Summer weather please??

Summer, that flighty temptress was here last week. As a tease! Now the weather is back to the balmy 40s and some are still kidding themselves trying to wear shorts, hoping for the 70s and 80s. Not gonna happen this week, unfortunately. But last week was great. I got to take some really impressive (for an iPhone camera anyways) pictures of the new spring (flowers and such) as well as myself chilling by the pond in the afternoon. It was heavenly.

This brings me back to thinking though, some definitions define (redundant much?) a self portrait as any shot that captures the essence of the photographer. This is usually accomplished by photographing some aspect of the photographer, and sometimes not. That's where it gets fuzzy. I feel like when it comes to art you can sometimes BS it because there aren't really any written rules. You can claim profundity even when you don't understand. And when you don't understand, it can be profound (for that reason?? Hmmm...). Bogus.

My point? That this picture of my feet in the pond could count as a self portrait. Do I feel like this truly captures the essence of myself? I'm not sure. It certainly captures parts of my personality. Free-feeling, spring, playful, clear, but also mysterious and solemn. See what I mean? You can get really into figurative stuff about art. But it's just a part of my attributes. And just a part of my body. The feet could belong to anyone, right? Any girl, perhaps even a boy. Also it's reminiscent of dismemberment, as it features only one part of my body.

Does that make it a less beautiful picture? Even if it's not beautiful in your opinion? Hmmm...

And interesting quandary, I do profess.

Plowshares #1

Okay, so I was thinking about how most people would say that they are not influenced by the media and remembered that even though they might be unaware of that, they can be brought to light and analyze it. But what about those who are unaware and are not in a position to analyze it? Plowshares. Plowshares is the little (technically separate) kindergarten and childcare place within Newton North. I've been thinking about child-psychology lately. How much do THEY pick up on? Wouldn't it be fascinating to find out?!?!?

What I want to do is go down to Plowshares (and if that doesn't work, Chinosi has said that at BC they have a Child Lab where there is a preschool but they do child development studies too) and ask the kids questions. Really easy questions!
For example: What makes you you? What makes you different from the person sitting next to you or from your teachers and parents? What makes someone beautiful? What makes girls and women beautiful? What kind of women and girls do you see in movies and on television (programs and commercials)? And draw a picture (do your best) of what the most beautiful woman in the world would look like. Same for the most beautiful man. (We can use crayons or something).

I really want to have a sample group of at least 10. I really want to "interview" girls but I am really interested in hearing boy's opinions as well.

I went to Ms. Mole (per Chinosi's recommendation) and she referred me to Ms. Menswell (?) in Plowshares. Then SHE referred me to a Ms. Carpino (?) who is the director (who was on the phone and I am to go back at a later time, Ms. Menswell will also talk to her about it first). But everyone I talked to seemed really interested in my project! Child psychology. Fascinating. Hmmm...

So I will also spend some time looking over my research on identity and self and start thinking/ making up my presentation and questions for the kids. Whoa!

Roughly Draft??

I'm still not really complete with any 3-5 page section of my roughly draft. I'm definitely taking the later date (I think). I will use this weekend and next week to continue to research and write and then I will use my Lit Review and my newfound knowledge to write my roughly section.

Gotta Get Down To It

The media is powerful.
-Ivan Wolyniec

Okay. So I'm researching what role advertising's image of women plays in the definition of self in adolescent women. I'm really excited. But now I need an actual thesis... I really need to get on that. This week is writing the roughly draft (aagh) because we really only have two weeks left of class (unless we're detained for a week or so, not that I'll be going anywhere anyways, I need to be in Family for Springfest rehearsals or Mr. Grossman will NOT be pleased). I have self image pretty much down. Now I need to research the definition and action of definition of self. I'm on it! (Got sources already but they're not yet up on the artifacts page...)

In terms of my project, I've scaled back quite a bit. After talking to McGrath and Chinosi, I've decided to do more of a creative outlet type project. What I want to do it photograph advertisements that use women (think categories again) and then photograph myself imitating that category (hopefully at least one per category/subcategory) and then take straight portraits that get as close as possible to truly defining myself on film as I feel I can. Hopefully I will create a coffee table book of them and include quotes from my paper as well as interviews and surveys.. I'm on it!

We have a checklist we must complete before we are released. I'll probably opt for the date that's a few days later. I'm in no substantial rush to get out the door early. The normal time is fine for me (but I don't want to be detained...). I have strike for Legally Blonde today until 8pm, tomorrow until 6pm and if we are still not done, until 6pm again on Wednesday... Oh yeah, and then on Thursday rehearsals for Pippin start.. WOOHOO!!! I'm scarily excited. I can not even begin to describe it. But that's a completely different story (though I want to start another blogspot to blog about my Pippin experiences!).

Keep working... work, work, work...work, work, work... work, work, research, research, work...

Class Work 3/12

Okay, in terms of the ARW1, it's on my googlesite! Check it out at http://www.sites.google.com/site/filmofidentity/arw1

For what we are doing in class right now (and I love working with a relatively fast laptop), I have to answer this question: What do I want to know?? It seems like it'd be a really easy question to answer because it's so simple, but that's what makes it so hard... We get into researching all this really complicated and diverse stuff and we get away from the original simplicity of what we want... So what do I want to know??

I want to know:
What is the reason for the shift?  Or I could ask: What role does capitalism play in the shift?

Okay, I've come upon a roadblock already. I don't know what to refer to what I mean by. What I'm talking about is "the shift". And by that I am talking about the... shift/change/growth? of photographs in the media that depict women in detrimental ways, the shift from the early/mid 20th century as compared to the present. The shift from Marilyn Monroe as an icon to scrawny twigs on current runways. Curves and to sharp protruding bones.  Womanly figures of real women to photoshop and the artificial look. I don't know how to sum that up in a word or two! Or even a sentence. Because I'm not saying it wasn't present in the earlier time period I'm looking at, it just wasn't as harmful on a grand scale. Though women were still commodified, they weren't artificialized to the extent they are today. Expecially in terms of weight and figure.

 I think I've got it... avoiding a name for the shift...

What do I want to know for my PAPER!
What role does capitalism play in the definition of the modern adolescent women's sense of identity?
I will look at advertising's image of women and compare and contrast images from the early/mid 20th century with current advertising photographic media.

Week 8: Starting ARW1

Okay, I'm still in the process of updating my category notes (which are insane and I want to implement them into my actual project!!) but now IN CLASS we're moving on the the ARW.

This week we're determining purpose, identifying audience, thinking about length and scope of the project, and preparing the Big Three (topic, question, working thesis).

I'm so excited! I currently have this for my Big Three: it will change this week, but it's what I'm jumping off of.

1. Topic: Advertising's Image of Women

2. Question: What is the cause of the shift? When did advertising go from harmless to harmful? Or did it ever switch? Has it always been like that? If so, what was the impetus for it getting worse?

Economical?
Cultural?
Political?
Religious?
etc.

3. Thesis

As you can see, not much to go on, but just enough to keep the wheels turning. I feel guilty that I'm not as diligent about posting as I really want to be (darn I need a mac laptop) but I'm just so excited about this SYP :D