Tyler Durden And Special Ed: The Devil on The Shoulder

               

                             Both the movie, Shaun of the Dead, and Fight Club deal with a duo.  In Shaun of the dead, the main character, Shaun, has the dolty pot dealing Ed.  In Fight Club, the un-named character has Tyler Durden, the soap making delinquent.  Both Ed and Tyler share an interesting characteristic.  Both seem to represent an alter ego, or even a Hyde to to Dr. Jeckyll type figure that hinder the figure significantly.

                            The British manger, Shaun, leads a monotonous life.  He spends each day at a job he hates and nights getting lit at the local pub.  Ed, the chubby video game player is Shaun’s best friend and roommate.  It seems as though Ed plays a significant role in dragging Shaun down.  He sucks Shaun in to a life of couch potatoing and late nights boozing at the pub.  It seems as though Shaun, although subconsciously, may have Ed around because in comparison he could still feel as though he’s leading a successful life.  Ed is such a slacker that he’s not even successful at dealing drugs.  When the dinner plans fall through, Ed convinces Shaun that a date at The Winchester would be comparable to a date at an exclusive restaurant.  This leads to an abrupt breakup, and guarantees that Shaun will be free to get hammered and listen to cheesy eighties music with Ed.  It seems as though Ed deliberately sets Shuan up for a royal dumping in this scene.  Ed also suggests that the Winchester would be the safest place for the surviving humans to hide out in.  This idea is a bad one as it turns into catastrophe.  Lastly, even the zombification of Ed ultimately hinders Shaun.  In the end, Shaun has not changed for the better.  He is stull stuck on the couch with Ed playing video games. 

                   Tyler Durden plays a similar role in the life of the main character in Fight Club.  Before Tyler, the character shared a life similar to Shaun.  He had a dull, monotonous life where he was so frustrated he had to go to support groups to vent his dismay.  Although the introduction of Tyler changes the monotony of his previous life, he ultimately leads to the degradation of the character.  Like Ed from Shaun, Tyler plays a significant role in the decision making of the character.  He is literally controlling the character at points in the story.  Tyler also literally drains the character due to the fact that he can’t sleep.  When he thinks he’s asleep, Tyler is actually using his body to gallivant around and further his vision of fight club and project mayhem.   Ultimately, Tyler’s actions and influence on the main character lead to him being committed to an insane asylum.  In all aspects, Tyler, like Ed, hinders his counterpart substantially. 

                              Although both Shaun of the Dead and Fight club are two very different stories, both have the same relationship of a devil on the shoulder.  Ed and Tyler Durden are these characters whispering into the ears of their friends, hindering them significantly.     

Open up and Say Brains: The Custard’s Last Stand in Zombie flicks

                                                                        

                                Back in the day I used to be pretty deep into the zombie film genre, and have seen many a good and bad zombie flick.  My collection began with the black and white version of Night of the Living Dead, and ended with movies like Shaun of the Dead, the remake of Dawn of the Dead, and the more recent Land of the Dead from the classy zombie producer George Romero.  After class discussion today, I found that each zombie movie shares an interesting aspect of the Zombie Genre.  In each of these movies, the living characters hold themselves up in iconic sanctuaries.  These very structures end up being compromised, and in most cases, they aid in the downfall of the survivors.

                             Beginning with The Night of the Living Dead, the survivors of an unexplained zombie outbreak seek shelter in the cliche white house with white picket fences.  Throughout the night, the characters attract more and more zombies until they eventually overcome the survivors and lead to the death of all but one resourceful woman who hides in the attic.  It’s interesting to ponder why the creator of this story chose a house as a refuge.  It could be a historical cultural aspect that reflected what the people of the late sixties (when the movie was produced) considered to be a safe haven.  Within this era, the vietnamese conflicted had been a major part of the American life.  Significant numbers of people were being sent to a country thousands of miles from home.  Many Americans could have developed the home as an image of safety from the foreign dangers of war.  This could be a significant reason why the house was used in the film.

                            Dawn of the Dead, which was released in 1978, uses a shopping mall as a refuge for a small group of people.  The seventies were a time of economic decline in the United States which could reflect why the shopping mall was chosen.  The mall could have represented what the Americans pictured as a sanctuary.  The thought of excess money could have made Americans feel safe, and the mall could be a significant symbol of the spending such money.  As the film progressed, the mall was eventually compromised and led to the death of all but two of the characters.

                        Shaun of the Dead provides another sanctuary for Shaun and his zombie evading cohorts.  The Winchester, Shaun and Ed’s favorite bar, becomes the safe haven after a cheeky British zombification.  The bar has long been a symbol of escape.  The use of the bar in this movie is more confusing to me, but there is one aspect of escape that I see.  The pub could be Shaun’s attempt at escaping adulthood.  As we discussed in class, Shaun seems to visit the pub in order to re-live his past life.  He gets hammered, sings cliche 80’s songs, and stay up til four in the morning.  He seems to want to escape a serious relationship with his girlfriend and the move on to a more professional job.  This could reflect a cultural trend of the early part of the decade, one in which many people don’t want to make the shift from childhood to adulthood.  Within this movie, the bar is also eventually compromised, leading to the deaths of some of the characters. 

In a (Toe) Jam: Making Sense of the Appendage

                                                         

                The big toe reference is an usual aspect of the novel.  At this point in the reading, the missing toe seems to be little more than a foot-note in the story.  It wasn’t until after the class discussion today that I found a potentially significant connection with the appendage and the book.  

                In reality, the loss of a toe is by no means life altering.  One might endure some pain, but with the proper medical treatment, no person is going to suffer or die from it.  The only negative aspect of the loss is that it could lead to a person not feeling whole.  With this feeling in mind, one could feel somehow feel different than he/she used to.  In extreme instances, one could feel nostalgic for the deceased toe, and see the obvious difference between the whole foot and the modified one.  A friend or acquaintance of this person could see the negativity that this alteration inflicted and fear for their own toe.  This may sound ridiculous, but the toe could somehow represent the name of the city in the novel.

                 Like a single toe, the name of a town isn’t essential and it’s removal wouldn’t mean the death of the of it.  And like the people who felt nostalgia for their missing toe, Muttonchops and other town members may feel that changing the name of the town may somehow change it for the worse.  In a way, it could alter the wholeness of the town.  As we can clearly see, just the idea of changing the name has fragmented the town into those who are for it and those who are against. 

                There exists a passage where one can parallel the missing toe and town name debate on page 20.  It states, “They say you can get used to losing a toe.  And he had to agree, it was not up  there on the list of truly terrible injuries.  Of course his socks looked funny to him.  Balance-wise, the toe is not that essential and it had been brought to his attention that his limp was psychosomatic.  But there he was limping”(Whitehead, 20).  This could be a direct reference to the feelings of people like Muttonchops.  On the surface, the changing of a town name doesn’t do it any physical harm.  Of course maps and signs will need to be updated, but it’s still more of an inconvenience than a life threatening event.  But like the character in the novel, there is still a sense of loss or pain felt from the change/removal.  Although Muttonchops has no real reason to dislike the change, he still does.  I only hope his reasoning is further explained as the novel progresses.     

Random ideas

                                  For my project I intend on focusing on spirituality withing the novel, Fight Club.  From what I read, I gathered that the majority of the characters feel lost an unfilfilled.  They go to support groups and fill their homes with pricey furniture because it seems they’re looking for something they have yet to find.  Many people might have found fight club as a way to find a spiritual peace.

                                      One of the most interesting scenes that had been changed in the film is the first meeting of Tyler Durden and the narrator.  Durden is sitting in the middle of a large shadow shaped like a palm.  If I was going to look at Tyler as a future spiritual leader, it’s almost as if he has reached a state of nirvana in this scene.  I also wanted to somehow include a crucifixion into this scene as well.  Durden almost seems as though as though he represents a nail in the palm of Christ at his crucifixion.  I haven’t looked into too thoroughly yet, but I also think there could be some connection relating to the Buddhist palm. 

                           What I’m still confused with is how fighting fill some spiritual void.  I don’t know too much about christianity, but I almost see this trial of pain as representing the pain Jesus Christ had to endure to save all of mankind.  I’d also like to further explore the chemcial burn kiss and how that could be tied to the Judas kiss.  Tyler also seems like a christ like figure becaue he has followers, becomes unquestionable, and has structured his group to function after he’s gone.  He also becomes this larger, almost mythic man just like Jesus Christ.  The rules of fight club also seem similar to the ten commandments.    I’m also struggling with how Tyler finds peace in an open palm while the narrator finds his peace with a closed fist. 

                    

Jim Collins and Architecture of Excess

Jim Collins sees Modernism as: the idea that progression happens in successive stages. The idea that we are post-postmodern is a modernist idea, according to Jim Collins. Instead, he believes, postmodernism has evolved from its first phase to a new stage. It will continue to do so. We are, essentially, in an age of endless postmodernism. It will constantly change and evolve.  This idea can be seen in a quote by the famous SNL producer, Lorne Michaels, which states, “We live in a time when nothing will ever go away again. [Everything is] on a channel somewhere.  All cultural references are, to a ten-year old, perfectly familiar”(Collins, 2).  Michaels makes a direct reference to the technological innovations which are important to postmodernism.  By stating that everything is on a channel somewhere, we get the idea that information has become easily accessible, and almost nothing has been excluded from this accessibility.  By including the part of the ten year old boy, we get the idea that “cultural references” are more easily identifiable and understandable due to this technology.  

                   The idea of technology overload is an important aspect of Collin’s definition of postmodernism.  With the inclusion of more and more technological innovations, more and more information becomes available to us.  But how does one assimilate this information?  According to Collins, postmodernism is the answer.  As he states, “postmodernism as a style and as a condition evolved from the terror of pure excess to the manipulation of available information”(Collins, 5).  In other words, postmodernism has become a damn in a river of information.  We have calmed the river of facts, numbers, statistics, etc. and built a way in order to make sense of it all.  With the river slowed, we are able to take bits and pieces and assimilate and understand them. Collins says we are no longer drowning in technology because people now have found ways to integrate it into our lives: “the medium may indeed be the message, but twenty minutes into the future the radically new development is already in the process of being absorbed, being made to respond to the exigencies [requirements] of specific cultural contexts.” Everyone/group will respond to technology differently and absorb it into their culture/lives for different purposes or functions, but nevertheless, it is still being absorbed. The way it is absorbed is the micro-narratives that compiled (aggregate narratives) equal the “master narrative”.  Each person will process this damned and controlled wave of information in relation their cultural and personal backgrounds in order to make sense of it.  As Collins states, “the exces of information is now being handled in reference to cultural difference, specifically in regard to race, gender and sexual preference, which necessarily factor into the pragmatic, personalized use of information technology”(Collins, 16).   

Take the iPhone for example. The Apple website calls it a “breakthrough” with “revolutionary features” and it easily could be seen as information overload. It is a phone, Internet provider, and iPod. Its features include touch dialing, favorites list for calls, conference calls, camera with photo gallery that you can link to the Internet, you can play your iPod play-list, watch TV shows and movies, it allows you buy and download songs online that will be compatible with your computer, Internet browser, displays full text and graphics of emails, access to Google maps, widgets (helpful info like stock reports, weather reports, etc.), and a youtube player.  The I phone itself can be seen as the figurative damn in the way it consolidates a substantial stream of information into one window.  At first glance, the device is a raging river of information, but it is the user who ultimately has control over what information becomes available to him/her.  The user could solely use the I-phone as a phone and mp3 player, while others will focus on the web capability and the every annoying widget.  It is the individual who ultimately controls what information he/she will access.     

 The idea of a “sensory overload” is a fallacy for Collins because groups of people are learning to manage the excess of information. Its function to each group is different however. Some people will buy the iPhone because they love Apple products and only buy Apple products, others will buy it because they are technology geeks who like to try the next-big-thing, and others will buy it for appearances sake because it makes them look good to have the latest technology (this is not the same as a tech-geek).  It is the society, and more importantly the individual which will substantiate the importance of this piece of information.  A culture which sees technology as an evil excess will not see it in the same light as the American culture which prizes such technological innovations.  A capitalist society and its cohorts will see the I-phone as a symbol of their wealth and economic status within the society.   

                       Collins splits postomdernism into two phases, each defined by its own specific “buzz phrase.” Collins did not give specific dates to his two eras of PoMo. Therefore, I assume that he means this as a stylistic change and not so much as a historical event. The first phase of PoMo is the term “bombardment of signs”, which epitomizes “the initial technophobic responses of to the ‘glut of information’”(4). He gives William Gibson, author of Neuromancer, as an example of this phase (4).  According to Collins, Gibson’s works are instilled with a fear of this new wave of technology.   The next phase of PoMo is the “data superhighway” which is “the more contemporary response of mastering the array of information which now forms the fabric of day-to-day life” (4). Collins uses the example of science-fiction for his phases of postmodernism. Early sci-fi writers were afraid of the inundation of technology, later writers are not.  An example of this shift could be related to ancient man and fire.  In the beginning, man could have seen fire as a threat to their dwellings and to themselves.  But man learned to control and reproduce fire in a way to better their lives.  This one example of how technology that was once feared eventually lead to an important aspect of everyday life. Collins uses the term Cyberpunk in his essay. Wikipedia gives a good description of the term Cyberpunk. In a nutshell, it is sci-fi that focuses on “high tech and low life.” Bruce Berthke created the phrase in his short-story “Cyberpunk” which is a combination of cybernetics and punk. Cyberpunk usually is characterized by near-future dystopia. In Collins’ own words it is “uneven mixture of familiar and futuristic” (13). Examples of Cyberpunk include the movies Blade Runner, the trailer you can view here, and The Matrixtrilogy. Subgenres now exist in Cyberpunk: steampunk, postcyberpunk and biopunk. An example of biopunk could be Powers’ Galatea 2.2 that deals with trying to create a computer simulation of the human brain. For more on Cyberpunk visit the wikipedia page.Collins states on page 14: “Cyberpunk fiction at its best opened up the range of possibilities for imagining the effects of computer and media technology, but at its weakest, it offered a hard-rock, bad-boy version of the same old scenario—overloaded individuals struggling against the System, conceived as a malevolent Totality.” In other words, Cyberpunk at its best works to show how technologies affect people and cultures, however it was limited because it was very much tied into the first-phase of postmodernism. It did not envision that technology would be absorbed so easily into cultures. It stuck to the idea of people revolting against this so-called “sensory overload.” This ties right back into the idea that the idea of “sensory overload” as an outmoded term. People have found ways to manage what was once seen as unmanageable.

Jim Collins goes on to use the opera and homosexual culture as an example of technology and personal identity going hand in hand.  In this discussion, homosexuals are put into an outcast part of society.  Opera as a genre was also deemed a sort of musical outcast as well.  As Koestenbaum puts it, “Opera seemed campy and therefore available to gay audiences only when it had become and outdated art form”(Collins, 18).  He brings up an important point that homosexuals, having no homosexual parents as identity templates, must create their own.  The introduction of CDs made opera easily accessible to the public, and more importantly the identity-void homosexual.  As Kostenbaum states, the image of opera changed from that of excessive pomp to one of “interpretation and interiors”(Collins, 19).  This opened the door for homosexuals to identify with the genre and bend it as a tool to help create themselves.  As he states, “gay culture has perfected the art of mimicking the diva… to help the stigmatized self image it is received, believed, and adored”(Collins, 19).   

Collins goes on to discuss a backlash that has occurred in terms of technology and the artist.  Many critic believed that art had this “aura” before the introduction of mass producing technology and had lost it due to this reproduction.  As Andrew Goodwin states, aura only remains in “physical presence of the stars” and obsession with “original performance”(Collins 23).  This aura seems to be the value or pedestal that an artist is raised upon.  He/she becomes less of an iconic figure when mass production occurred.  Seeing the person in live concert, in Goodwin’s opinion, is the only way that the artist can retain his status.  Collins argues that in the digital age, aura is crucial, but in a different way.  He believes that the aura must be put into the recording itself.  It is the listener’s age, sex, and sexual orientation which creates the aura that many thought were absent in mass reproduction.  As Collins states, “that rather than being eliminated by ever more sophisticated forms of distribution and access, the production of “aura” has only proliferated as it has been dispersed through the multiplication of information technologies and agents responsible for determining value”(Collins, 25).  

                   This excess of information and the endless accesses to it has altered the archive structures of society (3). Everyone is an archivist, not just museum curators, by having large collections of music (CDs or classic vinyl records), movies (our DVD collections that give us contemporary movies as well as classics from the Golden Age of Hollywood), and our PCs, where we store our photo collections or now our more contemporary music collection: MP3 playlists. And our archiving abilities are growing more mobile: our MP3 players or iPods where we have organized our own individual playlists or the new cell-phones that take pictures, take video, record sounds, and give us access to the internet. Also with mass production, every person is able to have a copy of a Picasso or Van Gogh or Andy Warhol, so that these are able to be viewed outside of a museum. For Collins, home archiving proves his point that we are no longer in a state of “sensory overload.” People are learning to manage the excess of information around them.

              Collins goes on to discuss how the postmodern has come to change the identity and role of the archivist.  The introduction of inexpensive mass production opened the doors of once obscure forms of music.  He uses a passage from jazz critic Howard Reich to articulate this idea.  Reich states that exceptional jazz musicians were excluded from the public ear because of the fact that record companies saw no profit in distributing them.  With the introduction of the CD, these same companies saw these musicians as a source of profit because their recordings were cheap and easy to distribute.  It is the listener who can find these albums easier and give them worth.  In terms of the archivist/collector, the enjoyment of searching for rare recordings has past, but the fact they have become easy for other future fans to procure them.  The postmodern has thus changed the archivist/collector from a small number of dedicated fans to a culture of collection by personal taste.  Preserving these artists’ works has fallen on the shoulders of a substantial number of conflicting tastes and not record labels and the “indifferent general public”(Collins, 28).

In terms of applying Collins’ theory of postmodernism, Richard Powers’ Galatea 2.2 becomes an important example.  Throughout the novel, Powers and Lentz are attempting to create a machine which can think.  This is an important aspect of Collins’ idea of how we interpret technological information through a specific lens.  Race, sexual orientation, gender, and cultural backgrounds serve to help us interpret the information we come across.  This can be directly applied to neither Lentz nor Powers, but rather to the computer known as H.  In one of our previous class discussions, we were trying to work with the idea as to how computers make decisions.  A computer is designed, based on class discussion, as a series of switches which turn on and off, based on external stimuli.  when a piece of information/stimuli is introduced, the computer flips a certain switch and goes in a single direction to form meaning.  After reading the novel, I felt as though we were similar to machines.  Like a computer, we are presented with external stimuli (i.e. information), which leads to turn some switches on and others off and in order to be able to form meaning and understanding of what we are presented with.  I believe that switches, to humans, are these lenses which directs us to interpet knowledge.  These switches are our background such as race, age, sex, sexual orientation, and cultural identity.  It’s these switches that help us interpret the world around us, but also interpret it differently. 

Collins’ theory of postmodernism significantly added to my understanding of the theory as a whole.  What I liked most about the piece was the idea that postmodernism is not a theory with any given end.  It seems as though postmodernism will never die as a theory, but will only transform and evolve as time passes.  It’s integration of technology was also very relevant to our era of ever rapid innovation.  Postmodernism seems to be a tool used in order to make sense of the wave of technology that we are constantly being bombarded with.  Since I believe that we will only become an increasingly technologically reliant culture, postmodernism is a way to stay afloat in a sea of technology and information.  What I found most negative about the piece itself is the fact that it relies soley on the idea that people will be the source of controlling and assimilating information.  As technology progresses, I wonder how much control people will actually have in this sense. 

                                                               Outside resources

1.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lW0F1sccqk  (Blade Runner trailer and one of Harrison Ford’s best!  Represents the idea of fearing innovation of technology)

2.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberpunk (brief synposis of Cyberpunk)

3.  http://www.punkcore.com/rare_punk2.htm (example of how once hard to find records have become accessible to the public through technological innovation) (i.e. internet, mp3,)

In One Ear and Out the Other: Audrey Lentz and Helen

                                                

                                The introduction of Audrey Lentz in Galalatea 2.2, proves to be an important aspect when trying to understand the infamous Helen.  The two come together perfectly when we try understand how one develops knowledge and perception.  Both seem to have what the other lacks, which can be seen in the paragraph that states:

                                 Audrey had smell, taste, touch, sight, hearing, but no new memory.  her long term reservoirs were drying up, through want of reiteration.  Imp H, on the other hand, could link any set of things into a vast, standing constellation.  But it had no nose, mouth, fingers, and only the most rudimentary eyes and ears (Lentz, 172).   

                      The above passage forms an interesting comparison in what both H and Audrey lack in trying to form a complete consciousness.  Audrey, being a human, has certain characteristics which aid in acquiring perception.  She has her five senses, all which can help in forming meaning in the world around her.  The soft, sensual touch of the geeky Henry Lentz could trigger a sense of love and compassion for the man.  She is equipped with all of the tools which process and enhance meaning and memory.  In my head, although it sounds strange, I envision Audrey as an old fashioned phone operator.  One that looks like this:

                                                                        

The Artist and the Analog

                                                         

              Although the assigned reading was admittedly difficult, one idea seemed to resonate throughout the text.  Two opposite characters seem to encapsulate the confrontation between science and the arts.  With this novel, a writer and a computer engineer butt heads.  Both seem to believe that it is their field of study that is more important than the others.  But what I have yet to understand is why this feeling of disdain exists between the two.  One passage from the novel could provide a clue. 

               People tend to fear what they can’t understand, and this could be the case between Philip Lentz and the narrator.  Although neither the narrator or Lentz have come out to express their ignorance, the passage on page 16 gives an image of this idea.  It states, “The man who had been sitting in his office after midnight, playing the same five minutes of Mozart again again to an otherwise empty building.  To a bank of machines”(Powers, 16).  This image of a musical loop being played repeatedly to a computer seems to show how technology is unable to understand art.  The computer is repeatedly fed the same song because it is attempting to understand it.  What is interesting is that it isn’t fed the whole song, only a single snippet.  This idea proves that the computer is so confused by music that it can only attempt to comprehend it one piece at a time. 

                      Although the scene between Mozart and the computer symbolize the confusion between the two, it also could prove to foreshadow the relationship between Lentz and the narrator.  The computers are programmed to try to understand the music, showing that the relationship between art and technology could thaw.  Lentz could possibly attempt to do the same to the narrator, trying to understand him and his profession piece by piece. 

                         The technical aspects of Power’s writing is confusing, but interesting nonetheless.  The passage on page 16 is a powerful image that exemplifies the bewilderment that art and technology see in each other.  But this is confusion that may end with the novel.

                   

GeneralLee Judging: The Honkey Tonk and Nikki Lee

                       The discussion involving Nikki Lee’s works brought up a great deal of ideas that I hadn’t considered previous to the class.  What I found most interesting was how we perceive people just by viewing a photograph of them.  It’s bazaar how quick we can create the person just by viewing a single second captured on a photograph.  I think that this idea is an integral part of Nikki Lee’s works as a whole.  We create this identity of a person by viewing a photograph, but is this creation correct.  Lee assumes these characters for her works, but we know that they’re fictitious.  It seems as though she’s conveying the idea that our perceptions can be just as false.  This idea became an important aspect of today’s discussion.  The majority of the students, including me, became perfect examples of how quickly we can create and judge the identity of a person in a photograph presented today.  The photograph is none other than the gun toting honky tonk.

                                                                                    

                                                               

                                                                                       “Ohio Project”

                         When this picture came up in today’s discussion, we had instantly developed an identity of the man in the picture.  We see the rebel fleg which automatically made him a racist.  There is the potato chips, tv controller and bible which automatically made him lazy, prone to vices, and conservative.  The decor shouts trailer trash and the prominent rifle makes him prone to violence.  Almost everyone agreed that this was a man who would see at a klan meeting or a cops episode.  It wasn’t after class had ended that I realized that Nikki Lee could have been trying to emphasize the stereotyping that is so commonplace in viewing photos.  

                        One of the first and most prominent aspects of the photo which lead use to such a negative judgement would have to be the confederate flag.  When seeing this, many think that the man is a racist because he supports the confederacy.  I don’t necceseraly agree with this perception.  Assuming that the man lives in a trailer park and is relatively poor, one could suspect that he is a native to Ohio.  Unless I’m mistaken, Ohio was not a part of the confederacy.  Aside from the flag, there is nothing in the photgraph which proves that the man is a racist.  I don’t believe that any hard core racist would allow a hussed up Asian woman inside his trailer.  I believe that the flag is there as a rebellion to the federal government.  I’ve had plenty of non-racist friends from upstate New York who love the rebel flag because it epitamizes rebellion against what they believe to be a controlling government, and not the symbol for a pro-slave government.

                    The objects placed in the photograph also lead us to falsely judge the man in the photo.  In all honesty, I don’t think there’s one student in class who hasn’t eaten potato chips, drank soda, or smoked cigarettes.  But when we see that in the photograph, we can quickly assume that the man is somewhate of a vagabond because of his diet.  The presence of the rifle also leads us to believe that this man is violent.  I come from a part of New York where guns are extremely commonplace in homes.  Some of the kindest and most respectable men and women I’ve met from my home have arsenals in their homes.  The man in the photograph could very likely be kind, respectful and compassionate, and yet we instantly jump to a different conclusion when we first view the picture. 

                         The picture by Nikki Lee forces us to examine how we so easily judge and perceive someone with a single glance.  It leads me to wonder how often I come to such negative conclusions in my own life.  I find myself toying with the old idea that we should never judge a book by it’s cover.  In this case, we shouldn’t judge a honky tonk by his accoutrement.            

Midterm Review

Blog Posts:

1. Road to Confusion October 12, 2007

2. Make Love, Not Mannequins October 10, 2007

3. So a Schizophranic and a Group of Support Club Members Walk into a Bar

October 5, 2007

4 . Capitalism and fight Club October 3, 2007

5. Condiments to Crazy September 28, 2007

6. Postmodern/Post-911 Culture September 26, 2007

7. The Ikea Rebellion September 21, 2007

8. Don’t Quote Me on it, but… September 18, 2007

9. Gail Right September 14, 2007

10. Dude, it’s a Dude- Or is It? September 9, 2007

11. Pigeons? September 6, 2007

12. Post 1 September 5, 2007

Comments:

1. The Tangled Web that is Sherman by ashleylynn 10/15/07

2. Cindy Sherman Film Stills by marina 628 10/15/07

3. Modern or PostModern? That is the Question by Kim S. Clune 2007.09.02

4. The End of Fight Club by Marina 628 09 Oct 2007

5. Fight Club-Film by melissammoore 10.09.07

6. Finally by hannahzel September 18, 2007

7. What? by nemo33 September 18, 2007

8.  Written on The Body by marina 628 September 11, 2007

9.  Post modern Trend:  Adultery is In by Hannah September 11, 2007

Insightful Quotations:

1. ” What disgusts the narrator about this character is that he/she has a window into what she/he could have been. Gail right seems to be consumed with lust and cares for little more than a sexual relationship. It’s possible that the narrator could see how empty Gail’s words are in this passage. She’s promising little more than temporary satisfaction followed by post-orgasmic friendship. This seems to be the same setup of the narrator’s previous relationships. This event could have helped the narrator into seeing what he/she had looked like before the romance with Louise, but also what he/she could have been had Lousie never came into the picture.”

This excerpt interests because it is an excellent example of the concept of identity which I have discussed in a good majority of my blogs. Throughout this novel, the character seeks identity through her sexual relationships. In the beginning, she defines herself by the purely sexual encounters he/she has (which all fail), but all that changes when he/she discovers a true love. What the bacon eating brit does is to help the character see who she/he was, and how her/his identity has changed as a result of the love for Louise. But what I feel is lacking here is that the character’s identity seems to only be formed as a result of sex and love. As I saw in fight Club, there are many more aspects which make an identity.

2 . “One could say that a mannequin is an essential tool in a capitalist society. Not unlike the narrator from the novel, material goods are a main source of identity to a great majority of people. The mannequin could be seen as playing a large part in helping people with identifying themselves with the goods they are sold. One could see a mannequin, sitting in a brand new car, euphorically gazing out with a blank stare and a content smile, and may think that they may that a new car will make them as happy as the mannequin.”

This is yet another area in which I have discussed the idea of identity. In Written on the Body, identity was discussed in terms of love and sex, while our later works such as Fight Club deal with identity through capitalism. This idea intrigued me because seems so relevant to my life. I can admit that I’m guilty of sometimes identifying myself through my possessions. In terms of the above quotation, the mannequin can easily entice this very idea of materialistic identification. What I found most interesting was how similar this erotic pose was to the idea of the ikea magazine replacing pornography. the mannequin seems to also have taken on this sexual role, which is obvious in it’s sexually inviting stance.

PART 2:

1. Make Love, Not Mannequins

This blog post seemed to go extremely well because of the strong connection I saw between the photograph and the materialism/capitalism that is seen in Fight Club. Through the class discussions, I trained myself to focus on one aspect that interested me most and use it to further understand the works presented in class. The idea of capitalism/materialism dominating our lives seems so real to me that I think it can be seen in much of what we see in every day life. In terms of the piece itself, I think I did a good job at connecting the work of Cindy Sherman with that of Chuck Paluhniuk. the opening paragraph adequately presents the two works I discussed and also how I would relate them. I tried to present the picture and quote as though they were meant to be together. Although it didn’t come out perfect, I think that presenting the two so close helps in conveying my ideas. I think the biggest that could use some clarification would be in how people identify themselves through mannequins. Discussing the physical features (i.e. poses, facial expressions, color, body type, lack of sexual organs) of a mannequin would be an interesting aspect to analyze and strengthen my post.

2. Condiments to Crazy

Although this was one of my shorter posts, I think that it was still an important way in which I connected a spiritual emptiness with materialism. The passage, as far as I know, wasn’t discussed in class, and it wasn’t until the end of our daily discussion that I found it to be so critical in my understanding of the message of novel. I wanted to know the catalyst that led to the creation of Tyler Durden, and I found one aspect of many that could have helped in the push over the edge. I think the opening paragraph does a good job at introducing my main idea of why and how Tyler Durden was created. It’s clear that I believe that the spiritual emptiness produced by materialism is what pushed the character to insanity. What I could have included in the introduction was presenting the scene I was going to use to convey this idea. The connection between literal nourishment and figurative spiritual nourishment seems to easy to grasp as well.

Comment 1. The End of Fight Club by Marina 628 09 Oct 2007

What I liked best about this comment was how it opened my eyes to aspects of the book which I hadn’t realized before. I did agree that Tyler Durden could have been created, in part, because of the characters lust for Marla Singer. The post itself was straightforward, bringing in ideas from the post and using them with my own ideas. It made me think more about this character, who I had previously though was only secondary. It’s interesting to see the similarities that the two characters, Marla and Tyler, share throughout the novel. The syllables of their names are one aspect that could help in further exploring just how similar these characters are.

Comment 2. The Tangled Web that is Sherman by ashleylynn 10/15/07

I chose to comment on this piece because of the fact that it deals with a Cindy Sherman photograph that I also analyzed. It made me see the doggy style mannequin in a different light and the author does an excellent job at leaving the idea open for opinion. She also did an excellent job at connecting the doggy photo with the black and white of the underwear clad women with the mirror. Although she didn’t have a specific connection between the two, it gave me inspiration to try to find my own.

One of the most interesting posts was by Hannah entitled, The Indefinite Object. What I liked most about this piece was the clarity of the piece. The author does a good job at presenting her ideas clearly without being sidetracked. She does an excellent job at analyzing the importance of Bob as a character while also dealing with the male character as a whole. I identified with her wanting to make more sense of this character because he is indeed an important part of the novel. Hannah still had some confusion at the end of her post, but I think that confusion is a gateway to clarity. The lack of a definite answer could have been used as a template for other readers to form new ideas relating to Bob and masculinity within the novel.

GOAL 1:

I would to try to integrate more visual aides to accompany my posts. I think that my one time use of the doggy mannequin significantly added to the quality of the blog. In the future and where applicable, more images should be used. Even photos or short videos of the authors or artists could significantly improve the quality of my posts.

GOAL 2:

I would like to start developing a concrete idea as to what post modernism is. At this point in the semester, many of my blogs seem to only skim the surface and don’t directly address a concrete definition. In the future, I will refer to the pieces which specifically address post modernism and then connect them with the literature we read.

GOAL 3:

I would like to try to form stronger closing paragraphs to my blog posts. I noticed that a great deal of my posts simply cut off without any closure. In the future, I will have to take my time in re-reading the post and then forming an adequate closing paragraph.

Road to Confusion

               The study of postmodernism in this class has proved to still be pretty confusing to me.  I feel as though I am closer to understanding the area, but there seems to be so many contradictions that I’m left with this blurry vision of what postmodernism actually is.  After reading the assigned packet, I came upon yet another defintion of postmodernism.  For the purpose of coming up with a more concrete idea of what postmodernism is, the following defintion needs to be further unpacked:

                                      “The postmodern, as I have been defining it, is not a degeneration into “hyperreality” but a questioning of what reality can mean and how we can come to know it.  It is not that representation now dominates or effaces the referent, but rather that it now selfconsciously aknowledges its existence as representation – that is, as interpreting (indeed as creating) its referent, not as offering direct and immediate access to it”

                         After reading this definition, I must admit that I’m just as confused about postmodernism as I was before.   But one of the areas that I found interseting would be in relation to reality.  I can see how many of the works we have read often deal with a questioning of reality.  In Fight Club, the main character is cast into a world where there is a fine line between reality and fantasy.  In Written on the Body, the author uses a style which creates a questioning of the reality of the true sex of the main character.  But I’m left wondering if every literary work must in some way deal with the meaning of reality.  It almost seems as though this could hinder the quality of the works if they must stick to this kind of template. 

                        In terms of representation, it seems as though the author is trying to say that representation as a literary tool has come to accept it’s limitations becuase it is an unchanging tool.  This idea could be way off from what the author is trying to say, but its almost as though representation is a form of perception and it is integral in terms of reality.  What we see or perceive can be a representation of reality.  This representation, as the author says, accepts that it is only representation.  But when represenation accept that it’s no more than that, then it must come to terms with not being reality, but only a symbol of what reality was.  When I think of this idea, I seem to think of the idea as viewing a photograph.  Whatever is captured on a photograph is indeed a represenation of a single moment, but is it actually reality.  I would say no, that it is only a representation of what that moment was.  The event that occured was reality, but the picture is not.