A Knights Tale

       The body of work I have chosen to recommend for this weeks assignment is A Knight's Tale, written and directed by Brian Helgeland. I feel like this film is worth discussing because of its storytelling and use of time period.

      I find myself constantly fascinated by this film, enough that it has made its way to become one of my all time favorite movies. Don't get me wrong, the story itself is extremely cookie cutter. It's a pretty cut-and-dry underdog story with a feel good end that pretty much works for any audience. Yet, despite it's simple outlook, it has a strange way of throwing a wrench in the works. For a fairly simple story set deep into the middle ages, it has extremely modern music.

     Modern music in a historic setting is not exactly ground breaking in the film industry, but the difference is with A Knights Tale, the modern music is all diegetic, it takes place within the cannon of the story. The film starts with audiences chanting "We will rock you" at a joust match. This is just the first of many similar scenes in which medieval characters interact with modern music. This diegetic use of modern music is something I haven't seen in any other film yet. I think this kind of direction in a movie is fun and exciting and I would love to see more of it in other films.

Since I cannot legally link to the full movie, I have attached a link to the film trailer on youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zH6U5y086hw

Asterios Polyp

This read was far more interesting that I thought it would be at first. I didn't like that art style, or the colors used, or even the main character from the beginning. I found them dull and irritating. However, I am glad that I didn't give up on Asterios then. This graphic narrative is one that I believe readers have to invest in. It might take some time, but in the end it will be worth the while.

The main thing that really got my attention about Asterios Polyp were the extremely multifaceted characters. No character was straight forward, stereotypical, or plain in any way. Each character seemed to grow and change in the readers eye as the story rolled onwards. Take Ursula Major, for example. She could be many things; a loud mouth mother doing nothing at home while her husband works, an empty headed broad who is too focused on superstitions, or even a woman who is just too focussed on her own work to be concerned about her family. However, she is none of those. Despite all the stereotypes one could make of her, she thoughtfully defies them as a character, proving to be more thought provoking and loving than anyone could expect at a first glance. That to me, is how to write a character well, and Asterios Polyp does that time and time again with much of the other characters in the story.

This, and many more reasons like the metaphors in art style and the thought provoking story line is why I believe more people should read this. As far as graphic novels go, this has to be one of the best most thought provoking narratives I've read yet.

Effects of the photo

The effects of this photo of Donal Trump can vary complete depending on the views and experiences of the audience. One may see...

•         A business man in a sharp pressed suit
•        A showman who makes big gestures
•         Someone speaking passionately
•        A Politician over exaggerating
•        He is making an ugly face
•        He has a bad spray tan, weird hair
•        He seems abrasive
•        He takes up most of the space in the image, making him seem impressive, larger than life

This is just one image of this man out of thousands. I tried to choose this picture in a way that could be spun against him, for him, or just generally neutral toward Trump and his campaign. I think that the viewer will see what they want to see from this image.

Media Today

        

           

On the subject of media, I find myself strangely set apart from what I feel most people believe. I constantly see posters and artwork and similar types of works discussing how media today is poisoning society. We are so involved in our phones in our social medias that we don't even notice our neighbors. That social media is making us forget how to think and we can no longer see the world for what it is. I believe that all of these things are simply untrue.

If you paused for a minute and looked at media without only looking at the few bad things that may come up, you would see that there are so many amazing things it can do for people! For once thing, in recent years we have seen a major rise in crowd funding and charity work through donation type websites that bring help to even the smallest of causes, like, say, helping pay for a local college students expensive school supplies. People are helping each other to do things they might not have been capable of without the help of the media.

For me personally, I also believe that communication is a hug benefit and the main reason media is beneficial to our modern life style. Some cynics may see people on a bus, absorbed into their phones and hardly noticing anyone around them. The could have a chat with a stranger, but they are instead sucked into the digital world. What the viewer doesn't see is that this person might just be having a conversation with a relative they rarely get to see, or someone they love and need to talk to. I myself am this kind of person. Not only am I in a committed long distance relationship. but my father is also all the way across the world in Shanghai, China. With differences in time zones and varying schedules, I don't always have a choice in when I can talk to my loved ones. This does not make me, or anyone else, obsessed or addicted to media.

Voice of the Autheur

I don't think I have ever thought to focus on a directors works specifically enough to think about who the director is, so this assignment is a first for me. In fact, I find I hardly ever think about the director much in the first place. So much emphasis is put on the actors and their characters, it can sometimes be hard to remember that there is in fact a director behind it at all. This assignment was actually a refreshing change in thought for me.

I chose to focus on three works by Sofia Coppola. I had previously seen her work in Marie Antoinette, a movie I had sought on my own, and quite enjoyed. This gave me a basis of thought for the next two films of hers I watched, which were Somewhere and The Bling ring. I tried to pick films that seemed varied from the synopsis so I could get a better read on who she was as a writer.

From that moment a theme became abundantly clear. Even from looking at the descriptions of the movies you can see the main idea she is getting at. In each of the films I watched, there was the idea that being rich and famous was not everything in life. In Somewhere, an actor searches for himself after spending more time with his daughter. In Bling Ring, teenagers get carried away trying to gain the life and luxury of the rich and famous. They all pretty much had this common theme; it's not all it's choked up to be.

Another observation I had was that in all of the movies I watched there was a kind of jarring, unclear and somewhat melancholy ending. In Marie Antionette, she is forced to leave her home, and is eventually killed as we know because of the unrest in France. It is such a contrast to many of the other parts of the film. I believe Coppola wrote these somewhat unsatisfying endings in a way that complimented her theme very well. Not only is being rich and famous not all it's choked up to be, but it also doesn't just get better to have a perfect happy ending.

Director of a manuscript

    For this assignment I read the manuscript for the film Heavenly Creatures directed by Peter Jackson. The manuscript was strongly based around a murder by two young girls in nineteen fifties New Zealand. Having been ti New Zealand this past summer, I had heard about the film from people I stayed with, and seen a couple seconds of footage from the film. I had also read up a bit on the story behind the actual murder, but never the film.

If I were to make this film, I would like to focus on being the director of photography. The manuscript contained so much colorful dialogue and thought through the two protagonists. It also had such varying moods in the writing that being able to show these emotions through the lens of the camera is essential.

As Director of Photography, I would focus mainly on color keys of shots, and specifically pushing moods and tones through color. The characters in this story often talk about how life is better, more colorful, more perfect when they are together. It would not be hard to show this by simply bringing highly saturated colors into every scene that contained them both, and then having the shots with them separated be very monotone. In this way I believe the movie would be very clear in it's meaning and story telling. These were two young girls who couldn't stand to be apart and didn't like their home life, and that needs to be shown to push the film along.

Dream into a Movie and Real life experience

       The dream begins in a train station. It is bright, immaculately clean, a extremely colorful. The station is eerily empty. "I", the viewer, am standing waiting for the train. I do not look like my normal self, but in the context i understand that this is me. I stand in silence, watching the large central clock of the station lobby. suddenly the train rushes in, blowing my hair and clothes around me.
      Once I'm on the train, I can see the world outside the station. It is lush and green, a beautiful view of nature. Out on the horizon, it becomes obvious that this is a different planet. The sky has a golden tint with several moons and planetary rings visibly in the sky.
The train takes me to a golden building, much bigger than the train station. It seems to take up the space of a whole city. A library. Inside there are thousands upon millions of books, more than a person could imagine. It is filled with people and books floating through the air, ladders to high shelves that go hundreds of feet in the air move on their own. There is a small amount of chatter in the air but otherwise it is calmly quiet.
      I know already that this isn't a normal library. I sit down and open the first book in front of me, it has a thick blue green color with gold bands. Immediately after I have opened the cover I am transported into the book. I am the main character, a young girl with twelve foot wings sprouting out of my back. I am a thief in a world where superpowers and mutations exist, and those who have them are persecuted. As the books story and the characters life get dangerously scary, I find myself wanting to leave the book, but I cannot. The worlds within the books have become sentient, and are trapping people within them. I do what I think would happen in the book, changing the plot to my own ideas as I go. The only way I can get out is by completing the plot of the book. I live out this story I am stuck in. Once I have completed the plot, I am thrown out into my own "normal body" again, but it feels wrong. I feel like I am that character now and I can't go back to who I was.

I am outside on a spring afternoon. Birds chirp quietly in the distance, and leaves flutter down gently from the trees. The flowers on all of the trees and bushes have just peaked with blossoms. Fuchsia and golden trumpet tree blossoms paint the concrete in hues of pink and yellow. There are also several flower beds in bloom; they hug the bases of massive aged oak trees and decorate artistic statues.
A gentle breeze flows through my hair. It is cool, but not cold or uncomfortable. The Spanish moss hanging from the old oak tree above me sway delicately in the wind.
All of my surrounding seem to be completely calm. Even the cars that pass by a quiet and almost rhythmic.
This is the kind of place where I could lay out on the grass with all the clovers and flowers and stare up at the sky, making shapes from clouds. I used to do that so much as a kid, but I'm to busy for that kind of imagination anymore.

Virtual Reality Scene

Virtual reality scene script for Ready Player One film

[Scene: Parzival Explores the Tomb of Horrors in search of the Bronze Key]
The scene is dimly lit, with a fiery red tint. The floors are made with stone and the walls are covered with grim paintings and other similar surroundings which are described in the actual DnD play module. The sounds around the rooms are still, with a slight echo that instills an eerie feeling. Each of Parzival's steps echo off the stone floors and walls. The dungeon map and guide book are kept in the bottom right corner of the display, and can be interactively be pulled up to be viewed over the film footage, while pausing the movie.

The action in the scene follows the book's description with Parzival exploring every trap and room carefully. The viewer's range of vision follows what the characters range of vision would be, somewhere around 180 degrees. Even if the character was not looking specifically in that direction, if it is 180 from where there body is facing, it can be within view for the player. If the character were to turn, the field of vision changes slightly with the character's movement without jarring the viewer too much.

As traps are activated, they make hissing or crashing noises depending on the kind of trap involved. Pings and alerts spawn in the center of the viewer's field of vision over the film when items or powerups spawn for Parzival. as he collects money and items, they appear in a separate intractable inventory and wallet that can be pulled up like the map.

[The scene ends as Parzival comes upon the Lich Kings throne room]

What could it mean? Oh bother...

The Writer's Hand in Sight

After having watched the play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, I can say that I find myself along with most others who have seen it, which is to say I am very confused. How do you define the meaning of a play which has so many different meanings running through it? The play is like a ragged old carpet; it has so many loose threads to pull on that will all unravel differently.

But what does the play mean? This question is a hard one to answer, but I have my own idea of the meaning behind it that I have been thinking about for a while. I believe that this play is about minorities and how they are viewed and affected by the majority party. I know it’s kind of a stretch, but hear me out.

The two main characters in this play are a minority in themselves. Within the play Hamlet, they are minor characters with minor action and focus. The purpose of the play we watched in class was to show how not only did the major characters not consider what affected the two or pay much mind when there were consequences, but also that the pair could not escape what had been written for them if they tried. No matter what they do, they can’t escape everything that is happening around them. Even more, they hardly seem to exist outside of the action.

This is ultimately the message that the leader of the performers impresses on the two men. He walks above the casualties and confusion undisturbed. He knows that whatever will happen will happen regardless of his action.

Week 6

        For this week's assignment I spent some time reading through Hitting Budapest by NoViolet Bulawayo. In hitting Budapest I found the environment quite interesting. Some things weren't explained fully, but in all it gave a good sense of the surroundings. Paradise is a run down lower class area, while Budapest is a quiet well endowed city. Budapest is laden with nice houses and streets, and trees hanging with ripe fruit. It is a dreamy contrast to the town of paradise that the children come from, as if it is in a postcard.

      The children themselves essentially represent this environment. They are poor and hungry, and most of all they want change. Some children dream of it, having faith in one thing or another that they believe will change their stars in the long run. Yet there are also characters like Bastard who is tired of the place, but is resigned to the fate of most of the people who live there. It seems to me like the author wants you to think both parties are wrong.

     I believe that Bastard wants to be wrong. With a name like his, one can only wonder what his life has been so far. He has a very pessimistic outlook, but its clear that he only feels that way so he can protect himself and feel as though he is stronger than the others. He wants life to prove him wrong. Darling and Sbho however, are vivid dreamers. They hold onto anything they can that helps them believe things will change.

Through these different expressions in beliefs the author shows what paradise is really like through the characters. It can be downtrodden and seem hopeless, but there is always something there to encourage its people.

Reading from positions

   

       For my writing this week, I would like to discuss the two part short story "Planet of the Amazon Women" and apply a feminist criticism to the story. The main topic I would like to discuss is how male and female roles are defined in this short story. The answer to that is, most plainly, there aren't any.

If you were to discuss most literature and narrative works, you would probably assume off the bat a sort of standard set of roles for men and women. There are "feminine roles" that are primarily occupied by women and occasionally men like mothers, sisters, teachers. Similarly for men there are roles like fathers and leaders, and those too can be occupied by the opposite gender. One could assume then that in a world where men don't exist, male type roles would be carried over in females. This short story has so many successes because that is not the case.

In this world without men, there are no more "roles" for genders; In fact, with only one sex surviving on the planet, one could say gender disappears altogether. These roles are unnecessary because they are trivial. The women on Hippolyta express themselves through their religion, culture, or however they please. They don't have any need to represent masculinity, or even femininity. I think that at a standard level, this is how people are. No one really fits into these roles without being taught them, and the women on the planet certainly survive well enough without having to be more or less like any gender.

     
  For my discussion this week, I will talk on comparisons between Wes Anderson's "The Grand Budapest Hotel" and Stefan Zweig's "24 Hours in the Life of a Woman". Prior to this weeks readings, I had no experience at all with either of these two creators. Zweig's writing was older and very differently phrased from the passages I had been used to reading. In a similar way, I found Wes Anderson's films strikingly different from films that I regularly enjoy. In these cases different did not mean bad. I am not here today to discuss differences, however. In actuality, the two works that I experienced carried many similarities between them, though most of these were probably intentional. In his script writing, Wes Anderson speaks about how he drew a lot of inspiration from Zweig's work, so these comparisons are not completely unfounded.

The first similarity that stuck out to me between the two works was the fact that the narrator of these stories was for the most part unexpected. The old woman in 24 Hours, and Zero in Grand Budapest were not the conventional main characters and weren't particularly involved in the set up of the story. This kind of set up is very different from general storytelling and caught me off guard as a viewer. Another similarity that I felt drawn to was the fact that most of both stories, and most of the action involved, was told entirely through flashback. This is not completely unheard of in terms of storytelling, but it is certainly the most obvious comparison between the two.

Finally, the most compelling similarity between these two stories, for me, was the melancholy mood of it all. The narrators were very unexpected unusual characters with extremely compelling back stories to tell. They told their exciting tales which didn't resolve in the "perfect ending," but rather a realistic one that somehow still managed to be happy despite everything. This tone of the stories is what I found most inspiring.

I can see why Wes Anderson drew so much inspiration from Stefan Zweig. I now finding myself intrigued to write a similar story with inspiration from both of these creators.

The "True" Grit in True Grit

           
         I would like to focus my discussion of my thoughts on this book on the meaning of the title throughout the work.  The term "True Grit" is a description used often by characters within the book, especially by the narrator, the young Mattie Ross. In her search for someone with this rough and tough quality, Mattie uses the term most often to describe the Marshal Rooster Cogburn whom she hired to help avenge her father. In my own reading of the book, however, it seemed to me that each character seemed to show their own form of "True grit"- suggesting that despite the name, there may not be a true form.
        As is characteristic of westerns, most characters had there own strong form of determination and will. From the wild outlaws with their rebellion and determination to stand against the law despite their shortcomings in the robberies, To the stand-offish tale-telling LaBoeuf, who just wanted the reward for Tom Chaney's death. Even though Mattie may not recognize it herself at first, she herself has true grit. Despite her age and stature in society, Mattie refuses to stand down until she receives the justice she wants and on her terms. Her stubbornness and persistence against the difficult odds shown to her, even as she continues through life after their adventure, in the end, show her own true grit.
      I believe that as Mattie journeys through the book, she comes to see the true grit in many of the other characters, and eventually within herself. She learns of her own strength. Although she loses a lot and doesn't physically gain much she grows tremendously in this definition by the end of the book.

Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice

Oh, Pride and Prejudice. The classic tale of two not so ordinary people misunderstanding each other's feelings, making snap judgements, and eventually overcoming themselves as they fall in love. This is the book, many say, that started it all. Romance in storytelling has never been the same since readers everywhere discovered the brooding Mr. Darcy and Snippy Ms. Elizabeth Bennet. The couple's popularity lead to over two hundred years of reader’s intrigue, and it is no surprise that the book survives to this day. Such a relatable and modern story (despite its age) is not one readers give up easily.

I have personally danced around this story in it’s many forms all throughout my life. Everyone has seen some story or other whose love interests quarrel until they realize how much they truly love each other. It’s arguable that most of the stories take a huge part of their inspiration from this classic novel. My first time ever experiencing a rendition of the book, was in a modernized version which took place in the form of fictional video diaries made by the main character, Lizzie Bennet, and the other characters that interacted with her. It was fairly faithful to the book, with a few alterations here and there to allow for the more modern feel. I thoroughly enjoyed the series.

Naturally when I was assigned to read the original book in my literature class I was excited to see what the book would hold for me. I was very pleased to find that my enjoyment of the characters and the narrative had not changed at all. It was an enjoyable read that I will probably come back to read again in a year or two. I’m sure I will also continue to be delighted by this timeless tale in it’s many new and different tellings as the years go by.

Image taken from The Lizzie Bennet Diaries series on youtube, Episode sixty.

Origins

Discussing one's own origins can in many ways be vague or confusing. For starters, the definition of "origin" could vary from person to person. It could be where your from, your families lineage, personal awakenings, or even the creation of your ideals.  Putting a strict definition on one's beginning seems a moot point. In discussing my own origins, I believe it is only fair to include the many facets that have built me up from the beginning.

My familial origin is a long list of many european countries and descents but overall, I am German. The country and culture of Germany has led my family through the years, and I continue to take inspiration from this. The fairytales and dreamy concepts which have come out of the German culture throughout the years are a driving force behind my own work.

I have had many influences on my work throughout my life. Family, friends, and loved ones make up a large part of that list. Artistically, though, I find myself most influenced by those who show exception creative expression. Historically, I take a lot of inspiration from fairytales and exciting romantic stories. It's Shakespeare, Poe, the Brothers Grimm. In current media, I find a lot of inspiration in concept artists and story tellers. They vary from medium to medium, but each has that key element of exciting storytelling.

My ideology is overall an optimistic open minded one. I believe that one should be fair and loving, to a degree, of everyone around them. I truly believe that everyone should be treated fairly and that we should try to extend ourselves to be the best version of ourselves. This can be hard, and has many exceptions, but I believe as a general thought it is not a bad set of ideals to live by.