Fashioning the Body: Versions of the Citizen, the Self, and the Subject

I loved the doll show and tell!  It was great to see what types of dolls people brought in, and how they compare to the others.  Looking at those dolls brought me back to when me and my (then) husband had an extensive Star Wars collection.  It all started when were going to college in North Dakota, and it was at the same time when George Lucas re-released the original Star Wars movies in the theaters.  Living in the midwest, it was hard to find stuff to do, so we started going to the Wal-Mart in search of the Power of the Force action figures.  We were driven to find ALL of them!  When we moved back to Washington a couple years later, our collection didn't stop growing.  Now we were able to go to other chain stores to get the latest batch.  At that time, the new Star Wars movies were coming out, and we would camp overnight for tickets and seats to every one.  We went absolutely nuts over Star Wars!  When we got divorced last year, we had to decide who would get the collection.  Because of it's massiveness, we decided that he would get the Star Wars Collection and I would end up with the house.  I still think about that collection and miss all the memories , but I'm glad I gave it up to have a roof over my head.

I found it very interesting to watch each of the clips that were shown, but I have to be honest, it really didn't impact me a whole lot.  It was the first clip 'Vertical Roll' that sort of shut me down for the performance.  That intense banging sound and the flipping visual made it really hard to take in for me.  The next two clips, 'Female Sensibility' and 'Through the Large Glass' I didn't connect with either.  There was however a positive turning point for me on the two final clips 'The East is Red, The West is Bending' and Technology/Transformation: Wonder Woman'.  Martha Rosler was absolutely hilarious when she was reading those wok instructions and putting her own spin towards the end.  And of course, Wonder Woman brought me right back to 1978.  I felt like a kid again when idolizing thoughts came stirring back into my brain.  Overall, I wasn't very impacted by the performance, but there were definitely highlights to it.

I have never experienced a video chat and it was great to have the opportnity to see how it really worked.  I did feel alienated with the big screen because I felt the facilitating group was staring at me with their huge eyes.  The chat room within the tables I didn't like very much because I felt so disconnected.  I became more of a spectator than an active participate.  I felt the conversation went very fast and found myself hard to respond because my response would of been from several lines back.  I believe in my own personal life that technology is a good thing, but I don't want it to take away the personal connection with people.  I would much rather talk to someone in person than to shoot them an email because it's more conveniant.  Personal connection is so important to me.

I really enjoyed all of the exercises we did for this seminar!  The exercise that was most impactful for mean was when we all were facing back to back from each other and answering questions with questions related to whatever topic was being brought up.  I felt because I wasn't looking at anyone, I had more freedom to use my voice, whereas I usally have a hard time speaking up when people are looking at me.  I also enjoyed to the epitaphs that were used as segues into each exercise.  Overall I had a lot of fun.

MIRRORMASK OUTLINE

I.  Pinch of movie background

  A.  Helena enters dreamworld she created involuntary.

  B.  Switched by princess- wants to experience realworld.

  C.  Captured and brought to evil queen.

II.  Helena's Transformation

  A.  Robot maids

    1.  Lull Helena into trance with song

    2.  They don't have feet- stay in boxes

  B.  Helena to princess

    1.  Very subtle and smooth

    2.  End result is dramatic

    3.  Helena doesn't get a mask

III.  Movie observations

  A.  Normal/Abnormal comparision

    1.  Bodies (dreamworld vs. realworld)

    2.  Atmosphere (dreamworld vs. realworld)

  B.  Masks

    1. Everyone in dreamworld has one- normal

    2. Everyone in realworld has no masks- normal

      a)  Circus Masks

      b)  Valentine's jokes

  C.  Overall critique

    1.  Great CG effects

    2.  Enjoyable to watch/ mesmerized 

 

                                                                                                                                  Laurel 1

Olivia D. Laurel

 

Julia Zay

 

Fashioning the Body

 

2 November 2007

 

Andy Warhol’s Most Wanted Men

 

 

 

Andy Warhol created the mural ‘The 13 Most Wanted Men’ for the New York City World’s Fair in 1964.  He could have stuck to making a mural of Campbell’s soup labels, but instead he used his artwork as an agency to make a political statement. This political statement however was made up of many different components. I feel he wasn’t trying to make just one bold statement; he was speaking to his audience on various different levels of politics.  I would like to share each observation I found to show his possible motives for this particular art piece, and in doing that I have decided to use the texts of Michel Foucault and Mary Douglas to support my thoughts and ideas in this matter.

            Looking at his past art pieces like Electric Chair, Green Burning Car, and 129 Die in Jet, to name a few, he loved shock value in his work (Sanders 35-38).  He seemed to be driven through tragedy.  This behavior might have been sparked when his father passed away from peritonitis when he was a young boy in 1941(Greenberg 12).  It was tradition in the church for his family to hold a wake for three days in the home.  Having the dead body of his father lay in the house devastated him so much that he would refuse to come out of his room and would hide underneath the bed until the wake was over (11).  Years

The speed dating idea was quite fun.  It was great to talk to new faces within the class, and to be able to reconnect with old ones.  I have to be honest in saying that I wasn't prepared on the readings of Brecht, but was still able to have quality conversation with each person on the topic.  It was also very good to be able to discuss with others about our project proposals. I am still in the brainstorming process and to be able to talk about it helped me solidify some of my thoughts.

I am still very much in the brainstorming process for my project proposal.  What I have right now is the idea of doing various 'portrait' pictures of body parts (I'm leaning on doing just hands) and be able to pull identity and gender within each of my pieces.  Andy Warhol is so far my main influence behind this project, but does not have to be my only influence.

I am:

-very organized

-a team player

-open to new ideas

-a very creative person

I would love to hook up with people who have the same qualities and are interested in a similar study.  If this sounds like you, please get in touch with me.  I would love to talk to you.

THANKS 

As facilitator of this seminar, I enjoyed being apart of the tableaus and watching everyone get creative with their scenes.  I noticed many smiles and laughter when people were solidifying there roles within each tableau.  I also appreciated the participation of conversation when we broke into discussion about Orgel.  Being able to talk about 'what the clothes were saying' opened up the discussion to many different views.  This was the first time I ever helped in facilitating a seminar and it was a learning experience for me. 

Born in Buffalo, New York, my string cheese has traveled many miles to get into my hands here in Olympia, WA. At the Precious Factory, my cheese endured long pain- staking hours churning itself to perfection. The factory workers took special care in checking the temperature and the churning rate of my cheese. Once the cheese was finally finished, it was then sent to the packaging department where my cheese was sealed for freshness. After the sealing process, it was put on to a shipping truck heading thousands of miles for Costco. When I saw the cheese, I knew it was love at first sight. I handpicked the package with it's other cheese buddies and ventured off for home. The cheese was then to stay in the fridge until today. At 1pm, my cheese will be consumed by me- Olivia. The string cheese is survived by its packaged clan which hopes to continue a long and cultured life.