GLEN OR GLENDA, but first...

As a side note, I am realizing that I am talking/thinking/analyzing about movies. should the discussion about movies occur under "narratives?" - or might they more appropriately be located under "reading." how I'm "analyzing" these movies might be considered reading. Reading is different from watching, because it requires the reader to be an active participant (the reader must translate text into image, or idea)- watching, you sit back and let the images come. but because the analysis is active, I think it can be considered reading.

ON TO G+G

I have recently referenced Ed Wood as one of my hero's - the reason behind which has yet to be FULLY explained. But an early movie of his is "Glen or Glenda" and I just find it so interesting that he uses a modernist (well, early modernist) argument (function over form) as why a man wearing womens clothes should not be thought of as wrong. It also relates back to scale as well - while some might think its a BIG deal, Ed wood does not. - what's is so great is that Ed wood is able to use modernist ideas of logic and reasoning to absurd outcomes.


[QUOTE FROM MOVIE]
[We were not born with wings. We were not born with wheels. But in modern world of today, it's an accepted fact that we must have them. So we have corrected that which nature has not given us. Strangely enough, nature has given us all these things. We just had to learn how to put nature's elements together for our use, that's all. Yet the world is shocked by a sex change...]

[Give this man satin undies, a dress, a sweater and a skirt, or even the lounging outfit he has on, and he's the happiest individual in the world. He can work better, think better. He can play better. And he can be more of a credit to his community and his government because he is happy. These things are his comfort.]

[But why the wig and makeup? He dares to enter the street dressed in the clothes he so much desires to wear, but only if he really appears female: the long hair, the makeup, the clothing, the actual contours of a girl...]

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OH MY - did I just get that right? I missed that the first (and second and third - got it on the fourth) time around. All Ed really wants to do is wear some women's clothes - he's not interested in "looking" like a woman. but he feels FORCED to to go all the way and dress as a women by society. He feels this is the only way he can be accepted by society. now THAT is weird, but go on...we are at the modernist argument part - but modernist in the earl corb sense (towards a new architecture).
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[Modern man is a hardworking human. Throughout the day his mind and his muscles are busy at building the modern world and its business administration. His clothing is rough, coarse, starched, according to the specifications of his accepted job.]

[At home, what does modern man have to look forward to for his body comfort? The things provided for his home, a wool or flannel robe, his feet encased in the same thick, tight-fitting leather that his shoes are made of. These are the things provided for his home comfort.]

[Men wear hats, which cut off the blood flow to their heads. Seven out of ten men wear hats. ... Seven out of ten men are bald.]

here we have the use of rational science as justification - so great.

[Just for comparison, let's go native. Back to the animal instinct." We see African natives, beating drums and dancing. Surrounding them are skulls affixed to posts. The men have fancy masks. The women are unadorned.]

[There in the lesser civilized part of the world, it's the male who adorns himself with the fancy objects, such as paints, frills and masks. The true instinct. The animal instinct. Bird and animal life. Is it not so that it's the male who is the fancy one? Could it be that the male was meant to attract the attention of the female?]

[What's so wrong about that? Where is the animal instinct in modern civilization? Female has the fluff and the finery, as specified by those who design and sell.]

and this is so great because while he is aligned with early corb ideas, he is also critical of them as well. Where is the animal instinct in modern civilization? That question is really asking about the opportunities for passion and creativity at the scale of the individual. where's the love man?

[Little Miss Female, you should feel quite proud of the situation. You of course realize that it's predominantly men who design your clothes, your jewelry, your makeup, your hair styling, your perfume. But life, even though its changes are slow, moves on. There's no law against wearing such apparel on the street, as long as it can be distinguished that man is man and woman is woman.]

again with the critique of modern theory - an early proponent of ambiguity and complexity - a forefather of Venturi, if you will.

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beware of the big green dragon that sits on your doorstep. he eats little boys. puppy dog tails and big fat snails. beware - take care - beware.

EXCERPT FROM "BERLIN CITY OF STONES"

This is an excerpt from a graphic novel I have rather enjoyed.
You will be able to download it from yousendit shortly. In this excerpt, there i a discussion of perspective. The discussion not only involves a "how too" but also the larger theoretical issues surrounding perspective as a method of representation.

"the observers location is what really determines the placement of a vanishing point; a drawing from life is as much about the subject as the exact position fo the artist's head and eye in relation to it."

there are three other elements of interest here. First, though the use of frames is a rigid structural system, you can see from just these three pages how the artists uses the frames to create rhythm, and order (in terms of the narration), at times creating ambiguity/simultaneity through the groupings.

Another interesting element is the hidden figure/ground relationship that is occuring accross 3 pages. This is an excellent example of the type of process we are talking about performing in the context of your research. there is a relationship/system across these three pages, which only becomes visible by the simple act of placing the pages one next to one another - hidden relationships, that is what you are looking for.

Finally what is also interesting here is the inclusion of a real woodcarving in the narrative - the wood carving is one of historic note - by Albrecht Durer and it is essentially explaining a the scientific process used to study perspective.



this is the only moment in the whole novel that the artist steps out of his established "graphic style." - thereby setting up a system of similarity and difference. In a way it is an outcast - but also by its nature of being an outcast,
its given greater relevance/hierarchy.

INTENTIONS OF "readings" BLOG

This is the SPACE for discussions on readings. This includes assigned readings, but students are encouraged to bring their own readings to the table.
Every studio should rest on a sound theoretical foundation - otherwise how do you evaluate the student.

point being, reading that applies to the discourse of the studio is here.

ASTHETIC REBELS AND REBELLIOUS CLOWNS

Doesn't the title Just grab you. I read that title, and I am interested in reading on.

This reading is from "Film as Subversive Art" as well, by Amos Vogel. This can be downloaded from the yousendit site as well.
https://download.yousendit.com/TTZtWUhxeFgwZ2wzZUE9PQ

I have decided to "make visible" my process of reading text. The attempt to read any text with the intention of thoroughly understanding it on a single read is foolhardy. It is like *insert creative analogy here*.

Here I am employing the strategy of simply scanning the reading for the ideas/words that I find interesting. Not everything in this reading do I understand. There are MANY references I am unfamiliar with - yet I am able to read through the entire thing at a decent clip, quickly extracting that which I find interesting. This in itself is a form of analysis - and therefore has value, or does it?

An assignemnt given will be to do this exact thing. A reading, decided by the group, or by me will be assigned. The assignment will be to go through a reading, and highlight the ideas/themes that interest you, without worrying about understanding, just highlight your interests. (there are ideas of hierarchy here - also think of it in the context of playing with relationships. by highlighting certain words and sentences, we are extracting information from the "white noise" (discussed in a different post.) and once again, this is the same process we are engaged with our research at the scale of the neighborhood - through this research we are "highlighing" things in the neighborhood that may not relate in terms of spacial location, but relate some other "unseen" way.

We will then take everyone's reading and "stack" all the highlights one on top of another, and by giving the highlights transparency, and overlapping them, a greater understanding of the interests of the class will emerge. It will will also make a pretty cool diagram.

NOTES ON CONTEXT

Unfortunately, this is just low enough resolution to preventing you from reading it. But if you are interested in reading it, you can download it from "yousendit."

https://www.yousendit.com/download/UmNJeFlkR0YwMEhIRGc9PQ

The reading is essentially making an argument for context - in this case cultural (in the form of scientific discovery). Just like Venturi who uses words like "complexity, contradiction, ambiguitiy, so too does Mr Vogel. (the author). Below is the first half of a documentary film about Mr. Vogel. The documentary tells the story of the film society (without which there would have been no book) - Cinema 16. - incidentally, Cinema 16 has been resurrected.