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.
2 comments
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October 17, 2007 at 5:38 pm
kmiddleton
I’m going to comment in two parts, Alex, just for the sake of clarity. So this response is in reference to your ideas about postmodernism. It seems to me that as you “unpack” your second quote, you begin to talk about a kind of middle ground between the identity posited in WoTB—one built on sex/love—and one posited and despised in FC—an identity based in capitalist accumulation. When you say” 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,” it makes me think that you’re beginning to examine the ways in which sexuality and capitalism come together in postmodernity (while FC might talk about how the Ikea catalogue replaced pornography, you might be working toward something different—how do commodity and sexuality COLLUDE in the formation of postmodern identity? This might be one way to expand upon some of the thinking you’ve done thus far…
October 17, 2007 at 5:48 pm
kmiddleton
Ok, onto blog critique and goals. You have some excellent insights here, both into your own work and into others’. There are a couple of consistent themes that appear in your writing above: the use value of being able to relate or identify, the desire to make connections, and the admiration for clarity/closure. In your goals, you talk about the second two (and here I’d include the goal of integrating visuals/video). the first, however, is as important, to others and to you. It’s one of the criteria that makes blogs the genre that they are, so you might think too about how to emphasize that in your writing so that others can make those connections. All sounds good here!!