If a Mirror Cracks in the Forest...

Introduced last Wednesday to Slavoj Žižek, the self-proclaimed Lacanian and Slovenian "rock star" of philosophy. I was struck by his off-hand comment that in his earlier books he naively supported democracy. This opinion appears to be linked to his view of his core as somehow untrustworthy and negative. He is clearly a rebel thinker, and brave enough to throw political correctness on its ear. A cursory look at his Puppet and the Dwarf, The Perverse Core of Christianity, reveals an unexpected stance; instead of the typical, liberal slam against a belief in absolutes, Žižek criticizes western intellectual's postmodern ethical relativism and recommends some sort of Christianity.

Regarding Lacan's crucial mirror stage, where the baby fragments into realization of another self--the separate idealized version of self. Alienation arises because the mirror image appears more whole than the baby's own uncoordinated self, and voila, ego is born to attain mastery over the image.
But what if there are no mirrors? What if the baby only sees others for months, even a few years, before he/she sees an image of him/herself. Sounds like a premise.

Hamlet's Mommy Issues

With filmmaker Zeferelli's Freudian glasses on, Hamlet's "closet scene" is rife with juicy Oedipal possibilities. Before the prince enters his mother's chamber, he says "now I could drink hot blood." Hmmm, mother's milk? Hamlet says, "I will speak daggers to her." Phallic allusions? Mel Gibson quickly ramps up the emotion to a full state of id release as he expresses his frustration and rage towards his mother, and in this state,he pulls out his sword and thrusts it. (Into what he thinks is his false father figure, the uncle, but who is actually Polonius). Zeferelli stages the controversial kiss just before Hamlet sees the ghost of his father. Is the ghost a projection of Hamlet's guilt for harboring sexual feelings towards his mother?

Structuralism Presentation

In the process of formulating the content of our presentation, I came up with some ideas regarding relating structuralism to the use of homonyms and homophones, and jumbled word theory which I emailed to our group. We had an effective communication via email, and we also had an efficient and creative group meeting to define and divide up our duties. I contributed six images (or signifieds) and six words (signifiers) to our "What's Your Sign?" game, and I also researched the historical role and importance of structuralism in the development of psychology as a science.

We each had a slide of the power point to explain, and my slide contained the terms "langue" "diachronically" and "synchronically" and I attempted to convey these concepts in laymen's terms. I also discussed the importance of structuralism in the development of the first school of psychology.

I emailed this sample of jumbled letters to my group, and although the sample did not make it into the presentation, I found it fascinating so I will include it here.

Arocdnicg to rsceearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer are in the rghit pcale. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit pobelrm. Tihs is buseace the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

Defamiliarization

They give these shoes to us --these shoes that people on the outs can choose to pay a lot of money for. They make me wear these shoes that take me through that door that will slam my life behind me--my lady, my baby, my mom who’s suffered and done so much for me. If I could, I would run my feet to bloody pulp the other way, back in time, correct that time, stay in line. It’s too late for time to serve me. Instead, it’s the other way around.

Structuralism Analysis

As in Saussure's breakdown of signifier and signified as having the dual potential influences of the synchronic and the diachronic in our understanding and experience, so too in advertising image there can be an intended effect operating on two levels: the immediate, and the historical. "Everything that relates to the static side of our science is synchronic; everything that has to do with evolution is diachronic" (Saussure 64). Because the Converse All-Star sneaker has kept the same basic design since the 1950's, it has diachronic or historic appeal. Basketball player Chuck Taylor favored the shoe, and it became popular with 1950's greaser and rockabilly culture. The low top version of the shoe was designed by Chuck Taylor in the '60's and the sneaker was adopted as a fashion trend among punk rockers of the '70's and '80's. The same style of black tennis shoe has also been the issued shoe in the Los Angeles Juvenile Hall system since the '60's. This vintage, unchanged design, in association with sports stars, rock and roll and criminality has given the shoe a tremendous counter-culture allure. The hard reality, however, of life in juvenile hall, is not very alluring.

Works Cited

Saussure, Ferdinand. "Course in General Linguistics." Literary Theory: An Anthology. Ed. Julie Rivkin, Michael Ryan. Malden:Blackwell, 1998. 64. Print.

EEEuu! I'll just take one more look...

In his "Poetics," Aristotle says, "For we enjoy looking at the most accurate representations of things which in themselves we find painful to see, such as the forms of the lowest animals and of corpses." We slow down and crane our necks at crash sites. Why did every single one of us, including the mothers, NOT want to watch the childbirth video at last week's class?

I was watching the news later that night, and a story came on about a woman who tried to stop a hit-and-run driver by hanging on to his door handle. He dragged her down the street, and the news team was interviewing her in the hospital showing (over and over) her icky abrasions and lacerations. And I kinda wanted to watch. But I definitely did not want to watch the childbirth.

I've been through childbirth three times--the first two without drugs. It is horridly primal and painful, as everyone knows, and I think the sounds a human makes during extreme pain are very uncomfortable to overhear. I don't even want to watch/hear my giving birth video.

It's interesting that the "Friends" clip, to me--because I am older, seemed relatively uncomfortable and graphic compared to the sanitized way childbirth has previously been portrayed. Until recently, the 1980's maybe, you would rarely see a woman's legs up in the stirrups, or an actress really groan in pain.

Why can we watch all manner of reality and movie special effect yuck and not want to watch the miracle of birth? Food for thought: the pain of childbirth is described as a cursed punishment from the rebellion in the garden of Eden.

Antiquity Critique

(click on link below to view clip. Embedding was disabled by youtube)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5w8yWQwHSaI&feature=PlayList&p=328B678F268B9027&index=13

Put Aside the Couch Potato…

The classical literary critics of antiquity, particularly Plato, would roll over in their graves in a state of apoplexy if introduced to the totally immersing, mind, soul, and sense transportation that is the modern movie. In this clip from “The Return of the King,” even if one were to refuse the influence of the soaring music, ignore the bad editing, and overlook Lord Elrond’s scenery-chewing acting, the words and content serve as an effective example of several elements of Longinus’ definition of sublime.

One aspect of the sublime is that a work contains universal elements of grand theme. Longinus wrote: “nothing contributes so decisively to grandeur as noble emotion in the right setting” (122). To be sublime, this idea of grandeur and nobility needs to universally appeal to humans of various ages and walks of life, and not diminish over time. The clip illustrates the grand theme of an imperiled world waiting for the one brave, but humble hero to overcome his self-doubt and rise up, save the world, and claim his destiny.

The scene’s grandeur is conveyed more powerfully and effectively due to the writers’ stylistic choices, pacing, and order—a technique that Longinus refers to as inversion. This scene could have played out in the following way: “Take the damn sword. You have got to man up and become king right now, because all kinds of doomsday crap is coming down. We are cooked, because we are totally outnumbered, and the only way you can get our only option--the icky dead soldiers-- to follow you is to become king already!” The most important point of the interchange is Lord Elrond’s request that Aragorn take the sword and “Put aside the Ranger and become who you were born to be.” But the writer, knowing that was the money line, wisely placed it at the end, thus fulfilling Longinus’ advice: “bring out the long-awaited phrase just where it is most effective, at the very end” (142).





Works Cited


Longinus, Cassius. “On the Sublime.” Classical Literary Criticism. Ed. Penelope Murray,

T.S. Dorsch. London: Penguin, 2004

Reflectionism

Upon further reflection stimulated by our creative class discussion on what is the most important angle on analyzing a text, I have decided to scrap my initial idea of "Intentionalism" and propose the new, "Me-ism." Or maybe I'll call it "Me-me-me-ism" for extra effect. Or maybe "Moi-ism" sounds classier. Because really, who cares what the author's intent was. What really matters is in what way did the work affect me. Was I entertained by it? Was I offended by it? Did it make me laugh? Did it confuse me? Did it force me to gaze at my navel? Will it improve me in any way? Was it a waste of my time? Who wants to get into the author's head and life and experience and culture--that's extra work for moi.