Mom, I want to go. I want to run."

"Good. Let's go, we'll be okay." The lady offered an accomplished smile.

--

Dealing with this same Monet painting, the Structuralist analysis of art may also be applied. According to the works of Ferdinand de Saussure and Jonathan Culler, the Structuralist analyzes literature, and indeed all language, by the "signs" found in it. A sign has two parts: a 'signifier' and a 'signified.' A signifier is an arbitrary thing that refers to a real thing. For example, the word "tree" refers to a real plant. A signified is simply that real plant - it is what ever the signifier refers to.
Saussure called this method of analyzing signs "semiotic analysis."

In exhibition of the Structuralist analysis, the following is a semiotic analysis of Monet's The Stroll, which, due to the discussed neutrality above, is quite challenging.

A major focal point are the outfits of the figures. The lady is especially well dressed in clean and historically classy dress, signifying that these people are wealthy, or higher class individuals. The lady is pictured with a similarly dressed young boy, who looks to the lady with patience, signifying possible maternal relationship between the figures. It should be added here that we know the young figure is a boy because his haircut signifies masculinity. The lady is in a large, traditional dress, which signifies a traditional social setting, or family. This also signifies the existence of a father-husband figure that is absent in the painting. The lady's umbrella further signifies the traditional family, because it signifies the importance of the pure, white, chaste ideal of traditional wives that often is falsely attributed to skin tone. Lastly, the figures seem to be staring down at the audience, signifying the figures' characters as haughty, up-tight, or arrogant.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Weekly Reflection 2: Art as the 'Unfamiliar'

Viktor Shklovsky, in Art as Technique, says, "The technique of art is to make objects "unfamiliar," ... to increase the difficulty and length of perception because the process of perception is an aesthetic end in itself and must be prolonged" (Shklovsky 16). To Shklovsky, natural human perception is important to even our own very identities - as if, without perception, we might slip off the face of the earth! It sounds crazy, but Shklovsky makes a great point. Much of our daily routines are habituated to the degree that we may do things unconsciously, such as cruising down an open freeway. When we are unconscious of our actions, it's as if they weren't ever even perceived - we have no recollection of them. Shklovsky rightfully fears, if too much of our lives go unperceived, we will be completely lost to history.

Art, Shklovsky says, forces us to perceive by making the familiar unfamiliar - essentially un-habituating our perceptions, and this is why we like art (Shklovsky 16). The following is a clip of artist Alex Grey, a man whose art has inspired a near cult following, discussing his art, his method, and his art's purpose. His discussion is unusually representative of Shklovsky's ideas.



In particular when Alex Grey discusses his work Sacred Mirrors, Grey is keenly aware of Shklovsky's 'habituated' and 'un-habituated.' In Sacred Mirrors Grey has directly contrasted the two. He depicts the familiar outer appearance of a person's body, which we are very habituated to. Then, he depicts 'the mirror' of that person as a physical representation of the spirit of that individual - something that I doubt anyone can be habituated to.

Grey hopes that, by showing people in their 'spirit form,' we can see that, behind our outer bodies that many have applied much arbitrary importance to, there is something more to humans that may thrive, and which is not based on our skin. It is a message of equality. Mikhail Bakhtin, based on his Discourse in the Novel, might add here that Grey's language is socio-political towards the social and political inequalities between race and gender experienced today (Bakhtin 674).

Works Cited_

Shklovsky, Viktor. Art as Technique. Edited by Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan. Literary Theory: An Anthology Second Edition.

Bakhtin, Mikhail. Art as Technique. Edited by Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan. Literary Theory: An Anthology Second Edition.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Group Presentation: Greek Antiquity

My participation in my group presentation, literary criticism in Greek antiquity, was nearly all-encompassing, which was a pleasure thanks to my reliable group. I had my hand in organizing, creating, and developing our presentation.

First, I created a major concept possibility for our presentation - I proposed that we turn the classroom into Plato's "Allegory of the Cave." By bringing up current affairs that many would be familiar with, I intended to let students apply reason to a subject, question, or statement. This way students would be realizing Plato's metaphor of the cave - we can escape the illusions of reality in the cave if we use philosophical reasoning. This would demonstrate Plato's methodology for his literary theory, and could simultaneously be related to Aristotle's idea that the illusions may have importance as well as truth.

Our group favored Naki's presentation concept of demonstrating the mimetic, so my concept was never realized. However, I also contributed to Nakia's concept. I designed an alternative example to explain the mimetic: The popular vampire book-movie Twilight fashions vampires in a historically unusual way - they are beautiful, super powerful, and twinkle in the sunlight. Here is a clip I gathered to exhibit this; it is the trailer to the first Twilight movie:



The way vampires appear in Twilight contradict the characteristics that vampires were first given - often grotesque, magical, and harmed by sunlight. I intended to have students point out the discrepancies between original vampire and Twilight vampire. These characteristics that vampires were first given are looked at as the literal creation of the vampire - the 'ideal' vampire. This can be compared to Plato's distinction of the ideal and the imitation, and from there, again, may be related to Aristotle.

My contribution to Nakia's concept was scrapped for lack of time, as we had enough material. So I ultimately contributed to the presentation by incorporating a discussion topic into our demonstration of the mimetic. I discussed Horace regarding the birth videos, asking "Are the real, disgusting details of a real birth necessary to capture the essence - Longinus' 'sublime,' if you will - of 'birth?' Or can we do without the real details. Perhaps the imitation birth captures our ideas of 'birth' more clearly because it can convey subjective feelings that we have when the birth is our own."

Once receiving the answers of the students in a discussion, Horace was related to Plato and Aristotle. If the students think that the imitation does capture our ideas of birth, then it seems they side with Aristotle - that we can learn something from the imitation. However, if the students think that the imitation does not capture our ideas of birth, and we need the real thing, then they side with Plato - that the imitation is not "heavenly," and so it is practically useless.

Finding 'The Sublime' on YouTube, continued

On top of my first analysis, here's an alternative clip of 'the sublime' on YouTube:



Honestly, I struggled over choosing this clip or Vega's performance to really focus on in my first analysis. I think they both are profoundly sublime, though I finally admitted that Vega's performance simply exhibited more literal features of Longinus' sublime. But this clip has something of a postmodern, ironic essence, which I adore.

This clip, appropriately titled "Doll Face," meets the universality of the sublime by showing us a tragic story of a fatal 'mistaken identity' of sorts, and then immediately putting ourselves into 'Doll Face's' shoes. Doll Face is led to self destruction through the source of media - the television, and at the end of the clip the screen pans out to find that we have been watching Doll Face's demise on our own 'television.' Not only do we emotionally connect with Face's aspirations to be beautiful, but we realize that we are 'Doll Face' by simply watching Doll Face. This is a universal message about the human experience - we are all behind the 'television screen' of human experience. Even those who are trying to help us, such as through Doll Face's example, we still see them through a filter of someone else eyes. This is universal, and thus strikes us with the sublime.

Monday, February 1, 2010

First Analysis: Finding 'The Sublime' on YouTube

A classical literary theorist, Longinus, in On The Sublime, formulated an idea of 'the sublime' in literature. This 'sublime' is still discussed today with considerable mystery. I have always had difficulty understanding the sublime because of this mystery of it - nobody seems to be able to concisely describe it beyond vague words such as "amazement," and "wonderment." Perhaps this mystery is simply part of the essence of this 'sublime.' At any rate, that is how Longinus formulated his 'sublime' - with plentiful mystery.

Longinus' sublime is an "excellence of discourse" (Murray 114) that amazes all audiences at all times. It not only "persuades or gratifies" (Murray 114), but the wonder of the work tells us something more, something deeper. It's quite a wild definition, and is mostly developed as a prototypical definition - it is developed through example, and not direct description.

To find a clip on YouTube that fits Longinus' sublime might seem a serious feat, but, remarkably, there is plenty to work with. And why shouldn't there be - people are wonders themselves, and YouTube is an intersection of many.



Above is musician Suzanne Vega performing her song, "The Queen and the Soldier," live. This is a prime example of the sublime. In this performance Vega becomes two different people, literally and metaphorically. Literally, Vega is both highly talented guitarist and vocalist. And metaphorically in the lyrics, Vega is both queen and soldier. This touches upon what Longinus means to 'amaze all audiences at all times.' It is a diverse performance, where one single woman discusses major perspectives that occur all over Earth today and in the past - ruler and citizen. Almost anyone can put themselves into one of the two categories, ruler or citizen. Not only are these perspectives discussed, but they are discussed with such grace that both are equally humanized, or equally realistic. The audience can see, and feel for, the conflicting reasoning behind both queen and soldier, all while enjoying a touching tune. The appeal of the performance is thus almost universal - everyone has something to embrace about it. It is a humanizing depiction of both ruler and citizen, and simply may be enjoyed for the musical aesthetic.

Shakespeare was very well known for having realistic characters that learn and grow as a literary work progresses. It is usually this reason that Shakespeare is cited as being one of the greatest writers of history. His works are said to be "universal" in the sense that they appeal to a huge audience. This is a parallel to Vega's "The Queen and the Soldier," and seems to be at the heart of the 'sublime.' After all, it's hard to argue with Shakespeare's success.

Not only does Vega meet the strictest definition of 'the sublime' here, but also her performance represents smaller details of Longinus' formulation of the sublime. Vega's performance clearly is a new song based on historic folk songs. This is exactly one way that Longinus said writers may reach the sublime - imitation (Murray 131). Folk songs became historic because of their popularity in the past, likely for their use of the sublime. In other words, they are a proven method to reach the sublime. By imitating historic folk songs Vega reaches the sublime through Longinus' methodology.

Briefly summing up other ways that Vega meets Longinus' sublime: Vega's performance uses elaborate language - there is strong choice of words, and rhyme is peppered throughout; inspired emotion is well present - what could be more emotionally profound than a dialogue between a royal queen and a menial soldier; and the imagery makes a strong impression - much of the story is descriptive, yet energized (Murray 121).

Above all, Vega gives a beautiful performance in all ways. It's hard not to be struck by wonder - this 'sublime.'


Works Cited_

Longinus. On The Sublime. Translated by Penelope Murray and T. S. Dorsch. Classical Literary Criticism.