It's Really All Dark....

For my music cultural event, I saw Laser Floyd at the Clark Planetarium. At it, the album The Dark Side of the Moon is played while you watch a companion movie on the huge domed screen. It was awesome. First of all, I am a long time Pink Floyd fan. I have always loved their philosophical lyrics, emotional guitar solos, and psychedelic tone. The movie was really trippy. It would have visuals that would rush away from you, creating the illusion that you were rushing through a tunnel! Sometimes, the movie would also create the illusion that the room was spinning really fast. In addition to the illusions, the movie had a lot of symbolism relating to the album, which was captivating. It would create images that came straight out of the lyrics, helping you better understand the point the song is trying to make. The album is incredibly philosophical, addressing the ways in which we as humans living in the 21st century become alienated from nature, those around us, and ourselves. Each song describes a different way our alienation occurs. The first track, “Speak to Me /Breathe” addresses how conformity to those around us gives us an easy life with few waves, but alienates us from our potential. “On the Run” is a psychedelic head trip, and during it is when the screen began creating the illusion of spinning. The combination of the psychedelic music and the trippy visuals was enough to BLOW YOUR MIND. After on the run, the album progresses into one of Floyd’s most popular songs, “Time.” It is about the way we waste time when we are young, lacking the motivation to do what we should and truly live. The second part is about a man who has reached old age and has realized that he wasted his time away, and he can never, ever get it back. It is a very sad song, but has a great message about the way we should live our live as if we are going to die tomorrow. Also addressing the theme of mortality, the next song, “The Great Gig in the Sky” is an experimental song I used to hate, but is now one of my all time favorites. It consists of a man playing the piano and a woman singing the note” oooohhhhh” in terror and ecstasy. Even though it has no lyrics, her single note is enough to send shivers down your spine. Her terror gives images of the old man on his deathbed, terrified of what is to come, and what he has lost and can never get back. Her screams of ecstasy reflect a life lived to its fullest, a life filled with enough joy to make you want to yell to the heavens in ecstasy. The rest of the album reflects on how racism, drugs, and insanity affect our ability to relate to others and the world around us. The lyrics are incredible, and they were certainly complimented by the visual symbolism and over all psychedelics of the movie.

The Evolution of Movies

This week in class, I learned about film. We watched the movie A Trip to the Moon. It was interesting in many ways, but I found the science and astronomy in it to be funny and entertaining. Made years before rockets, the scientists are launched to the moon in a cannon. When they get to the moon, they wear no apace suits or oxygen masks, they just breathe. Obviously scientists of the day did not know that the moon had no atmosphere, and therefore no breathable air. The surface of the moon was jagged and had a bunch of spikes, much different from the cratered surface of the moon as we know it. The scientists go to battle with aliens on the moon, and when they punch the aliens they just freaking explode into dust. I guess this movie was exciting and thrilling in its day, but it was unintentionally hilarious today. I wonder if our popular movies of today will become hilarious and outdated. Maybe only the bad movies will. I thought Transformers 2 was unintentionally funny now, so I can’t even imagine what my grandchildren will say about it. I also found it funny that the scene at the end of The Great Train Robbery where the robber aims the gun at the crowd really freaked people of the day out. People’s tolerance for violence and horror in movies has certainly increased greatly in the last century. I have heard stories of people vomiting and passing out in theaters when The Exorcist came out. However nowadays, the movie is barely considered scary, and is certainly not enough for most people to vomit. This makes me worried for how violent and disturbing movies in 100 years will be. With movies like Hostel out, I don’t know what film makers of the future could to do be more disturbing. Then again, I’m sure people in 1903 wouldn’t be able to even comprehend that a movie like Hostel could be made. It is amazing to see the way film has progressed, and the way society has moved along with it.

A Night at the Theater

So for my theater event this week, I saw the Mixed UP play festival. It consisted of several sort plays, and a short film. It was on a very small stage, with the audience only in front of it, not on the sides at all. The plays used few props, probably as a result of poor funding. I liked this however, as they had to make do with what they had, and focus on dialogue and acting more, as there was no captivating scenery to draw attention away form the actors and bail them out. Unfortunately, they really could have used this, as their acting was very subpar. They made the common mistake of overacting. It was hard to have a suspension of belief when it was so obvious that the actors on stage were acting as the characters, rather than being the characters. The lighting was basic. The lights on the audience were dimmed, and the lights pointed at the stage were on, illuminating the entire stage. This didn’t call extra attention to any particular actor or character, but was really nothing special. The first play was called “Something Shocking.” It was about two scientists who just finished some experiment that went awry. They are trying to reverse the effects of the experiment by doing silly things like spinning their arms in circles and screaming. It was pretty ridiculous, and most of its humor was along the lines of,” Hey look how ridiculous they are acting! That’s hilarious.” I didn’t think it was very funny, and neither did most of the audience. They second play was named “The Boy Who Cried Woof.” It was really funny, and I don’t want to spoil it for you guys, but I will let you know it involved one actor acting like a dog for the entire play, which was surprisingly funny. The jokes in it were witty, and there was a newly wed couple in it that was a riot. They were the lovey-dovey sort of couple that is always finding any excuse to make out and look deeply into each other’s eyes. They talk in dazed, loving voices to each other, and recount their love stories to the other characters several times. I have several friends who certainly fall into the category of “lovey-dovey” couple, so it was really funny to see a parody of that. The short film, Johnny Rock and the Bees was not very good. It’s effects were cheesy, its jokes were dumb, and it used the overdone “guy with bad voice singing” joke several times. Overall, the plays were mediocre, but “The Boy Who Cried Woof” certainly stood out from the rest.

Zombie Movies and Symbolism

I read Jasie Stokes’s essay on Shaun of the Dead and post-modernism. It was really interesting. I watched Shaun of the dead a few years ago at a friend’s house, and I thought it was pretty funny, but really nothing too amazing. Part of it was probably the group I was with. They were talking or making out the whole time, and they really weren’t that into the movie. Had I read her essay before watching the movie I think I would have really enjoyed it on a much deeper level. At the least I certainly would have had a greater appreciation for it. The problem for me was that it didn’t have a lot of laugh-out-loud totally hilarious moments. The humor was intelligent and funny, but I guess just not on a riotous level. I had not really noticed that the movie refrained from “grotesque slapstick” humor, but that is impressive, as slapstick is way too trite and easy. When I watched it, I hadn’t realized that you could argue the zombies were used as symbols for the loss of identity today. I thought that the film was trying to make some point, but I wasn’t really able to pay close enough attention to figure out exactly what. That is one of the things I like about zombies movies; they generally have a specific point or message they are trying to convey. Night of the Living Dead was one of the first major movies to star a black actor as the main protagonist. The images of hoards of undead white people attacking him bear a striking symbolic similarity to racism of the time. Romero’s next zombie movie, Dawn of the Dead, was a commentary on the great rise of consumerism. People resurrected as zombies flocked to the malls because they spent so much of their life there as mindless “zombies,” buying and buying and buying. Shaun of the Dead addresses how people in everyday life today have become zombies in their rigid routines. They wake up, drive to work, take a lunch break, drive back to work, drive home, have dinner, then watch TV and go to sleep. Rinse and repeat daily. They are just as mindless and predictable as the hoards of zombies in movies.  

The Korean War Pt.II

For my culture event this week, I went to the Springville Dance Festival. It had groups of dancers from all over the world come to show their cultural dances. The first dance I saw was form the good old US of A. It was a stereotypical country dance, pretty much the spitting image of what you imagine when someone says “hoedown” There were several grizzled old men with grizzled old beards playing the music. There was a violinist and two guitarists. After they begun playing the dancers came on stage; ten guys in cowboys hats, and 10 cowgirls. First, they performed various line dances not uncommon at EFY. I was not impressed. But then, almost as if to prove something to me, they just started showing off. The guys began lifting and throwing the girls in the air! One cowboy even did the “helicopter move,” grabbing a girl by the legs and spinning her around until she was horizontal! To finish off, the cowboys all linked arms, forming a circle. Then the girls sat on their shoulders and they spun around a few times. It was a lot more impressive than I thought it would be, and was about as American as watching the Super Bowl on top of the Statue of Liberty while wearing a Second Amendment t-shirt. Or about as American as this picture.

Another dance I enjoyed was the Korean dance. Its beauty was in its simplicity; it was composed of 18 Korean men sitting on the ground playing drums. They didn’t move. Did I mention this went on for about 12 freaking minutes?!?! Calling that a dance was a stretch considering I’ve moved more writing this blog. I tried to get into the drumming at least, but it was extremely repetitive and boring. I’ve heard more interesting rhythms in middle school drum lines. And you might say, ”Well who says a dance has to have lots of movement, an interesting song, and cool dance moves? They were just trying to best display their culture.” To which I would reply, ”Shut up.” So in conclusion, while we may have a trillion dollar War in Iraq, a sagging economy, and a crumbling health care system, at least our cultural dance in Springville, Utah was better than Korea’s. And nobody can ever take that away from us.

  USA! USA! USA!

Culture Event from Last Week

So I went to a theater today to see a play and make up for not doing a cultural event last week.  I got to the box office and they informed me that they take cash only, and I just had my debit card.  Bummer!  So now I am doing 2 next week to make up for it.  Sorry Professor Stokes!!  

In the meantime, here is a picture of me running Cross Country to keep you guys entertained.

Have a nice day.

Experimental Theatre

There have been all sorts of experimental theatre in the 20th century. Many movements were created as a reaction to the governing conventions of the time. One of these movements was “Theatre of the Ridiculous.” This genre broke away from realism and naturalism, using surreal stories, sets, and props. Always pushing the envelope, it often made a conscious effort to be ridiculous, offensive, disturbing, and just plain strange. The plays often had very amateur actors, many of whom were just drag queens that had been found on the streets. The plays had a blending of gender and gender roles, as many characters cross-dressed for their roles. As a result, there were many underlying homoerotic themes. Men would be covered in glitter, have flamboyant roles, and generally just act more feminine. The message trying to be sent by this homoeroticism differed among playwrights, some trying to make a statement about gays and gay rights, and others just trying to question societal gender roles. The movement had a profound impact on pop culture of the 1970’s, especially music. The glam rock movement owes much of its style and attitude to the Theatre of the Ridiculous movement. Rockers who were completely straight were suddenly having long, colorful, curly hair. They were wearing glitter. They had tight pants on. They would wear make up, and in the case of Twisted Sister, would even cross dress. It is pretty interesting that such an extreme form of theatre could find its way into popular culture.
Another experimental modern theatre movement was the Neo-Futurist movement, founded in 1988. It basically threw all previous theatrical conventions out the door by not expecting the audience to have a “suspension of belief.” Rather than playing a character or hero, the actors simply play themselves. (So is that truly acting?) The plays are not only performed on stage, but the stage is the actual setting. If you are watching the play on August 7th, then August 7th is the time at which the action took place. Essentially, you are watching the play as it is being written. This creates a sense of extreme honesty. What you are watching is real. It is like seeing William Wallace defeat the English yourself, in person, at the exact moment it took place rather than watching Braveheart or a stage reenactment. But instead of watching a Scotsman tear Brits to shreds you will be watching a couple of average Joes talking.