Jodie Mack, Yard Work is Hard Work

I was amazed at how many people came to Jodie's screening/lecture- definitely the highest attendance of any lecture! I could understand why, as I was excited to hear from a filmmaker and see her work. Animation is a really interesting medium- it requires a serious passion and commitment to follow through with a project, the same makings of a long lasting relationship! Seeing an animation that is a serious work such as Yard Work is Hard Work was truly impressive.

The subject matter of the film was very applicable to the class. It tells the story of a young couple whose ambition came to haunt them as harsh economic reality set in, and sets it to the tune of a musical. I thought the musical/animation hybrid provided an ironic twist to the story, as it gets quite gritty and real, and a musical animation is about as far from "reality" as possible as film formats go. However, I think that's also how a situation like that is experienced- there's this naive optimism, that despite the problems the love that the couple shares will be the answer. Everything will end up being rainbows and butterflies! Of course, that usually doesn't happen, but the aesthetics and creative choices of the film enhanced the idea of this optimism, and enhanced its presence to me.

I also liked the ambiguous ending of the film- the couple doesn't have an epic break up, but they also aren't together in the way they were at the beginning. The break up is a subtle one between naive optimism and the relationship- they've been through something very real and tough together, so their relationship is automatically different. They are no longer the same, but that's not necessarily bad- sometimes it's even better. If they can survive the yard work, they are much more prepared for the next challenge they will face.

Garren Small, Fires Dare to Ignite

One poem that Garren read that really stuck out to me was about a father and daughter- I don't remember the name of the poem. It reminded me of a certain freudian primal desire for love that starts with the parents- for your parent to recognize you, see you as special, and have a devout love for you. These are the lines that, to me, had this theme:

"Working man vein hands

  Daddy, look at me.

  Ain't no telling where those fingers been."

There was also a theme of old vs young desire- how the father has the desire for a more individual, independent life as he had spent years putting selfless energy into his daughter, and the daughter does not have that sense of self and desire for independence yet, so she is especially tied to whatever the father is doing. 

I'd say my favorite poem of the night was "along the row." I think this poem, as Aven said, asked the question: "are we lonelier when we are with someone than when we are actually alone?" The following lines spoke to this:

"everybody dies of loneliness

 says the prophet on his bus tour

 your best friend

 will betray you

 between envy and desire"

"He wants to explode it to her.

 He wants to whisper it to her."

These lines speak to sexual desire and also romantic desire- the desire to be both a sexual being and also a romantic, loving being and for the two to coexist. To explode with a whisper, in a sense, seems hard to do, as the actions oppose one another, but the experience of love is often like this- two different people trying to align, trying to manage the sexual with the romantic. 

Love and Desire: It's Only Biological

It took me a few days to process Dr. Brown's lecture- it held my interest feverishly for its entirety as I've always been curious about how love and desire work in our brains. The message of the lecture was a romantic one- humans need love in order to have a good quality of life, without it we face a certain emptiness that makes everything else in life feel much less fulfilling. When love is in your life, you feel better about your work, your friends, and everything else you are passionate about. Sure, you can be happy without romance, but there's something very special about that first stage of a romance that makes the world an exciting, beautiful place.

Love is literally a drug- Kesha actually had a point! I always believed that love was akin to crack in the way it wholly possesses your brain, forcing you to always be multitasking with your thoughts as most of them are devoted to the lover in your life. I know that love and even lust have that effect on me. Recently I've been talking to someone and the flirtation/possibility of a romance have been distracting me and it's quite nice but frustrating! I need to be able to finish out my senior year but this person has made his way in, leaving me nervous and excited for what will happen next.

Django Unchained & Desire

As I had seen Django Unchained before, I was interested to see what Dr. Reed had to say about how the film is relative to the theme of love and desire that we've been exploring all year. When I first saw Django, I felt that Django's fierce desire to usurp his unfavorable position in society by using the same means that were used to oppress him (violence) was interesting. It was interesting because in all the years that slavery has been in our past, no film quite like Django has been out there, representing this desire for revenge so strongly.

Something else about the film that was interesting was Django's desire to do whatever it took to get back to his wife Brunhilda. Django joins the character King Schultz in order to make this possible- so in order to capture that love he desires he must utilize this friendship, as Schultz possesses the skills he needs to enact this violence. Also, the fact that Django calls her his wife, when slaves technically could not have wives, makes this theme of love deliberate.

Through this film, Tarantino explores what it takes to survive when there are multiple elements fighting against you. Does it take brawn and ability, which Schultz possesses? Or does it require the continued feeling of love for someone and desire to nurture that love, which is Django's mission? I don't know whether Django would have been so successful if he hadn't had both. The friendship between Schultz and Django makes both of them better, as Django becomes stronger and Schultz finds a greater purpose, a passion behind his work.