Universal Ethics

While it’s a loaded question, I definitely believe in universal ethics. There are things that exist in every culture that are unacceptable. They are things that violate others and reach beyond one’s self. They are universal because they are intrinsic in the human psyche. They are things that we know are wrong, that we know hurt others. They are most likely evident in all forms of life, whether here on Earth or not. In the animal world, the same universal ethics apply-- don’t kill my cubs, steal my food, or try to cheat me. They exist for the good of all life and if they did not exist the world would be a terrifying place.
There are similarities between universal ethics of different cultures because all beings are born with the same basic set of beliefs. They spring from things being done to us and those around us. We notice unconsciously that we do not like it when someone steals our crayon and in the future we should avoid making others feel that way. We know that it is bad enough when a family member or close friend dies, the situation does not need to be made worse by learning that they were murdered. We all hold these beliefs inside us, and those who do not are mentally unstable.
The moral/ethical principles that are currently universal are very basic:                                            
1. Don't kill.
2. Don't steal.
3. Don't cheat.
4. Don't lie.
5. Treat those who cannot properly take care of themselves with respect (children, the elderly, the disabled, etc.)

I think in the future with the advent of technology these principles will start to tweak slightly, as privacy becomes a precious commodity-- but the basic principles will stay the same.

Making Sense of Chaotic Compositions



Everything is beginning to click into place. I have formulated a thesis that I believe will give my paper a consistent drive, and have begun writing. The rough draft will, of course, be very rough, but I am confident that I have a good understanding of Magritte as an artist, his motives behind his work, and his influence on later artists as well as those who influenced him. I do need a bit more information to fulfill the required amount of sources, and I think I will collect some concerning the Surrealist movement to add context to my paper. I will provide analysis of a few of his major works, and focus the paper on what makes so much of his work memorable: his ability to mystify us by manipulating the familiar and creating a desire within us to understand a meaning beyond the present image.

Magritte: Critique and Criticism



The second book that I have read is also called Magritte, written by Bernard Noel. When first starting it, I thought that I may have made a bad choice and picked up a book not only similar in name to the last, but also similar in content. However, as I read further I found it to be quite the opposite. Noel wrote about Magritte’s paintings with criticism, deeply analyzing and critiquing, and always returning to one specific example, Hegel’s Vacation. This provides me with another viewpoint concerning the artist, not contradicting the last author but challenging her, and will help in forming a well-researched opinion, and in turn, a better paper.

Noel dealt with analysis and criticism of the paintings, questioning their subject and style. With Hegel’s Vacation, featuring an umbrella balancing a glass of water on its top, he writes about the simplicity of the subjects and the irony in the composition, and if the viewer should take the painting at face value or look for further representation of something else. Magritte compositions were designed to invoke a sense of mystery and desire for meaning beyond the mash-up of random objects in unrelated settings.

Magritte



I have just finished reading Magritte, written by Suzi Gablik. The book covered much analysis of Magritte’s work, explanation of his style and purpose, and included both images of his paintings as well as quotations from the artist himself.

 Not knowing much about him before reading, aside from seeing a few examples of his art, and his association with the surrealist movement, it was particularly interesting for me to read about the purpose behind creating these images. Magritte’s artwork challenged all societal preconceptions of common sense. He took simple, familiar subjects, and changed or combined them in ways that are completely unfamiliar to the viewer. For example: wooden figures resembling chess pieces or table legs would take the place of trees or people.  My favorites had an “inside-outside” theme: a background scene framed by a window would be continued or repeated onto a painted canvas containing the same image in the foreground.

Viewers would look for symbolism in Magritte’s paintings, but whatever was found wasn’t there by intent. Magritte desired to simply mystify by rearranging or transforming what had always been known. As Gublik writes “A person who only looks for what he wants in a painting will never find that which transcends his preferences. But, if one has been trapped by the mystery of an image which refuses all explanation, a moment of panic will sometimes occur. These moments of panic are what count for Magritte. For him they are privileged moments, because they transcend mediocrity.”

This is fascinating for me to read about, as someone who also creates art and attempts to mimic surrealism. We’ll see what else I find in the next book.

Starting Over



I am changing the topic of my research paper to focus on art. Like Kasey, I will be researching surrealism, but specifically focusing on the artist Renee Magritte, his life, and his approach to his work. In my AP Art class I have been working on a Concentration of 12 pieces under the theme of Dreams and Nightmares, working with surrealism to create images that might convey the sort of disconnected feeling with reality that one has after waking. I am hoping that my research of Magritte will help with both my understanding of surrealism as well as my Concentration.

Ottoman update

     Well, my paper is starting to slowly form itself together. Right now I'm a few paragraphs deep into it and it's coming along surprisingly well. For instance, I got a nice intro, a good overview of ottoman history, and I am currently working on forming paragraphs about the Green Mosque and the Great Mosque, two buildings that I found show the most Ottoman architectural influence. I know, too, that only talking about mosques wouldn't be very interesting, so I am deciding that I will include a caravan outposts, bridges, and perhaps maybe one of their many luxurious palaces. I also really want to include the Hagia Sophia too, but I feel as though it would veer me off course because, in my opinion, it has much stronger Byzantine ties than Ottoman. Yet, I know I should to explain how the Ottomans changed monuments into Muslim buildings.

     Apart from  working on my research paper, I realize I need to find more sources. This has been quite difficult because very few books are made about Turkish architecture. I was fortunate enough to find one book about it and derive other information from a story which is based on the siege of Constantinople. Nonetheless, I have found some good sites called sciencedirect.com and geoscienceworld.com where it lists a ton of articles on Turkish monuments today. Though it focuses more on the longitivity and functions of the building, I hope to still use some of that information in my paper. Apart from that, I am thinking that there must be a documentary on my topic and I am wondering if I should look into renting one. 

    All in all, my project is going along steadily. The only main problem I have with it is the fact that I am low on sources. I am enjoying working on it, however. I find it to be quite a compelling learning experience and I enjoy sharing my knowledge that I have gained. I hope that my paper turns put well all in all and look forward to sharing it.

Closer Look at Kahlo

As I've gathered more and more information about Frida Kahlo, I'm finding it hard to give my paper direction. There are many ways and facts/stories I could share about her but and it's hard to form a clear thesis with so many things I want to get across. What I did do was look at some critiques of her paintings and analyze more about what influences from her life made her create the art. One of her most famous pieces was "The Two Fridas" which shows on one side Kahlo in a white (possibly wedding) dress and on the right her in traditional mexican wear. Both of their hearts are shown with veins running until they finally meet one another. After further research I found out she painted this right after divorcing Rivera and I think it is a reflection of the separation between the part of her that was influenced by him and loves him and the parts that are totally separate. I think it was extremely brave of her to paint her feelings so clearly for the world to see.
My Wet Nurse and I is also another very interesting piece that gives further insight into Kahlo's personal life. Because her mother got pregnant again right after giving birth to her, Frida was breastfed by a native indian wet nurse. The picture depicts a baby Kahlo with her adult head being fed by her wet nurse who has a mask on because she couldn't remember what she looked like. The relationship seems to be very cold and it also hints at the fact that Kahlo had to grow up very quickly and may have thought she never really had a childhood. This paper is definitely going to be hard but when it's done I know I will have learned a lot! P.S. I tried to put the two pictures below but it wouldn't let me add a link :(

Black Music in America

        The title of my post is the title of my third book. This book focused upon individual artists that were influential to today's American music. According to this book, blues, jazz, and rock n' roll all originated from African Americans. White performers like Benny Goodman to Frank Sinatra to the Beatles to Rod Stewart--have said that they owe their biggest debt to "black music." Like my first book, this book stated that these popular forms of music started on the slave ships coming to America. Complicated beats and sorrowful melodies came from Africa, and they brought these songs with them to America. 

        Big bands become popular during the Civil War era. The Frank Johnson Band and James Bland were popular during this era. Even though they toured in the north and in Canada, they were unable to tour in the southern states because of the racism. It wasn't safe for any African American in the south at the time of the Civil War and even afterwards. The first recognized black female singer was Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield. She and her mother were slaves, but she was freed when she lived with the Quakers in Pennsylvania. In her 40's, she toured the north, Canada, and Europe as a soprano singer. She was known for being able to sing a wide range if notes. Audiences were shocked that blacks were capable of singing opera and classical music, which was music only white people usually sang. Elizabeth even performed for Queen Victoria of England. Again, she was unable to tour the southern states. Most black musicians during the Civil War era would perform in circus acts or vaudeville acts. They still weren't earning the respect they deserved.

       Slowly, as time moved on, people like Louis Armstrong were able to change this. His fame grew and by the 1930s, Louis Armstrong was on the verge of international stardom, and not far away from his first European tour. Armstrong's famous trumpet solos and his jazz style originated from the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s. The Black Renaissance (it is also called) also inspired artists like Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, and Billie Holiday. The jazz craze spread like a fever all throughout America and throughout the world. By the 1940s, it was the most popular type of music in America. 

At this point, after explaining the creation of jazz and where it came from, I will go into greater detail of how Ella Fitzgerald specifically was able to break the social boundaries and earn respect from both white and black Americans.

Of Infinite Importance

To condense all of the information I have will be difficult at best.  There are opinions of Christianity everywhere and not all of it is positive, which isn't a bad thing, but must be addressed.  I think that my thesis for this paper will be based on the quotation by C.S. Lewis, "Christianity, if false, is of no importance and, if true, of infinite importance.  The only thing it cannot be is moderately important."  I think that my paper will attempt to prove that Social Media has increased the apathy and atheistic attitudes of this generation and will look at the influence this will have on the future of the Church.

I wish I could say I have this paper outlined and planned out in that way at this point, but I don't yet. I'm not sure which of my resources I will use in the end and which will be left out of the final edit, but I am at the point now where I need to focus on the sources I'm taking in and determine whether or not they will actually contribute to my paper.  While it is coming together well and I'm learning a lot in research, it has come to the point where I need to determine how much I can present in the final paper without overwhelming or confusing the reader.

This paper won't be easy, I never thought it would be.  I welcome any and all input, information, opinions (positive, negative, neutral), etc. and definitely have some work to do before anything is solidified.

Surrealism: Tying it Together

     The more I have researched the unconsciousness of surrealism, the more connections I have been able to make. As I was reading about Dali, I kept seeing more and  more about the dream interpretation theories of Sigmund Freud. I decided to look into his theories (which was easy, as we are learning about them in psychology) and was able to find many connections between Dali and Freud.
      Freud has very detailed theories about the unconscious and the dreaming mind. He believes that dreams are ways to put our unfulfilled and mad thoughts into something we are able to bear. Dali did the same thing that Freud was describing, except in paint. Upon meeting each other for Freud to psychoanalyze Dali (who had many psychological problems), Freud stated that there was nothing for him to uncover because Dali's subconscious was already laid out on all of his paintings. There is no doubt that what Dali was trying to express was repressed and unexpressed emotions.
      The connections grow and grow so I decided that this would be an interesting direction to take my paper in. What I am thinking of would be to do my paper on the psychology behind surrealism and use the connections between Dali and Freud as a type of case study or example. Right now, I have books on each Dali and Freud, on surrealism as a whole, and on the psychology of dream interpretation. My goal is to try and explain why surrealists can think and express in the manner that they do.

A Closer Look at Surrealism

      For my second book, I decided to take a step back and get a better understanding of surrealism as a whole. To get a better understanding of what surrealism is, I read the book Essential Surrealists by Tim Martin. This book was very insightful on surrealism because along with an introduction and knowledge of what surrealism actually is, it gave many examples of surrealists, their work, and explanations behind these works.
      I found that although every surrealist had their own unique styles and techniques, like any other type of artist, they all had many things also in common. From reading the facts of their lives and gaining basic knowledge of these artists, it is clear that they used the art as a way to express emotions, dreams, or wishes. But what set them apart from other artists was the fact that these were all somewhat unconscious desires. They had used their canvas as a way to depict something that couldn't make any sense aloud.
      Everything that I had read about Dali was that he was putting his unconscious mind into his art but what I have found by reading this book is that that is what created surrealism. These artists were taking the raw, uncut depths of their minds and trying to express it in the only way possible.
     

Wilde: Forming the Paper

So, now that I have finished my two major work, The Importance of Being Earnest and The Picture of Dorian Gray, as well as some literary criticism, I have chosen to explore how Wilde highlights the destructive/amoral nature of Victorian society. As it stands my thesis is: Wilde uses The Importance of Being Earnest and The Picture of Dorian Gray as a platform to display the destructive nature of Victorian society. (This will likely change as I go through more of the writing process and begin to more deeply explore my evidence.)

From PDG, one of the main points that I plan to emphasize is the societal obsession with youth and beauty, and the one place that people can real see that is through Dorian himself. Even, Basil Hallward, perhaps the book’s most moral and sane character, is completely intoxicated by Dorian’s beauty. However, simply because people feel inclined to assume Dorian is moral, because he is beautiful he devastates so many people in the book. A perfect example of this is Sybil Vane. She falls to the charm to Dorian’s graces, ends up obsessed with him, and ends up killing herself, showing how destructive the obsession turns out to be. This message is further amplified by the strife of her brother, James, and her mother.

A societal flaw that appeared in The Importance of Being Earnest is that of deceit. Nearly every character in the play lies. One of the key component of the play is the concept of “bunburying”. Bunburying is a concept invented in the book by Algernon Moncrieff. It involves create a person with some issues in his/her life for which he/she needs constant assistance. For example, a dear friend who is an invalid and needs help around the house. One would then use this character to escape the responsibilities of everyday life and those present in your life (friends and family). This may seem harmless, but ends up leading to a lot of mistrust and manipulation throughout the book over this deceit.

Nureyev: Where My Paper is Headed

Over the course of doing research and reading books about Nureyev, I began to see how much he had changed the course of the ballet world. As I said in my last post (if you're reading the whole saga of ballet blogs), in the beginning of ballet in France men were revered more highly than women. Women were meant to essentially just stand around and look pretty. This was mostly because their clothing was unsuited to quick movements and jumping. Men were the ones who got to do all the dancing and learn proper technique. Ballet was created for men by men, and would continue to be dictated as such. But over the next hundred or so years (in accordance with the invention of the tutu), women came to power in the world of ballet. They began to take over the big roles and the men faded into the background. Men were seen as the coat racks that held up the female dancers.

This got me thinking that a paper about gender in the ballet world could be really interesting to write. Another topic I want to explore is the implied homosexuality of male dancers in the past hundred years or so. Many people assume that male dancers are not strong, but that could not be further from the truth. They are extremely powerful (especially in their legs and core) and can perform feats that most male athletes could never dream of. I'm not totally sure yet where my paper will end up, but I know what I want to include. My tentative thesis is the following (any feedback on this is appreciated):
Rudolf Nureyev reversed the stigma, three-hundred fifty years later, for male ballet dancers and allowed them to be taken seriously again.