Week 13: Curate Yourself

Suddenly, a Knock on the Door

What is your reaction to the text you just read?

I thought it was a bit hard to catch onto first, but I think the further you read it starts to make more sense in the context of how storytelling is explained and told. I think the story is actually the situation, and  I think it's strange how everyone in the story wants a story from this poor man being held hostage.

What connections did you make with the story? Discuss the elements of the work with which you were able to connect?
The story is whats happening or whats supposed to be happening in the story. The antagonist, the survey man is just a character also added on but when the pizza guy knocks, it's almost like its adding onto the situation. The whole short story is just the elements or the basics of storytelling. All of them demand entertainment and a story while basically threatening him and they all are adding up. I can relate to this and being forced to make invent and creative ideas and stories right on the spot rather than waiting.

What changes would you make to adapt this story into another medium? What medium would you use? What changes would you make?

If I were going to adapt this into a medium, I would first plan it out into a short storyboard. I probably would consider making it into a graphic novel or short film. I feel like it could be stylized in a very interesting way like My Favorite Thing is Monsters. I think it would work well with the overall feeling and theme. I wouldn't really change much but have more a visual depiction of all the characters and make the have a little more personality and stereotype. Maybe even make it more serious or more darker to make it feel like the characters are really on the edge.

Week 13:  Curate Yourself – You are what you Eat

Everyone  posts their involvement with food.  Food they cook, food they find, foodies everywhere.  Instagram food.  Twitter food.  American advertising makes certain we see those KFC ads at least three times on every channel with Reba playing Colonel Saunders.  It’s more of a horror show, really.
Eating has, throughout the history of man been a social activity.  Let’s have a tailgating party, barbeque, family time.  But has this actually turned into something darker then Alice Brady’s meatloaf?  Let’s turn to South Korea.  The Korean word for family means “those who eat together.”  Yet the rise of a phenomenon known as “muk-bang” (eat on the air) involves someone sitting at home alone eating huge amounts of food while live-streaming.  This gives the person that is eating “alone” an opportunity to not eat alone but sharing their meal with hundreds of webcam viewers.  While these trends seem harmless, many more serious and negative occurrences exist.
Several studies have shown that key indicators of eating disorders were found much more prevalent with prolonged tv exposure.  This suggests a negative body image and weight losing behaviors.  Media is a risk-factor in the development of eating disorders and self-image.  “Pro-mia” and “Pro-ana” websites now give tips and tricks to share.  Users support each other’s self-destructive behaviors.
Media’s emphasis on unhealthy thinness, body-image and accessibility to sites like Anorexia Bootcamp encourage their communities to stick to losing weight and “be strong.”
"We live in a culture where eating disorders thrive because of the messages we're exposed to," said Claire Mysko, head of youth outreach for the National Eating Disorders Association, or NEDA. "Social media heightens that exposure."

Week 11: Long Form Television

Week 11: Long Form Television

Group: Alaura, Brandon, Linda, Selina

What is television? 

It is a form of entertainment to pass time, it's not a necessity but is something that is an escape.
It is also for communicating ideas, bringing people together, selling products through commercials and depending on if you are poor or rich, storytelling for characters and situations, personal expression like animation and music. Another form is live television and news channels, knowing information about the world and politics and reality TV that go through everyday life and explain whats either going on with a specific person or location. This can also be applied to documentaries.


What is different of long form television?

After the 2000s, television series started to get very popular and more widely used.  Sometimes it can be used to have adaptions of multiple books and even graphic novels. Studios are fairly different and reused. Characters and places are repetitive. Also unlike most movies you can watch episodes of series not in chronological order and be able to follow along. Different series are also sometimes followed by openings and endings usually with music and some form of introduction so you can pick up it up very quickly. They also are followed by coming out with series seasons usually yearly. Streaming services popularized the series and made it so commercials can be skipped and you can pause. TV shows go through pilots, and getting multiple seasons and are fairly lower budget than movies. This also provided multiple series that are accessible rather than one. This started to create binge watching and marathons finishing it usually in a weeks time.  TV also created formulaic and constant episodes, this also changed the standard for cartoons. These are easier to make and can be on constant. Also changing the production with introducing new inexpensive actors, reusing sets, being cheaper to make, and how easy it can be to get into the business since it's easy and anyone can do it. How easy it is to access and create content nowadays and how subscriptions have become popularized.

The End of The F***ing World

For this week I decided to binge on The End of the F***ing World, a series on Netflex that follows the main character James who thinks of himself as a psychopath. His main goal from episode one is to basically to kill a real human victim rather than countless animals he has murdered, which is a obvious sign of a serial killer in the making. Alyssa unfortunately ends up having what seems to be a teenage crush, mixed with her personality that seems to be extremely bold, and confident. She's immature with dealing with her feelings and reacts like a moody teenager.

As strange at it is, I absolutely adore the relationship dynamics these characters have together. I love how even though James is cunning and quite shy, he becomes a little more bold and and Alyssa helps him come out of his shell and sticks up for him countless times in difficult situations. This pair is up to absolutely no good throughout the series. But like I mentioned earlier, even though Alyssa cares for him and presumably, James still has the urge to kill her but starts to also gain feelings for her. They end up even running away together, in which they defy against the adults in their life that seemed to be so shitty. We know that they are the way they are because of their parents and how abusive and just outright shitty they are. Eventually, theres a scene that James is forced to kill a person because they tried to sexually assault and kill Alyssa. This is a crime that adds more onto the weight of them running away and even more reasoning to go into hiding. They even end up changing their looks and even Alyssa starts to question her relationship with James after he's so willing to murder, even if it was in the defense. Both teens come to stay together and decide to go to Alyssa's fathers house, who helps them go into hiding and ends up spending time with both of the kids. They soon  realize that it was all just fake, and that in actuality the father was going to give them up for money. Of course the police find them, (these police officers have their own story within the series, meeting up to the final "showdown".) 

The season and series ends in a cliff hanger of what happens to Alyssa and James, since Alyssa gets arrested and James either gets away or is shot. I think what this series does successful is to show even children who are cold and ones that are set on the path to be murders can turn out to be able to show compassion and love if given. That these kids have a reason to be the way they are. I think this can be applied to lots of past serial killers with similar pasts and mindsets. We can also see that James is also simply just mentally ill, and really is the way he is because of his mother since he blames himself for his death. His father never helped him cope with the feelings of guilt and frustration. Since his mother was also mentally ill and killed herself infront of James. I think this series is a good discussion on mental illness and the effects it had on others and why its so important to talk about it.

Week 10: Reading the Multimodal Narritive

My Favorite Thing is Monsters by Emil Ferris is a really personal work to the author that has amazing artistry. The comics are challenging how graphic novels are usually structured. You can tell that the artist used her own life and dark themes integrated in her storytelling. When I first began reading it I thought it was strange that in this world it seems to follow a little "monster" girl. In this case I don't think that the girl is actually a monster, but just how she views herself. I'm not really sure why she views herself this way, maybe because of how her life was and that she believed that she is this way.
It is strange how the graphic novel doesn't ever have a real narrator but rather it seems to be told through Emil herself. I think it's clear that the "voice" is quite literally the author telling the story through herself. The art definitely reflects that it's not a child simply drawing in a ruled notebook. It's actually interesting how the author really loves monsters, and how she feels empathetic for them and how they are out-casts. It's almost like the monsters themselves represent the good rather than the bad which seems to take more form of a human.Also what I really like about the novel is that there are no definite good or bad guys this novel. I think this is a more realistic way of portraying how actual people can be complex and not just one type or label of a person.

Week 9: Voice and the Auteur Theory

Sophia Coppola’s voice and visual aesthetics are clearly seen in all three movies I selected to watch.  I feel like I am peering inside someone else’s life watching all three films.

The first film I viewed was in class “Marie Antoinette.”  This film is visually beautiful with lush green woods, pastel palettes and the tiniest detail of embroidery on the beautiful fabrics.  The luxurious Versailles landscapes and cotton candy wigs, cakes and delicate macaroons are dreamlike.  The natural lighting is beautiful.  Kirsten Dunst was the perfect Marie, whimsical, charming child-like, decadent. 
Sophia seems drawn to stories that are centered on characters that are longing for acceptance.  Marie was trying so hard to please her mother, the Prince (her husband), the people and the court.   You can feel the emotions from the main character, especially when Marie had to be stripped down from all her Austrian possessions and her little dog Mops was taken away.   She had to brave and face the strangers/crowd and be strong and “perfect.”  She is left with nothing yet given everything.
There are frequent repeat shots in her work, like Marie looking outward from the coach’s window at the world passing by. Sophia is like Marie Antoinette.  She can identify with her role coming from a very strong Family.  Frances Ford Coppola is her father and I am sure she had to fight for her own identity and director style.



The second film, “The Bling Ring” was about coming of age within an entourage of woman as well.  The film is about a group of teens robbing from the excessively rich Movie Stars based upon a true story.  They desire to adopt the celebrity lifestyle from raiding and stealing from their favorite celebrity homes. Coppola makes a point of lack of moral while the group committed the crimes
 I was stressed watching this entire movie as they broke into Paris Hilton’s home again, and again and again.  I was waiting each time for the police to randomly show and shoot any or all of them.  I did notice Kirsten Dunst’s cameo as she appears in all three films I selected to watch.  This film again has dreamlike excessive opulence.  The teens obviously knew luxurious brand names (Birkin bags, Chanel).  From their selfies and Facebook posts, the teens broadcast their need for living in a world detaching effects from cause.  Money was found everywhere and carelessly thrown away on parties (similar to Marie Antoinette shots of eating cakes and macaroons, this group snorted cocaine and drank alcohol.) The similarity in musical selection is obvious in Coppola’s films.   The punk rock loud music is in both films seems to not quite fit in, yet she chose the music depicting aimlessness as drama unfolds around the oblivious teens.

My final selection was “The Beguiled.”  This film again had Kirsten Dunst.  This film centered around a boarding school for fine young ladies in the Deep South during the Civil War.  The film starts out with lush natural lighting in a Virginia forest as a young girl picking mushrooms stumbles upon a Union Soldier.  Amy “rescues” the soldier and brings him to the school.  The group of ladies decide to nurse him back to health “the Christian thing to do” before turning him in to become a Confederate prisoner.  They carefully and cautiously imprisoned in a small room as they bath him, shave him and try to make him healthier.  Soon their subdued desires overtake their rationality as he manipulates them with his charm as he recuperates.

With each relationship he pursues, jealousy arises between the women.  Coppola draws superb performances from Nicole Kidman, Elle Fanning and Kirsten Dunst.
The film seemed under-lit compared to Marie Antoinette, but it made the boarding house seem haunting and ghost-like.  I felt disoriented at times straining to see the actresses’ expressions under the candle-lit atmosphere.  This seemed like an authentic mansion, under lit and falling apart, while the war goes on all around them.  They all have primal responses to his presence and he pays for his manipulation.  The Beguiled delivers proper ladies who would rather murder the soldier then “share” him.

Week 8: Adaptation

The Piano (1993)

The Piano is a story set on a bleak New Zealand coast where a mute mail-order bride, Ada and her young daughter, Flora struggle to maintain dignity through rain, humidity and mud.  It is set in the early years of European colonization of New Zealand.

As the Costume Designer the main element is designing textiles that depict the civilized world the main character has left, and transitioning into a wild, primitive world.   I still want to maintain her somber dignity even though all around her world falls apart and she succumbs to the primitively forced upon her.I want to set the color palette lush and somber, setting a tone for the entire film.

Ada McGrath’s first costume is a dark crepe Victorian dress.  I would make the dress out of  upon layers of fabric to create a somber yet beautiful dress.  She is a widow still wearing black so the dress will be simple yet elegant.

When she arrives with her daughter on the beach of New Zealand, she wears a black satin bonnet bound tight with a black ribbon.  Flora will be wearing a very dark plaid dress and wearing a bonnet as well.  When she is carried upon the shoulders of the men, she realizes how primitive the island is and she knows she made a terrible mistake.   The dress and bonnet symbolizes the darkness of the island and she is a bound prisoner.

The fake wedding dress she wears will be of simple linen with ties on the back.  Ribbons bind her hair.  She has dainty boots that get defiled with mud not matter how hard she tries to avoid it.  It is too big for her and fits her oddly.

I had to have many layers of clothing for Ada’s scenes with Baines.  She has to earn her beloved piano that was sold by her husband by giving “lessons” to the man, George Baines, to earn it back.  Every layer has to be very detailed since close up of her garments will be in the film.

The first layer is stockings above the knee.  They will be black of course.  They are held up by garters attached to a corset.  There are white cotton drawers over her stockings.  A sleeveless chemise she wears is white.

The corset consists of genuine whalebone.  I want to be as historically accurate as possible.  The crinoline will support the skirt and supports the seven petticoats that would be added.  Layers of fabric that represent layers of her dignity and pride.  The dress will have a high neck and long sleeves and a small jacket.  Of course she will wear small gloves.  She has half boots because of the New Zealand mud.

One detail the Director wanted was a small hole in her stocking.  This is gives Baines the ability to “touch” her bare skin.

Week 7: Reading Virtual Reality

I think both Cosmopolis and Ready Player One have a lot of things in common with their work, although they have different takes and ideas they are similar in the way of weird main characters and oddly timed and blank spots in between. The film we watched in class had kind of a weird idea of putting technology in ourselves and how we might have virtual reality. For years we have been in video games and experiencing different worlds and ideas. The narrative and storytelling in a way is being in a different character or world. Almost like when we play games and watch very bright and interesting worlds we come back into a bland world. The story is immersive, it's written so the reader really gets a feel for the environments at least when reading it I think particularly I liked some of the places. The dystopian future aspect really came across really well and developed.

Take an event or setting of the novel and adapt it into virtual reality:

It would be really interesting if the setting with the trailers stacked upon each other be made into virtual reality. I know it will be developed into a movie so we will get to see this setting. But I like to imagine it like the image above. I would like to in VR travel through a place like this, salvaging and climbing this area would be really fun in this dystopian type setting. Maybe even living in a place with territories and clans. I would like to play or develop a game similar to this setting.

Week 6: Writing and Reading from Diverse Positions

I think this week focuses on breaking the normal traditions. We watched Circumstance and we also had to read Marriage of a Thousand Lies both display LGBT+ and trying to break out of the South-Asian culture roots. I think some parts I really enjoyed of this novel is the dynamic between the characters. I felt like as thought I didn't relate too much to the characters, I understand being gay and trying to be accepted. Especially the struggles of trying to conform or understand who you are. I can relate more situational rather than personal.  I can also understand how both portray two girls that are unsure of what they want I correlate more to the experience of these characters like Lucky. In the same circumstance I also felt the same way, the visuals and understanding the emotions helped me get more of a grasp on Sindu's novel. Do you go to do what you want to do? Or do you follow what others want you to do? I think these are the questions that are similar for both the novel and the movie. 

In class we had SJ Sindu come in and talk about her experiences writing and her development as a writer. Sindu took a lot of time and writing to understand her own character. The development of going through her drafts and a lot of time thinking, getting multiple feedback from different groups people. As an artist and a writer, she tries to consume as many novels as she can. She also talks about perception of time and how she reflects on her work and how timing can be warped just like her novels. Sindu makes weekly goals of working and not trying to overwork herself. In some ways she feels that working on deadlines are important but also making yourself healthy and happy. I feel if there is one thing that Sindu has in common with her own character Lucky, is pushing the traditions and her own roots. The research that she does is always so thorough as she read original Hindu text, looking into cults and police reports.  We talked about identity including race and sex and are both very important topics to discuss and I'm glad we went over it today.

Week 5: Privilege as a Position

 Week 5: Privilege as a Position

This week we are reading by Cosmopolis by Don DeLillo. I feel like in this novel we are really detached from the characters especially the main character. The central character is always talking and seemingly knowing about his future. It seems we are more to observe rather than experience with the character. I feel like the novel is just a big discussion and it's not really "commercial". 
For the writing assignment we need to discuss about privilege and power, the main character is obviously rich and he has a lot of money. In the novel, class is identified with clothes, the anti-globalists wearing dirty clothes or the rich people who are overdressed. It's almost like the middle class doesn't exist in the novel. We see that he has so much money with items and can get what he wants when it comes to girls. Throughout the novel I feel like a lot of people pointed a gun at Eric and he just simply doesn't care. It's almost like he doesn't mind. He has this complete control and the vehicle itself represents how small and paranoid the he can be. I think that Eric isn't supposed to be a likable character its supposed to challenge the reader in deciding if we care about his ideals and what he has to say. I get the sense in this novel that the women in this novel are very knowledgeable and giving in to Eric's wants. This character has a complex about wanting things. 

Eric can't control everything, and he is losing his money and power. He can't keep going knowing that everything is not balanced. The movie itself almost seems like there is so much going on in the background yet we are in this single car and most of the novel is taking place here. Privilege effects how we see especially the main character, in which it he's seeing things in a different warped perspective in ways we can't even understand. He is losing parts of himself through the process and seeing him sort of unravel. I feel like Eric comes to find that whats important and what he is gaining ties and friendships to other people and trying to relate to them.

Week 4: Reading from a Position

Wonder Woman was created in late 1941 a superhero and an homage to independent, strong, courageous women.  Like Superman, she has a secret identity and a secret history.  

My Theme Park would be age-appropriate for all family members starting off with the entrance gate having typical Persepolis columns interwoven with beautiful foliage and strong vines.  I would add gold-leafing on some of the sections. Since the graphic novels imply Paradise Island was somewhere in the Pacific my first attraction would be a beautiful boat ride throughout the “island.”
 

The boat will journey all the way to the other side of the Theme Park, so tired guests would not have to walk all the way back.  This attraction would have Steve Trevor’s World War II plane “crash” wreckage in the beginning with crates and vines around it.  As you journey through the misty crystal waters, there will be a “clay baby” area with pottery and waterfalls and mist machines creating humidity.  Some “creatures” would be encountered on this attraction, e.g. Kangas. 

There would be colosseums and training area structures as well as Temples constructed for Artemis, Athena, Demeter, Hestia and Aphrodite.   This is a mellow ride with a few waterfalls and some Centaurs and Pegasus. Exiting the boat left is Paradise Island Café, serving tropical drinks, sweet red wines, Mediterranean Gyros, Spanakopita’s and other Greek-themed foods.   To the right is Etta Candy’s Shop with delicious “Golden Lasso” licorice whips, Primary-colored cupcakes and cake pops and malted milkshakes in a 40’s theme. 

Straight ahead is Zeus’s Fury – a roller coaster mostly indoors.  You start off facing a huge Zeus ticked off with lightning above and cold breezes whipping your hair around, then up it goes, and each car rotates 180 degrees.  During this maneuver, there is an out of control feeling that causes disorientation.  This ride is based upon Zeus making Wonder Woman go into the pits of Themyscira to retrieve his greatest “treasure” – his son.  The coaster dips down and you can see gigantic treasure, an animatronic Hydras and other beasts.  

One interactive ride would be “Spirit of Truth” where you would sit in a domed track car and different “Villains” would make their appearance and  you would “shoot them” with a laser beam and earn points.  I want to embody her character “fighting” classic villains such as Doctor Poison, Cheetah, Ares, Circe, Doctor Psycho and Giganta.

I would also have a Wonder Woman Museum showing the history of Wonder-Woman and highlight some of the “before her time” aspects.  Particularly, her Golden Lasso/ Lie-Detector and some of the Slavery aspects.

Week 3: Reading Mythology True Grit

Week Three: Reading Mythology True Grit

True Grit isn't based off of a real story but rather the author doing a lot of research into Western themes. The landscape is very wild and open large fields and rivers it's a large view and very "American" and open without rules this leaves more room for the narrative like fighting and horseback riding almost like it's an arena. Right and wrong in western movies are also kinda grey. It is in a traditional sense of genre is about morality and law. True Grit makes a point of not really knowing who's good or bad. We as the audience don't know who the hero really is. The genre of Western is a melodrama. Girls aren't typically in western movies as a main character. But the narrative is told by a young 14 year old girl Mattie Ross who has a interesting perspective and point of view of all the characters. My own interpretation is that Mattie is grounded and more mature for dealing with problems in the novel. She seems genuine even if sometimes we don't know if we should trust the narrative. I think she is trustworthy because this is her avenging and getting justice for her father who was murdered. Her character has more of hero intentions and doesn't have a grey area its either black or white for her. She's not as a hateful person trying to get revenge but more of someone who wants to bring justice to the person who murdered her father.

The author wanted the retelling and dialogue to be from Mattie and how she is seeing things and hearing them. In both versions of the movie and novel it feels like there is a ton of dialogue. I like how Rooster and Mattie can relate to each other and he even begins to call her "little sister" and has that line of friendship and family familiarity. We can see Rooster starting to care for her and protect her. We can see they are a duo and and they both show heroic traits like being bold and courageous. They both want to get to their goal and I think this reflects in both the title and the characters. She never questions herself or second guesses, she perceivers and has no regrets for her actions. Opposed to LaBoeuf who's a arrogant and do things his own way. I find him to be a annoying character but I think thats the point. He's just there to balance out the duos personalities. He's always out to prove himself and trying to prove himself. We don't really know his motive for things or whats about him.

Week 2: Storyverses

Week 2: Pride, Prejudice and Prologue
Over the last 2 weeks we read and in class discussed the novel by Jane Austen called Pride and Prejudice. Some first thoughts is that the novel itself I find hard to read, so I listened to a audiobook while following along with the novel. Elizabeth is such a interesting character because she's not really high class and she's so caring about her sister and trying to be true to herself rather than caring about being rich and popular. She is such a cool and nice character and you can totally see the character reflect the author and the personality. I think what's the best part of the novel is the narration. I think it's about people having bad first impressions and why you should really never judge people. Both Elizabeth and Darcy have both faults of being stubborn and misunderstanding each other. Elizabeth's sisters and herself are expected to be married and the plot revolves around trying to marry because there is no one to inherit the house. At the time people didn't marry for love but for money and property. It's why this story translates well to today is that you don't know peoples intentions and their actions being for the good of others rather than their self.

Prologue:

I've taken this class previously last semester and I am learning to become more of a critical thinker and to experience more. Before this I have read and experienced a lot of literature but I'm not an expert. I do enjoy reading in my free time even though I wish I wrote more. When I was younger I always knew I wanted to create compelling stories and characters since it was my main influence into what I wanted to do. As I never was one to make very good grades as far as writing I always loved reading and feeling that connection with either the story or the author.

Week 1 Storytelling

Week 1 Storytelling - The Wife of Bath's Prologue and The Wife of Bath's Tale

Returning to the course, our first assignment is The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and The Wife of Bath’s Tale are what we had to read this week and discuss in class. 

What we know about the story is that it was originally told by the Marriage Group of the Canterbury Tales. It was written specifically by Chaucer Factoids. It is basically a bunch of pilgrims talking about their philosophies on both love, sexuality and marriage. It’s even set in when King Arthur was king.  The prologue is just the narrator, discussing and talking before they tell the tale. It’s giving context to the story that is going to be told, maybe she is relating to the story itself. It’s her interpretation of the story. This is telling us as readers what the storyteller is to the story and how they think. It’s put in here to already set a perspective on the tale.

The story is basically a romance that’s taking place in a medieval time period, in which a knight is punished for not acting… knightly. He knight is ordered to be executed by the court of women. As a punishment instead of dying he has to figure out what women “truly desire” and is challenged to try to find the answer. The knight looks around and tries to find the answers to the questions. The knight ends up finding 24 ladies dancing and tries to approach them, and instead they disappear and it appears to an old lady who offers to help him. After giving him the answer which is giving power and respect to women and after saving his life she wants him to marry him even if she’s old and poor to him. She even tries to rationalize and say that because of those reasons she would never run away or cheat. The knight ends up letting the old lady decide if they should be married. He is giving power to her in this moment. It’s because the Knight became a bit more wise from what happened before, and lets her take control of the situation. After this, he either sees her in a different way or she changes to be young and pretty to the Knight. This is kind of a "happy ever after" scenario. I'm pretty satisfied with the storytelling and how this story is being told and it's theme. I think the most interesting part was the Knight himself and how he became different and grew to be better and learn from what he did wrong.