I found it very hard to begin doing the essay, so I generally thought about just following on metamorphosis and possibly something on seahorses. It was only after I had someone to talk off of when I managed to make a quick / brillian (for me that is) connection.
In the end I'm thinking of basing the majority of my essay around evolution.
Now how I came up with this is by;
- first centering around 'Metamorphosis'
- secondly thinking about my spliced animal, therefore leading too basing it around seahorses
- wanting to find the myth's behind seahorses lead me to look at greek mythology
- Questioning why the Greeks made up creatures for their gods
- which managed to lead me to inventors, the 1st inventors of stuff we couldn't live without being seen as crazy at the time, wondering how we were able to expand our knowkledge in order to make things which are unimaginable (who made the first circut board, why did they do that) and dotting around 'who are the inventors' are they the same people as back then, why are they the only people able to break the bonds of our limited knowledge.
- And from that I got to evolution, as it was obviously the real creator of metamorphosis, I mean if one was to speed up evolutionary pictures of one creature it would ook like a tranformation. exactly like the ones we see shown in movies.
Posts
Anatomy: Interim Online Review 05/10/2010
ReplyDeleteHey Lyn-Dae,
Okay – let’s deal with the essay question first. It’s clear identifying a suitable subject has been making you anxious (and others too). While I enjoyed seeing the way in which you arrived at your proposed idea, I’m going to be honest and say that it sounds like a bit of a quagmire to me. You’ve only got 1,500 words, which, right now, may seem like an awful lot. It really isn’t and keeping things tight, well-argued and specific is an absolute must and a skill you need to acquire. Evolution does indeed fit thematically with ‘metamorphosis’, but I’m not clear on which aspect you intend to focus; is it ‘depictions of evolution in art’ for instance?
I’m a bit puzzled actually. It seems to me that you’ve already started research into a subject that would make for great and very focused essay. Your film reviews are interesting – and the Cat People one in particular – interesting because you say you’ve done some research into the way Russians were viewed by Americans and found evidence to suggest that they were viewed with suspicion; and then you relate the information to your reading of Cat People. This is great – a really good example of wider research casting new, cultural light on a specific subject. Why don’t you use Cat People as the subject of your essay? Think about it; Cat People is another example of popular culture using the transformation of human into animal to tell stories about emotional relationships; therefore it relates to much older stories/legends – which you could investigate in terms of historical context. Then, in Cat People you have a number of very specific themes to address; you have the idea of ‘female sexuality’ and the animal metaphors used to express it (the sphinx etc.). Then you have the idea of the panther itself as symbolizing evil (why?). You have Irena representing (possibly) American anxieties towards immigrants and mixed race relationships… In that one film, you have a number of topics to research; this is one of the reasons why I show you them, so you might have a topic for your assignments!
On the subject of your film reviews, you’re not presenting them as requested by the brief; YOU MUST READ YOUR BRIEF AND DO AS IT ASKS!!! So – please, take note: “Film reviews for the ‘Shapeshifters’ film programme. Please note – in addition to and support of your own critique, your reviews must include a minimum of 3 quotations from 3 different published reviews + poster art + supporting stills.”
ReplyDeleteMore positively, I like your Photoshop sequences – particularly the first sequence, with the pink highlights. You seem to finding your stride a little more and I urge you continue refining your technique and embracing new skills. I’m also pleased to see you making wider cultural connections – this is what I want from degree students – the ability to ‘join the dots’. Remember, however, that this is a ‘self-portrait’ project – not simply a creature or character design job; I’m interested in seeing your likeness or some semblance in your final image – something of your humanity. You’ve got some very sensitive life-drawings and some nice studies of yourself too, so let’s see some of that nice observation stuff in your final piece.
I’ve got to say it Lyn-Dae; your blog template is pretty awful… sorry, but your title font if barely readable, and the header artwork is so large, that I always have to scroll down to find the content. The text background is incredibly distracting and – put simply, in design terms, it just looks a bit of dog’s breakfast. Can you calm it down a bit? Check out these second/third year blogs for some ideas…
http://rubensblogpage.blogspot.com/
http://ltsang.blogspot.com/
http://wakkamole.blogspot.com/
http://tombeg.blogspot.com/