Dancer in the Dark in relation to Marx's theory of Alienation

There is so much to speak out on in the film. I have been talking about ideas that this film has branched off in my brain to my friends and family at an annoying rate I'm afraid. In watching Dancer in the Dark I came to find numerous connections instantly with Marx and his theory of Alienation. There is the alienation of Selma in the factory and significance of blindness.

I would hate to leave out the brutal segment of Bill and Selma and the bag of money. Do you believe that Bill's fear of his wife leaving him when she finds out he has not nearly as much money as he used to rational?

To answer this question I want to first let you recall the scene in which we first view Kathy (Bill's wife) and all of the candies that she gives out, and how she gives Selma the tin with all the candies in it (that are apparently foreign and super fancy-like?) when she leaves. We immediately saw that the power of money had indeed taken it's toll on Kathy. Like Bill said earlier in the movie, she spends money like it's nothing..SHE LOVES MONEY! Yet, Kathy's character herself is caring, understanding, and protective of those she loves. I do not believe that Bill's fear was rational at all and in fact I see his fear covering up his fixation with needing money himself. Not to spend, but to show off; to prove that he has it and he's more powerful because of it.

Now let me talk on further about Selma's alienation in the factory. Not only is she alienated in the way in which Marx speaks of she is alienated through her slow/mediocre work which is caused by her lack of eye sight and later on blindness. She works in the sense that all people do, which is a "means to life" as Marx put. We have to work, we have no choice in the matter (unless of course you wish to be homeless and/or completely dependent). Yet the alienation that her blindness brings her gives me such a feeling of sadness and pity, even though we all realize that is the last thing she wishes from anybody. She works because she has to, in able to feed her son and herself and pay the rent (along with saving up for her son's secret operation). Yet, even though she is side by side with people in similar situations she cannot act as though it's routine for everyday it is an obstacle for her as her eyesight worsens. She simply cannot keep up with the other workers therefore alienating her.

Not only does Selma deal with many instances of rejection and betrayal but she finds herself having to fend for her life. This brings me to the connection that Marx's statement that "conscious life-activity directly distinguishes man from animal life-activity" and the deadly argument over Selma's stolen money. Bill reverted back into animal-like activity, which I feel is illustrated through his irrational statement of her having to kill him in order for him to give her the money back. Yet, we notice that Selma refuses to believe that he has done this because she simply cannot see the gun that is pointed at her until he jabs her with it. Money made Bill revert back into that animal like activity, yet Selma remained completely nuetral to that until Bill forced into it.

Thanks for reading :)

Rear Window + Mulvey

Let me begin by saying I have been wanting to watch this film for quite some time now and it has been recommended to me on several different occasions and it was nothing at all like I expected. After reading Mulvey and viewing Rear Window I came to several conclusions regarding their immediate connection and why her article was chosen for this film.

Before I draw too deep into that let me inquire if, in Rear Window, it was insinuated that the "peeping tom", also known as Jeffries, was viewing the ballerina as to sexually satisy himself? In other words as Mulvey stated "sexual stimulation through sight".

I ask that because in the first paragraph on the first page of Mulvey she states, and let me quote, "At the extreme, it can be fixated into perversion, producing obsessive voyeurs and Peeping Toms whose only sexual satisfication can come from watching, in an active controlling sense , an objectified other". I realize that Jeffries was forced into the situation of being stuck in his apartment via broken leg, and that viewing other people's life in their apartments through the rear window of his apartment was entertaining in his situation. Yet, I feel we did not get to view much after he was done peeping. Either the screen would black out, or he'd fall asleep and then we'd see him in the morning. Is that insinuating anything after the screen blacks out after watching Ms. Ballerina? I wonder.

Now let me pick up where I started regarding the connections I found in Mulvey with Rear Window. Her fascination with people's curiousity in looking and our need to dissect other people's life and surroundings is directly connected with this film. In observing other people's life what exactly are we looking for? In the film Jeffries was attempting to solve a murder mystery, yet in smaller panels and side stories we see him delving into people's relationships or lack there of. I believe he is trying to accomplish what Mulvey regarded as finding one's purpose in this world, where do they fit in? In watching them he was putting those peices together and attempting to figure that out for himself.

In the movie we were asked to focus on "the gaze" and as I observed that was what made the plot. The unshakable gaze, the tell all signs of something that's going to make me jump is about to happen. It reveals a strong sense of uneasiness and interconnecting relationships. Through the gaze I felt that people were connected to one and other in the sense that it is nearly impossible for us to be drawn apart. The effects of others relationships may in fact immediately effect you directly or indirectly and through the lense of that camera in Rear Window we saw many instances of just that.

Persepolis + White

Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi, I found to be such an enjoyable read. It in so many ways reminded me of myself as a child struggling with the idea of God and politics. Marjane does such an excellent job of using this autobiography to relate to her audience. I am going to use White's idea in finding the appeal to an autobiography to shape this blog. In many instances we find ourselves questioning beliefs that we have either been brought up with or taught within society in younger ages. For Marjane I believe she used this to make the audience feel a greater sense of involvement throughout the text, for they can relate strongly to that feeling of loss and/or confusion of such strong beliefs. On page 71 you see Marjane floating in an epitome of nothingness, with stars and spaceships floating around her in space to help symbolize that effect, and I know personally for me I felt a strong sense of loss myself, for I know I have felt that myself at one time.

Do you believe, that in using God/religion as a source in making this autobiography more appealing to the audience, that it ties in well with White's idea of autobiographical appeal? i tossed this idea around in my head in our class discussion of Persepolis and felt this was a great way to ease my feelings on the subject.

My personal interpretation of White's autobiographical appeal is that in using certain tools, such as religion, it draws the audience into that time so much more for they can relate to what it is that person or society as a whole is feeling. On page 115 there is an image of a man lying on his back, shrieking in pain with black holes seen along his arms with the caption "The one that struck me the most by its gory imagery was: 'To die a martyr is to inject blood into the veins of society.'" This appeals to me, as I am sure it does to many others, because it reveals that sense of religion being betrayed by paraphernalia that young children were and are still subjected to. It is not simply the words that strike, yet they do that quite well, but the image that makes me squirm in my seat. I believe White would agree with me when I say that this portrayal of religion in that particular setting makes this autobiography appealing to a wide range audience.

Another example of the use of appeal in this comic is rebellion. Allow me to use the example of page 106 to reveal my thoughts on this idea. I know I was giggling as I saw them all dancing and partying, with the cleaning lady feeling guilty for crushing grapes for wine in the bathroom. It's such a far fetched idea to me that enjoying eachother's company through music, laughter, dancing, and friends would be illegal. This made me want to rebel with the characters in the graphic novel as well.

Using tools such as religion and rebellion in Marjane's Persepolis created a strong sense of appeal that I feel White would agree with as well. I hope you all enjoyed my interpretation of White and Satrapi's autobiographical appeal and thanks for reading yet again. I will leave you with a image I feel symbolizes my thoughts on this subject well.

V for Vendetta + McCloud

I found V for Vendetta by Alan Moore to be a particularly inspiring text. The use of paneling and character development throughout was fantastic I found. I would like to start off by using an example from the text so I can give you a clear idea of what it is that I find so breathatking about this novel and it's graphics. Beginning on page 162 when Evey is kidnapped, tortured, beaten, starved, and thrown into a cell by "the government" for information regarding V and ending on page 167 when she finds herself in V's domain. The shadings on her naked chest revealing her starved appearence, her pain staking expressions, the dark shadings on her dress along with the sides of the walls revealing a certain darkness and manipulation possibly behind her kidnapping and finally ending on page 167 the page is entirely in shadow, even Evey is left in the shadows, and V simply states "Welcome Home", which chilled me right to the bone. This is an excellent example of how with the use of paneling, expression, and shading alone the author created an agent of suspense and "irk" if you will to his audience.

Yet the question remains, is the juxtaposition shown on these pages just as powerful and moving, or more so even, as watching the film? This question followed me throughout the text and I know when I saw that this was one of our many reading assignments how excited I was because of how moved I was by the film.

In Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud it is stated that through paneling you can create the same sense of emotion through paneling as you would in watching a film. I found this a great time to share my idea on how I feel Alan Moore was able to do this, for it seems like quite the feat. As I shared in the example I found particularly inspiring above, the expressions on Evey's face and the shadings throughout her body, along with the stress lines on her forehead and the bones that can be seen prodding out of her chest from starvation created the same sadness as watching the film and seeing Natalie Portman starve and hearing her screams of sorrow. The detail in this paneling creates so many different emotions throughout the entire text. It made it impossible to put the book down.

Another observation I made when reading V was that coloration of certain panels also helped in enacting different emotions in the author/illustrator's audience. The example I would like to use here is on page 96 and 97 when Evey is dancing with V underneath the disco ball and the entirety of the panels if filled with these pastel colors (blue, yellow, and red) and it brough a whole different sense of feeling to these pages. You could feel the bond between them growing, such as two highschoolers at a school dance. I found this to be another fine example but with different use of colors you can create a whole different emotion and appeal to your audience.

Not only did I find V for Vendetta a fascinating read, but I feel that it rather one ups the movie I watched of it previously. I would reccomend the comic to the movie to any art/film/graphic novel fantic. I will leave you a picture I found as a great representation of this blog. Thanks for reading.

Sleepwalk (Tomine) in connection with White

9/28/2009

In reading Sleepwalk, I found myself digging into the grittiness, lonesomeness, depression, and overall grim nature of the text. It is not that I enjoy all of these qualities, but it was the way the author used all them in his text to show us the true reality of the society that we all are living in. Tomine simply uses his storytelling, I feel, to reciprocate his notion of a grim, isolated society. For example, one of my favorite stories in Sleepwalk is when the blind man befriends the employee at the grocery store, only for her to completely ignore him while he walks past her at the end of the story. For me, this conveyed such a strong notion of "we are all alone".

--What reality does Tomine wish to create for his audience/readers?
I felt such an incredible feeling of isolation while reading these stories, which leads me to believe Tomine does not wish happy endings upon us, for society does not supply us with those. The reality in which he portrays is "dog eat dog", grim, and depressing. I wouldn't say his reality has very much cheer in it. I would instead say that he wishes us all to act indepdentally of one another and do what WE AS AN INDIVIDUAL feel is right (not what society tells us is okay).

When connecting Sleepwalk with White's article I found a phrase in my notes that I find perfect for this posting: "Reality itself has no meaning, but can be molded into different meanings". While it is a natural occurrence for us as humans to tell stories, I believe that Tomine does such a wonderful job of not just relaying any message to us, but shows us that there are deep, underlying messages in any one story. The reality of the stories in Sleepwalk, for instance, have no specific meaning until you mold your own reality of the world that you find yourself living in to be similar to what you are reading (or at least not very far from it).

Not only does Sleepwalk deal with our dark secrets and touch base with some underlying emotions, but it grips us into a cold reality that we cannot get away from. A reality in which we are all living in and a society that we are being consumed into. I for one believe Tomine is dead on with this pressumption of reality and that we all can take something out of at least one of his stories.

Thanks for reading :)

Brittany Janning

DeBorges Religious Spectacle

Philosophy — the power of separate thought and the thought of separate power — was never by itself able to supersede theology. The spectacle is the material reconstruction of the religious illusion. Spectacular technology has not dispersed the religious mists into which human beings had projected their own alienated powers, it has merely brought those mists down to earth, to the point that even the most mundane aspects of life have become impenetrable and unbreathable. The illusory paradise that represented a total denial of earthly life is no longer projected into the heavens, it is embedded in earthly life itself. The spectacle is the technological version of the exiling of human powers into a “world beyond”; the culmination of humanity’s internal separation.

I agree with DeBorges in the sense that religion is indeed a spectacle created over centuries of events that may or may have not occured. I also do agree with him in that this spectacle does indeed seperate us. Although, proving that religion is an illusion itself can be hard to prove when there are such a wide range of religions and what they follow or believe.