MIND 288 - 210, CONTEMPORARY ARTS CONNECTIONS - 21769 -
Great artists responding to the themes of war, trauma and identity
updated 04/10/2007
Spring 2007 Class 3:30 pm - 4:45 pm TR McKee 0223 Jan 16, 2007 - May 11, 2007
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Intro | Grades | Schedule | skip to the present
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Required Texts:
Yusef Komunyakaa's Neon Vernacular.
Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five.
Patrick Lawler's Feeding the Fear
of the Earth. |
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Response logs & Quizzes = 25%
Attendance & participation = 25%
1 final project that we agree upon = 25%
Final exam = 25%
NOTE: more than 4 unexcused absences may lower overall your grade. Excessive lateness(es) may also count as absence. Late papers drop a whole grade for each class missed. Lastly, make-up HW logs, quizzes, and projects are only possible if an absence is excused by a prior agreement in writing.
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Schedule: the main works & a tentative time line for the course. Some assignments may be added or subtracted and some elements of the schedule may change as the term progresses as guest speakers become available.
Week 1: 01/16, 18
T Intro to course. First readings assigned for Thursday: Komunyakaa’sNeon Vernacular: pages 137-159 (war poetry).
R Discuss readings & some literary terms.
HW for next Tuesday: send a Bio note via e-mail. Read the following Komunyakaa poems.
"At the Screen Door," "Work," "Praising Dark Places," "Birds on a Powerline," "Songs for my Father," "Translating Footsteps," "Passions," "For You, Sweetheart, I'll Sell Plutonium Reactors," "Untitled Blues," "Back Then," "Elegy for Thelonius," [i.e. Thelonius Monk] "Woman, I got the Blues," "The Music That Hurts," "When in Rome—Apologia."
Week 2: 01/23, 25
T Quiz #1 on the first readings (war poems). More Komunyakaa readings TBA. Some Komunyakaa resources online.
R Continue with last discussion of Komunyakaa.
Week 3: [REVISED] Jan 30, Feb 1
T Finish the Komunyakaa discussion and look at possible Komunyakaa projects, e.g. take a poem like "Elegy for Thelonius" and play examples of his music for the class and show art and photography of the character/scenes/milieu described. Put it together as a powerpoint slideshow. Take a poem like "Praising Dark Places" and create the images you'd need to storyboard it as a short film. You could also read the poem with a powerpoint slideshow or any other kind of Photoshop slideshow; you could also talk about the imagery (especially of light and dark, black and white) and what you think it means in the work. You can also make your art "interpret" or explore the themes in the poems. (In poetry, one of the essential things is to have a strong reading!)
Vonnegut first 2 chapters pages; Quiz #2 covers first 2 chapters, 5 easy questions if you were paying attention while you were reading.
Study questions for Vonnegut:
How important is historical truth in this novel, and how important is imagination and fantasy in this novel? How is it that these things do not cancel each other out?
How important is Vonnegut's thinking about what humans are in this novel? How important in the novel is the Tralfamadorian perspective on humanity?
How does Vonnegut portray the American soldiers and the German soldiers?
What kinds of irony are evident in the novel? Situational? Cosmic? Dramatic?
R Read through page 112. Discussion continues.... Finish novel over weekend.
More study questions for Vonnegut:
How important are Tralfamadore's aesthetics in this novel?
What themes preoccupy Vonnegut in the novel?
How does the sequence of scenes reveal the themes? Try to find examples where a sequence is particularly revealing of a theme in the novel.
What is the effect of Vonnegut injecting himself as a real historical person into the novel occasionally, i.e. after the first chapter? (see for example p. 86.)
Week 4: Feb 6, 8
T Finish Vonnegut novel discussions.
More study questions for Vonnegut:
Think about the consciousness of the narrator/persona of Vonnegut in the novel; what does he have in common with Billy Pilgrim, and how are they different?
Think about the Tralfamadorian perspective on human time (pages 146-147) and all time in the universe.
Are there any villains in the novel? If not, why not?
How does Kilgore Trout function in this novel? Why is he here?
Is this novel a Cinderella story? Is it a Christ-pattern story? Is it both?
R Start viewing Kubrick's Paths of Glory. Link to Information about Kubrick & the film | Link to a transcript of the script
READ as HW over the weekend this article"Kubrick's Psychopaths: Society and Human Nature in the Films of Stanley Kubrick" by Gordon Banks
Due Thursday at start of class: Creative or Interpretive/Analytical Assignment due: If you want to try something creative, you can try writing a missing scene in the novel in the voice of Vonnegut (if possible). In this case, you need to think about everything you have read and what you think is "missing." Then write a scene of 200-500 words, typed, double-spaced (collaborations are allowed! even encouraged.) For an interpretive/analytical response, you can tackle any of the study questions that you like.
Week 5: Feb 13, 15
T Finish screening Paths. Start discussion.
R Discuss film.
Response log #1 on Kubrick due.
Week 6: Feb 20, 22:
Screen the film together.
Some free online resources:
The Deer Hunter script online at http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Deer-Hunter,-The.html
Transcript of The Deer Hunter http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/d/deer-hunter-script-transcript-cimino.html
The
Deer Hunter (1978),
A review by Damian Cannon:
http://www.film.u-net.com/Movies/Reviews/Deer_Hunter.html
Questions to consider:
1. In what ways do the main characters change during and after the war? Is there anything positive about the changes in character evolution in any of the main characters?
2. How important is the symbolism of the circle in the first act of the film especially in the wedding ceremony and reception scenes? Why is there so much attention given to ritual circling in the ceremony, in the dancing, in the stained glass, in the architecture etc?
What point might Cimino be trying to make? Do you think it matters that the dancers and celebrants in the wedding reception party were mostly ordinary, real people rather than actors?
3. Is Cimino a social realist, i.e. an artist concerned with looking at the problems of society? If so, what problems does he expose, and how does he handle them?
4. What is the importance of the "one shot" to the main characters? How does "one shot" change in its meaning for the characters as the film goes on?
5. Here is a link to the DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Imagine for a moment that you are a psychiatrist, and think about the main characters of this film... Who do you think has the most acute PTSD? Why do you think so?
6. Cimino believed that the story he created in this dilm was about friendship and loyalty and that the war was almost incidental. How does Cimino set up key scenes and shots to emphasize the themes of friendship and loyalty?
Weeks 7-8: Feb 27, no class on Mar. 1
TR Screen The Deer Hunter together and discuss.
March 6, 8
Tues: Discuss The Deer Hunter; review some key scenes.
Response log #2 on The Deer Hunter due 02/27
Week 9: March 13, 15 Frida Kahlo, identity, portraiture, Surrealism (small gallery of paintings |photos) & Salvador Dali, imagery of war and Surrealism (link to gallery online | paintings).
(spring break)
Week 10: March 27, 29
Tues: Presentations can begin this week. Finish with Frida Kahlo & Dali.
Start Patrick Lawler if we have time. Here are a handful of poems from the book, and audio from a reading last April http://www.mmminc.org/mmm_press_new/ffe/TOCmmmpFFE.htm
Please pick dates for final presentations before or on Thursday.
Approaches to experiencing/writing about a painting in an analytical way or a more psycho-biographical way or a more Surrealist response etc.
First, pick something that you like or something that has a compelling theme or feeling for you (preferably in the online resources). This is a chance to depen your appreciation of a great painting. (Any Dali painting in the online gallery between 1936 and 1958 is okay, including those with analyses attached. If you use a source, just cite it! If you want to select a Kahlo painting that is not in the online gallery above, please find a link to the one you are responding to or print out a nice copy for me.)
Second, to do an analytical response, look at the whole picture plane and describe how the painter has used the space. Where does the eye start and stop? What kinds of colors are used and why? Warm colors are generally positive, intimate; cool ones often connote detachment, distance. How does the use of negative space work to create depths and subthemes or even subplots in the theme (or "story" if applicable.) What devices does the artist use to make the painting evoke more feeling? What is the total effect that you take from the painting when you experience the painting?
In a psychobiographical way of responding, you could connect the life story of the painter to the work. For example, the Kahlo painting called "Henry Ford Hospital" there is a very strong autobiographical story in the painting, and there is a great deal of emotion in the work. However the work uses a "logic of substitution," i.e. the things in the painting correspond with feelings and parts of a life story in ways that are not always rational but often intuitive or symbolic.
You could also create your own Surrealist and/or psychobiographical painting or drawing or even a computer-generated image that relates to one of themes of the course (trauma, PTSD, recovery, identity, etc.)
In a Surrealist vein, you could imagine that you are Kurt Vonnegut and you have all the drawing and painting skills of Kurt Vonnegut apparent in Slaughterhouse-Five. Then illustrate or draw a picture that is a response to a famous painting by Kahlo or Dali. Or imagine that you are Kurt Vonnegut with all the writing skills of Kurt Vonnegut and imagine how he would see and describe a famous painting by Kahlo or Dali. You could even make this painting description tie into Slaughterhouse-Five if you can make it work in a Surrealist fashion.
This response is due on Thurs.
NOTE: you could use one of these creative responses as a collaborative "practice run" at your final project.
[JUST FYI: Wed. evening at 7 p.m. reading/performance of excerpts of identity papers by Jeffrey Ethan Lee, with Kate Gorski & Ollie Moore at the Unitarian Universalist Church at 10th Ave. & 15th St.]
Thurs. HW Response Log #3 due on a painting.
First 20 minutes of class reserved for group project work or solo project work questions.
Patrick Lawler's poetry-- read Preface, and please use online research tools when you feel the need to know who the characters are, in: "black elk and petra kelly," "Dante Saying Arrivederci...," "Ed McMahon...," "Alan Shepard Floating...," "Humphrey Bogart," "ana mendieta and chico mendez...," "Tonto has a Dream...," "Petula Clark Sings to Rodney King...," "edward abbey and kathini maloba..."
NOTE: "Petula Clark" (23-25), "Marx" (43-44), "Mickey Mantle" (55-59), & "Murray Bookchin" (79-83) could easily be turned into a compelling final project performance pieces if a group with singers and/or actors were so inclined....
Some preliminary questions to consider:
How important do you think Surrealism is/has been in the thought/art of Lawler? Are there ways in which Lawler is a Surrealist poet?
What themes keep recurring and seem most important in the thought of this poet?
What does Lawler want us to remember that we might forget or want to forget?
How or what does Lawler think about identity, especially his own identity?
Over the weekend, please read the rest of the poetry from pages 37-88. It will probably help you a lot if you look at an encyclopedia for information about e.g. Love Canal http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Canal
You can also find almost all of the named persons in the book in Wikipedia or other free online resources. It may seem like a lot of work, at first, but Lawler doesn't dwell obsessively on trivia; he brings our attention to the things that actually matter the most but which do not garner the attention that they should have.
Week 11: April 3, 5
Patrick Lawler answers your questions | Q & A on the MMM site
Response to Lawler due: 500+ words on 2-3 poems with a common theme.
Oral reports/presentations continue throughout the term....
Week 13: April 17 {special guest for the class period....}
April 19 presentations.
Week 14:
Stravinsky's A Soldier's Tale
Oral reports/presentations continue.
Week 15: Review for final.
Finals Week May 1-5
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For those of you who are currently studying or interested in studying a discipline in the arts, I strongly encourage you to explore ways in which different arts can inform and help each other.
One of the most profound experiences I ever had in the arts came about due to the Asian Arts Initiative of Philadelphia. They were sponsoring collaborative projects between artists of different kinds. To be honest, I did not think it was such a great idea at first, but I knew a great Japanese-American percussionist from many years before who was also participating. So I asked Toshi Makihara to work with me on a poetry-music collaboration in which I’d tell a story in poetry of when a young guy tried to kill me at a subway station in Brooklyn, and Toshi agreed to help me to create the musical atmosphere for the work. I explained that my main intention was to convey the experience as accurately and honestly as I could, and he was very inspired by the work.
We began to collaborate with the idea of helping to express what was already in the language. But the further that we got into the project, the more that I realized that Toshi’s musical improvisations and compositions were enabling me to go far beyond what was “expected” in narrative poetry. We never explicitly talked about drama, but Toshi had worked with theater companies and composed music for theatrical productions. His way of performing himself was also extremely dramatic—he had always been one of the best percussionists I’d ever seen. (He has had more Grammy nominations for his own jazz improvisation works.) Ultimately, my whole way of thinking about the work shifted toward a much more “dramatic” idea so that it became more like a play than a story, and I found myself recollecting my own experiences with theater more and more as I revised the work to include more and more different voices and characters.
After a series of duo performances, another friend who was an actress got involved in the project, and in many later performances she would act out the parts written for many others in what was now “the script.” We now had a “trio” doing a dramatic “performance” sort of like a radio play. That is, we weren’t acting with our bodies but with our voices and with music.
To make a long evolution brief, we ended up performing identity papers a dozen times with a generous grant from the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, and one of the live recordings got into the hands of a record producer who wanted to create a CD, which became a Grammy nominee in 2002, and this fall (2006) it is appearing as a full-length poetry book from Ghost Road Press, one of the best literary presses in the West.