Weekly Selections
Every week I will post some of my work and comment on my thoughts, mistakes, and triumphs of the pieces.
WEEK 1
In the live video “Hurt” by Nine Inch Nails, the dominant themes are death, pain, rebirth, sadness, destruction, and predator versus prey. We can come to this conclusion because of the imagery behind Trent Reznor. The clips of video played behind him during his performance include dead soldiers, decaying animals, and dying plants; the destruction seen in the video are clips of atomic bombs, and explosions. Death and destruction are easily the most apparent themes we can see in the video. We also see a few short clips of sad children sometimes with their mothers. The way the Reznor acts when he’s singing “Hurt” looks very much like he’s in pain, if not physical, then emotional pain. We know that rebirth is a theme in the Nine inch Nails video, because at the end of the video we see the decomposed animal clip played backwards, also throughout the video there are images of crosses. Overall the audience is expected to join in on this grunge, 90’s band’s pain.
In the Cash video the clips of film establish the same themes of death, pain, rebirth, sadness, destruction, and predator versus prey; however it also establishes themes of fame, and reflection. After Cash sings “But I remember everything” we see a clip of him in the front of a train smiling, then again after “What have I become, my sweetest friend” we see a young Cash walking on the beach. After the lyric “You could have it all” we see a clip of him in front of a crowd; “My empire of dirt,” we then see a video of a mostly empty room with memorabilia of Johnny Cash’s; this almost implies that everything Cash worked for was in vain.
Even though the song was originally written by Reznor, and stands apart from the usual Johnny Cash Country style, I found Cash’s version of the song and video to be more intense and emotional. Although both videos had a lot of the same types of imagery, the fact that Johnny Cash was in his 70’s when the video was shot just made it more heartbreaking. There are many implications in the Cash video that we don’t get in the Reznor video because of his age. Trent Reznor at the time of his video, is young and still has time to, “start again, a million miles away,” if he really wanted to, whereas Johnny Cash being near the end of his life, doesn’t have time to be “reborn” in this life, so his video is really more about reflection. By including video’s of Cash when he was in the prime of his life the audience -even those who may have never even heard of Johnny Cash- join, in this poignant reflection of life that switches from clips from the past, and from the present; the contrast of his age really has an emotional appeal on the audience. When Reznor sings, “Everyone I know, goes away in the end.” the audience believes he has been abandoned by the ones he has loved most; however when Cash sings the same lyric it has more meaning because they quite literally “go away” the lyrics in Cash’s version imply death which makes logical sense. People of his generation had become old and frail, probably slowly dying off, including his wife who was also shown in the video that happened to die a couple months after the completion of the project.
Selection Reflection
I chose this selection because I enjoyed talking about the two videos. I love Johnny Cash and his music, I have his CD in my truck and every time I want to feel like a cowboy I play it. I thought it was very interesting to look at the differences in the two videos and evaluate what emotional effects happen just by changing the singer of the song. I was amazed at the ability to change the message so much with only subtle differences in the imagery. I thought this was an important introduction to the class because it showed us how to analyze two separate medias and compare the effects they have on the audience. This really was the first time I ever thought about audience when analyzing a text or video; I have always analyzed what the author was trying to say, but never was used to talking about how it was perceived by the audience. This assignment really gave me a lot of clarity about rhetoric.
Selection Reflection
This was a funny assignment, I had a good time describing myself as a monster because that is what horror is all about. As we discussed in class horror monsters are the embodiment of a fear or situation that you cannot get away from in real life. In order to face these fears mentally, we solidify them into creatures that have similar qualities to our problems. For me, I am afraid that I work too slow and procrastinate too much. That is why my monster is snail like. I included that I ate my neighbor because in real life I really don't like her, and I think if I was a hungry monster I wouldn't feel too bad about eating her. This assignment was important to me because I got to experience horror from a different point of view and I was able to write creatively in the same manner as Mary Gaitskill did in The Other Place. Thinking through the features I wanted my monster to have for me was the most enjoyable part of this assignment; I love snails, they usually just try their best even if they go slow they don't stop, I can relate to that and appreciate their efforts.
WEEK 2
Few Sentence Horror Stories
I was home alone, checking each lock on every door and every window carefully; when I was satisfied, I shut off the light and laid in my warm bed. A low voice came from behind me and whispered "You weren't fast enough."
I tried to create tension by starting off with being home alone, at least when your family is home, or when your friends are over, there is a witness, or an extra set of hands to call the police should something happen. To me at least, being home alone is terrifying in itself. I put emphasis on "carefully" by putting it where I did in the sentence. Then I comfort the reader by stating that I was satisfied; I had believed I was safe, so the reader does too. Note that the bed was warm, which seems comforting you would think but where is that heat coming from if I wasn't laying in my bed before and I am supposedly home alone? Then when the second sentence is read you get scared again. I mentioned that it was a low voice because I didn't think a shrill voice, or just any voice for that matter, would be spooky enough. When the voice comes from behind me it says "You weren't fast enough" meaning 1) it was watching me 2) maybe I was a bit too "careful" when locking the doors 3) I probably have a lot of doors and windows but that doesn't matter too much.
When he woke up, he was on the side of a road he did not recognize, with a broken leg, and a dead child in his arms; the last thing he remembered was being drunk at the Halloween party dressed as a clown. Trembling, he ripped off his mask, and ran his hands down his face in shock, his face felt different. In a nearby puddle he saw the face of the clown mask where his face used to be.
With all of the terrible clown scares the United States has been having lately I figured this would be pretty spooky. In the first sentence there are a lot of questions that are asked by the reader. "Was he hit by a car?" "Whose child is dead in his arms? Is this his child? Did he kill the child?" Then the audience reads on, and realizes this guy doesn't even know the answers to the questions that they are asking because he blacked out. Also because he was dressed as a clown and many people fear clowns, the reader jumps to the conclusion that he did in fact lure this child and kill them. In the second sentence we find that this clown mask face has replaced his true face, so we assume that he is a victim of some weird voodoo mask magic. However, if someone is dressing as a clown for Halloween, Is that what they believe their inner monster is? Did he relate to that clown mask in some way that made him choose it? That is for the reader to decide.
Selection Reflection
I really struggled with this assignment because I had to think about so many elements within the "Two Sentence Horror Stories." Writing the compact stories was fun, and I felt like it gave me the opportunity to be creative, however even though it was a creative assignment it gave me insight into how much work goes into writing horror and making text have a certain effect on the audience. I was impressed with the short horror stories in class, and I thought it was a great way to start thinking about elements that express what the author wants them to. I never thought punctuation could be so important, but when the whole story is condensed into very few sentences, every symbol counts, along with word placement, diction and context.
WEEK 3
Click below for power point
Selection Reflection
I enjoyed making this power point with my group, I thought it was an easy way for everyone in the class to contribute to learning about genre expectation. All the power point presentations were interesting to watch and listen about. Our presentation was on zombies, and the other two girls in my group were very excited about the power point, which in turn made me excited about it. I am happy that the class before the presentations, Professor McClure told us not to write entire paragraphs on our slides, because all the slides that I had made for the slide show were in paragraph form, so I had time to go back and change it. Also now the whole class is on the same level as far as understanding the expectations that come along with each sub-genre of horror.
WEEK 1
RIP My Own Monstrosity
Last night something terrible happened. I never thought, that I could go over the deep end like I did. I killed someone. At first I thought it was a nightmare, only to find everything I remembered to be true. Although I was not in control of myself, I still could remember every sound, sight, smell, and taste vividly. When I thought about what happened it was as if it was happening all over again. I am ashamed.
I stared into the mirror today, the same mirror I had seen last night, when I had lost all control. I saw my usual face, my human face, green eyes, pale skin, blonde hair, the person who I thought I was for so long, but who I no longer felt I was. Slimy mucus residue still covered my body. I felt detached, dirty, sticky. Time to shower and go to my classes.
At school everything was normal, I am a very average person, I like to stay busy to keep my mind happy, and today was a good normal day, except for... the terrible flashbacks. I could remember my slow green wiggling body, so slippery, inching around. I consumed all of my neighbor's vegetable garden mucus trailing behind me. Slowly but surely I munched through her lettuce, her cucumbers, her carrots, and I knew she wouldn't be mad at me in the morning because later that night, I munched through her. My four raised black eyes took in the whole scene, I recall every angle of my poor nosey neighbor trying her best to scream for help and being sucked into my soft acidic mouth. She never expected me to shoot her with my paralyzing mucus. I had always hated her, the way she peaked over the fence desperate for a three hour conversation that only consisted of complaints, her red hair always was pulled back into a tight ponytail, her lazy body language I found unbearable, even her words seemed to come out slouching. I was a bit disappointed with the flavor she produced.
After I ate, I slept all night in my gray camouflage shell, hiding from the world, a world that moved so fast. The more I tried to fit in as a human, the more I felt the transformation wanting to take place at night time. Eating human food was difficult most of the time, their food contains tremendous amounts of salt, which I'm allergic to. Even a small dose of salt could be deadly for me, if I had any allergic reaction I couldn't go to the hospital. I know I am different, I know my organs are in different places even when I am in human form, I am sure they will take me, to study what I am. I need to stay healthy, I need to stay hiding, I need to plan more and more every night, now that I'm progressively losing more and more control of my human consciences. I am sad that I am so hungry, I'd hate to kill more humans, but I can't live off of small herb gardens, I need more. It will be easy to eat more people though, because I am silent, non-threatening, and my super neutral colors blend in with most of their shadows. My antennas will always pick the humans who are low in salt, and even if I start losing my human self when in my alternate form, hopefully I'll stop remembering these horrid incidents and my heart will be at peace.