Rococo Influences

One of the main powerful historical figures of the Rococo period was Madame de Pompadour, a woman born not of royal blood, but whose beauty was enough to captivate King Louis XV to ensure that she was made his official mistress, and whose intelligence allowed her to control his kingdom from behind the scenes. Soon after becoming his mistress, Jeanne Antoinette Poisson was given the title of Marquise so that she could appear at the king’s side in court.  Even after finishing their romantic relationship not many years after it began, she managed to stay within the good graces of the king and his queen allowing her advice and involvement in several large diplomatic relations, including the treaty of Versailles.  To ensure her lasting beauty she commissioned several paintings of herself. Boucher’s 1750 portrait is very reminiscent of the “rococo” style we are all familiar with, with lavish detail and attention paid to her extravagantly beautiful dress and the furnishings of the room behind her.

Poisson’s good taste ensured Frances position on the cultural map, and made it a hub for bustling artistic activity. Her influence was probably felt by a young Rose Bertin as she grew up surrounded by the decadent beauty of rococo.  Upon moving to Paris to become a milliner Bertin grew in popularity steadily due to her ambition and good connections until she met Marie Antoinette and became the official “Minister of Fashion” in 1772. Her almost ridiculously ornate and elaborate creations were works of art, but unfortunately helped in driving France to its knees, but for a while, large contouches and powdered wigs were the height of high fashion. Bertin’s influence however can still be seen today, even if they are amongst somewhat niche subgroups of fashion. Along with the more famous Victorian bustles, Rococo helped influence the modern elegant Goths,  as well as the more elusive Japanese Lolita fashion.

 

One of the most obviously influences in Lolita would be the petticoat, whether that be A line inspired by the crinolines of the 1860’s;

Or the large hips / double bustle of the rococo age:

And even the smaller bustle of the late 19^th century has it’s place in elegant gothic aristocratic Lolita:

Full length rear bustle

Here’s one I made earlier…

Aaaaand here’s the dress I made for prom…

(Sorry, shameless self promotion over.)

Also popular are bloomers, drawers and bonnets.

There always seems to be a bit of controversy floating around Lolita fashion, mostly to do with the associations with Vladmir Nabokov’s novel, which is unfortunate, because this causes people to jump to conclusions concerning promiscuity and sexualisation of young females very quickly, when in reality it couldn’t be further from the truth. Most Lolita’s wouldn’t be seen dead in a dress which could be even considered risqué, so it seems unfair that we are landed with such a label when there are people out wearing much shorter skirts.

Pictures from the Gothic & Lolita Bible, note that skirts are below knee length

 

Not that short skirts are even the problem, you want to wear one, you wear one, and I respect you for your choice.  But, even if your skirt is a little short, that’s why people wear petticoats and tights; there is physically no way any Loli should be in any danger of flashing. In regards to the sexualisation of young girls, that is purely based on the novel which as previously stated bears no resemblance to the fashion. Lolita is about emulating Rococo / Victorian wear, and looking as doll-like as possible, it isn’t age play. And finally, in terms of being over sexualised, most of the people saying this seem to be unable to grasp the concept that we dress this way for ourselves. Because we want to. Because we can.  Not everything adorned by a woman is for the benefit of a man, contradictory to society’s beliefs, and once people start realising this there will be far less problems concerning “male entitlement”. The whole ideal of rape culture has a tendency to revolve around the statement “they were asking for it.” and this contradicts completely with the definition of rape.  They were not asking for it in any way shape or form, they were wearing the clothes they chose to put on because they wanted to, and certainly not for the benefit of someone that would wish them physical and psychological harm.

There needs to be re-education. We should be teaching “don’t rape” instead of “don’t get raped”.

Kyary Pamyu Pamyu

 

 

 

 

 

 

Postmodernist Fashion

With the death of Modernism, came the death of Modernist values, Decoration was not seen as an unnecessary feminine thing, and feminine (thankfully) no longer meant “inferior”. Post modernism embraced what was previously taboo, enforcing the belief that if you like something, you shouldn’t be ashamed of it, it didn’t matter how superficial everyone thought your wardrobe was , you wore it with pride.

Clothing was no longer a representation of social hierarchies, the rebirth of opulence was for everyone, as much as possible, and could be as fantastic, impractical, or downright obscene as you liked. The obvious example of this would of course be Vivienne Westwood’s “Sex” store, which opened in 1971, and helped give birth to the punk movement.

From here, fashion only got better and better. Technically seeing as post modern means “after modernism”, all the designers here are so. But mostly this is just a post on amazing futuristic fashion which may not be here without that movement:

Thierry Mugler, is well known for creating stunning, yet impractical pieces, such as his infamous metal corsets.

His “tamer” clothing however, often  has very beautiful sillouettes.

Also typical of this movement was Hussein Chalayan, who used smart technologies and materials to create beautiful, robotic dresses that appeared from hats and even coffee tables as if by magic.

Both of these designers have an incredibly futuristic feel to them, which is reminiscent of Hajime Sorayama’s” Gynoid” Paintings.

Gareth Pugh, is also one for interesting yet impractical sillouettes. Creating exquisite and futuristic headpieces.

Anrealage is a Recent Japanese brand that uses shapes to create the idea of movement, such as in their 2012 collection “time”, where the clothes are designed with a path of action.

“Bone” is a 2013 collection which drags crinolines from the pages of history into modern day fashion. I wish crinolines were still practical for everyday wear.

In keeping with the mid Victorian style is Alice AUAA with their gothic collections that are almost a sort of Avant Garde gothic Lolita.

Framework persists in Christian Dada’s 2012 Tokyo fashion week collection.

Jeremy Scott creates some really beautiful furry rainbow clothes, but he uses real fur in his designs unfortunately.

Johan Ku creates Avante garde knitwear, creating sculptures that hang over the body rather than clothes.

Samuel Cirnansck goes back to the roots of post modern fashion with his 2011 bridalwear fashion which features pony bits/ gags/  and in some cases arm bindings. Whether this is used as an expression of libertine sexuality or as a place to sexually objectify women and try to render women helpless seems unclear, but I really hope it’s the former.

But maybe, one of the best bits about the progressive fashion of postmodernism was when they threw the gender binaries out the window. Not only was androgyny an accepted thing, it was seen as so cool! At the forefront of this were pop stars like David Bowie, and Annie Lennox who smashed social norms with a mallet and paved the way for a glorious new age of ambiguity in gender.

Annie Lennox

Annie Lennox – Eurythmics

Now we have actors doing it too!

Tilda Swinton dressed as David Bowie

Tilda Swinton in a suit

Gwyneth Paltrow in Shakespeare in Love

Cillian Murphy in Breakfast on Pluto

Cate Blanchette as Bob Dylan in I’m Not there

Lucy Liu, Cameron diaz and Drew Barrymore in Charlie’s Angels

And models

Andrej Pejic

And in Japan it seems a norm for all-male metal/ rock bands to be androgynous.

Dir en Grey’s early days

Versailles: Philharmonic Quintet

http://www.viviennewestwood.co.uk/

http://int.mugler.com/uk/en/

http://chalayan.com/

http://www.anrealage.com/

http://alice-auaa-international.com/pages/collection

http://www.christiandada.jp/

http://www.jeremyscott.com/     (The models are moving! WHAT IS THIS SORCERY)

http://www.johanku.com/collections.html

http://www.samuelcirnansck.com.br/

Sources:

Oatley, A. “Postmodernism and Fashion”

http://www.notjustalabel.com/editorial/postmodernism_and_fashion (1/12/13)

Dinga, C. “Fashion Backward: Postmodernism”

http://miista.com/fashion-backward-postmodernism/ (25/05/12)

Futurism

Futurism was founded in Italy around the beginning of the 20^th century. It is widely recognized for its busy paintings which are highly dynamic in terms of line and colour, and emulated the speed at which the 20^th century was traveling in terms of progression.  They included abstract depictions of youth, technology and speed and were fascinated by the new modes of transport becoming widely available to them. This was also captured in the sculptures of the Italian artist Umberto Boccioni.

Unique Forms of Continuity in Space was originally a plaster cast, depicting a human striding forwards (some say into the future). The pose is static, yet there is so much movement within  it’s confines, the statue seems to fluctuate  between very small variations of the pose, almost as if the man captured was completely trapped yet the essence of his struggle to leave the past behind and progress into a future world. It’s as if the muscles have forgotten their corporeal form and turned to a liquid, breaking the boundaries of the human form and swimming out into the surrounding space. It twists and turns with such grace and movement that provides beautiful contrast between the sharp hard edges, and the soft smooth flowing curves of sinew. The stance is incredibly powerful, resembling a triangle with its wide heavy base.  There is an incredible amount of mass in the legs, making the figure look almost immovable, despite it’s fluidity.

Futurism was also an important movement within music. George Anteill’s “Piano Sonata No.2 – The Airplane” embodies the fast passed confusion of the futurists, with it’s only stage direction as “ to be played as fast as possible” . The music itself is very beautiful, but anything from calming, even in it’s slower more legato, repetitive stages, the notes contrast with each other, creating peculiar harmonies that are uncomfortable yet wonderfully modern.

“Morning in the Woods” by Lee Ornstein is another beautiful piece which is less obviously futurist, but to me seems innovative in that the treble and bass clef sound totally independent of each other at times, leading to clashing of notes, with played for the shortest time with the rest of the piece sounds beautiful. The music is ethereal, describing the otherworld that can only ever be reached by a journey through the woods at dawn, and echoes the overwhelming spiritual completion one feels as the first rays of sunlight breach the trees.  The quiet contemplative nature of the music at about 4.20 reminds me of the isolation you find in the woods at that time, and while beautiful, also captures the underlying paranoia felt when alone in a cluster of trees.

In contrast, Ornstein’s “Impressions of the Thames” is much louder, busier, and more mechanical. It captures the overwhelming nature of the growth of technology, the loud noises that would have sounded so foreign at it’s birth, and possibly frightening.  This piece uses an extraordinary amount of pedalling which often causes very long strings of notes to run together creating new sound with heavy bass and incredible presence and scale. The treble clef notes seem dark, swift, sudden and unexpected leading to the overwhelming sense of foreboding, and possible impending danger.

Note clusters rarely seem to follow traditional patterns sounding uncontrollable, and echoing the unpredictability of the waves crashing against the dock. The whole piece just gives off a palpable aura of largeness, sounding as though the machines are completely outwith our control. There is also a big contrast between the legato and staccato elements, which seem comparatively high pitched and strange.  The ending sounds unresolved due to the lack of cadence, leading us to believe that the piece isn’t really finished, just as progression will never really be finished.

George Antheill’s “Ballet Mechanique” is frantic to say the least. It starts off sounding like a desperate chase, something whimsical and mostly defenceless running desperately from an industrialised monster depicted with violent crashes. I love that the piano and xylophone seem to echo each other for parts in this, and the sounds of the piano on it’s own even sound quite traditional, contrasting with the rest of the piece. The small sounds made by the xylophone and  triangle are reminiscent of small fixtures and cogs, all working in tandem to create one large machine. You could even say that these instruments are mischievious sounding, like little mechanical elves working to do their jobs in a factory, while at around 6 min the broken chords of the piano, along with the drums and xylophone sound like something that could have inspired Danny Elfman (I’m thinking the Beetlejuice theme). After this, the piano takes a return to whimsicality, almost trying to lure us in before what sounds like a school bell rings and all the instruments start rushing around, panicked.  What sounds like a random assortment of noises to an outsider is, I’m sure, in reality deliberately chosen pieces that fit together precisely, creating the musical equivalent of a complex machina. Chaotic organization.

Sources:

McKever, R. “Umberto Boccioni, Unique Forms of Continuity in Space”

http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/umberto-boccioni-unique-forms-of-continuity-in-space.html (1/12/13)

Image

Early images from the Byzantine period are well renowned for their hyper religious imagery and symbols. Christianity had just replaced the myths of old as the “official religion” and the church were very keen to make sure everyone knew of it. Religious iconography was used in paintings as a way to both educate a vast number of illiterates about Christianity, as well as providing a gateway for the public to communicate with the saints depicted and pray to them.  Many depicted the Madonna and child, some just the Christ figure, and many were emphasized with some sort of aureola, be it a religious glowing cloud, or just a regular old halo. (Halos are such an odd concept. We may be used to them now having seen them adorn every old religious painting for the past fifteen hundred years, but I wonder if people had any inclination as to what they were when they were first introduced. It seems a very abstract concept to depict someone important with an ominous golden circle floating above their heads.)

Gaddi- Madonna Enthroned with Saints and Angels [middle panel] 1380-1390

The Cambrai Madonna c.1340

Although much emphasis was placed on the “return to classical art” the pictures often ended up looking very stylized (and sometimes a bit frightening) rather than the realism found in the greek style they were so influenced by.

 

Giotto – Madonna and Child 1320-1330

Another thing about Byzantium art was that it was good at educating people. Before the time when anything was really written down, or people could read, pictures were used to teach the masses what would happen if they misbehaved. “The Damned are swallowed by a hellmouth” is an early example of this from around 1220, teaching that if you do bad things, you will most definitely be gobbled up by a large, pus green monster with a mouth filled full of demons, while the angel that you may have prayed to in your past life locks the door behind you and throws away the key. This type of cheery painting was commonly used by the church as a deterrent to control the actions of the masses through fear.

The Damned are swallowed by a Hellmouth 1220

Although Byzantium’s political and religious influence spread far, it did not reach everywhere, and in contrast to these works, the Chinese landscape paintings of the same time are incredibly beautiful. The focus of these were obviously not on figures, and instead depicted mostly calming scenes of everyday life with focus on detail and beautiful linework.

Qu Ding – Summer Mountains, 11th centuary

Scholar by a waterfall Ma Yuan late 12th- 13th centuary

The art which did feature people however was very different in that the subject was very rarely depicted as staring straight at the viewer, mostly without expression as was often the case in religious art. While Byzantium figures sit posed and lifeless the people in the Beijing Qingming scroll are facing away, animatedly going about their business, buying, selling, sailing down the river, one  man seems to be putting on a jacket, making this look much more observational than the almost uncomfortable forced nature of the religious figures. There’s also humbleness, the people depicted seem to be quite ordinary yet it is still far more captivating. Zhang Zeduan’s scroll is also over 5 meters long, and every inch is detailed beautifully, this is another way in which it differs from Byzantine art, where scrolls eradicated in favour of the Codex, (an early bound book) which would be unable to capture the full scene in one go, especially not in such an awe inspiring manner as the scroll would.

Zhang Zeduan – Beijing Qingming scroll

Many copies have been made over the years of the Qingming scroll, each one using the same or a very similar composition, but adding “modern” features such as changing the architecture as seen in  “Qingming shanghe tu” the Quing dynasty rendition from 1736, providing a detailed description of how the landscape changed over time.

The scale of these paintings is impressive, and with the large detailed backgrounds and masses of small foreground characters all individually detailed and with such lively personalities, looks like it could have been one of the inspirations for “Where’s Wally?”

Where’s Wally

Qingming shanghe tu:

http://www.npm.gov.tw/exh96/orientation/flash_4/index.html

Star wars edition!

http://milnersblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/star-wars-celebration-vi-poster-by-jeff-carlisle.jpg

Sources:

Ebrey, B. “The Song Dynasty in China”

http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/song/   (30/11/2013)

Brooks, S.  “Icons and Iconoclasm in Byzantium”

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/icon/hd_icon.htm (October 2001)

Department of Asian Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, “Landscape Painting in Chinese Art”

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/clpg/hd_clpg.htm (October 2004)

National Gallery of Art “Byzantine Art and Painting in Italy during the 1200s and 1300s”

http://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/features/slideshows/byzantine-art-and-painting-in-italy-during-the-1200s-and-1300s.html#     (30/11/2013)

A post about wolves.

This was a lecture with a lot of wolves in it; their depictions in different mythologies and other such like, (with some emphasis on the Red Riding Hood trope) and how the role of the wolf varies between them. Among the mentioned were the Berserkir of Norse mythos, or warriors that could entrance themselves into an alleviated state of mind before battle, giving them more power and a temporary strength boost, yet often came at the price of complete lack of control on the berserkr’s part.  It is also depicted frequently that Berserkir would wear the pelt of a wolf (or sometimes a bear) when fighting, embodying the wolf with connotations of strength and mindless violence, but also giving them status.

JIM 646 , pg 10 Jan 2013 by Valerio Schiti

The berserker also featured in Lady Sif’s first arc of Marvel’s Journey Into Mystery (646- 650) where she transformed herself into an extremely powerful warrior with the berserker incantation in order to better protect Asgardia. However, this also came with the adverse side effects, such as Sif wanting to beat people with the butt of her sword as soon as they look at her. Taking the whole arc symbolically, we could argue that this has a Red Riding Hood feel to it; the wolf is the berseker spell, the inner demon that must be overcame and controlled by the red caped girl, lest it consume her entirely. In this cheerful incarnation of the narrative however, the girl in red is victorious, able to beat back the wolf and regain control of her life without being rescued by any “hunter” (although, she does make some new friends who enjoy beating up monster with her). I suppose in this analogy the wolf’s deception (killing grandma) would be that she never really had a spell on her in the first place and all that beautiful raw power came from her anyway, but the illusion of a demon seems no less a demon when you’re fighting it.

Journey into Mystery #649 Cover by Jeff Dekal

So maybe that’s a bit of a far-fetched connection… but wolves have played an extremely large part in Norse mythology, (actual mythology, not Marvel this time.) One of the largest would be, of course Fenrir, the son of Loki and Angrboða, who was born with prophesies of destruction thrust upon him, and stolen from his parents to be held captive by the Aesir. Once the Aesir saw how big he had become, they had the most skilful dwarves make him fetters and (after breaking through two of them) finally caged him, where he would stand howling until Ragnarok. The prophesy stated that Fenrir would be the slayer of Odin, king of the gods and father of all. In this tale, the wolf is portrayed as exceptionally cunning, (he refuses to try the fetter until Tyr places his hand into his mouth as insurance.) However he is also headstrong, and easily goaded into testing his strength, which is insurmountably vast. Also he is depicted as an end to the cycle: the Gods are created by Odin, and Odin is ended by him, which is also an indicator of great power, this along with the readiness of the Aesir to cage him shows that a great deal of fear is held for the wolf, but it is not the fear that one has for a mindless beast, it is the fear one would have for a well-respected killer.

Loki’s Children (1906) by Lorenz Frølich

Other wolves appearing in Norse mythology would be Sköll and Hati, whose jobs it is to chase the sun and moon across the sky respectively. This is again connoting fear of the power of the wolf, that he can do so much to influence the sky itself. However there is also the undercurrent of cunning natures; the wolves seem to chase the star and moon almost as a cat toys with its food before eating it, as they inevitably will at Ragnarok showcasing them as apathetic, deadly creatures, with a total disregard for life.

Finally is the involvement of Narfi, another of Loki’s sons, born of Sigyn. During the lokasenna, in an attempt to imprison/ punish his father, the Aesir turn Narfi into a wolf, and he in turn tears his brother Váli asunder, Váli’s entrails are then turned to steel and used to bind his father to a rock until Ragnarok. In this description the wolf is described again like the berserkr, mindlessly consuming his own brother without any recognition of familial bonds in a display of monstrous violence. Perhaps it could be argued that Narfi was rather turned into a berserkr than a literal wolf, which could make more sense, but nevertheless the wolf returns as a symbol of mindless destruction. This is more of a quality I would associate with humans personally, as surely a wolf would rather kill to eat, and unless rabid or intimidated, would not engage a human.

But it seems to be a recurring idea wherever you go that wolves are associated with death of some kind, another example would be “the Grimm” from Harry Potter, which is an omen only seen by those about to snuff it.

Sources:

“Viking Answer Lady”, Berserkergang

http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/berserke.shtml  (24/11/2013)

Sturlson, S (1916). Prose Edda. New York: THE AMERICAN-SCANDINAVIAN FOUNDATION p43 (XXXIV) and  p82(LI)

http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/pre/

http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/poe10.htm

Immonen, K (2013). Journey into Mystery # 646. New York: Dan Buckley. p1- 22.

Modernism

In July of 1937, the Nazis put on an exhibition of what they referred to as “degenerate” works of art. Including but not limited to pieces by Otto Dix, Emil Nolde amongst others.  Hitler was exceptionally particular with what he thought was appropriate for the population to digest stating that

“works of art which cannot be understood in themselves but need some pretentious instruction book to justify their existence will never again find their way to the german people.”

He spoke of Cubism and Dadaism as “Bolshevist” monstrosities, saying they “befouled everything that was really great in the past” and uses a whole lot of negative images proclaiming the works to be the “by the morbid excrescences of insane and degenerate men”; the “symptoms of decay of a slowly rotting world”; “the beginnings of parasitic growths which must sooner or later be the ruin of our culture” so forth and et cetra. But not once during the four or five pages of Mein Kampf he dedicates to the topic, does Hitler actually give a genuine reasonable explanation of why he dislikes these paintings so; which for someone that went to an art school, and was probably forced to write many an critical essay, seems peculiar and almost as if (like many politicians and talented speakers,) he’s avoiding the real question. But regardless of reasons for his distain, he ordered the confiscation of over 12,000 pieces of art from museums and galleries. For a country that was still recovering from the social and economic losses of the first world war, this seems like a tremendous waste of time, effort, and money that could have been spent instead on helping the people of Germany get back on their feet.

One of the institutions so infamously shut down was the Bauhaus. The Bauhaus was opened in 1919, founded by Walter Gropius, it’s main purpose was to create design that was fully functional and ergonomic; mass producing beautiful, simple, yet modern, pieces that were suitable for any home, and were invaluable in helping many Germans regain some sense of home and normality(a prime example would be the Wassily Chair by Macel Bruer which is both comfortable and innovative with its metal pipe frame and leather panels). It seems counter intuitive then that a political party so involved in “helping Germany” should focus so much attention on those who actually were doing so. But perhaps it was merely the Bauhaus’s enormous sphere of influence that the Nazi party feared, labelling it as a front for opposing political activities.

The Nazi party’s attempt to censor what the German’s saw is widely seen as foul play on their part, yet censorship is still something that occurs today. It is strange that with a wonderful, open resource as the internet is, much is still hidden from us. The obvious examples of this would be China and it’s “rocky “ relationship with google; the search engine seems to be in perpetual battle with the Chinese government over its censorship laws, banned keywords and search terms, and multitude of blocked websites (including facebook). Additionally, North Korea seems to have a similar and worse history with deciding what it’s inhabitants should be aware of, as well as how much information the outside world should have about them. According to one article, only the very highest government officials even have access to the internet, while many of the countries residents barely have access to safe running water or electricity. Also, if the article released just last week is to believed (and I really, really, really hope it isn’t true) around 80 people were just publically executed for “offenses” as minor as watching south Korean television shows and owning bibles. It’s okay not to like something, and it’s okay to politely tell somebody that you don’t like the thing that they like, but it is not okay to round up the people that do like it and fire so many machine gun rounds into their heads as to make them unrecognisable. The lack of basic human rights shown through this act is shocking and I can’t believe that this is still going on in today.  It’s also frightening that any government can have this amount of seemingly unquestionable, absolute power.

On a far less dramatic and terrifying note, and also somewhat closer to home; censorship still exists to an extent in this country. (I’m not claiming that it’s anywhere nearly as bad as what any of the aforementioned people have it, but)  it does exist in far smaller doses, and with far less serious consequences. Take for instance the bane of any internet addicts existence, Youtube’s infamous “sorry, this video is not available in your country” (also used on occasion by many American websites such as Mtv.com and even Cartoon Network). There never seems to be a reason given for this issue other than the ambiguously titled “copyright issues”  and most of the time we don’t even question it.  Other examples of Youtube not letting us have any fun would be the “adult content” disclaimer, which is a funny thing. I understand the need to not expose children to what we would call adult material obviously, but it’s their definitions of “adult material” which are perplexing. Why is it, that a video like Robin Thicke’s misogynistic, objectifying “Blurred Lines” can be shown, with women in obviously sexual poses, and it’s lyrics that showcase an extremely unhealthy and dehumanising view of how to approach women in clubs (No you don’t know what she wants Thicke, maybe you should try asking her politely);  or Lady Gaga’s Alejandro (I really love it, but WOW there’s a lot of sexual imagery in that) can be considered appropriate for all ages and have no “adult content” warning,  yet a video like The Irrepressibles “Two men in Love” is age restricted? This is a stunningly beautiful song, with a video that contains no nudity, no rude gesturing, and no sexual content (oh no, sorry, at one point they kiss, *le shock*), so why is it censored for under 18’s? If anything this should be shown to them as a good example of what healthy relationships look like.

Sources:

Ryall, J.  “Dozens executed in North Korea ‘for watching foreign films’”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/10442375/Dozens-executed-in-North-Korea-for-watching-foreign-films.html  (11/11/2013)

“Wait But Why”. “20 Things I Learned While I Was in North Korea”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/wait-but-why/visiting-north-korea_b_4256519.html (11/11/2013)

Trueman, C.  “Art in Nazi Germany”

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/art_nazi_germany.htm (17/11/2013)

Rococo Paintings

Rococo comes from the French Rocaille (meaning broken rocks and pebbles, which along with shells were a very common theme in designs) , and was a craft based style that appeared after the baroque period in Paris just before 1715. It is mainly associated with highly decorated and extravagant household furniture and architecture with superfluous, swirling motifs often relating to nature and wealth. It also became a very popular style of painting among the aristocratic who wanted to decorate their homes with lavish scenes depicting youth, fun, and most importantly, debauchery. Paintings mostly consisted of other wealthy nobles frolicking and abstaining from their duties, with little or no political agenda and a focus instead on pleasing aesthetics.

Boucher’s “Louise O’Murphy” (1752) is a prime example of the decadent paintings of the period, it depicts Madame Murphy, aged just 15, laying on a chaise longue and surrounded by a wealth of fancy insense, flowers (possibly from a suitor, discarded on the floor) and decadent fabrics (although none of the fabrics manage to cover her nude form.) She lies with legs splayed gazing intently into the distance perhaps at her client, Louis XV, the then king of France. The indulgent pose and bright joyful colours exude an aura of youth and playfulness, but carry no weight and serves purely as a reminder of the almost hedonistic attitude of the times.

Depictions of young beautiful women are exceptionally common at this time, as well as mythological figures, both of which showcased in Boucher’s Jupiter and Callisto (1744). Depicting The king of the gods disguised as Callisto’s fellow nymph Diana, so that he might evade his wife’s gaze while simultaneously luring the virgin nymph into his bed. Yet another opportunity for the nobles to have paintings of objectified women being debauched hung in their stately homes. The myth itself also has dark undertones of deception and the subsequent ruining of a seemingly smitten and “pure” (read: virginal) young girl by a figure she thought she could trust which ties in with the common sexual undercurrent in many paintings of the time. It also seems to be quite common for many women to have one breast exposed as a hint of their sexuality. As beautiful as it is, it has no deep powerful message and is instead what we would probably call “fanservice” today; sadly it serves as an excuse for some powerful man to have a painting of two vulnerable young women about to share something intimate in his home.

The decadent nudes continue with Boucher’s The Toilete of Venus (1751) which features, (surprise, surprise) Venus, reclining nude on her chair surrounded by cupids and doves. This painting exudes an aura of peace, calm and mischief painted in stunning colours and yet again serving little purpose other than to please the eye. The playful cupid in the lower left seems to be upturning a vase of some sort and spilling her possessions everywhere while she looks on with a chiding gaze.

In contrast, the works of Jean-Baptiste Greuze although similarly beautiful, present more dark elements. For example, “Young girl Weeping For Her Dead Bird”  (1759) which is obviously less cheerful and showcases more the loss of innocence and naivety as a young child witnesses death for the first time is illustrated by the replacement of bright colours with harsh blacks and greys.

Loss of innocence seems a common theme in Greuze’s works, additionally shown in The Broken Mirror (1762-63). The loose hair and unlaced bodice of the subjects dress suggest a recent ravaging while the red of her ribbon contrasts with the “purity “of the white dress, and implies further sexual undertones. The girls almost disdainful expression as she gazes down on her fractured reflection however, may hint that he first encounter was perhaps not as happy and wonderful as she would wish it to be and that she now sees the broken reality of her situation. The jacket carelessly slung over the back of her chair screams “ownership” , similar to the way one would fling a beach towel down over a deck chair proclaiming it was theirs for the day. The desk and floor are covered in clutter and mess suggesting further ravishings while the balls of wool are placed in a not so subtle phallic reference. Again, the dulled background colours suggest realism and a grim outlook for the girl who is now trapped by her position.

Furthermore, if Greuze’s “The Broken Pitcher” (1771) is not a blatant reference to the sexuality of a poor young girl, I don’t know what is. She stands in the center of the portrait, breast exposed, clutching the bottom hem of her skirts around her in what could be considered a “come hither” pose, yet the completely blank expression says otherwise. Clearly she does not want to be there, and the subject looks so young that who could possibly blame her? Her hands clutch around the skirt and almost in some semblance of pain suggesting possibly menstrual pain, possibly pain from her recent questionably consensual escapades. Also terrifying in this painting is the ominous looking black bear (with some remarkably human features) lurking in the background. The bear seems to be holding some kind of flute (or a straw) that is held to it’s mouth in reference to the pied piper’s preferred child stealing method. The Pitcher of the title could be a reference to the female sex organ here with the implication that she is in some great pain and has been internally damaged by whatever happened to her. Her expression of indifference to all the horror going on around her suggests that either she is too naïve to notice, or that she knows yet feels compelled to continue out of some misplaced sense of duty.

I would like to point out that I really do like all these styles of painting, it just becomes difficult to express that over the torrent of feels for women who’ve been so strongly objectified.

Sources:

Pictures from http://onokart.wordpress.com/category/rokoko-rococo/ (18/04/2010)

Zuvich, A. The Difference Between Baroque & Rococo Art.

http://www.andreazuvich.com/art/the-difference-between-baroque-rococo-art/  (31/07/2013)

Trapasso, E. A Brief History of Rococo Art

http://www.artnet.com/insights/art-education/history-of-rococo-art-rococo-painting.asp#.UofnQqNuk9s  (15/07/2013)

Mends, D. Rococo Art and Its Greatest Artists

http://www.famousartistsfanclub.com/rococo-art.html (16/11/2013)

Tropes in Naratives

“Glasses character… The boy Lolita… the stoic type… the book worm…the prince (or Hero) type… (Twincest?)” ; It has been a common element in prose since the dawn of literature for characters to have tropes, or be defined by their stereotypical traits. An element that usually slips by undetected (but was helpfully pointed out by Kirimi Nekozawa in “Ouran highschool Host Club” as quoted) but if analysed, can be used to break down many stories into very common themes with reoccuring archetypes. This has been studied by anthropologists and psychologists since the early 19^th centuary, but was compended in the 1920’s by Vladimir Propp into a very simple list:

Antagonist, Donor, Hero, Princess, Dispatcher, Protagonist and False Hero.

It is interesting to note the lack of female characters required for Propp’s analysed stories, and we see this as a recurring element throughout narratives, often there is only one female, and she is seen as a “reward” or incentive for the hero to complete his quest, else she is a damsel in hopeless distress in need of a hero, for example Leia in the original Star Wars trilogy (“Help me Obi wan Kenobi, You’re my only hope!” Her kidnapping, however political it’s supposed to be, really only severs as a kickstarter for Luke to go do hero things as illustrated by the lack of other consequences from the action.)  Arwen in the second and third Lord of the Rings movies (when she becomes a stay at home elf and sits around waiting for Aragon to finish his quest), Kairi in the Kingdom Hearts series( although to be fair, in Kingdom hearts 2 she does try fight back) , Ann Darrow in King Kong, Princess Peach from the Mario video games, Kim from Taken and the list goes on. This is trumped however by the shocking amount of women who have been killed purely as plot devices or to spur their male counterparts into some form of action. For instance the infamous “women in the refrigerator” trope, as popularized by the Green Lantern Comic strip from 1994, when he returns home to find his girlfriend has been killed and shoved into the fridge.

Gwen Stacey from the spiderman comics, when she is thrown off a building by the green goblin, and in an attempt to rescue her, Spidey catches her with a string of web, waiting until after the battle to pull her back up to safety,  only to realise that her neck snapped and she died. This serves to provide a fuel to spiderman’s ongoing angst issues and spurs his desire for justice.  This situation is echoed in Chris Nolan’s “the Dark night” in which the death of Rachel serves to destroy not just one male protagonist, but two! Not only does it spur batman into completing his quest (catching the joker) but it also prompts Harvey Dent’s descent into madness, murder and mayhem. This was also shown in the death of Bruce Wayne’s mother, who although dies along with his father, is characterized an awful lot less than Thomas Wayne [he is described as a traditional good citizen, doctor, builds things for the people ect.] whereas the she is not spoken about at all. In Batman begins especially, the only hint of a “personality” we see is a close up of a string of pearls shattering on the floor symbolizing the loss of beauty or some other degrading, objectifying nonsense. This showcases her as a character who’s main purpose is to die.

Death of Martha Wayne

The ridiculous tradition of writing extremely one dimensional female characters into narratives was illustrated in  Alison Bechdel’s comic “Dykes to watch out for” , and quickly became known as the bechdel test. The main points of the test being 1, there must be more than one female character,  2 they must have a conversation, and 3, it must be about something other than men. Athough not everything that passes this test can be considered a feminist movie ( and vice versa) for instance, Sucker Punch, as wonderful and beautiful  a movie as it is, it is mostly an excuse for panty shots.

It’s not all doom and gloom however; there’s hope to be had in the form of Penelton Ward and his gender progressive cartoons. For instance, take Adventure time in all of it’s surreal dystopian glory, a show that has well over half of it’s characters as strong independent female ,  genderfluid representitives (BMO is referred to by a variety of pronouns and doesn’t really conform to any gender binary) and charcters who promote positive body image (Lumpy Space Princess).  The princess’s are shown to be mature well rounded characters with personalities who are more than capable of looking after themselves and don’t serve to be solely love intrests. For example, in the episode Fiona and Cake, Fiona explicitly states that she doesn’t need a boyfriend and doesn’t “need to feel like (she’s) waiting in line to be noticed” while Princess Bubblegum spends the entirety of The Suitor, trying to rebuff an admirers advances politely so she can continue to focus on her science work which she so clearly loves. This proves that it is more than possible to create a variety of female characters that do not gravitate around males, and can provide positive role models for people of any age and any gender.

Alison Bechdel’s “Dykes to watch out for” : http://dykestowatchoutfor.com/dtwof

Sources:

“Social Justice Feminist”. Cartoons are more than just entertainment

http://socialjusticefeminist.blogspot.co.uk/2008/05/cartoons-are-more-than-just.html (22/05/08)

Mlawski, S. The Female Character Flowchart

http://www.overthinkingit.com/2010/10/11/female-character-flowchart/ (11/10/10)

Wilson, K. Propp’s Analysis of Folk Tales

http://www.mediaknowall.com/as_alevel/alevkeyconcepts/alevelkeycon.php?pageID=propp (8/11/13)

Where did they go?

People often complain that things are not as they once were. Words have gone out of fashion and we don’t speak with the same eloquence or even respect that our forefathers did. But surely this is just the way of the world? Everything evolves; animals, humans, art, literature, music, technology, the list goes on. It is in our nature to look at what has come before and “improve” on it, but often this can result in the destruction of the original.

For instance, consider the ancient use of T , or “thorn” which was used as a single character in place of “th” in the elder Futhark alphabet. This was eventually substituted with a “y” due to the similarity between the letters in the handwritten gothic font, and eventually the T became obsolete with the invention of Johannes Gutenberg’s printing press in the mid 15^th centuary. This is the origins of the common phrase “ye olde shoppe” which of course is pronounced “the” not “ye” (as “ye was a plural form of the 2^nd person).

Other letters which have become obsolete are Ȝ or “yogh” which has several pronunciations and was changed into a “z” before being used in early versions of “Shetland” (Zetland) and the name Culzean.

I think it’s unfortunate that some of our language has been lost to time, for example adding “-eth”s to the end of verbs (which is now only used satirically) such as “he drinketh” (a stage direction from Shakespeare’s Henry IV part one).

Not to mention Shakespearean profanities!

“Peace, ye fat-kidneyed rascal…” (Prince Hal, Henry IV, pt1)

“Strike, down with them, cut the villain’s throats!

Ah, whoreson caterpillars, bacon fed knaves, they

Hate us youth! Down with them, fleece them!” ( Falstaff, Henry IV, pt1)

I feel this speech in particular could be utilised quite effectively in modern society, especially with young demonstrators, it’s a travesty that it isn’t used more often.

“Thou damned and luxurious mountain goat…” (Pistol, Henry V)

It’s a shame that we have such comparatively uncreative insults nowadays. Perhaps not all evolutions are for the best.

Sources:

Asher Cantrell, M. 12 Letters That Didn’t Make The Alphabet

http://mentalfloss.com/article/31904/12-letters-didnt-make-alphabet  (13/12/12)

Take our word for it, Issue 142

http://www.takeourword.com/TOW142/page1.html (12/02/01)

Stop Motion Cartoons: Part 3

Dimensions of Dialogue (1982) by Jan Svankmajer is a slightly horrifying short film. It starts with 3 heads; one made from food, one from utensils and one from paper, who consume each other repeatedly, hence destroying themselves and reducing themselves to bland clay copies.

Again Svankmajer animates inanimate, objects such as books which chew plates, and apples that get eaten by envellopes. Visually the heads are reminiscent of Monty Python’s animated ssequences in terms of colour and movement, and as the faces “walk” all the parts (vegetables, books ect.) move and jingle accordingly.

The 2^nd act becomes even more peculiar, it starts with two people touching hands over a table, as they touch each other they merge into a single entitiy covered in fingerprints and finally a blob of clay.

Claymotion is often used in svankmajers animations fleetingly, such as in Food, where it happens so fast, blink and you miss it, but it is used to exaggerate what would be some very ordinary movements otherwise and can end up looking grotesque. The sequence is almost violent however, with the out of control way the clay merges into itself faster, making the roaming hands begin to look more like deformities that have latched onto skin, which leaves a feeling of uncomfortableness in the viewer.  The thing left on top of the table after the act of debauchery could easily be a reference to an unwanted pregnancy, or even an S.T.I. When it jumps it makes a repulsive squelching sound.

As the segment is made fully out of clay, this scene is left with a very unnatural greyish tone, which when projected on skin looks sickly and unsettling.

The 3^rd act also uses clay figures and is uncomfortable to watch due to the sense of  inevitable failure, and also the feeling of self-destruction as the heads continue to open their mouths regardless of the cracks that appear when they do.

Pingu (1986) was created by Otmar Gutmann and remains a childrens classic. There is an incredible amount of detail in the backgrounds and sets, and there also seems to be an awful lot of them especially compared to earlier Brittish cartoons. The sets are also very smooth looking, which is good for an icy landscape and means vehicles like Pingu’s father’s delivery sledge can just slide right over them with very little movement needed. The characters all seem to be based of the idea of a bouncing ball, and there is an enormous amount of squash and stretch applied, which can lead to the show looking a little trippy at times.

The characters also have a lot of weight when they sit, and it all looks very natural.

This naturallity however is offset by the occasional jerking movements employed by pingu, which can sometimes look quite jittery and uncomfortable due to the juxtaposition between that and the rest of the movement, but it just adds visual interest really. The characters speak “penguinese” which is nearly indesciferable to humans, meaning that the entirety of their personality and characterisation needs to come from their mannerisms and expressions, and they are very expressive penguins.

The use of clay is very handy in distorting objects, and this can be seen in episodes such as Pingu’s Dream (which was banned in many countries due to it being “nightmare fodder”)  where the bed grows very long legs and walks off in a very Dali-esque manner.

 

And then of course there was this guy: