Friday, March 31, 2017
COP1 : Critical reflection and Proposal
Evaluation :
The first Context of practice module for me
was quite an interesting experience to say the least . One could say that I
never had much of a relationship with theoretical studies, going so far as it
being one of the reason I decided to study abroad instead of staying in
Vietnam. However , I found myself quite intrigued when it came to dealing with
Context of practice subjects, perhaps because of the more social and political
nature of it that encouraged to speak out more , especially in the current
political state of the world , with nationalism and conservatism on the rise
all over.
The topics itself is quite diverse I must
say , ranging anything from weird
abstract animation to semiotics to post-modernism. Weirdly enough , I always
managed to find someway to connect each topic to my relevant work, thereby
creating a substantial amount of reference material that were a major help in
doing my essay , particularly on semiotics where I found my academic writing
has improved dramatically since the days of my IELTS exams. Doing the essays
also opened me up to new views on the world , while also pushing to look for
competing ideas , thereby creating an objective non-bias understanding. On top
of that , it helped to coordinate my research in the most efficient and
sensible way , hence helping me a lot with any future essays.
If we go down to the more specific details
, the fact that the 3 essays have to tie in with each other in terms of using
the contents of other, this really got me to think about how to word each of them , as well as
making work hard to find the links between each essays and source material ,
rather than just go wild on everything ,which was the way we would do it back
in Vietnam where we had to do Literature writings. On top of that , visual
investigation takes it to another step by producing practical work objectives
that is based on theory , therefore we do not only just research with works,
but we also have to think visually , and applied all the skill that’s is
necessary as a animator to create the final product . So a very good bag of a
mixture of contents I must say . With all that said, if there is anything I’d
like to improve, is that I still limits myself to a small amount of reference
material when I do my writings. Perhaps its for efficiency and time management
sake , but definitely to like myself to break out of those barriers more, and
gathering more sources in the future.
With that said , for COP 2 , I’m looking
forward to continue improving my skill in academic writing and social research, perhaps by choosing a
more relevant topic to the current social situation, such as women’s rights,
which can tie in with animation via the generalization/sexualisation of women
in modern animation and society. I think that is something that is interesting
to write about ( me being a guy and all ) and have a good amount of source
material that I can draw from.
With that said , the question in focus for
Cop 2 :
Sexualisation of women in media and pop
culture
The topic of women’s depiction in media has
always been hotly debated , ranging from publicity to films to comic books and
animation. With this I’m aiming to start from the beginning , contextualizing
some facts about women sexualisation such as its origin that stem from old
social beliefs , then moving on identifying the factors that contribute to its
establishment , from the woman herself as well as external forces. Finally ,
moving on to the main subject of depicting sexualisation in the context of films, animation and comic, with the first
part being about western culture then moving on to Eastern culture represented
by Japan’s obsession with high school girls and the otaku culture. With this
I’m hoping to answer the following :
-
How far can you sexualize a
person ?
-
there an appropriate type of
sexualisation , say an equal representation of both gender and if so , to what
extent ?
-
How society is reacting /
combating it ?
Related subject #1: Sexualization of women in media
-Looking into the depiction of woman in
the modern media context , including journalism, films and television which
serves as a example of what a main-stream perception of woman is like
,especially for under pressure of modern feminist influence.
+ Examples could be US realities shows
like “Keeping up with the Kardashian” or “The Bachelor”
Book :
+Culture, Heritage and
Representation: Perspectives on Visuality and the Past
By Steve Watson, Emma
Waterton -2016
+Gender and the Media
By Rosalind Gill-2007
Quote :
“With the shedding of clothes comes
public licence to display sexual body for the sexualised gaze of others, be
they fellow tourists or , as in this case, television viewers.”
“In today society, our bodies are
bearers of symbolic values and some are worth much less than others- certain
bodes are out of place in our body conscious, highly sexualised world, thus in
the beach culture of these shows , ageing and over-weight women provide figures
of fun and disgust , whilst men’s bodies are seen to be unremarkable and are
unremarked upon , seemingly immune to the social scrutiny of the narrator and his audience”
-Steve Watson ,Culture, Heritage and Representation:
Perspectives on Visuality and the Past
Websites:
+Don’t Blame Girls for Their Own Sexualization- Huffington post :
Inequality on screen-The
sexualisation of men—not women—in film has worsened-The Economist : http://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2016/04/inequality-screen
+
Not an object : On sexualisation and exploitation of women and girls – Unicef
Related subject
#2: Sexualisation of women in publicity
-Explore
how the image of a sexualised female can be use an effective tool in
advertising a product .
Quote :
“Frequent exposure to media images
that sexualise girls and women affects how girls conceptualise femininity and
sexuality. Image of female bodies are everywhere. Women-and their body parts-
sell everything from food to cars.”
-Steve Watson ,Culture, Heritage and Representation:
Perspectives on Visuality and the Past
Quote :
“As far as cosmetics are used for
adornment in a conscious and creative way, they are not emblems of
inauthenticity: it is when they are presented as the real thing, covering
unsightly blemishes, disguising a repulsive thing so that it is acceptable to
the world that their function is deeply suspect. The women who dare not go out
without their false eyelashes are in serious psychic trouble.”
― Germaine Greer, The Female Eunuch
― Germaine Greer, The Female Eunuch
“It is commonplace observation that
women are forever trying to straighten their hair if it is curly and curl it if
it is straight, bind their breasts if they are large and pad them if they are
small, darken their hair if it is light and lighten it if it is dark. Not all
these measures are dictated by the fantom of fashion. They all reflect
dissatisfaction with the body as it is, and an insistent desire that it be
otherwise, not natural but controlled, fabricated. Many of the devices adopted
by women are not cosmetic or ornamental, but disguise of the actual, arising
from fear and distaste.”
― Germaine Greer, The Female Eunuch
― Germaine Greer, The Female Eunuch
=> This part can be
tied in with the glamour studies done for brief 1 in cop1 , with writers like
Virgina Postrel .
Related subject
#3: Japan’s obsession with young girls.
Extending
on the topic above , looking into how the “high school girl” image has became
one of the most utilised advertising image in Japan pop culture , going so far
as be popularized around the world and bleeds into the manga and anime culture,
hiding behind it a darker side of the industry where young girls are exploited
and the sexualisation is unchallenged –sometimes even endorsed.
Book:
+
Japanese Schoolgirl Confidential: How Teenage Girls Made a Nation Cool
By Brian Ashcraft
(2014)
+The SAGE Handbook of Modern
Japanese Studies (p.201-209)
edited by James D
Babb-2014
Related
subject #4: Fanservice in anime
- Linking
to the above, discussing Anime’s use of sexualised female images in order to
catered to their target audience of young adults, as well as its supposedly
overuse in the current anime environment.
Websites :
Anime fan service can be a minefield , Kotaku
+Looking at Female chracters in Anime and Manga through a Feminist lens-
Mary Sue
Book :
+Anime: A Critical
Introduction
By Rayna Denison (2015)
Related subject #5
: Women in Western popculture
-Look
in to how western animation and culture in general have portray the image of
women , from the era of Disney to DC , Marvel, and more, thereby comparing it
to Japan and answer the question , whether the west has changed for the better
.
Website
:
+Representation of Women in Japanese and American popculture
+Good Girls and Wicked
Witches: Changing Representations of Women in Disney's Feature animation...
By Amy M. Davis (2007)
Girls Gone Skank: The
Sexualization of Girls in American Culture
By Patrice A. Oppliger
(2008)
Thursday, March 30, 2017
Wednesday, March 15, 2017
Lecture : Post-modernism
A logical person would ask : " How can you be "post" something that is still happening i.e present and modern", as ever though, art never relies too much on logic don't it. Well firstly, post modernism is not modernism and doesn't follow the progressive and practical ideals of modernism. In some aspect, it is like the opposite of modernism, challenging modernism's association with experimentations, innovations, individualism, purity and seriousness by embracing exhaustion , pluralism, pessimism, in many ways a much more cynical view of the world.
The emergence of postmodernism started around the 60s and became mainstreamed in the 80s and 90s but died of around the 2000s and today.
So what actually is modernism , it can be defined as the historical era following the modern, or a contra modernism, or the artistic and stylistic eclecticism. Due to this , the term postmodernism has been thrown around so much to the point that it is not taken seriously anymore. Regarding it an historical era, Charles Jencks defined post modernism started at July 15 , 1972 at 3: 32pm with the demolition of the Pruitt-Igoe development and modernism as a whole, which is a very opinion to hear. Regardless of its definition , post modern has a defined list of characteristics, that is to have an attitude of questioning conventions, with an aesthetic that depend on a multiplicity of styles and approaches. Its a reaction to rules and celebrate what might other wise be termed kitsch. Up to that point , you can really link the characteristic of post modernism to the social ideals of the modern generation , such as the hippy movement in the 60s and the progressive anti-establishment ideas of the modern young generation.
Perhaps postmodernism is most clearly projected through architecture as Richard slides through a series of postmodern buildings. It is hilarious though that he himself would acknowledge that some post modern design is a complete trash , ( like the Leeds looks) highlighting the fact that post modernism would often lose its purpose and identity, resulting in a crisis of identity and aesthetic. This in my mind is best observed in the progress of modern art, with the current stage of it being very pretentious and confusing for the most part.
Learning all of this , I'm quite conflicted about my feelings toward postmodernism. While some aspects of postmodernism like some of architecture can certainly be appreciated ( the Sydney opera house looks amazing ) , the shamanic pretentiousness of modern art creation is what I loath about the how genre itself and is one of the major reason that shaped my choices in going into animation and doing more practical practices. Postmodernism made me a modernist ironically so in that sense , i think its a failure of social experiments which would explains its decline in the modern era. To that point , I say , its nice to be different yes,to be uniques and wild, but classics and orders work for a reason so there needs to be a mutual respect and understanding between both sides rather than just out right disregard each other.
Wednesday, March 8, 2017
Lecture : Design and modernism
Starting off the last topic of it means to be modern , today's lecture links its application in design :
Modernism in design is :
-Anti-historicism
-Truth to material: modernists embraces the new world including new materials like camera, painting technologies ,steel,...not disguising them but take advantage of them , example would be the bare-concrete trend in architecture or the wildness of modern like those of Jackson Pollocks
-Forms follows function : placing workability and practicality before looks
-Celebrate new technologies
-Internationalism : always having a drive to build a common method of visual communication, where as the products don't have a signature characteristic linking to a particular origin but are universally adaptable.
This characteristics of modernistic design ensures its timelessness in history.
Judging from this, to be a modernist animator can be to produce a piece of work that focus on delivering the message of the narrative that its trying to tell, without being to much hindered by to0 many principles and need to make the animation look pretty. But of course that is my opinion only.
However it is , I'm very supportive of the principles of modernist design , being a very practical person myself, always judging an object/spending by its purpose and its rationality. To me ,finding that balance between artistry and rationality is the cornerstone to being an effective modern designer and just a general member of society as a whole.
The influence of this aspect of modernism is seen through the products of Bauhaus and just modern production as whole , with chains like IKEA essentially producing cheap reproduction of modernist designs.
Its really interesting to link this to social changes like the enlightenment or the Russian revolution where the focus to create a society that is equal and universal which is along the line of modernism's rationality. Whats even more interesting in the russian case is, it was because nearly 90% of the population were illiterate, simplistic and logical modernist design were needed to produce an effective propaganda, so the need for it is clearly represented.
Its also quite interesting to here the fact that Soviet's artists and designers would regard themselves as constructivist , bringing all the professions into one single identity. Truly modernism and socialism shares many of the same ideologies as each other. Modernism breaks down the established boundaries between designers and social classes as whole, and
An amazing fact to learn was that because of this, the Soviets became a cultural powerhouse, which is not often mentioned in any kind of historical textbook at all. An evidence of this was a picture Richard shown of the soviet exhibition pavilion in Paris in 1925 that looks so modern that I mistook it for a Black and white picture of a modern building from now, which in 1925 must have been amazing to look at compared to the still classical architecture of Paris.
However , bring back to the fact that what it is important is to have a BALANCE between artistic freedom and rational standardisation, it is where modernism in Russia fail itself, taking standardisation too far that it dehumanise the resulting product, evidence by the fact that if you look at modernistic design, it is often cold and hard , lacking a human warmth to it. Plus the fact the rise to totalitarian systems like the Nazi and Stalin really hindered the progress of modernity.
Closing off , Richard brings up a matter that is close to my heart, that is trying to understand modernism can be hard , and if lacking the knowledge of the context it is created in or are referencing to , it can be quite boring. With that said, it does change my view on modernism a bit , highlighting the fact that all the aspect of modern art that I essentially despises are in essence trying to replicate the rationality of design that I so support. So here I am now, stuck between a dilemma of what I should even believe in anymore, but then again , that is what makes it all so interesting to think about
Modernism in design is :
-Anti-historicism
-Truth to material: modernists embraces the new world including new materials like camera, painting technologies ,steel,...not disguising them but take advantage of them , example would be the bare-concrete trend in architecture or the wildness of modern like those of Jackson Pollocks
-Forms follows function : placing workability and practicality before looks
-Celebrate new technologies
-Internationalism : always having a drive to build a common method of visual communication, where as the products don't have a signature characteristic linking to a particular origin but are universally adaptable.
This characteristics of modernistic design ensures its timelessness in history.
Judging from this, to be a modernist animator can be to produce a piece of work that focus on delivering the message of the narrative that its trying to tell, without being to much hindered by to0 many principles and need to make the animation look pretty. But of course that is my opinion only.
However it is , I'm very supportive of the principles of modernist design , being a very practical person myself, always judging an object/spending by its purpose and its rationality. To me ,finding that balance between artistry and rationality is the cornerstone to being an effective modern designer and just a general member of society as a whole.
The influence of this aspect of modernism is seen through the products of Bauhaus and just modern production as whole , with chains like IKEA essentially producing cheap reproduction of modernist designs.
Its really interesting to link this to social changes like the enlightenment or the Russian revolution where the focus to create a society that is equal and universal which is along the line of modernism's rationality. Whats even more interesting in the russian case is, it was because nearly 90% of the population were illiterate, simplistic and logical modernist design were needed to produce an effective propaganda, so the need for it is clearly represented.
Its also quite interesting to here the fact that Soviet's artists and designers would regard themselves as constructivist , bringing all the professions into one single identity. Truly modernism and socialism shares many of the same ideologies as each other. Modernism breaks down the established boundaries between designers and social classes as whole, and
An amazing fact to learn was that because of this, the Soviets became a cultural powerhouse, which is not often mentioned in any kind of historical textbook at all. An evidence of this was a picture Richard shown of the soviet exhibition pavilion in Paris in 1925 that looks so modern that I mistook it for a Black and white picture of a modern building from now, which in 1925 must have been amazing to look at compared to the still classical architecture of Paris.
However , bring back to the fact that what it is important is to have a BALANCE between artistic freedom and rational standardisation, it is where modernism in Russia fail itself, taking standardisation too far that it dehumanise the resulting product, evidence by the fact that if you look at modernistic design, it is often cold and hard , lacking a human warmth to it. Plus the fact the rise to totalitarian systems like the Nazi and Stalin really hindered the progress of modernity.
Closing off , Richard brings up a matter that is close to my heart, that is trying to understand modernism can be hard , and if lacking the knowledge of the context it is created in or are referencing to , it can be quite boring. With that said, it does change my view on modernism a bit , highlighting the fact that all the aspect of modern art that I essentially despises are in essence trying to replicate the rationality of design that I so support. So here I am now, stuck between a dilemma of what I should even believe in anymore, but then again , that is what makes it all so interesting to think about
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