Waltz with Bashir was an interesting film both visually and in terms of theme. I was not a huge fan of the animation, mostly due to me knowing how it is done. I found it to be quite stiff and swim-y, but I found that the subject matter, story, and overall symbolism of the movie to be done well. I feel that stereotyping and repression of emotion to be harmful. Yet, in my major, Computer Animation, we are taught to embrace stereotyping to a certain extent, mainly because it is recognizable to a majority of people. In film, stereotypes are used all the time, and often become a major theme in the film.
Look at (one of my favorite films) Legally Blonde. Opens on Elle Woods, the stereotypical hot, white, blonde, stupid sorority girl waiting to be proposed to by her hot, rich boyfriend Warner. In the musical, the first song "Oh my God you Guys" is literally singing about her making herself bride material with the help of her sorority girls. This can be seen as very stereotypical, yet I have met girls just like her, and Elle in the show is kind and funny and smart when it comes to fashion, yet is called "a Marilyn not a Jackie". That line really made me think, but it is another stereotype that may not be true, but everyone in the audience knew exactly what he meant. I had never questioned that line until I looked at it from this standpoint.
Another stereotype in the film is that students at Harvard are boring, dull, serious lawyers. Then here comes Elle dressed in all pink compared to there navy blue, grey and black cloths. I find truth in this for I have never seen a lawyer dress in a hot pink Juicy Couture sweats, they are always dressed in suits or nice work clothing. This is a stereotype, but everyone in the audience understands this and finds the contrast between the law students and Elle to be funny. There is an entire song in the musical called "Is he Gay or European" which makes fun of those stereotypes, yet the audience is laughing the whole time. I feel that people get racism and stereotypes mixed, both can happen at one, but when I think of stereotypes they are traits that have been observed repeatedly to the point where they are easily taken as truth. For example, lawyers wear suits or business men wear watches and carry a brief case. Are these stereotypes? I have met many lawyers and businessmen whom wear suits/ have watches/ carry brief cases, so does that make it a stereotype? What about a Texan wearing cowboy boots? I am a native Texan and I own and have worn cowboy boots, does that make me a stereotype? I am white and like Starbucks, does that make me a stereotype?
Thursday, October 26, 2017
Thursday, October 19, 2017
Literature of Comics: Day 7
Maus is a graphic novel depicting the experience of being Jewish or Polish during the Holocaust and surviving by American cartoonist Art Spiegelman. This novel really legitimized the graphic novel, and was also the first graphic novel to win the Pulitzer Prize. It really encapsulated the idea that graphic novels are not just for happy, kid stories, but one can do anything with this medium. When reading the graphic novel, I found many parallels to the recent Disney film Zootopia. I wonder if the creators of this film looked at this book or got any inspiration from it for both use animals to represent race.
Yet in Maus, one can blatantly tell that mice are Jewish, cats are German, dogs are American, and Pigs are Polish. Where as in Zootopia, they use only 2 'races', predators and prey, which cleverly allows any race to put them selves in either position. Predators being the minority for the world is made up of over 80% prey animals, but also stereotyped are gruesome and dangerous creatures. I believe this brings people more into both stories for they don't depict people, thus the viewer/reader can more easily put themselves into those situations that have no specific human identity. I feel that both pioneered the subject matter, for Zootopia is not just a kid movie, and over the past couple of years I feel that animation as a whole is becoming more flexible of a medium in terms of subject matter.
A great example of this, and one of my favorite animated shorts of all time, is Borrowed Time, which was an independent Pixar short. This short is not fun and wacky, it is about "A weathered Sheriff who returns to the remains of an accident he has spent a lifetime trying to forger. With each step forward, the memories come flooding back. Faced with his mistake once again, he must find strength to carry on. (Wikipedia)" It is a beautiful short and Maus also reminded me of this in terms of changing the scope of a medium.
Yet in Maus, one can blatantly tell that mice are Jewish, cats are German, dogs are American, and Pigs are Polish. Where as in Zootopia, they use only 2 'races', predators and prey, which cleverly allows any race to put them selves in either position. Predators being the minority for the world is made up of over 80% prey animals, but also stereotyped are gruesome and dangerous creatures. I believe this brings people more into both stories for they don't depict people, thus the viewer/reader can more easily put themselves into those situations that have no specific human identity. I feel that both pioneered the subject matter, for Zootopia is not just a kid movie, and over the past couple of years I feel that animation as a whole is becoming more flexible of a medium in terms of subject matter.
A great example of this, and one of my favorite animated shorts of all time, is Borrowed Time, which was an independent Pixar short. This short is not fun and wacky, it is about "A weathered Sheriff who returns to the remains of an accident he has spent a lifetime trying to forger. With each step forward, the memories come flooding back. Faced with his mistake once again, he must find strength to carry on. (Wikipedia)" It is a beautiful short and Maus also reminded me of this in terms of changing the scope of a medium.
Thursday, October 12, 2017
In Class: Underground Comics
In Class:
The underground comic I read in class was 'The Last Words in Comics! XYZ Comics'. I did not enjoy either, I would never read these in my free time. I am not a fan of just making comics about sex or objectifying women or just weird fantasies. I did not like the art style in any way either, I found it pretty repulsive. I not against pushing the envelope in content, but I want a reason for it, for it to help or enhance the story in some way. I understand the appeal, that the comic is trying to be offensive. I was not offended by the comic, but more that I was not drawn or impressed by it. It seemed like a twelve year old boy who started to hit puberty and just drew out gross fantasies. I really don't like the art, I appreciate all types of art, but this is just unappealing in every way to me. Im sure there is an underground comic out there that I would enjoy, but of the ones I glanced through today, I am not going to be seeking them out.
Literature of Comics: Day 6
The Yellow Submarine, 1968, is a very trippy film. I have known this film for basically my whole life due to my dad. He loves this movie, his last birthday my sister and I got him a yellow submarine card for father's day. I appreciate the variation in techniques and the Beatle songs are great. The Yellow Submarine was made to be done as quickly as possible, using rotoscope and looped animation, because it was created at the height of the Beatle's fame. Everyone expected the Beatles to be forgotten, but this is probably the most successful, experimental animated film. This film is very 60s - early 70s, with a lot of art movements portrayed throughout. The bright colors, surrealism, pop art, art nouveau collage, graphic shapes, live action film loops, and a lot of profile portraits. Whenever I watch this movie, I remember the Power Puff Girls episode where they spoofed this film. Mojo Jo Jo gathers the villains and creates the group, the 'Beat Alls', and I felt so smart when I was little and understood the reference compared to my peers who had no idea.
Under ground comics were also very influenced by many genres. This basically starts with College Humor Magazines. These comics were funded by students, and it was always fighting against the admins. These would become more and more scandalous, pushing the boundaries, and would be fought against by the legislature. The harbor lampoon is one of the few humor magazines that is still around. At this time, around the country, there was an under ground press movement.People would walk in with their comics in hope to have them published, and often had a large circulation. Political stories were very common, often about civil rights and anti-war. These were distributed by hippies. Eventually the underground comics became more organized and more widely known. Rock music and concerts was another movement occurring at this time. Thus the business of making Rock posters was growing. Robert Crumb comes into the picture due to this. Crumb is a nice boy from baltimore, and his brothers and sisters and he are raised by strict father and a mentally ill mother. He later gets a job at American Greetings making strange humor cards. At this time, they basically all took LSD, but at the time they could get it from a physician. He was not a hippy, most artist weren't at the time. He later goes on a road trip to San Francisco, and he sent work to Zap, and they lost it. Many years later they found it and published it as Zap number 0.
Under ground comics were also very influenced by many genres. This basically starts with College Humor Magazines. These comics were funded by students, and it was always fighting against the admins. These would become more and more scandalous, pushing the boundaries, and would be fought against by the legislature. The harbor lampoon is one of the few humor magazines that is still around. At this time, around the country, there was an under ground press movement.People would walk in with their comics in hope to have them published, and often had a large circulation. Political stories were very common, often about civil rights and anti-war. These were distributed by hippies. Eventually the underground comics became more organized and more widely known. Rock music and concerts was another movement occurring at this time. Thus the business of making Rock posters was growing. Robert Crumb comes into the picture due to this. Crumb is a nice boy from baltimore, and his brothers and sisters and he are raised by strict father and a mentally ill mother. He later gets a job at American Greetings making strange humor cards. At this time, they basically all took LSD, but at the time they could get it from a physician. He was not a hippy, most artist weren't at the time. He later goes on a road trip to San Francisco, and he sent work to Zap, and they lost it. Many years later they found it and published it as Zap number 0.
Thursday, October 5, 2017
Literature of Comics: Day 5
The Contract with God, a graphic novel, can be seen as a novel or not. The book is longer than an average comic and the characters seemed to be more developed in one book than any other comic I have seen. The subject matter also seems to be different than an average comic, plus it is places in a real place at an actual time, making the novel more grounded. Comics tend to be more action driven also, where as with this the dialogue and story take the lead. Not only are graphic novels much longer than average comics, but they tend to read more like a full story/tale than a short/episode like most comics are. A reader does not wait till next week to see what happens next, instead they are given a full story. Will is more than just a comic artist, but a theorist and innovator.
Stan Lee and Spiderman, he really pioneered the comic book and begins to show people that comics are not just for kids. Creating X-Men, Avengers, the Hulk and more, Stan was creating a universe all ages could enjoy.
Blankets was a very interesting graphic novel. It had heavy themes, that I thought were portrayed well and emphasized by the art style. My favorite part of the work was the art, the reader could literally see the world through the main character's eyes. I loved the personification of the objects and literally being thrown into the imagination of the main character. At the beginning of the novel, when the father makes him sleep in the 'cubby' room, he sees monsters and the fold out bed is a monster's mouth. This art style emphasizes his fears and the viewer can really feel what the main character is feeling. I think that this work would have scared me or disinterested me at a younger age, but now that I know about symbolism and personification, the reader is really submersed into the world of the graphic novel.
Stan Lee and Spiderman, he really pioneered the comic book and begins to show people that comics are not just for kids. Creating X-Men, Avengers, the Hulk and more, Stan was creating a universe all ages could enjoy.
Blankets was a very interesting graphic novel. It had heavy themes, that I thought were portrayed well and emphasized by the art style. My favorite part of the work was the art, the reader could literally see the world through the main character's eyes. I loved the personification of the objects and literally being thrown into the imagination of the main character. At the beginning of the novel, when the father makes him sleep in the 'cubby' room, he sees monsters and the fold out bed is a monster's mouth. This art style emphasizes his fears and the viewer can really feel what the main character is feeling. I think that this work would have scared me or disinterested me at a younger age, but now that I know about symbolism and personification, the reader is really submersed into the world of the graphic novel.
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