Premier
Your first year survival guide and academic journal
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Premier First Year Survival Guide and Academic Journal
Brought to you by the Arts and Humanities Students’ Council 2013-2014 Vol. V
Premier
Volume V Editor | Liz Nash Cover | Sabrina Yau Dear first year students, Welcome to Western! The AHSC would like to say hello as you join our creative and dynamic faculty. We’re here to help as you embark on the exciting (and terrifying) journey of navigating university life. While the transition to university can be tough at times, there are many services and resources on campus that are designed to make your life easier. This guide, Premier, lists these resources, and the circumstances in which you would use them. From academic counselors to learning how to create a standout cover letter, this school offers all of the help you’ll need. It’s so much easier to ask for help than to drown your sorrows in ice cream!
Premier also contains first-year essays that received grades of 80% to 100%. When I arrived at university, one of my worst fears was that my grades would drop. By looking over essays in Premier I could see what my professors would be looking for before I had to write my essay. If you’re ever concerned about an essay, make sure to chat with your professor and teaching assistant. They will be glad to help. If you have class during their office hours, you can email them to set up a time that works. Students choose Western for a variety of reasons. Some choose it because it because of the variety of programs, some pick it for all of the extra-curricular opportunities, and others go here because it looks like Hogwarts. No matter why you chose Western, we’re glad you came! See you around campus, Liz Nash VP Academics Please Note: Essay submissions appear as submitted, and may contain grammatical and/or typographical errors. Due to formatting constraints, essays do not appear in proper MLA format. MLA guidelines require 8.5”x11” paper, one inch margins, twelve point font, and the double spacing of the entire essay (including heading, title, and paragraphs). For MLA guideline information visit: http:// www.mla.org. Copyright for all pieces in Premier remains with the authors.
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Table of Contents A welcome from the AHSC and your executives........................................................6 Important phone numbers............................................................................................10 Acronyms and slang......................................................................................................11 Tips and tricks................................................................................................................12 F.A.Q. ..............................................................................................................................13 The details.......................................................................................................................14 Contact information......................................................................................................16 What do you wish you had known as a first year student?......................................18
Essays English Alyssa Pandolfo..............................................................................................................20 Robin De Angelis...........................................................................................................23 Philosophy Danielle Benmordecai...................................................................................................27 Daniel Tovbis ................................................................................................................31 Film Scott Cameron................................................................................................................35 Emily Lonetto..................................................................................................................39 Womens’ Studies Rebecca Grubb...............................................................................................................43 Writing Helen Ngo.......................................................................................................................48 Chu Ka Man Carmen.....................................................................................................50 Visual Arts Jacqueline Grassi............................................................................................................52 Tabitha Chan..................................................................................................................58
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The Arts and Humanities Students’ Council (AHSC)
Who we are The AHSC is a team of passionate and dedicated students who love the arts; our job is to bring you programming that helps foster the Arts and Humanities community. Be proud that you belong to the best faculty! What we do University is a balance between academic and social events. While these two worlds might seems opposite at first, they can be blended together to create events that help your Western experience stand out from the crowd. Past events have included essay clinics, coffee houses, arts shows, food drives, class review sessions, and movie nights. We have also brought in internationally recognized speakers such as Maya Angelou, Margaret Atwood, and Kal Penn. Stay tuned for this year’s events! Where you can find us Come say hi! We’re in University College, room 112F. We’re here to answer any questions, whether they are about academics, social events, or even if you can’t find your classroom. Get involved Early in the year, applications will come out for first-year representatives. Of course, general members are always welcome! Contact us General Inquiries: usc.ahsc.exec@uwo.ca President: Sarah Emms | semms@uwo.ca VP Events: Cristina Rizzardo | crizzard@uwo.ca VP Academics: Liz Nash | enash@uwo.ca VP Finance: Natalie Carswell | ncarswel@uwo.ca VP Communications: Dena Gouweloos | dgouwelo@uwo.ca
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Your Executives Sarah Emms President Hi, my name is Sarah Emms, and I’m President of the Arts and Humanities Students’ Council for 2013-2014. I’m super excited to work with council to put on amazing events for A&H students and arts supporters on campus and in the community! • I’m in my fourth year of an Honours Double Major in English and French Language and Literature. • I lived in Saugeen my first year and still live with people who were on my floor, 8 Low, (so get to know your floormates!). • I’m part of a community service group on campus, Rotaract Western, which raises money for local and international charities, and matches students with many different volunteering opportunities in London. Check it out during Clubs Week! • What I love most about A&H is that you get to learn about so many different things in a single course. You don’t study English (or any other A&H discipline) in a bubble; you learn about the history, politics, and culture of the time it was written and it opens up a whole new world of knowledge to you. Cristina Rizzardo VP Events Hey everyone! My name is Cristina and I am so excited to be your VP Events for the upcoming school year! My job is to create, plan and execute events for the arts community here at Western. I want to continue to provide the “best student experience” that Western is highly regarded for! • I am currently in my fourth year of completing an Honours Double Major in English and Italian Language and Literature. • Back in first year, I lived in Essex Hall, immediately got involved with the AHSC and have never looked back! • My favorite thing about the Arts faculty has to be the students; I love how you can meet students from a variety of different years in one class. It really allows you to connect with a diverse group of people! • I love volunteering at the IESC (International and Exchange Student Center) as an English Conversation Leader 7
Liz Nash VP Academics Hi everyone! My name is Liz, and I’m your VP Academics. My job is to make sure that you have a great first year; in my role I work to represent your academic interests. • I’m currently in my third year of an Honours Specialization in Creative Writing and English Language and Literature with a Minor in French Language and Translation (it’s a mouthful!) • Working with the Student Success Centre in the roles of Peer Mentor and Summer Academic Orientation Leader have taught me just how many amazing resources this school offers! Natalie Carswell VP Finance Hey everyone! I’m Natalie Carswell, your VP Finance. My job is to make sure council money is allocated appropriately to support all the clubs you will join and events you will go to this year. • I am in my fourth year, finishing my Honours Business Administration at Ivey Business School. • I highly recommend joining Western Intramurals. It’s a great way to meet new people and stay active (also to keep off the “Freshman Fifteen”). I finally won a purple shirt last year with my co-ed soccer team! Dena Gouweloos VP Communications Hello everyone! My name is Dena Gouweloos, and I am the VP Communications. I’ll be your go-to girl for everything you need to know about what the AHSC will be creating and presenting this year. • I am currently in my fourth year of an Honours Specialization in English Language and Literature, with a Certificate in Business French. • I lived in Med-Syd Hall in first year (McKibben love!). • As a soph I can see just how supportive Western is towards its students, with many valuable resources (both academic and personal) available to help every single one of us succeed. 8
The University Students’ Council (USC) The University Students’ Council is here to make your Western experience unforgettable. The USC is the third largest corporation in London - not only does that prove how large the USC is, but also how important the relationship is between London and Western! There are six executive members of the USC. You’ll see them around the UCC - don’t be afraid to say hi! The six of them are here for you. President: Patrick Whelan Role: To represent the USC and students of Western. Patrick works with the administration to ensure that student needs are met. He also provides direction for the growth of the council. As the spokesperson for the USC, Patrick works to enhance the day-to-day Western experience. VP External: Amir Eftekharpour Role: To advocate for students’ needs, especially in terms of educational policy. Amir is also the President of the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance, which is a student organization made up of eight universities across Ontario. VP Internal: Samanta Krishnapillai Role: To ensure equal treatment, acceptance, and opportunities for every student. Sam oversees the Support Services, which include: Ally Western, Ethnocultural Support, EnviroWestern, Health and Wellness, I Know Someone, Peer Support Centre, PrideWestern, and the Women’s Issues Network. VP Communications: Jasmine Ir win Role: To make sure that communication between students and the USC is clear and direct, as well as to work on strategic planning for the promotion of the council. Jasmine works with media outlets such as the Big Purple Couch. VP Finance: Spencer Brown Role: To ensure the resources of the council are properly used and tracked. Spencer works with student-run services in the UCC. VP Student Events: Adam Smith Role: To provide students with events, opportunities, and programming to make each student’s year fantastic. Adam is involved with events such as Charity Ball and O-Week. 9
Important Phone Numbers Here’s a list of numbers you may need to call this year. Rip it out and stick it on your bulletin board! Academic Counselling 519-661-3043 Foot Patrol 519-661-3650 Psychological Services 519-661-3031 Residence Counsellor 519-661-2111 x 86542 SERT (Student Emergency Response Team) From a campus phone: 911 From your cellphone: 519-661-3300 (Campus Police) Student Central 519-661-2100 Student Health Services 519-661-3030 Student Success Centre 519-661-3559 Writing Support Centre 519-661-3655 10
Acronyms and slang CLT: Chicken, Lettuce, Tomato (a popular wrap at The Spoke) Concrete Beach: The area outside of the University Community Centre. Deli: Delaware Hall LAMP: Leadership and Mentorship Program Masonville: A popular mall/shopping area north of campus. Med-Syd: Medway-Sydenham Hall Mustang Lounge: Common area in the University Community Centre NatSci: The Natural Sciences building NCB: North Campus Building SERT: Student Emergency Response Team SDC: Student Development Centre Southside: This term collectively refers to Perth Hall, Essex Hall, and London Hall. T.A.: Teaching Assistant Talbot Bowl: The hill outside of Talbot College UCC: University Community Centre UC: University College USC: University Students’ Council Weldon and Taylor: Two popular libraries WSSB: Western Student Support Building 11
Tips and Tricks Westernclassfind.com is the best website to use to find your classroom. If you Google “Western University Instructor and Course Evaluation”, you can find reviews for all of your professors. Students who previously had the professor wrote these reviews. If you ever need to go to Student Central, try to get there around nine in the morning. That might seem early, but you can avoid the line-ups. Western Film plays cult movie classics on Friday at midnight. Also, Western Film offers cheap movies on Tuesday nights! Bring some friends and try and eat the entire trough – it’s a massive pile of popcorn. If you Google “Western University campus map tunnels”, you can see map of campus that highlights the tunnels between some buildings. They’re nice on cold days! You can take the number 13 northbound bus from Delaware Hall to get to Masonville mall, but on a warm day, it’s nice to walk. The Student Development Services offers free psychological counseling. If you need help, reach out. Their number is 519-661-3031. Each Western student also has $500 available for counseling in the London community. Believe it or not, your professors aren’t robots. They each have office hours. Talking to them throughout the year will make sure that they know your name. What’s the difference between faculties, departments, and programs? They each get more specific. Your faculty is Arts and Humanities, while your department is something like English, French, Film, etc. Your program is your specific module, i.e. an Honours Specialization in Visual Arts. You can study on the fourth floor of the Student Development Centre! There are computers and comfy chairs. Tuesdays are 10% off at the Loblaws at Masonville. Yay, food! Keep talking with your soph even after O-Week. They are some of the nicest people you will ever meet. 12
F.A.Q. Here are some common things you might ask yourself during your first year. For a full description of these services, please see the following pages. What’s a soph? And a froph? Your sophs are upper-year students who are here to help you in any way. Whether you want to catch a movie with someone or need a studdy buddy, your soph will be able to help. They are fantastic people! A froph is a first year student who volunteers during Frost Week, which is a second O-Week in January. Whoops - I lost my student card and bus pass! Where do I go? You can head to Student Central in the Western Student Services Building. Where can I go for academic advice? Academic Counselling is in University College, room 112G. How can I appeal a grade? If you can’t work something out with your professor, contact the Student Appeals Support Centre at www.usc.uwo.ca/westernusc/student_appeals/index.asp I’m living off ramen noodles. Can I talk to someone about my finances? Financial counselors are available in the Western Student Services Building, Room 1100. Is there a place where I can learn how to do better academically? The Learning Skills Services and Writing Support Center are both in the Western Student Services Building. I’ve been feeling down lately. Can I talk with someone? Of course! Psychological Services in the Western Student Services Building offers free counselling. You can also reach the Peer Support Network at 519-661-3425. What types of services are there? The Peer Support Centre offers services such as PrideWestern, Women’s Issues Network, I Know Someone, and many others. Bonjour Paris! I’m interested in going on an international exchange. Can you give me details? Check out the Western International Office in the Western Student Services Building, room 2150. 13
The Details Academic Counselling Arts and Humanities - University College, room 112G Monday to Friday 9:3012:00 and 1:00-4:00 If you need any sort of academic help, this is the place to be. One of the most common reasons why people drop by Academic Counselling is for course advice and course registration help. Maybe you’re not sure which course to take, or the difference between two courses - Academic Counselling can help sort out any questions you have. Counselling also accommodates requests for academic accommodation, special permissions to enter courses, appeal procedure guidance, and letters of permission to attend other universities for studying abroad. Financial Counselling Western Student Services Building, room 1100 Monday-Friday 9:00-4:30 Stressing over finances? You can make a one-on-one appointment with a Financial Aid Officer. With him or her you can discuss OSAP, create your own personal budget, or apply for other financial assistance. You can also get help finding scholarships, bursaries, and awards. Appointments can be made online by going to Student Services webpage. Click on “Assistance and Aid” under “My Present”. International Opportunities Western International Office, Western Student Services Building, room 2150 Monday-Friday 8:30-4:30 Going on an exchange or studying abroad offers a fantastic change to internationalize your degree and to experience a different culture than your own. For those who are interested in applying, information sessions start in early October. For up-to-date information session and application dates, please visit international.uwo.ca and click on “Education Abroad”. Student Central Western Student Services Building, room 1120 Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday 9:00-4:00 Wednesday 10:00-4:00 Student Central is the main hub for many services, including getting a transcript of your grades, talking with a financial counsellor, replacing a lost student card (or returning one that you found), and where you can fill out third-party forms for scholarships, RESPs, insurance, etc. You can also contact them at 519-5512100 for help with course enrollment and registration assistance. Their website is www.student.uwo.ca. Here you can see your grades, look at your tuition, and view tax receipts. 14
Peer Support Centre University Community Centre, room 38 Monday-Friday 10am-6pm The Peer Support Network describes itself in its name: it’s here to support you. A full list of services includes: Ally Western EnviroWestern Ethnocultural Support Food Support Services Health and Wellness I Know Someone Women’s Issues Network Student Development Centre Western Student Services Building The Student Development Centre is a broad umbrella term for the many services that the Centre offers. Some of the most popular include:
Writing Support Centre Whether you’re trying to ace an essay or want to work out the mystery of the comma, you can drop in or make an appointment to improve your writing skills. Learning Skills Services You can make a personal appointment or attend a group session to help improve your academic experience. Psychological Services Western offers free, professional, and confidential psychological services. These services include individual counselling and crisis counselling. Student Success Centre University Community Centre, room 210 Monday-Friday 8:30-4:00 Want to find out what to do with your life? Talking one-to-one with a career counsellor gives you the opportunity to see new opportunities and learn how you can use your degree. If your résumé needs sprucing up, you can bring it in and have it workshopped to bring it to its fullest potential. Check out the Leadership and Education Program (LEP), which offers modules that help you develop leadership skills. Module examples include learning how to solve conflict with civility and learning how to enhance your public speaking skills. 15
A Who’s Who Guide to the AHSC Administration Office of the Dean Dean: Dr. Michael Milde The responsibilities of the Dean are mainly external, with an emphasis on finding ways to improve our faculty. As the face of Arts and Humanities, the Dean’s focus includes fundraising, research opportunities, and faculty hiring. Associate Dean (Academic): Dr. John Hatch The role of the Associate Dean (Academics) is in large part to oversee program administration and to encourage academic development throughout the faculty. The Associate Dean works closely with the AHSC to ensure that administrative standards are met, while encouraging growth of student initiatives. Academic Counselling Senior Academic Counsellor: Bonnie Barratt Academic Counsellor: Ben Hakala Academic counsellors are here for any questions relating to program requirements, course selections, appeal procedures, requests for academic accomodation, and other academic inquiries. Advising is available in University College, room 122G, from Monday-Friday 9:30-12:00 noon and 1:00-4:00. You can also email questions to arts@uwo.ca. Departmental Administration Have a question? Ask your professor or T.A. first! They are knowledgeable and will be glad to point you in the right direction. If your question goes beyond the scope of a specific course, you can speak with your undergraduate chair. They are the link between the department and the student body. You can speak with them about module requirements, special permissions, and course selection. If you have any questions during the Intent to Register process, you can also contact them. Arts and Humanities Department Contact Information Classical Studies Departmental Chair: Dr. Christopher Brown | pindar@uwo.ca Undergraduate Acting Chair: Dr. Alexander Meyer | ameyer26@uwo.ca Undergraduate Assistant: Kathleen Beharrell | kbeharr@uwo.ca 16
English and Writing Studies Departmental Chair: Dr. Bryce Traister | traister@uwo.ca English Studies Chair of Undergraduate Studies: Dr. Julia Emberley | uenglish@uwo.ca Administrative Assistant: Teresa MacDonald | tmmacdon@uwo.ca Writing Studies Director: Dr. Kathleen Fraser | kfraser@uwo.ca Undergraduate Program Director: Brock Eayrs, Jur.D. | beayrs@uwo.ca Administrative Assistant: Shelley Clark | smclark@uwo.ca Film Studies Departmental Chair: Chris Gittings | gittings@uwo.ca Acting Undergraduate Chair: Janina Falkowska | falkow@uwo.ca Administrative Assistant: Jennifer Tramble | jtramble@uwo.ca) French Studies Departmental Chair: Dr. Marilyn Randall | mrandall@uwo.ca Undergraduate Chair: Dr. Karen Schwerdtner | kschwerd@uwo.ca Undergraduate Program Assistant: Mirela Parau | mparau2@uwo.ca Linguistics Program Undergraduate program co-directors: Tania Granadillo (Undergraduate Students in the Faculty of Social Science): linguistics-ssc@uwo.ca and Jacques Lamarche (Undergraduate Students in other faculties): linguistics-ah@uwo.ca Modern Languages and Literatures Departmental Chair: Joyce Bruhn de Garavito | joycebg@uwo.ca Undergraduate Assistant: Dawn Gingerich | dgingric@uwo.ca Philosophy Departmental Chair: Henrik Lagerlund | hlagerlu@uwo.ca Assistant Chair/Undergraduate Counsellor: Chris Viger | cviger@uwo.ca Undergraduate Program Assistant: Susan Bock | sbock@uwo.ca Visual Arts Departmental Chair: Joy James | jjame53@uwo.ca Undergraduate Assistant: Marlene Jones | mjones5@uwo.ca Women’s Studies and Feminist Research Departmental Chair: Helen Fielding | hieldin@uwo.ca Acting Undergraduate Chair: Kim Verwaayen | kjverwaa@uwo.ca Undergraduate Assistant: Alicia McIntyre 17 | amcint4@uwo.ca
What do you wish you had known in first year? Harmony: There’s help EVERYWHERE. I knew it first year, but didn’t really want to use the resources out of some combination of fear, embarrassment and pride. Having a hard time? Professors are much kinder and more willing to accommodate than you think. Student Health Services (mental or physical) makes you feel welcome in a judgment-free environment. Even those peripheral friends you have are down to complain together, chat or just listen. In a campus full of so many people, it’s easy to feel lost in the crowd - but never forget that there are always other options! Kelly: Take advantage of residence life while you can! Especially stir-fry night. Jalina: Explore buildings on campus; there are some great secret study locations. Kunal: I really struggled with mental health in my first year, but I didn’t want to talk about my problems with anyone. I couldn’t deal with moving away from home (Calgary) plus academics and socializing all at the same time. I was really overwhelmed and didn’t know what to do. I eventually got in contact with some counsellors at the Student Development Centre. I can’t even beging to describe how much they helped me. I like to share my story so that other people will get the help they need! Tyler: Try a new club or sport, even if you don’t have any experience. Everyone starts from somewhere. Loran: The key to thriving in first year is balance. Academics come first, and then having a social life. It’s easy to get caught up in either! It’s so important to keep on top of homework, but without going crazy. Kyle: It’s not the end of the world if you get a bad grade. The key is understanding where you went wrong. Talk to your prof, your T.A., the Writing Support Centre - anyone. Once you know where you made a mistake, you can fix it for next time. Plus, most assignments are weighted less during the first part of the year when you’re still sorting things out. Sarah: Spoke bagels are delicious. Eat them.
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Essays The idea of having to write essays in university is enough to make you want to huddle up in bed with nothing but tea and a good book. But have no fear! A good essay isn’t impossible to write. The following essays were selected to give you a good idea as to what your professor is looking for: an arguable thesis, supporting ideas, and a good structure. Of course, each professor marks differently, so always make sure to read your assignment carefully.
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Alyssa Pandolfo Dr. David Bentley Leif Schenstead-Harris English 1022E 11 February 2013 96% Males’ Interpretation of Power Relationships in Robert Browning’s “My Last Duchess” and Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s “A Last Confession” In both Robert Browning’s “My Last Duchess” and Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s “A Last Confession”, the male narrator presents a gift to his female love interest, with the intent of controlling and manipulating her. The woman, however, rejects or does not fully appreciate the gift, causing the narrator to re-examine his relationship with her. It must be noted that both these poems are dramatic monologues, meaning that the reader is solely given the narrators’ interpretations of the events that have occurred. In analyzing this one-sided retelling, it is apparent that the narrator perceives a shift in power away from him, shown through the female’s reaction to his gift, and attempts to regain the power in his relationship through murder. The narrator in both works gives gifts to his love interest to establish his power over her. In “My Last Duchess”, the duke gives the duchess the “gift of a nine-hundred-year-old name” (Browning 33), as well as a favor, which she wears “at her breast” (Browning 21). By referring to his family’s name as a “gift” rather than something inherited through marriage, the duke hints that the duchess was of a lower status than him, and thus he has power over her. The duke’s second gift, his favour, also demonstrates the power he has over the duchess. A “favor” is “a thing such as a badge or knot of ribbons that is given or worn as a mark of liking or support” (“Favour” def. 1); however, it also is “an act of kindness beyond what is due or usual” (“Favour” def. 2). The duke’s favor to the duchess, as in the second definition, can be considered him honoring her with his higher status through marriage. Additionally, when a person does another a favour, a power hierarchy is formed – in this case the duchess, who received the benefits of the favour, is indebted to the duke, who then holds power over her. Furthermore, the favour is kept “at her breast” (Browning 21): the fact that she is indebted to the duke must be kept close to her heart. This use of gifts as a form of control can also be seen in “A Last Confession”, where the narrator gives the female a dagger, its purpose being “[e]ither a pledge between us, or (God help me!)/A parting gift” (Rossetti 24-25). A “pledge” can be a “solemn promise or undertaking” (“Pledge” def. 1) – in this case, she would be pledging to “change/And go back with me [the narrator]” (Rossetti 9-10), and thus becomes submissive to him. If looked at as a parting gift, the dagger represents a threat to the female, as the 20
narrator is holding the dagger with the blade facing towards her. In presenting the dagger in this way, he holds power over her as he holds the potential to end her life. Through the narrator’s interpretation of the female’s body language in response to the gift, it is evident that he believes that his power over her has been put into question. After listing all of the gifts given to the duchess by the duke and others, the duke states that “[s]he looked on, and her looks went everywhere./Sir, ‘twas all one!” (Browning 24-25). Rather than holding his gifts above the others, as the duke would like, the duchess treats them equally. This action diminishes the status value of the duke’s gifts, thus diminishing his status and perceived power over her. She is also described as looking everywhere rather than focusing solely on the duke and his gifts, per his expectations, leading him to assume that she has little appreciation for his gifts. This viewpoint is emphasized by the word “everywhere” by the duke, as it is trisyllabic and is surrounded by monosyllabic words. This highlights the fact that by looking “everywhere”, his gifts were not shown adequate attention by the duchess which in turn was perceived by the duke as an act of ignorance directed towards his status and control. The narrator in “A Last Confession” also perceives a loss of control over the female, which is seen through his perception of her body language. In response to the narrator’s gift, the woman “put it [the dagger] by from her and laughed” (Rossetti 44-45). By rejecting his gift and laughing, the threat of the dagger has been dismissed, and the narrator’s control over the female is seen to be questioned. Additionally, while describing the body language of the female in this scene, the narrator uses many negatives, such as in “Her neck unbent not, neither did her eyes/Move” (Rossetti 43-44). Rather than describing what the female is doing, the narrator, through this use of negatives, describes what she is not doing. In other words, through saying “neither did her eyes/Move”, the narrator conveys that he expected her eyes to move, but they did not, contrasting with his expectations. The contradiction between the female’s body language and the narrator’s expectations is interpreted as a challenge of authority. After their perceived power over the females is threatened, the males forcibly attempt to reassert their power over the female through murder. In “My Last Duchess”, the duke asks “Who’d stoop to blame/This sort of trifling?” (Browning 34-35) and states that even if he was able to directly communicate his wishes to the duchess and she was willing to change, “[ev]en then would be some stooping; and I choose/Never to stoop” (Browning 42-43). Variations of the word “stoop” are said three times by the duke. As a meaning of “stoop” is to descend from a superior status or rank, this repetition can be seen as the duke’s unwillingness to reprimand the duchess for her actions, as he feels like doing so would be below his status. He also states that “I gave commands;/Then all smiles stopped together” (Browning 45-46), hinting that he had gotten another to murder the duchess. By ordering the duchess’s murder the duke is able to assert his 21
power in two ways. The act of killing the duchess not only shows the duke’s power over her, but also his power over others, as he commanded another to commit the murder. In “A Last Confession”, after describing how the woman refused his gift of a dagger, the narrator says “But all she might have changed to, or might change to…Seemed in that laugh” (Rossetti 524-526). The narrator’s doubt and insecurity in his relationship with the female is reflected in his use of words such as “might” and “seemed”. In stabbing her, he forces the woman to obey him by taking and keeping his parting gift, thus reasserting his power over her. Ironically, as Reina Lewis states, “the moment of the stabbing is tied to her refusal of the gift of the dagger and to his own lapse in self-control” (Lewis 158), meaning that through asserting his control over the female, he ultimately loses control of himself. In Robert Browning’s “My Last Duchess” and Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s “A Last Confession”, the male narrators’ interpretations of events play a crucial role in portraying their perceived power-struggle between them and their love interests. Both narrators present a gift to the female to establish their power and dominance, however, the females’ reactions go against the expectations of the narrators, leading them to perceive that their power has been shifted away from them. The narrators then attempt to regain the power in their relationships through murder. In examining the one-sided retelling of both poems, it is evident that the narrators’ interpretations of their gifts, the reactions of the females, and their view of their relationship as a whole reveal their need to have control over the females and to remain in power in their relationships. Works Cited Browning, Robert. “My Last Duchess.” Trans. Array The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Stephen Greenblatt and M.H.Abrams. 8th ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2006. 2058-2059. Print. “Favour.” Oxford English Dictionary Online. Oxford University Press. 10 Febru ary 2013. Web. Lewis, Reina. Rethinking Orientalism: Women, Travel and the Ottoman Harem. New York: I.B. Tauris, 2004. Print. “Pledge.” Oxford English Dictionary Online. Oxford University Press. n.d. Web. 10 February 2013.
Rossetti, Dante Gabriel. “A Last Confession.” Supplementary Anthology. David Bentley, 2012. 57-64. 22
Robin De Angelis Dr. Christopher Keep Zeinab McHeimech English 1027F 26 November 2012 96% Shock Art: Electricity, Patriarchy, and the Disabled Woman in Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar is widely recognized and renowned for its vivid presentation of a young woman’s struggles both as a woman in 1950s America and as a person disabled by mental illness and depression. Plath’s heroine, Esther Greenwood, is the written embodiment of a young woman seeking to transcend the constrictive social values which surround. Esther is also, however, the unaddressed shadow of mental illness in a society which relegated any sign of disability to the basements of asylums to be electrocuted into normalcy. While The Bell Jar is considered a literary benchmark for studies in feminism and mental illness, few sources exist which address gender and disability as interconnected issues within the novel. In her article “The Disabled Female Body as a Metaphor for Language in Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar” Marilyn Boyer writes “that in the Plathian worldview, the disabled female body is a phenomenon brought about by a hegemonic patriarchal system” (200). This view also asserts that women with disabilities are uniquely minimized, marginalized and controlled by the social constructs which surround them. While Boyer introduces gendered disability as a focus for studying The Bell Jar, she presents women’s experiences with disability merely as metaphors for a fractured language (201). An alternate reading of the text reveals that language itself through metaphor explores gendered disability as its own freestanding theme. Plath uses the reoccurring presence of electricity in The Bell Jar as a metaphor for the male-dominated forces which seek to oppress disabled women, and presents Esther Greenwood as a culmination of her battle with gender and depression. Throughout the novel, Esther uses many metaphors to capture her experiences as both a woman in a constricting society and as someone disabled by severe depression. One such metaphor occurs early in the novel when she describes her life in New York, saying “I just bumped from my hotel to work and to parties to my hotel and back to work like a numb trolley-bus” (Plath 3). Esther compares herself to a trolley, a vehicle which is guided by the unseen force of electricity along a predetermined path. The limited path of the trolley is comparable to the limited path of women in 1950s America, which was guided by the patriarchal ideal that women should be resigned to the domestic role of cook, cleaner and bearer of children (Boyer 200). For women with disabilities this path 23
is even more limited as they are what Michelle Fine and Adrienne Asch describe in “Disabled Women: Sexism without the Pedestal” as being “trapped in two socially devalued roles” (13) or a sense of rolelessness (12). Neither able to succeed as women or as a person with a disability, disabled women are left without the ability to be productive members of society. Feminist and Disability Theorist Susan Wendell explains that the world has been structured for men and the physically abled, not only in physical design but in the social organization of life (111). As a woman suffering from depression, Esther is therefore destined to be a victim of rolelessness. Esther’s sense of rolelessness is explored through another metaphor in which she envisions “the years of [her] life spaced along a road in the form of telephone poles, threaded together by wires” (Plath 130). In this similarly electrically charged metaphor, Esther has difficulty pinpointing a role and a future for herself. Throughout the novel, Esther continuously struggles to reconcile society’s expectations of marriage and motherhood with her desire to be an independent writer. The various options with which she is presented, each represented by a different wired telephone pole, offer no middle ground in which she can be both. As a result, Esther can find nothing to aspire to that captures her ideal life. Esther’s struggle is the struggle of many women in 1950s America, who sought to break the bonds of the patriarchal expectations which assigned women to the domestic sphere. It is also the struggle of disabled women “who may find themselves unable to…speculate on realistic aspirations” (Fine and Asch 13) as both traditional and radical roles are even more difficult to fulfill. The metaphors Esther prescribes to herself, characterized by the electricity which manages their function, present her life as one with few options. As a woman, particularly a disabled woman, her potential roles are limited, even placing her to some extent in a state of rolelessness. This is a result of the patriarchal forces which according to Wendell have designated the private world as the proper location for women and even more so as the proper location for women with disabilities (111). Electricity ultimately serves as a metaphor for these managing and minimizing patriarchal forces. Electricity additionally serves as a tool for marginalization, a condition shared historically by women and those with disabilities. Marginalization is also experienced in society by another group – the criminal. One of the most immediate connections to electricity in The Bell Jar is the impending electrocution of the Rosenbergs, who are to be executed for their alleged treason against the United States, which opens the novel. As criminals and traitors, the Rosenbergs are looked down on by American society. Hilda, one of the girls who is in New York with Esther, vocalizes this view of the Rosenbergs when she says, “‘It’s awful such people should be alive…I’m so glad they’re going to die.’” (Plath 106). Hilda’s sentiment – and the sentiment of the American people – is echoed in Esther’s 24
mother’s view of those with disabilities as “awful dead people” (Plath 154). The parallel between the two views illustrates the negative perception towards marginalized groups. Perceived negatively because of her gender and her mental illness, Esther therefor identifies heavily with the marginalization of the Rosenbergs. This is evident when she relates herself as a patient of electroshock therapy to a person who must resign themselves to execution (Plath 223). Esther’s experience with electroshock therapy offers the most prominent outlet through which electricity acts as a metaphor. Her initial experience with shock therapy is a botched and horrific attempt at the medical treatment by her psychiatrist, Doctor Gordon. “Esther’s shock treatments…debilitate her…since they are administered in a barbaric fashion, akin to electrocution” (Boyer 214). Similar to the electrocution of criminals, electroshock therapy can be viewed as a manner in which the mentally disabled, and most notably women, are punished. Bonnie Burstow, in her article “Electroshock as a Form of Violence Against Women”, writes that women subjected to shock treatment reportedly wonder what they might have done to deserve such a punishment (384). Esther poignantly reflects this during her shock treatment with Doctor Gordon thinking, “I wondered what terrible thing it was that I had done” (Plath 152) as the electricity jolts through her system. In connection to electroshock as a form of punishment is electroshock as form of control (Burstow 384). Victims of electroshock are subjected to treatments which force them into a state of inactivity and passivity. When Esther first arrives at Doctor Gordon’s hospital for her treatment she notes the almost artificial movements of the other patients and compares them to “shop dummies painted to resemble people and propped up in attitudes counterfeiting life” (Plath 150). Esther’s treatments with Doctor Nolan, which are regarded as successful, cause a similar reaction, with Esther noting that her mind slips from thought and swings through empty air (228) when she tries to grasp at thought and action. In this way “she has become the helpless object of the acts of others” (Boyer 215), under the control of electroshock therapy. The control demonstrated by the therapy is further maintained by the fear it creates. Burstow writes that more common than the physical control acquired by shock treatments, is the controlling influence of fear (385). In Esther’s case this manifests in her paranoid thought that all doctors are conspiring against her, and that in some dark corner of the hospital Doctor Gordon’s shock machine lay in wait for her (Plath 199). Esther’s fear is so deep that she even threatens to kill herself to avoid the therapy (Plath 200). Physically and psychologically subjected to the terror of electrocution, Esther demonstrates the controlling nature of electroshock therapy. Although some may argue that electroshock therapy is evidence only of the mistreatment and social control of the disabled, and not in itself a patriarchal tool, the Burstow article argues otherwise, stating that “electroshock is a part of the repertoire of the patriarchy…[which] functions as a fundamental patriarchal assault on 25
women’s brains, bodies, and spirits” (389) Statistics show overwhelmingly that women are the predominant demographic being violated by shock and men are the predominant demographic wreaking the damage (378). In The Bell Jar, Doctor Gordon is representative of the large male demographic of psychiatrists who are responsible for administering electroshock therapy. Esther describes him as “young and good-looking” having “a beautiful wife and beautiful children and a beautiful dog” (Plath 136). Doctor Gordon is therefor also a representation of the American Dream, a decidedly patriarchal ideal. The idea that the patriarchy is the driving force behind marginalization, mistreatment and control through electrocution and electroshock is further reinforced when Esther recalls her first experience with electrocution following her shock treatment with Doctor Gordon. Esther reveals that the shock was the result of an old lamp with a faulty cord and that the lamp was a relic of her father’s study (Plath 152). In both cases, as Marilyn Boyer identifies it, the agency is male (200). Boyer, like those theorists including Wendell, Burstow, Fine and Asch, recognizes that the oppression of the disabled woman is a result of patriarchal agency in society. This patriarchal agency seeks to minimize, marginalize, and control groups which it views as being lesser. But as Boyer explores how “Esther’s temporarily disabled body acts as a metaphor for a disturbance in language” (222) she too minimizes, marginalizes and controls these groups to aid in the development of her theory of language. Boyer also diminishes the struggles of women with disabilities by exploring disability as only temporary in nature (200), even despite Esther’s uncertainty of her recovery from depression at the end of the novel. By evading the true experience of women with disabilities, Boyer is as equally constrictive and demeaning as the negative social influences she identifies. In contrast, examining The Bell Jar at the level of the language itself works independently to capture the true experience of women with disabilities by using extended metaphor to highlight the nature of the patriarchal forces which work to oppress disabled women. Plath’s message must be understood as a cohesive unit, combining both feminist theory and disability theory and charging it with electricity to bring her message to life. In a sense, The Bell Jar acts as a literal form of shock art, using the power of electricity to convey a powerful social message.
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Danielle Benmordecai Professor Proessel Philosophy 1305G March 1 2013 89% Health Care: On Why Moral Judgments Should Not Be Considered In the following paper I argue that moral judgments should not be considered when allocating medical resources on the basis that health care is a moral right. I begin by raising the objection that fundamental rights can be overridden, using the example of the penal system. Further, I use Daniels’ paper to establish health care as a positive and fundamental right. I then use Cohen’s rejection of a moral argument for denying liver transplantation to prove that allocating medical resources based on personal conduct is impractical and demanding. Additionally, I argue that moral judgments denying access to health care are often discriminatory and unjust. I use Daniels’ aim of health care1 to provide a solution to allocating medical resources and mitigating discrimination between groups. I conclude that moral judgments should not be a consideration when allocating scarce medical resources as health care is a moral right that cannot be overridden. Similar to inalienable rights such as liberty, which are overridden in certain cases, it can be argued that the same follows for fundamental rights like health care. Since the penal system is a violation of people’s rights to liberty on the basis of evaluating personal conduct2, it can be argued that the right to health care should be judged in the same manner. In the following paragraphs I use support from Daniels’ and Cohen’s papers to prove that when allocating medical resources, evaluating personal conduct is inappropriate.3 In Norman Daniels’ paper, “Is There a Right to Health Care and, if so, What does it Encompass?” Daniels argues from an egalitarian perspective that everyone has a moral right to healthcare. Similar to the legal positivists’ view that rights only exist in “actual institutions through law,” healthcare is a positive right since there exists institutions within society that provide everyone with essential services (Daniels, 559). Daniels uses John Rawls’ principles of justice to argue in favour of a right to healthcare as “a special case of equality of opportunity” ____________________ 1 Daniels says that the aim of health care should be to help people function as normally as possible (Daniels, 561). 2 I have acknowledged that there are more factors involved, but for the sake of this paper I will only evaluate the violition of a right to liberty based on personal conduct. 3 In this case moral judgement is based on personal conduct. 27
(Daniels, 561). He argues that since people have a right to equality of opportunity, it should follow that health care is a positive right as disease and disability restrict individual opportunities (Daniels, 561). Health care, he concludes, is a positive right, requiring people to uphold a duty to enable this right. However, even though Daniels establishes health care as a moral right, it may still follow that this right can be overridden when allocating scarce medical resources, similar to violating one’s right to liberty when placing them in jail. To provide a counter-argument I use Cohen’s argument against moral considerations for allocating scarce medical resources, to prove that this approach is both too demanding and highly impractical. In Cohen’s paper “Alcoholics and Liver Transplantation,” Cohen rejects moral and medical arguments as a basis for concluding that alcoholics should not receive liver transplantation. Cohen rejects the moral argument that because an alcoholic’s health issues are a result of their personal conduct, namely, their poor drinking habits, they should be denied transplantation (Cohen, 575). He reasons that a person’s conduct is inappropriate criteria for denying an alcoholic a liver transplant, considering many cases where people with health issues such as smoking, receive medical attention despite their conduct (Cohen, 575). However, he notes that the case of alcoholics is viewed differently as drinking is widely held as morally wrong and since livers are a scarce resource (Cohen, 575). Cohen also rejects this argument on the basis that it is difficult to know whether the alcoholic is blameworthy for their conduct. He says that even if this were a sound argument, it should follow that anyone who has a disease that is brought on by their conduct should also be “penalized,” not just alcoholics (Cohen, 576). Moreover, Cohen says that even if a moral virtue or vice is used to prevent an alcoholic from receiving a liver transplant, because we do not even have an agreement about these concepts, it should not hold that moral considerations be taken into account (Cohen, 576). Cohen remarks, “Moral evaluation is wisely and rightly excluded from all deliberations of who should be treated and how” (Cohen, 576). Moreover, Cohen’s examples of allocating medical resources based on personal conduct demonstrate how impractical this approach is. Cohen remarks that we do not inquire whether an individual is eligible for a transplant based on whether they cheat on their taxes or whether they are an abusive parent (Cohen, 576). These considerations are merely impractical given that they require an entirely different system dedicated to judging people’s characters and looking into the cause of their health issues. Indeed, this would be extremely time consuming and would demand a lot of work. Cohen also notes the immense effort required: “To accomplish this, we would have to make vigorous and sustained efforts to find out whose conduct has been morally weak or sinful and to what degree. That inquiry, as a condition for medical care or for the receipt of goods in short supply, we certainly will not and should not undertake” (Cohen, 576). Therefore, given that scarce medical resources are often needed quickly, there is little time to 28
allocate resources based on personal conduct. While patient’s lives are at risk, it is impractical to impose moral judgments. In contrast, with respect to the right to freedom there is an entire system dedicated on how to judge different cases. In the following paragraphs I suggest that moral judgments denying access to health care are often discriminatory and unjust. First, Cohen rejects the medical argument that because alcoholics will have low survival rates after transplantation as their heavy drinking continues, this scarce resource should instead be allocated to groups who report higher survival rates (Cohen, 576). Cohen dismisses this argument based on evidence that it is likely doubtful and false. However, he also considers that even if the premise holds true, the reason for precluding alcoholics from transplantation still fails. That is, if we dismiss alcoholics based on low survival rates it should follow that all groups who report low survival rates be precluded from liver transplantation as well (Cohen, 576). Cohen remarks, “But equally low survival rates have not excluded other groups; fairness therefore requires that this group not be categorically excluded either” (Cohen, 576). Further, Cohen argues that the data demonstrating alcoholics with lower survival rates after transplantation are not reliable (Cohen, 576). Cohen agrees that altogether alcoholics have lower survival rates after transplantation, but yet there is still no sufficient reason to preclude all alcoholics from receiving liver transplants (Cohen, 576). Also, cases in which organ transplants are given to patients suffering from a disease that is likely to reoccur even after transplantation, such as cancer, proves that transplants are given even in despite of low survival rates (Cohen, 577). Thus, precluding the entire category of alcoholics from transplantation is, according to Cohen, “simply unjust” (Cohen, 577). Evidently, evaluating moral judgments is a slippery slope to discrimination and can be unjust when allocating medical resources. Daniels also holds that passing moral judgments can be discriminatory, although he argues from a moral standpoint contrary to Cohen. When assessing what a right to health care includes, he realizes that discrimination between groups can occur. For instance, given that the right to health care does not entail the right to have all health care needs met, it is difficult to allocate resources without excluding certain groups (Daniels, 562). Daniels’ aim of health care4 may provide a solution to allocating medical resources fairly and mitigating discrimination between groups. Heavily influenced by John Rawls, Daniels talks about mitigating some of this discrimination by appealing to Rawls’ second principle of justice5. Daniels says that in any health care system decisions must be made fairly. He says, “Our rights are not violated, ____________________ 4 Daniels says that the aim of health care should be to help people function as normally as possible (Daniels, 561). 5 Rawls says that social and economic inequalities are justified if they benefit the least well-off members of society (Rawls, 96). 29
however, if the choices that are made through fair decision-making procedures turn out to be ones that do not meet our personal needs, but instead the needs of others that are judged more important” (Daniels and Sabin, 564). Thus, it is often difficult to avoid moral considerations when allocating medical resources, however, Daniels supports the view that we should be mindful of helping people function as normally as possible, rather than equally. Daniels notes that because medical resources are not limitless, we should allocate these resources based on normal functioning. Evidently, Daniels is not supporting an expansive view of health care that aims to make people function as equally as possible since this requires extensive modification to the health care system. Rather, that our primary aim should be “to assure everyone access to a tier of services that effectively promotes normal functioning and thus protects equality of opportunity” (Daniels, 564). In sum, after establishing health care as a moral and fundamental right, I prove that allocating medical resources on the basis of desert is inappropriate. The objection that fundamental rights can be overridden, such as in the case of the penal system, is contrasted with the right to health care as there is no system dedicated to allocating resources based on worthiness. Further, Cohen’s arguments rejecting moral considerations for denying alcoholics liver transplants proves that allocating resources based on personal conduct is both impractical and demanding. The argument that moral considerations are often discriminatory further supports the view that moral considerations should not be taken into account. Moreover, Daniels’ aim of health care is used to provide a solution for mitigating discrimination when allocating scarce resources, as some discrimination is inevitable since medical resources are limited. Ultimately, health care is a moral right that should not be trumped by evaluations of moral judgment. Works Cited Vaughn, Lewis. Contemporary Moral Arguments: Readings in Ethical Issues. New York: Oxford UP, 2010. Print.
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Daniel Tovbis Cameron Fenton Philosophy 1022E March 10th, 2013 94% The evolution of Natural Theology: Assessing Paley’s design inference in the face of evolutionary theory Charles Darwin’s proposal in his 1859 work On the Origin of Species incited a radical paradigm shift in the scientific and religious world, suggesting a viable alternative to natural design. This theory of ‘natural selection’, the complexity of today’s organisms was the summation of millions of years of minute changes, had been unheard of and according to many, blasphemous. Indeed, if the theory could have been proven, it would have brought the entire theological world into a catastrophic state of confusion, as they would be forced to reconcile well established religious arguments to fit with the idea of evolving organisms. One such philosopher was William Paley, who died shortly after publishing his Natural Theology, some fifty years before Darwin introduced his theory. In this work, Paley asks the reader to imagine a watch found lying on the ground in the countryside, and argues that it would be natural to assume that the watch has a maker. He uses the watch and the watchmaker as analogies for the universe and god. He then presents and answers eight possible objections to this argument. Of course, Paley could not have taken evolution into account when formulating his argument, or when answering to possible objections. If the Darwinian theory of evolution by natural selection is to be accepted as fact, several of these points are brought into question. In Natural Theology, Paley argues for the existence of a traditional, active Christian God. With natural selection known to be true, Paley is forced to change his argument to suggest a deist God, who created the universe at the beginning of time and has done nothing since. If there is a known process that drives the complexity of organisms, Paley can only argue for a God that created the initial conditions of the universe at the beginning of time: a claim for which, to this day, no concrete evidence has been found. For the sake of the argument, it will be assumed that the theory of natural selection has been proven to be absolutely true, and is a commonly known fact. Paley’s eight objections will be re-examined in light of evolutionary theory. The first objection Paley answers is that were such a watch to be discovered, it is entirely possible for the discoverer to not know any watchmakers, or to know how the watch could have been built. He responds that it is not necessary to know these things to know that someone must have built it. The theory of evolution solves the riddle: now, one knows exactly how the watch was made, as the sum of millennia of minute changes to some original, primitive watch. 31
Therefore, Paley must now argue that a God created the first watch, but he cannot use any modern examples to support his point. The original watch must have been quite simple compared to the watches of today. Paley himself states that a stone lying on the heath could have been lying there forever. An astute sceptic might note that the original watches may have resembled stones, and through years of evolution come to their current form. Paley would certainly have a hard time answering this objection without going back on his word and referring to Aquinas’ second way, whose conclusive inference, that the first cause of anything is God, has oft been called into question. This point is further enhanced when taken with conjunction with the fifth and seventh arguments. These two are very similar, and both essentially state that some law, either a “principle of order” or “metallic nature” have put the watch together without intervention from a higher power. While Paley confuses judicial and natural laws in his objections, the acceptance of natural selection removes these ambiguities. In this form, it is no longer necessary to vaguely refer to “principles of order” or “laws of metallic nature”; there is a proven mechanism for the creation of the watch. It is difficult for Paley to argue that God imbued the natural world with an inclination for natural selection when it is easy to see how natural selection works without the presence of a God. It seems fairly intuitive to see how stronger members of a species survive to pass on their genes. On the other hand, Paley could argue that God set up this law along with all others. It may have been god, who had objects accelerate towards the center of the earth at exactly 9.81 meters per second squared; this point stands even if Paley could not have known this number. However, all he could do is bring up this possibility: it would be impossible to provide any supporting evidence without arguing ad ignorantiam, which has no effect on the status of the argument. Paley’s fourth and sixth objections are along the same lines, bringing up the possibility of chance. The fourth objection is explicit, stating that it is possible the pieces of the watch came together accidentally to its modern state. The sixth objection takes a Cartesian approach, arguing that perhaps the watch is only meant to imply a watchmaker, and that the inference is completed by humanity’s natural affinity to prescribe patterns to nature. Paley’s original counter-objections are ad hominem, making for very weak arguments. With evolutionary theory, this is impossible. The only possible explanation for the watch’s existence in its current state is the result of natural selection. Again, it all comes back to the second way: with the theory of evolution, there is absolutely no other way to argue for the existence of god. Paley’s eighth objection is doubly fallacious: the original objection fallaciously appeals to ignorance, and his counter-objection begs the question. In this case, if one knew “nothing at all about the matter”, nothing at all about evolutionary theory, it may indeed be possible for them to assume that it was designed. However, it would be possible for them to assume anything else as well, given that they are a blank slate with no knowledge of the subject at hand. 32
Paley could not argue for the existence of God if the argument takes this form. A more interesting analogy to make within the frame of natural selection would be to consider modern human society as a watch. Today, the world runs like an extremely complex machine, with any human being depending, perhaps unwittingly, on the actions of thousands of others to get through the day. From engineers to support power plants, conductors to run freight trains, farmers to farm the wheat that will later be made into the tortillas from Tim Hortons’ breakfast sandwiches, there are millions of interconnected parts required for society to function. The removal of any one of these parts would cause possibly great inconvenience: certainly, the sudden disappearance of all earth’s engineers would be a disaster. This society was not fully formed; families coalesced into tribes, which eventually formed villages and cities. Technology advanced, bringing in new professions and killing off old ones as their usefulness waned: the process of natural selection. Certainly, Paley could argue that it was God that brought these factors together, but again, there is no evidence for this one way or the other: for although some western rulers may claim to have been inspired by God, even tribes in the remotest parts of Asia and Africa exist in some order of complex society. Paley cannot argue that the complexity of human society suggests the existence of a God. The crux of this paper’s argument rests on the assumption that Paley could only argue for a deist God if evolution by natural selection was a known fact. Some may argue that this is not necessarily true, and God may have been the guiding hand behind evolution, encouraging the propagation of certain evolutionary trends. However, as has been mentioned, there is no proof of this one way or another. It may even be said that no God exists by Occam’s Razor. It is much simpler to believe that cheetahs form a pack because it is easier to gather food, than it is to say that God incited them to do so. In a way, natural selection becomes more intuitive to the average person. That the weak die while the strong live is certainly not a fantastic claim. The introduction of natural selection may actually strengthen Paley’s original argument. By removing the vagaries of “principles of order” and “laws of metallic nature”, as well as the ad hominem responses to certain objections, the argument becomes more logically rigorous. However, Evolutionary theory provides alternatives to what Paley would have attributed to God. With an explanation for the complexity of the universe well known, Paley is forced to argue from a disadvantageous position, accepting that God could only be deist, inactive since the creation of the universe. There is no evidence one way or the other to support this conclusion, making the argument unsupportable. If evolution by natural selection is assumed to be true, there is no way Paley’s Natural Theology can evolve. 33
Works Cited Paley, William. “Natural Theology� In Introduction to philosophy: classical and contemporary readings. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986.
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Scott Cameron Professor Blankenship Kyle Tabbernor Film 1020E December 3, 2012 95% An Analysis of Hitchcock’s Use of Cinematic Techniques to Build Suspense and Establish Social Context in the School Sequence of The Birds The Birds is counted among Alfred Hitchcock’s masterpieces, and is a prime example of Hitchcock’s techniques used to build suspense. One of the most memorable sequences of the film depicts the birds attacking the group of fleeing school children. The sequence creates suspense, shock, and terror primarily through editing patterns. Hitchcock manipulates the viewers’ expectations through editing in order to develop suspense and fear in the viewer, and toys with the fear of the unknown in order to create a shocking sequence that ties into the social context of the film. Hitchcock manipulates the eyeline match technique in order to create suspense. By denying the viewer an eyeline match where there should be one, the audience is made uncomfortable. As Melanie sits on the bench in front of the playground, she looks forward. Further shots show Melanie continuing to look only forward, as shots of the playground behind her show more and more birds landing. The playground is positioned in the frame so that the viewer would expect it to be the object of Melanie’s gaze. However, despite this there is no doubt that the playground is in fact behind Melanie, and that her gaze is directed away from it. This is due to the spatial construct of the scene. An establishing shot defines the space – Melanie is on the bench, behind her, the fence, and beyond that the playground. The fence is used as a visual connection between the shots of Melanie and of the playground to further ensure the space is firmly constructed. It is clear that the playground is behind Melanie because the fence gives another point of spatial reference if the establishing shot was not enough. Thus, the space is constructed to allow the use of the eyeline match, a conventional cinematic technique, to depict the polar opposite of its typical use. This creates an unsettling effect in the viewer – what the viewer is subconsciously accustomed to is reversed, creating an uncanny, unsettling effect as described in Freud’s theory. The Birds manipulates familiar editing techniques in order to create a sense of discomfort parallel to its very premise – the narrative manipulates familiar birds into uncanny monsters. In addition, Hitchcock comes very near to breaking the thirty-degree rule in shots 9 and 10 of the sequence. This cut removes the playground from the background, making the viewer uncomfortable in not being able to see the playground before any birds have landed and foreshadowing 35
Melanie’s unawareness. Thus, through the reversal of the conventional eyeline match and an instance of breaking the thirty-degree rule, Hitchcock makes the simple act of not seeing discomforting. Hitchcock uses rhythmic editing extensively throughout the sequence in order to further manipulate audience expectations. The sequence opens with a couple of long shots lasting up to 30 seconds. This has the effect of calming the viewer, and in the extra-long shot, we can clearly see that there are no visible threats. As Melanie leaves the schoolhouse, Hitchcock again uses a forty-four second shot to depict Melanie wandering slowly over to the bench – again, it is clear to the viewer that nothing is amiss. Hitchcock continues to use lengthy shots to depict Melanie even as the viewer becomes aware of the birds behind her. This emphasises the dramatic irony of the situation – Melanie remains calm, necessitating the lengthy shots, yet the viewer knows there are birds behind her. Shots showing the birds last three seconds or less, while shots of Melanie increase in duration from six to twenty-five seconds. This divide in shot length creates a growing fear for what is offscreen by refusing to show what Melanie is most threatened by. After Melanie has spotted the birds, the rhythms of editing become more regular, alternating between two or three second shots of Melanie and then of the birds. After establishing this rhythm, Hitchcock again breaks it by lengthening a shot of Melanie entering the school. Again, this serves to create a fear of the offscreen – we cannot see what the birds are doing. Furthermore, the soundtrack subtly draws out the audience’s perception of time. The school children are singing a nonsensical nursery rhyme from the schoolhouse as Melanie sits on the bench. After each verse, they sing “Rissle-ti, rossle-ti now! Now! Now!” lengthening it each time - “Rissle-ti, rossle-ti, hey Johnny ossle-ti now! Now! Now!” By the time Melanie spots the birds, the rhyme is extended to the point that it takes nearly 10 seconds to complete it. This has the effect of drawing out the audience’s perception of time without realizing the method – it seems as though it is taking the children ages to complete the rhyme that was once so brief, as it seems to take Melanie ages to reach the door of the schoolhouse. This usage of sound compliments the rhythmic editing in the first part of the sequence to generate suspense. Rhythmic editing is used further in the chase at the end of the sequence in order to add to the terror and horror of the birds’ attacks. This sequence uses the same technique as earlier – it opens with a lengthy shot of the birds before we see the children running away. This creates the same curiosity for the offscreen as before, but in reverse – the viewer does not see the children running away, and can even entertain hope that they will get away without a scratch. This builds up tension for the actual chase sequence, in which Hitchcock increases the pace gradually to 1-2 second shot durations. The frequency of the cuts at this point builds much excitement in the sequence, and the rhythm leads us to expect cuts to continue at this frequency. Hitchcock breaks the editing rhythms only to show shocking images for longer than the rhythm would dictate 36
– birds attacking faces, ears; images that make the audience wince in sympathy with the children. The audience wants to the shots to end both because shocking image and the rhythms that they break. Thus, rhythmic editing patterns are used to create both suspense and discomfort among the audience. Hitchcock again causes discomfort both in his subject and his cinematic technique. This sequence is also important thematically to the film. The film depicts a breakdown of conventional cause and effect Hollywood logic. The aggressive behaviour of the birds is never explained, adding to the terror of the film: no one understands the birds’ aggression. This fear of the unknown was a preoccupation of America in 1963 as well. The anti-communist Red Scare had ended only several years earlier, and the Cold War had just reached its peak with the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962. The world existed under a constant threat of nuclear war. The uncertainty of the future and the unfamiliarity of a distant, foreign enemy contributed to a culture generally afraid of the unknown, and this paranoia is reflected in The Birds. I would not suggest that the birds are representative of the Cold War or nuclear conflict, but rather that they embody the same fears; death by matters outside of our understanding or control. This justifies the role of vision in the sequence. The dangers presented in the sequence are threats from behind, out of sight. This justifies the use of shots showing characters from behind, such as when Melanie is fleeing into the schoolhouse, or when the children are running down the hill. The characters consistently look over their shoulders to see the threat of the birds, again illustrating their fear of the unknown. The sequence is edited so that the viewer only sees the birds when the characters actually see them, with the exception of Melanie’s bench segment at the beginning. As Melanie flees the bench, we only see cuts to the birds when she turns her head to look at the birds. As the children are running, apart from an establishing shot, we only see the birds at the point when the children are leaving the school and Melanie would no doubt have an eye on them, as they are attacking the children, or as the children turn around to see them. This emphasizes the importance of vision, and makes the loss of the glasses at the end of the sequence even more significant – without them, the girl cannot see potential threats, and is in a world of the unknown. Furthermore, the theme of the fear of the unknown is hinted at even in the relatively safe scene within the schoolhouse. The audience is placed in the position of the schoolchildren – those who do not know. The camera is placed amongst the children, so that we look through a crowd of them to see Melanie and Annie. In addition, during Annie’s announcement to the children of her plan, both Annie and Melanie are shot from a low angle, imparting authority on them as well as depicting the point of view of the children. The point of view of the camera is still closely aligned with the children for the most part during the chase scene, being shot from the height of a child rather than an adult or a high flying bird. The alignment of the perspective of the audience with the school 37
children plays into the theme of the fear of the unknown. The children are still learners, as is everyone in the audience – even Melanie in this sequence is shot in the same manner as the school children, showing that all the characters are in a position of subjugation to the power of the unknown. Thus, the school sequence from The Birds uses manipulation of expectations and the fear of the unknown in order to create a suspenseful and terrifying scene. Hitchcock establishes rhythmic patterns then breaks them in order to put the viewer on edge. He reverses techniques such as the eyeline match in order to depict the opposite of their conventional intents, unsettling the audience through an uncanny application of cinematic conventions. Finally, through his emphasis on the fear of the unknown and vision, Hitchcock reflects contemporary concerns. The sequence is remarkable for its ability to break both the 30-degree rule and the conventions of eyeline matching and not only remain coherent, but to develop suspense by doing so. This is accomplished through unyielding use of the 180-degree rule to construct spatial relationships that leave no doubt to the action of the film, as can be seen on the bench, in the classroom, and in the chase scene.
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Emily Lonetto Kyle Tabbernor Film 1020E Date: December 3rd, 2012 86% The Perspective of the Puppeteer A Sequence Analysis of The Birds directed by: Alfred Hitchcock Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds, takes the viewer on a psychological journey through what we can and cannot explain while focusing on aspects of the unknown as well as pushing the boundaries of what society will and will not accept. Hitchcock forces the audience to identify with the characters by forcing them to question the ties between what they see, and what the story is behind the unexplainable. Through the use of editing patterns, especially those associated with silence as sound, contrast of take duration and use of perception and angles, Hitchcock is able to link main character Melanie, with the birds and the audience while emphasizing vision & sight. In the sequence chosen, Hitchcock uses non-diegetic sound in combination with silence in order to establish the atmosphere of anxiety as well as build up to the suspense of bird’s attack. The scene begins with main character Melanie, on her way to Bodega Bay School to pick up Cathy, sister of Mitch Brenner - her love interest. This leads to first use of non-diegetic sound - singing. Hitchcock uses the sound of children singing to help frame the scene, build suspense as well as a reassure the audience that the children are safe. The sound shifts from non-diegetic to diegetic once Melanie enters the school. This serves as a validation for the audience and Melanie, that the children are linked to the sound. What’s interesting however, is that although Melanie’s mission to take Cathy home hasn’t changed, her stress to do so has once she is able to see that she is alright. The singing returns to it’s original purpose as a non-diegetic reminder of the children’s safety once Melanie leaves the school to sit down to take a drag from her cigarette. Although the audience cannot hear what Melanie is thinking, they can interpret her wandering eyes and shaking head as her facing the dilemma of whether or not she should interrupt the class (the singing) and report the danger. It isn’t until the birds begin to land on the monkey bars behind her that the singing stops. This interruption of sound works as a break from her daze, and serves as the crossing from her building denial into reality. Suddenly Melanie cannot ignore the danger, and must act fast to save the children. The ending of the singing proves to be an effective means to indicate that the children are no longer safe. Therefore Hitchcock is able to link silence with uneasiness or tension within the audience - for now the children cannot be seen or heard. To build suspense however, Hitchcock reintroduces sound when Melanie and Hayworth 39
whisper to each other, devising a plan for escape. The sound continues to escalate as Hayworth explains to the children the plan, only to peak during the escape - the loudest scene in the sequence. During the attack, the silence is shattered and instead is replaced with a symphony of flocking and screaming. Through the increase in sound, and contrast of silence and noise, Hitchcock is able to manipulate what the audience and character’s believe and concentrate on as well as validate thought through sound. Hitchcock does not only concentrate on sound, or lack there of, in fact he often turns to shot duration and contrast in rhythm to communicate change in suspense or to connect the audience visually with the characters within the story. The sequence is split into two contrasting rhythms linked by a bridging scene. The first portion of the sequence consists mainly of long shots, which are more relaxed and often used to establish a scene, or in this case to create a false sense of security or safety. By using long takes to introduce Melanie to the school, and show her movement away from the doors towards the bench where she spends the majority of the sequence - Hitchcock is able to focus the audience less on the oncoming danger, and more on Melanie’s decision. The bridging area begins once Melanie sits down to smoke her cigarette. In this scene, Hitchcock beings to combine the use of short cuts with long takes, as he alternates in between deep focus shots of Melanie smoking her cigarette, and shots of the birds landing behind her. This take is especially long for it works as a way that Hitchcock confuses give the viewer a different perspective than Melanie, providing them with more information than she knows. The viewer, although concentrated on Melanie’s indecisive body language can see the danger arising in the background, however cannot predict when Melanie will turn around. In addition, Hitchcock begins to build suspense by altering the rhythm of short cuts and long takes, by alternating between the shots of Melanie smoking and shots of the birds landing. By gradually increasing the rhythm while leaning in towards the birds, he is able to control the level of fear and focal emphasis towards the inevitable attack - building anxiety. Once the element of suspense is established, Hitchcock links the danger to Melanie through an eye line match with the birds. This begins the second half of the sequence, emphasizing shorter cuts. The short cuts serve as a method to mimic the rapid change in emotions as well as the uncertainty of the characters, as shown in the climax of the sequence, where the children are attacked by the birds. In this scene Hitchcock highlights short takes and a quick paced rhythm. He alternates between medium shots of the children running, birds flocking above, and close ups of the children under attack. Through this combination he is able to limit the view of the audience as well as manipulate the level of anxiety due to quick nature of the cuts. In addition the short cuts hone in on the fear of not only the group, but each of the children individually - allowing the viewer to absorb the scene as well as identify with the characters. Hitchcock’s final method of manipulation is his use of perception and 40
and angles. Hitchcock toys with the idea of different perspectives as demonstrated in the climax - as he alternates between the perspectives of the children and the attacking birds, but also in the way he links the audience with Melanie. Hitchcock uses scenes where the back of characters are facing the screen, or to a faced away from aspects within the scene, as an indication of what they choose to concentrate on, therefore believe. Since the audience is most likely invested in the characters versus their ignored surroundings, they too are only focused on what the director wants them to, or what the character is as well. Through this link, the director is able to psychologically fuse the characters, in specific Melanie, with the viewer. By playing with perception and angles the audience associates themselves with the story line as well as the connection between the threat of the birds and the perfection of Melanie. Hitchcock goes on to manipulate perception and angles with his use of bird-eye view. Since the movie concentrates on the fear of birds, and their attacks, Hitchcock took to the sky and created scenes where the audience can place themselves in the viewpoint of the birds rather than only the characters - adding a different viewpoint to the film. In the scene where the children are running down the street, he alternates in between the shots of the birds looking down at the children, the birds in the sky and a close up of the children. This marries the two perspectives together tying the threat of the birds, and the fear they instill on the screaming children. A final example of Hitchcock’s influence on perspective is when Melanie begins to walk towards the fence. In this scene she is faced with a choice as to which direction she wants to walk towards. To her right, lays metal monkey bars, and to her left stands a beautiful white fence surrounding what seems to be the only blossomed tree in the scene. Melanie, instead of even acknowledging the uglier side of the playground, walks directly towards the visually pleasing, showcasing not only an element of her personality but of the society that she represents. By her ignoring the danger as represented by the metal, the audience for the most part does the same - allowing the director to gradually eliminate the view from the shot as well as the imposing threat. As communicated by Melanie’s inability to accept the ugly truth, both within her personality and the scene - Hitchcock proves that through the manipulation of character perspective he can control the vision of the viewer. All throughout the sequence as well as the film, Hitchcock acts as a visual puppeteer. He toys with the audience, feeding them exactly what they want to know while withholding the very essence that they crave - to know the unknown or see what lays beyond the frame. Through his use of sound, contrast of shot duration, as well as direct manipulation of subjective and objective views, Hitchcock is able control the atmosphere of the film and link the audience to the characters by focusing their vision and influencing their attention. While it is clear that the mission of Hitchcock’s The Birds, is to dive into the minds of the audience, and link their psyche with that of the characters - perhaps there is more to the story that what can be seen. Perhaps instead of focusing on the 41
birds as the problem, that the viewer is simply concentrating on the wrong element? Could it be that the psychological journey of The Birds has tapped into the human inability to see the whole picture. Or better yet could there be more to the story than what our eyes and the director, allow.
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Rebecca Grubb Professor Kim Verwaayen T.A Elyse Blake Women Studies 1020E April 1st, 2012 80% Sports: A Woman’s Game Historically, it has been universally known and understood that men are strong, aggressive, powerful, big and courageous while women are passive, tiny, tender, loyal, sensitive and dependable. Since men and women were labeled with these precise characteristics, society enabled both genders to adopt specific roles and ideologies. Men are the breadwinners of the house, the rational thinkers, the protectors of their wives, the dominant ones and the ones who are responsible for “taking care of business”. Women are the housekeepers of the home, the beings of the cult of domesticity, the child-like spouse, the care-giver of her children, and the silent ones who are inferior to the man who is granted “control” over her. Describing these roles and ideologies placed upon men and women, the words are can now be replaced with were. Recently, more of these roles and characteristics have been challenged resulting in a loss of their fixated boundaries. Some men exhibit more of the “female” traits and some women portray more of the “male” traits. This portrayal has been clearly evident through physically active sports. Throughout history, women were completely excluded from playing physical sports because athletes were characterized as being aggressive, big and powerful. Additionally, conversation and discourse was commonly used to guarantee that women be prohibited from entering any kind of sport. Presently, more and more organizations and institutions are allowing women to participate in vigorous sports like ice hockey and football. Although these allowances have arisen, female athletes still pose an immense challenge to traditional gender roles and sexuality norms within current society. A gender role can be defined socially as a masculine or feminine behaviour in a particular culture that is established by the way a child is nurtured and raised. As previously stated, women are expected to coincide with gentleness and beauty like providing assurance and comfort when their child is feeling pain or irritation and simultaneously remaining to put on make-up and prepare their hair in the morning before a full day’s work. Unlike women, men are identified with being aggressive and physically tough like using violence to predict a winner of an argument and body checking in an ice hockey game to beat their opponent to the puck. On record, it has been proven that men were the only athletes ever known to Western society. Even today, most of the professional athletic leagues televised and placed under salary, remain only eligible for men: NHL, NBA, 43
MLB, etc. Sports claim to be no place for a woman, allowing the development of an old saying: Sports IS a man’s game. So what has changed? Now, women who are entering into athletic associations, although still feeling threatened, challenge the idea that men are not the only sex that is able to partake in physical sport activity. Many women throughout history have been resisted and denied from playing any sort of sport, claiming it to be too violent, too aggressive, and well basically just non lady-like. Over the past decade, women have challenged this ideology by participating in many different kinds of sports like ice hockey, football, basketball, wrestling, boxing, lacrosse, etc and by protesting for allowances of leagues and associations of women only sports. Leagues like WBL (Women’s Basketball league), LPGA (Ladies Professional Golf Associations), WPS (Women’s Professional Soccer), CWHL (Canadian Women’s Hockey League), and the WPFL (Women’s Professional Football League) have all been made national associations allowing for only women to enter into such competitions. Although these leagues have come to age, women within these professional sectors are still underpaid and under-televised compared to the national leagues for men. Reasons for this remain clear of societal norms; although women are allowed to partake, men are still the gate-keepers and masters of any type of vigorous sport. Any sport that has been taking up by women reproduces the social norm that men are the only players allowed present in a competitive and violent sport setting. Particularly, sports that have established leagues for women to compete in ice hockey and football have raised many questions about what it means to be a man, a woman and an athlete. For instance, Canada has supplied many organizations and associations for young adolescent women who wish to play ice hockey. Canada has numerous amounts of local, provincial and even national ice hockey leagues for women as well as many high school hockey teams that have come forward over the past decade. Alike hockey in Canada, football teams for women are embraced more within the United States. Football, a sport containing a cognitively, experienced and quick quarterback, left and right guards and tackles, receivers and tight ends is a very physical sport that is widely known and spread around America. It is played with a great amount of protective equipment like shoulder and knee pads, chest protectors and a strapped down helmet to ensure that players who are constantly tackling their opponents stay mentally and physically safe. Today, an American Football Team named the Baltimore Nighthawks allows an outlet for women to enjoy playing a vigorous sport that involves such safety measures. Not only does this team hold annual tryouts for vacant positions, but enables an opportunity for women, who were constantly told for the majority of their lives that they were unable to participate in a wellliked sport because they were a woman, to just play the game. Their presence within this sport proves that women can also be defined as tough, strong, powerful and able. Contrasting the ideology that men are the only players of American Football, the Baltimore Nighthawks team gives a clear protest that states that a 44
woman can do anything a man can do; contradicting the social order of women being passive, tender and vulnerable: Most of the time as women growing up we’re told not to be aggressive, not to be assertive. It’s nice to have an outlet where you can come some where and let all of that out. You can be loud, you can hit somebody. You can just let it all go. It’s really healthy and the team camaraderie is fantastic. (Hadavi 2011) These courageous women, who represent the team’s roster, strive to demand that football is not a masculine attributed game and that being able to play gives them freedom of being women as a person. Football is not simply a game to these women; it means that they are able to lash back and almost overcome the social pressures that once declared the game of football unnecessary and unfit for their feminine gender. Women who succeed and furthermore excel within sports pose a threat to the unequal constructions of identifying gender within a social context. Throughout the study of The Gender Bowl, elements of the scrimmaged game between the battles of the sex’s outlines the explanation that the male athletes who participated in this football game strived mainly to overpower and defeat the women’s team as a whole instead of bettering individual performance. Accordingly, the women’s team of this competition centered their achievements towards the goal of not to beat the men on the scoreboard, but to prove that American Football is not just a masculine domain. In doing so, women stepped onto the field with men creating a fair fight upon the battlefield: “‘If we have to pound on these guys just to prove a point we are definitely ready to do that’” (McDowell and Schaffner 559). For the men’s team, the fear of being beaten by the women was far too costly for them: “[A]ccording to traditional gender expectations, males are regarded as athletically superior to women; thus, when a woman beats a man in sport, his manhood is challenged and undermined” (560). Clearly highlighted within this study, stereotypical discourse had a tremendous impact on the shaping of both team’s attitudes. The team consisting of women used verbal insults towards the men to dictate how women can also partake in a full-contact sport. They exploited their rage and unsatisfying expressions loudly to the men that they have dealt with because of the limitations placed upon them as feminine gender: “‘You don’t think we’re for real. I’ll smack you down to the ground. You know, I’ll take them on. I’m not afraid’” (559). Revealing such anger and frustration, when these women engage within a traditional known and practiced masculine sport, they begin to question the notions of associating women with passiveness and frailness. Throughout history, women who were interested in the sport of ice hockey in Canada formed social acquaintances with other women who were also interested in ice hockey. These acquaintances developed into “groupies”; an old fashioned term used to describe women who would follow around male hockey players to every home and away game with the desire 45
to be attracted sexually by the players. Laura Robinson comments on the fact that women would “sleep” with and in some cases marry male hockey players to feel a connection with hockey in their life. What drove women to commit such acts? During this time period, there was no such freedom for women to engage in a physical sport like hockey in Canada: “Shelly, who came to watch her boyfriend play Junior-C in the Grand Valley arena near Orangeville, said she wanted to play, but in her town of Palmerston girl’s hockey never materialized. Now she follows her boyfriend, Chad to all the games” (Robinson 125). Now, in Canada, girl’s and women’s hockey is the fastest growing sport. Furthermore, in the 1980’s many women hockey players have found a spot on a professional men’s hockey team: Justine Blainey, and a quebec goalie named Manon Reaume. Not only have some women participated in some aspects of professional hockey, in 1998, women’s hockey qualified as an Olympic sport. Amazingly enough, the Canadian women’s team holds the gold title for several years now. Even though women have made great strides in their involvement with hockey, still, a lady who walks around with a hockey stick and bag in her hands still gives a surprise to people. Since women have become immensely incorporated within the ice hockey atmosphere, their presence in this male dominated game stresses an objection to their identified characteristics of what it means to be feminine, lady, girl and woman. Sexuality was formally known as being heterosexual within the criterion of sports. When women begin to play sports, they are socially pressured to still identify as feminine outside the game of play. A woman would pose in an advertisement or on television surrounded by her husband and children to show that she still fulfills her “cult of domesticity” at home outside of sports. Some athletic women are posed nude alongside alcohol beverages, her equipment, and are even forced to wear tight and revealing shorts while playing sports like soccer or volleyball to demonstrate to the public that they are still “feminine”. As Cahn demonstrates in her works, society butchered this criterion because athleticism for females might open doors for homosexuals. To stress this, education made alterations to their system to prevent homosexuality and further promote heterosexuality: “Told that exclusively female environments caused failed heterosexual development, physical educators who had long advocated female separatism in sport were pressed to promote mixed-sex groups and heterosexual ‘adjustment’” (Cahn 106). Women involved in sport challenge the hegemony heterosexual norm of society. They threaten societal ideologies of what it means to be normal and give more or less a safe place to express homosexuality. Since more women are competing in vigorous sports, their existence within this particular domain reproduces and questions hegemony societal norms of sexual and gender identity. With the immense amount of national institutions granting sports of a women only sector; adolescent, high school and women’s football teams scattered throughout America; Canadian women partaking in men’s professional hockey leagues and the Olympics, and the 46
the advertisement companies pressuring athletic women to reveal more of their feminity outside of their sport not only proves that women are capable of playing sports just like men but furthermore exhibits the concept that women are not fragile, tiny, passive, weak and heterosexual. They are just women and they can be defined as strong, powerful, graceful, and loyal and ladies all at the same time. Sports give people the freedom to be who they are and who they were born to be and the issue of gender and sexuality hegemony’s will continue to be challenged so long as women are playing the game.
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Helen Ngo Professor Mockler Writing 1000G 30 January 2013 90% Moving Mountains: The Feminist Battle in Wilderness Climbs, A Woman’s Guide It is unfortunate that the feminist struggle for equality and respect is a relevant issue in modern society. In an enlightened society that prides itself on its tolerance and cultural diversity, the issue should be rendered obsolete—however, women are still attacked on the basis of their gender; the battle rages on. “Wilderness Climbs, A Woman’s Guide” is a 2012 free verse poem by Vivian Demuth published in Room magazine. The second-person narrative is interspersed with snippets of legal dialect, setting the scene in a courtroom. Demuth compares an incident of gender-related work discrimination and its resulting court case to mountain climbing, warning the protagonist against succumbing to either hopelessness or premature celebration. “Wilderness Climbs, A Woman’s Guide” is a powerful commentary on the state of humanity and its oppressive relationship against groundbreaking women working to overturn the precedent of silencing abuse. Demuth juxtaposes a solo mountain climbing expedition against the feminist battle for respect and justice in modern society—both experiences are wearisome, treacherous and inspirational in their finest moments. Ultimately, Demuth urges women to stay staunchly resolute in spite of the challenges inevitably presented by society, and to persevere for their cause faithfully, continuing to make a way for a universally hopeful future for women. The dominant metaphor is that of an imposing mountain, representing the uphill battle that women face when confronting an incident of gender discrimination. In the mountaineering analogy, Demuth uses an example of cosmic synchronicity to set the scene—the “windswept sky” (2) reflects the apprehension of the narrator and the adversity that is to come. The setting is hopeless; barren. When the protagonist bruises, the only relief she can find is “bitter arnica growing in the crevices” (44)—there is no comfortable sanctuary here; no miracles of nature— only a battleground. This is analogous to the attitude of society toward feminism—there is little sympathy for feminists; it often seems like an insurmountable task to stand up for women’s rights with so many prosecutors lying in wait. Demuth uses language and imagery that is unmistakably feminine to contrast the tenderness of a woman with her unfaltering spirit, creating a protagonist that is representative of the dichotomy found in every woman. Feminine references such as “wrap nylon stockings around the bulge of the first pitch” (7) and “you may desire redress of the entire Act” (15) are used to create the 48
image of a heroine that is womanly—dashing the ill-conceived stereotype that feminists must be brash, unrefined, masculine man-haters. Demuth unapologetically celebrates the beauty of the female form, praising its unique ability to give life—“but if you lick your body, you may conjure love” (29), tempering the image of a strong-willed trailblazing woman with a fertile countenance. This is in direct contrast to the image of a feminist held by disillusioned, uneducated misogynists everywhere. “Wilderness Climbs, A Woman’s Guide” contradicts convention, setting a new precedent by consolidating feminism and femininity with effortless elegance. Upon closer inspection, “Wilderness Climbs, A Woman’s Guide” is more than simply a narrative or commentary. The choice of second-person viewpoint is conducive to forming a connection with readers, and Demuth exploits this brilliantly. The protagonist is anonymous; she has no clear identity of her own. However, she does not need one—for she is representative of every woman; she could be anyone. This allows the audience to identify with her, creating a sense of sisterhood and solidarity between audience and protagonist. Demuth encourages the protagonist to “... boldly place bolts and screws from your rack / into sacred cracks for cyborgs and future women to clip into” (17-18) and cautions her, “... Do not party at this altitude. You may lose focus...” (24) These warnings resonate with the audience, encouraging them and guiding them on a parallel journey. The feminist battle is universal, and the audience is able to identify with the unnamed protagonist, sympathizing with her struggle and
similarly rejoicing with her success. “Wilderness Climbs, A Woman’s Guide” is a complex piece that accom-
plishes its dual purpose brilliantly —it functions as a narrative tale highlighting the injustices against women, and also as words of wisdom for those embarking on a similar journey of change and challenge. It exemplifies the dichotomy that defines feminism—it is careful yet bold; cautionary yet challenging; daunting yet hopeful. It serves as encouragement, yet also as a call to arms, inspiring a generation of women to overcome the critics and continue unwaveringly in their crusade for justice. Work Cited Demuth, Vivian. “Wilderness Climbs, A Woman’s Guide.” Room Magazine Oct. 2012: n. pag. http://www.roommagazine.com/. Web. 25 Jan. 2013.
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Chu Ka Man Carmen Professor Mockler Writing 1000 30 January 2013 90% In the poem “Clear Brightness” by Boey Kim Cheng from his poetry collection Clear Brightness (2012), the narrator of the poem tries consciously to awaken his capacity for remembering his past by evoking the image of burning ashes. The ashes serve as a prevalent symbol of his memories which interweaves his past to his present and future. In this poem, we see that the narrator is reminiscing over his past where he had practiced ritual in the traditional Chinese Qing Ming Festival, which is a time for living descendants to honor their ancestors. The image of burning ashes appears repeatedly in this poem, reflecting that it is a permanent fixture in the narrator’s memory. At the beginning, we see that the ashes are a pervasive presence in the narrator’s surroundings. For instance, it is described that “[t]he house and yard [is] dressed in a skin of ash” (Cheng 1). The expression “skin of ash” connotes that the ash appears as an intimate film coating the external surroundings of the narrator. The later part of the poem discloses that these ashes in the first stanza are formed by a burning tree. An associative connection is induced in which the image of ashes pervades through to the second stanza. However, it is to note that the ashes described in stanza two is due to the burning of spirit money, of which is a rite where the living send money to their deceased ancestors. Thus, we see that there is a transition in contexts from stanza one to two. The drastic change in contexts to which the image of ashes appears, symbolizes that the narrator’s mind is transported into a different setting. There is a sense that the ashes exist not just in the present space for the narrator but also act as catalyst conjuring up his past memories. This is shown by a significant change in the tone used to characterize the ashes. In the first stanza, the ashes are described as “giddy petals” and evoked as falling snow in “Christmas” (Cheng 1); this suggest a lightness and positivity in the narrator’s tone or attitude. By the next stanza, the ashes are portrayed as “acrid, shriven, ashen” (Cheng 1). The words are a sharp contrast to the previous attitude of mirth; instead they have the effect of creating a feeling of stifling suffocation. Moreover, in this stanza, the narrator sees himself “like penitents” (Cheng 1), illustrating that, unlike the first stanza, all feelings of jocularity and felicity is gone. Instead, the word “penitents” suggests that the narrator carries himself with a disposition for atonement. The transition in his attitude suggests that ashes occupy a significant place in his consciousness; it pervades in his everyday life and also at times of solemn commemoration. By the third stanza, the image of ashes again serves to bring up his 50
reflection upon the government’s new burial policy. Under the policy, cemetery grounds are deemed as a waste of space in land-scarce Singapore. Hence graves are required to be exhumed and bones burned into ashes. Therefore, in this stanza, the ashes are formed by bone-burning. The narrator’s tone here suggests that he disagrees with the policy. In stanza two, it is lightheartedly expressed that the tombs of the dead are places of residence, or “abodes” for the dead, each bearing “the right address” (Cheng 1). This tongue-in-cheek comparison suggests that the narrator enjoys being able to visit the homes of his ancestors and pay respect to them. Unfortunately, this may cease because of the policy and the narrator laments: “No more tomb-sweeping/ and picnicking with the dead” (Cheng 2). He seems to take a satirical attitude towards the policy as he compares how it means eviction and dispossession for the dead. In the line: “the dead/ [are] expelled, their bones unhoused, ashed/ and relocated to columbaria to make room for progress”, the use of property jargon highlights the full extent of estrangement not only between the dead and their homes/graves, but also estrangement in the family, between the living and their ancestors. The narrator satirizes how desired urban and economic development comes at the expense of this separation within families, between the living and dead. Hence, we see there is an anxiety for the narrator to remember. This is before the tradition of grave-visiting and his memories of it fade away. The image of ashes from Qing Ming is also an image of his memory of his past. But, gradually it has taken on associations that are different from his past. The most notable is that it resembles snow. In the last stanza, he alludes the ashes of his past to “flakes falling like memory” (Cheng 2). We see here that the ashes are morphing into snowflakes, symbolizing a break from the past. Also, it falls and will soon accumulate into “a snowdrift” that will cause “forgetting”, in that it will bury the past. In conclusion, the narrator in Cheng’s “Clear Brightness” shows a resistance to forget, especially by disagreeing with the new burial policy that separates him from his past and threatens his capacity to remember. By evoking the recurrent image of ashes, he shows that the past is a permanent presence in his consciousness. Yet, the narrator also reluctantly accepts that he may not have a rein of the ashes and indeed his memories and that they will eventually be lost. Work Cited Kim Cheng, Boey. “Clear Brightness”. From Clear Brightness (pp. 1-2). Singa pore, Epigram Books, 2012.
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Jacqueline Grassi Professor Barteet Visual Arts History 1040 90% Tutorial Assignment Two: The Reality of the Art of Whimsy The association between art and the realm of the imagination is a deep bond that, as I will propose in this essay, has its roots in historical artwork as a result of the innate human desire to express internal ideas and emotions visually. Terms, such as imagination and creativity, have come to imply that art is something that goes beyond what society considers to be real. The philosopher, Plato, purports that all art is a form of ‘mimesis’, a mere reflection of reality.1 If either of these viewpoints were true, one might wonder why pieces of art can have such an impact on the audience viewing the work. From portraits commissioned by influential politicians to the common man who admires the still-life hanging on the wall of his home, there is a reverence in our society towards artwork that indicates art is more than just an imitation. Based on the work of cultural historian Johan Huizinga, I will examine the art exhibition as a form of ‘play’ and how this interpretation can refute Plato’s theory of imitation. This exhibition will be comprised of four artworks spanning a period of three centuries and various movements, from the Gothic style “Fan Vaults of the Chapel of Henry VII”, to the Baroque ceiling painting, “Glorification of Saint Ignatius”, to the Rococo “Hall of Mirrors” at the Amalienburg, and lastly, to the simple, yet stunning, Romanticism painting “Abbey in the Oak Forest”. I will demonstrate how each piece reflects a common theme of inspiring an emotional response in the viewer by disregarding formal properties and structural settings. In essence, I shall illustrate how each piece transcends the boundaries of the physical world and how, through the form of ‘play’, the fantasy that is created in the combination of these works can be viewed as a temporary reality where this state of escapism is just as real as the tangible world. In this way, this exhibition, “Reality of the Art of Whimsy”, will be able to elevate the audience spiritually through emotional inspiration. In plain terms, I wish to create an art exhibit that will be an experience nothing short of magical which will bring a smile to people’s faces, a noteworthy cause if there ever was one. Perhaps the best place to begin examining art meant to enthuse the spirit is Gothic Europe. The cathedrals built in the Gothic style focused on the idea of conveying the divine in a visual sense through the “…aesthetic principles ____________________ 1 Cynthia Freeland. Art Theory: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press Inc., New York, 2001, 21. 52
of proportion, light and allegory.”2 In her introduction to art theory, Cynthia Freeland describes specifically how Gothic cathedrals were meant to embody the presence of God through the light that filtered in through the stained glass windows.3 In an effort to increase the amount of light, architects constructed buildings that rose ever taller towards the heavens, while reducing the mass of the wall itself, replacing it with more glass windows to create a magical atmosphere within the holy space.4 For our purposes, the way in which Gothic architects strived to represent their beliefs demonstrates how even at this time, art was being used to conjure religious passion and enhance the common people’s spiritual experience. However, one might ask how does the Gothic style overcome physical boundaries if it adheres to strict rules such as proportion, light and allegory? In answer, I look to the example of the “Fan Vaults of the Chapel of Henry VII”. Designed by Robert and William Vertue in the highly decorative Perpendicular Gothic style, this architectural work defies adherence in its fancifulness. Intricate circular patterning adorns the ceiling, obscuring the basic structure, and tapers into pendants, enriched with impossible detail. The way in which the Vertues crafted the ceiling of this chapel disregards the structural functions of Gothic architecture, allowing the elements of this style to be used as design elements free of purpose.6 In an article about the structure of the fan vaults, Walter Leedy explains, “The transverse arch .... is not structurally part of it for the middle two-thirds of the span. The curved shells run continuously beneath this transverse being structurally independent.”7 Clearly, the appearance of this ceiling is not related to a matter of structural stability, so why then did the artists create such extra work for themselves? Clearly, the appearance of this ceiling is not related to a matter of structural stability, so why then did the artists create such extra work for themselves? Why create such an intricate pattern which has been likened to lace?8 In this dissolution of a surface into an ornamental fantasy we see how artwork is a form of ‘play’, as Huizinga ____________________ 1 Cynthia Freeland. Art Theory: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press Inc., New York, 2001, 21. 2 Ibid., 25. 3 Ibid., 26 4 Fred S. Kleiner, Gardener’s Art Through the Ages: The Western Perspective, 13th Edition. Boston, MA: Clark Baxter, Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, 2010. 2006, 349. 5 Ibid., 366 6 Ibid., 366. 7 Walter C. Leedu, “Design of the Vaulting on Henry VII’s Chapel, Westminister: A Reappraisal.” Architectural History 18, 1975, 8. 8 Kleiner, 366. 53
says, “.… the first main characteristic of play: that it is free, is in fact freedom.” 9 In releasing the Gothic style from its physical limitations the architect engaged in an act of ‘play’ as Huizinga envisions it. At the same time, this chapel, like other cathedrals of the time, would have been created with the purpose of conveying a sense of spiritual engagement, so we see an example of emotion expressed through ‘play’. In the Chapel of Henry VII we see the harmony between ‘play’ and the beginning of the search for the conveyance of emotion. The exploration of the communication of emotion came to fruition in the Baroque style. This style was characterized by a theatrical mood represented on a grandiose scale.10 In many ways, the piece “Glorification of Saint Ignatius”, a ceiling painting by Fra Andrea Pozzo, is iconic of this time period.11 In the words of Richard Mohr, “Baroque art and architecture abound in trompe l’oeil and virtuoso displays of illusion. Games of perspective give the illusion of depth, flat ceilings appear to rise up to the heavens .…”12 This is indeed what Pozzo’s ceiling painting does. In this image, Christ welcomes Saint Ignatius to heaven, appearing to ascend from the room below them, the architecture continues in the painting, rising into blue skies amidst imagery of the four corners of the world.13 Through illusion, this piece breaks the physical boundary of the ceiling, lifting off into an imaginary heavenly realm. Although this realm is not tangible, the desire of the viewer’s eyes to believe that it is can be regarded as a form of ‘play’. Huizinga acknowledges the ability of ‘play’ to create an illusion. Huizinga supposes that this illusion can consume the one who plays, creating a temporary reality where everything must adhere to a sense of order, or else this momentary state of escapism will shatter.14 This translates to the audience in the presence of the ceiling painting “Glorification of St. Ignatius”, for a moment they are able to experience the physical barrier of the ceiling above them yielding to the divine. Yet this illusion, if it did not adhere to perspective, if a shadow or chip in the painting reflected its flat nature, or if it were witnessed from the wrong angle, this otherworldly experience would be easily destroyed. As a result of this, we see how the trompe l’oeil style of Baroque relies on the essence of ‘play’ to create the illusionistic experience that momentarily transforms the viewer’s reality into a fantastical realm of emotion in the theatrics of painting. In some ways, the Rococo style is seen as a continuance of the extravagance of Baroque architecture. The Builder’s ____________________ 9 Johan Huizinga, Homo Ludens: A Study of Play Element in Culture, Beacon Press, Boston, 1955, 103. 10 Kleiner, 527. 11 Ibid, 549. 12 Richard Mohr, “Signature and Illusion: Lessons from the Baroque for ‘Truth’ Law, Arts, and Humanities.” The Austrailian Feminist Law Journal 36, 2012, 51. 13 Kleiner, 543. 14 Huizinga, 105. 54
Journal of London describes the link between these two styles, “The term ‘baroque’, when used with respect to architecture, is generally applied to a design .… of which ornamentation is more lavish and pronounced than scholarly and correct, and it is therefore synonymous with the word ‘rococo’….”15 To capitalize on this similarity, I will use the “Hall of Mirrors” at the Amalienburg, in the park of the Nymphenburg Palace in Munich, Germany, designed by Francois de Cuvillies as an example of Rococo architecture.16 The “Hall of Mirrors” represents Rococo at its zenith, in hues of blue and silver emphasized by the reflection of light from windows, amplified by mirrors and embellished with a repertoire of Rococo motifs and crystals. 17 The aesthetic itself of the “Hall of Mirrors” ties into the concept of ‘play’ as Huizinga claims: “Play has a tendency to be beautiful …. The words we use to denote the elements of play belong for the most part to aesthetics, terms with which we try to describe the effects of beauty: tension, poise, balance … Play casts a spell over us; it is ‘enchanting,’ ‘captivating’”18 However, we must look at what it is in this room which makes it dazzling, and who can argue it would be the same without the light pouring through the windows, highlighting the curves of the architecture and glancing off the mirrors, casting the room in a glow? The mirrors work in tandem with the light to create this atmosphere, and it can be said to be an illusion, like the ceiling painting “Glorification of Saint Ignatius”, that the “Hall of Mirrors” relies on to convey its splendor to the viewer, further tying it into the concept of ‘play’. The integration of illusion with the balance between the organic movement and poised elegance of the “Hall of Mirrors” creates an actual existing space that seems to deny its own physical reality, being more so a manifestation of the imagination.19 This piece places the viewer in a seemingly surreal space, yet the frivolous luxury of the “Hall of Mirrors” cannot be denied for the knowledge that it is in some way real, and thus functions as a metaphor for ‘play’ as Huizinga describes it, “Play cannot be denied. You can deny, if you like, nearly all abstractions: justice, truth .… You can deny seriousness, but not play.”20 In contrast to the elaborate detail of the Gothic, Baroque and Rococo styles, the painting “Abbey in the Oak Forest” by Caspar David Friedrich, is much more simplistic, and in contrast to the ____________________ 15 Builders’ Journal London, “Baroque Architecture,” The American Architect and Building News 94, 1908, 18. 16Kleiner, 584. 17Ibid., 584. 18Huizinga, 105. 19Kleiner, 584. 20Huizinga, 99. 55
light-hearted nature associated with Rococo, far more sobering.21 This piece depicts the grimness of death, set amidst the throes of winter, barren trees extending their contorted branches into a snowy white sky, shadowed by black clouds as dusk settles, murky and gray, the figures of a funeral procession just barely visible, making their way to a ruined abbey. Yet, this piece is a “Romantic transcendental landscape,” which commands solemnness through its honest rendering of grief, demanding reverence from the spectator.22 In this way, we see the element of ‘play’, even in such a solemn moment. For a moment the spectator is so absorbed in the emotional context of the artwork they feel a reaction, and it is this reaction, whether it be pity, sadness or commiseration, it is a form of ‘play’, because for even just that second the scenario in this painting is real to them. It is the child’s game of make believe in the extreme, the painting becomes the playground and the audience, the child, immersed in the game to the point where emotion is felt.23 It is in this second when the piece transcends the boundaries of reality, as not an imaginary scene but something the viewer can feel, that we see the embodiment of the Romanticism movement. Romanticists sought the triumph of emotion over reason.24 So, the act of ‘play’ in that which is not real, in what is fictional, becomes a temporary reality due to the conveyance of emotion. With the culmination of these four pieces, “Fan Vaults of the Chapel of Henry VII”, “Glorification of Saint Ignatius”, “Hall of Mirrors” and “Abbey in the Oak Forest”, I have created an exhibition that, while rooted in the intangible ideas of emotion and decorative fantasy, demonstrates the potential to have a real impact emotionally on an audience, thus it is the “Reality of the Art of Whimsy”. I have demonstrated through the concept of ‘play’ how each piece has the ability to connect with the viewer on an emotional level.The last contestation of this theory comes from Plato’s theory of imitation, yet even this can be contradicted through the idea of ‘play’. Freeland states, “Plato criticized all imitations .… for failing to depict the eternal ideal realities.” 25 Huizinga’s concept of ‘play’ negates Plato’s claim as it supposes that ‘play’ creates temporary realities beyond our actual reality, phrased best in Huizinga’s own words, “All play moves and has its being within a play-ground marked off beforehand either materially or ideally .... All are temporary worlds within the ordinary world, dedicated to the performance of an act apart ….”26 As I have proved in my analysis of each artwork, the experience of art can be regarded as a form of ‘play’, thus the art exists in a reality composed within the mind of the individual viewer, and functions outside of ____________________ 21 Kleiner, 626. 22 Ibid., 626. 23 Huizinga, 103. 24 Kleiner, 616. 25 Freeland, 21. 26 Huizinga, 105. 56
Plato’s ideal realities. The goal of the exhibition, “Reality of the Art of Whimsy”, is to use art to create an experience where ‘play’ creates a temporary reality that will allow the audience to escape from the stress of their actual reality. Each piece communicates with the viewer on a personal level. “Abbey in the Oak Forest” is a reminder of the inescapability of death, “Hall of Mirrors” brightens the room with its frivolity, “Fan Vaults of the Chapel of Henry VII” can be seen as a metaphor for freedom from restriction, and “Glorification of Saint Ignatius” encourages people to reach for new heights. This exhibition reminds people that death is inevitable, but that it is important to have fun and strive to do one’s best along the way, and that sometimes it is alright to be struck with awe, no matter what reality you may experience. In the words of Schiller, “[Art] should remain play, but also be poetic play. All art is dedicated to joy, and there is no higher and more serious task than of making people happy.”27 ____________________ 27 Friedrich Schiller, “What Difference Can a Good Theatrical Stage Actually Make?” 1784. Bibliography Breithaupt, Fritz, “The Invention of Trauma in German Romanticism,” Critical Inquiry 32 (2005): 77-101.
Builders’ Journal London, “Baroque Architecture,” The American Architect and Building News 94 (1908): 36. Freeland, Cynthia, Art Theory: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press Inc., New York, 2001. Huizinga, Johan, “Nature and Significance of Play as a Cultural Phenomenon” in Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play Element in Culture. Beacon Press, Boston, 1955. Kleiner, Fred S., Gardener’s Art Through the Ages: The Western Perspective, 13th Edition. Boston, MA: Clark Baxter, Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, 2010, 2006. Leedy, Walter C., “The Design of the Vaulting of Henry VII’s Chapel, Westmin- ster: A Reappraisal,” Architectural History 18 (1975): 5-11+89-96. Mohr, Richard, “Signature and Illusion: Lessons from the Baroque for ‘Truth’ in Law, Arts and Humanities,” The Australian Feminist Law Journal 36 (2012): 45-63. Schiller, Friedrich, “What Difference Can a Good Theatrical Stage Actually Make?” (1784).57
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Tabitha Chan Nicole Borland VAH 1040 TUT 002 15 November 2012 88% Identity in Salvador Dali’s The Metamorphosis of Narcissus The exploration of the unconscious mind and how dreams connect to reality encompass the ideas of Surrealism. As a Naturalistic Surrealist painter, Salvador Dali blurs the line between reality and imagination in his art.1 Dali’s The Metamorphosis of Narcissus is an abstract landscape painting with contrasting bits of reality in high detail. In this time, art is no longer about mimesis but understanding the psychology of the mind.2 This painting argues that a person’s identity is a combination of both realism in the physical world and abstraction in the form of the inner consciousness and desires. Dali’s painting is a microcosm of the goals of Surrealist painters, to represent in art the combination of the outer conscious life and the “inner reality”. 3 Tension is formed through the use of a realistic landscape with abstract subjects to create a push and pull between abstraction and realism. Dali uses atmospheric perspective to bring out the realistic landscape. The subject matter is largest in the foreground and becomes smaller as it recedes into the background. To increase the lack of sense, he uses linear perspective at the same time. He pushes this to the extreme by using both one point perspective in the checkerboard and two point perspective in the plinth. The close proximity of two different perspectives in a small space disorients the viewer. The viewer is forced to ask questions to make sense of the painting. The juxtaposition of not knowing where the painting is while recognizing realistic objects parallels the concept of a dream. The notion that dreams are a connection to another “self ” and suppressed desires is a Freudian idea. This inspires Surrealist’s aim to bring out the unconscious inner force they believe to be within each person. André Breton, a Surrealist painter, shows his belief in identity being both real and abstract when he says, “...I believe in the future resolution of the states of dream and reality, in appearance so contradictory, in a sort of absolute reality, or surreality”.4 Dreams do not have physical limits because they are an abstract concept that resides in the mind. ____________________ 1 Fred S. Kleiner, Gardner’s Art through the Ages: The Western Perspective, Thirteenth Edition (Boston: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, 2006), 719. 2 Cynthia Freeland, Art Theory: A Very Short Introduction, (New York: Oxford University Press., 2001), 21 3 Ibid. 4 Ibid. 58
The Metamorphosis of Narcissus illustrates how a person is made up of both realism and abstraction through the dream-like setting of the painting and the concept of Surrealist painters. Salvador Dali invents the “paranoic-critical method,” where he purposely puts himself in a state of paranoia to create “images of concrete irrationality”.5 Paranoia causes a person to overanalyze situations and invent their own reality. In essence, people who are paranoid live in their own world, a separate reality from everyone else, like being in a dream. Dali’s emulation of paranoia can be seen in his painting of Narcissus through its’ lack of sense; the painting creates its own reality which has a subtle, but extremely dark mood. It is important to realize that for a person to have a clear identity there must be a balance between invention in the mind and what is real. Dali describes this balance between being awake and asleep, “Sleep is a state of equilibrium, a kind of monster in which your body disappears”.6 His method allows him to think like a psychopath without actually being psychotic.7 Although this artistic process seems extreme in modern society, it would have been accepted in Dali’s time because of the paradigm of Surrealism. As a viewer in modern day, it is understandable because of the historical context of the time period and the knowledge of the theories of that time.8 Despite the lack of sense, the painting is aesthetically pleasing to the eye because it is balanced through the use of warm and cool colours and the size of the objects. This piece is asymmetrical in design but is balanced through the repetition and placement of Narcissus and his transformation, which follows the rule of thirds. The large forms of Narcissus and the hand balance the small details in the background. The realism is the artist himself while the abstraction is his imagination. Dali has the ability to control both once realizing that the identity is made by a balance of both. Dali uses several principles of design in order to convey the story of Narcissus through symbolic representations. The Metamorphosis of Narcissus is an allusion to the Greek myth about a beautiful boy who is so self-obsessed with his appearance that he falls in love with his own reflection and eventually dies.9 Space is the use of foreground, middle-ground and background to create depth and distance. This painting’s imaginary landscape represents where Narcissus died and the use of space emphasizes the key moments in the story. The foreground contains the transformed version of Narcissus holding the egg, the middle-ground is Narcissus before the transformation looking at his reflection and the background consists of the group of nude women and Narcissus posing ____________________ 5 Kleiner, Gardner’s Art through the Ages, 722. 6 Simon Wilson, Surrealist Painting (London: Phaidon Press Limited, 1975), 13. 7 Ibid. 8 Freeland, Art Theory: A Very Short Introduction, 39. 9 Dawn Ades, Dali, (New York: Thames and Hudson Inc., 1995), 133. 59
The horizon line is in the upper half of the painting where the sky meets land. By creating three separate areas of space, the viewer is able to read the narrative in the painting more easily. Dali adds to the disorientation of reality and abstraction by using space, movement and dominance to tell the story in the opposite order. The most dominant object in the painting is the transformed hand because it is the brightest with the most contrast between dark and light. It is also the largest and has the highest amount of detail. The large hand is not proportional to the landscape but if it were isolated on its’ own, it would be in realistic proportions. The ants are small compared to the hand but huge in comparison to the land. Narcissus’s form before and after transformation have a jarring effect because they seem so out of place due to size. Compositional movement is used through the change in size of the objects as well as the value in colour. The viewer’s eye is lead from the hand, to Narcissus and then to the small details in the background because of their decreasing size. The repetition of colour also creates movement because the eye connects the same colours together. The blue colour occurs in three corners of the painting to unify it as a whole. The dark shadows in both Narcissus and his transformation link their forms together. Diagonal movement is created by the clouds in the right upper corner leading to Narcissus. Harmony creates movement through the repetition of the figures and texture in the land. These principles help depict the myth clearly and as Ades states, “The relationship between reality and illusion is perfectly embodied in the myth of Narcissus”. The story itself is a depiction of identity as both reality10 and delusion. The depiction of Narcissus in Dali’s painting goes beyond the myth to representing society in a larger sense. Narcissus’s physical beauty is real while his narcissism is a concept of abstraction. The transformation of Narcissus represents the decay of identity shown through the use of only cool tones. He is still beautiful but the ants and hyena-like creature symbolize the beginning of decay. The egg with a Narcissus flower sprouting from it represents rebirth, life and true beauty. The image of this decaying hand holding an egg of life symbolizes how every person is in control of their lives and when identity is unstable, a person inevitably kills themselves. The nude women represent ideal beauty and Narcissus standing on the plinth is like he is on display and putting on an outer physical appearance that is not who he truly is. Narcissus’s identity is rooted in his obsession with his beauty which leads to his death. The theories behind Surrealist art to explore dreams and reality, the story of Narcissus and Salvador Dali’s implementation of artistic principles to articulate his beliefs about psycho-analysis ultimately leads to the culmination of Dali’s painting. The Metamorphosis of Narcissus is a warning to the viewer that identity becomes corrupted when there is an imbalance between realism in the outer tangible world and abstraction within the imaginative and conscious mind. ____________________ 10 Ibid. 60
Works Cited Ades, Dawn. Dali. New York: Thames and Hudson Inc., 1995. Freeland, Cynthia. Art Theory A Very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press Inc., 2001. Kleiner, Fred S. Gardner’s Art through the Ages: the Western Perspective, Thir teenth Edition. Boston: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, 2010. Wilson, Simon. Surrealist Painting. London: Phaidon Press Limited, 1975.
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Goodbye! We hope Premier has helped with your transition into Western. Don’t forget that if you have any questions, feel free to contact the Arts and Humanities Students’ Council. We’re in University College 112F. See you soon!
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