Thursday, July 30, 2009

Week 3 WebCT Post: Oedipus Complex

So, I was absolutely terrified to bring this up in class (number one
because I'm super shy and number two, I was afraid of the dirty looks),
but Freud's idea that children want to marry their parents is actually
something I experienced when I was a child. When I was about 6 years
old, I looked at my mother and I said, "Mom.. I want to marry Daddy."
And of course her response was, "What? You can't marry your Daddy." (I
don't remember this but my mom has told me this story plenty of times) I
then responded, "Well, I don't think there will ever be someone who is
as good as Daddy." I was six. So there was clearly nothing meant behind
it beside the fact that I really love my Dad. So, 13 years later, I meet
this guy named Kristopher. To me, he is absolute perfection. And
honestly, I can't tell you how many times (in the last three years) I've
compared Kristopher to my dad. I always thought that it was because I
wanted my dad to accept him and to like him. But now this Freud thing
has really crept me out! Now it freaks me out how much they are alike! I
know it's healthy but it was just so weird to actually be able to relate
to this stuff! Now, I never wanted to kill my mom (so that's a good
thing), but when my parents got into arguments, I ALWAYS took my dad's
side. And it just scares me that my life could in fact be an example of
this creepy Oedipus Complex. What do you guys think? Am I complete
freak?! Haha.

Week 2 WebCT Post

From week two, my favorite thing that we discussed was defamiliarization. It actually took me a couple times to understand what I was reading. The third time I read it, I fell in love. I’ve always loved reading poetry and looking some sort of art and trying to figure out what is actually portraying. As Shklovsky says, “The technique of art is to make objects ‘unfamiliar,’ to make forms difficult, to increase difficulty and length of perception because the process of perception is an aesthetic end in itself and must be prolonged” (16). The part that actually kind of freaked me out was the part about the dusting and whether or not it was actually done. This has happened so many times to me; where something has become so habitual that I just forgot if I’ve done it. It’s like we are on Cruise Control. Anyway, the quote that interested me most (and literally scared me out of my mind) was “If the whole complex lives of many people go on unconsciously, then such lives are as if they had never been” (16). I just feel like this is so true and really what’s the point of living if I’m not actually living? Does that make sense? Anyway, I wrote a sonnet for another Professor awhile back and it kind of reminded me of this whole idea of art being a form a defamiliarization. So I thought I’d post the sonnet to see if anyone could figure out what it’s about. (Chris, I believe you were in my class so you have an unfair advantage!) So if no one figures it out, I’ll post the answer in a few days, or a week! Have fun.

Inspired by: Dr. Scott Andrews and Sherman Alexie

“Gravity is Overrated”
By Gina Spaccia

Oh Roman god of war, you are too far,
Your crimson face has caught my turning eye;
Fate has sent me away from where you are,
An arranged love with Terra set for I.
These open wounds suggest my lasting pain
For a life with someone who comprehends;
But with him these scars are forced to remain,
Until love will allow this rule to bend.
Forever being pulled to his blue side
To provide him with darkness and despair;
Escaping to your blushing red, I’ve tried,
Life without you in sight, I could not bear.
Though this law cannot be broken in time,
My love still lives on through distance and rhyme.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Thirsty

Three absolutely stunning women stand on the top of a hillside, contemplating the rest of their night. A full moon and a cemetery behind their lifeless bodies suggest the danger that resides within these women. They stand with such great posture, knowing their great beauty and power. The blood dripping down the sides of each of their mouths suggests their desire for more. The sharp-teethed women crave their next prey and recognize that they could have anything they yearned for. With gorgeous flowing red hair, the leader demonstrates her eagerness for her next move with her open hands. Her thirsty eyes stare off in the distance, contemplating their next victim. Though her eternal existence and beauty give her power, her empty eyes suggest she still hungers for a life with love and death.

Analysis #2
Vampires as a Signifier

According to Saussure, semiology is “a science that studies the life of signs within a society” (60). In this study of “language [as] a system of signs that express ideas,” a sound-image is referred to as a “signifier.” When a group of people who share the same language read or see a signifier, they immediately have a common or similar response/meaning to that word or sound-image. This meaning, or what is implied by the word, is known as the “signified.” Signifiers depend on these meanings, made up by society, to be able to function.
Through the photograph of the vampire women (the signifier), there are many connotations that we as a society hold (the signified). When most people see vampires, they are most likely to think of adjectives such as evil or dark. But just because we all have this same connotation, does not mean that it is necessarily true. We, as a society, have decided this is so. This helps to understand what Saussure meant by “the linguistic sign is arbitrary” and “the bond between the signifier and the signified is arbitrary” (62). Minus the exceptions of onomatopoeia and interjections, in language, arbitrary is meant that “it actually has no natural connection with the signified” (62).
Now that we understand what semiotics is, let’s take a look back at the picture of the vampire women and do a semiotic analysis of the photograph. Of course, immediately whenever someone sees a vampire (the signifier), they think of evil, blood-sucking, death, and a terrifying amount of power (the signified). Moving on to other aspects of the picture, the color white is usually something that we associate with good or purity. In this picture, the vampires are wearing white dresses that are dirtied by dirt and blood. This signifies that they are the opposite of pure and are in fact evil. In this example, the discolored white clothing is the signifier and the fact that they are evil is what is being signified. Another example is the full moon as a signifier. Full moon’s tend to be associated with evil, werewolves, scary movies, etc, which are all examples of what is being signified by the full moon. This picture is clearly at night and because it is dark at this hour, it is also associated with evil. People tend to be afraid of night and the darkness is brings with it. Once again, night is the signifier and evil is the signified.
Although I believe this picture holds so much more, the majority of people will agree with me when I say what is being signified from this picture is pure evil. Because as a society we’ve come up with these connotations of words or sound-images, something as beautiful as night has been signified as evil. But, by having these connotations and meanings of signifiers, we prove that Saussure is in fact correct; we do have a language that is “a system of signs that express ideas” (62).

Works Cited:
De Saussure, Ferdinand. Course in General Linguistics. Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan. Literary Theory: An Anthology. Massachusetts: Blackwell, 2004. 59-71

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Analysis #1






If that video expires, here is the URL to the video. I can't post the high quality clip due to copyright infringement. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ebh6FL0vo44


Poetry and Arousing Emotions


Plato had a very strong hostility toward poetry and felt “determined to resist its spell” (xxiii). He felt the want to ban poetry due to its ability to arouse emotions in people that should be kept inside. He wanted the society to be able to use poetry and singing, but only if it were turning “the soul towards virtue” (xxv). In Plato’s opinion because poetry was able to stimulate the emotions of people it is “psychologically damaging, for it appeals to an inferior element in the soul, and encourages us to indulge in emotions which ought to be kept firmly in check by the control of reason” (xxv). In my opinion and as a poet myself, I think it is perfectly acceptable to have something such as poetry (or any art in general) to evoke our feelings, or desires. I think that Plato thought some emotions should be kept inside and that they aren’t moral and acceptable to be shared within society. There is a song that I think proves Plato’s point called “Thinking of You” by Katy Perry. This song explains a girl who is in love with one person but is dating someone else, while thinking of the one she is in love with. The problem with this song is that it indirectly promotes an immoral behavior of thinking it’s acceptable to lie to your partner. As much as I absolutely love this song, I think it is a prime example of the reason why Plato believed that poetry shouldn’t have been used to promote our feelings or arouse other’s feelings. Yet, even though the song advertises an immoral behavior, it offers its audience an example of someone who may be feeling the exact same way they are. I think it’s an amazing privilege to have poetry surrounding us. A lot of people aren’t able to write poetry and they are very thankful that others are able to put peoples thoughts into song and poetry. It’s a great feeling to hear a song or read a poem and be able to relate to it, even if you had no prior relationship with the author. So, even though I understand Plato’s revolt against poetry and it’s promotion of immoral feelings, I still think that personal expression is important and poetry (and song) gives us that option.


Works Cited



Classical Literary Criticism. Trans. T.S. Dorsch and Penelope Murray. London: Penguin
Books, 2004.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ebh6FL0vo44