Modernist and Postmodernist Design Theory Lectures

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  Helvetica (2007) dir Gary Hustwit.

Modernist Animation Example

This is a great example of a modernist animation, where Chuck Jones manages to strip his characters down to a straight line and a dot. It uses careful colours and looks very stylish throughout, capturing the modernism approach to art.

The Postmodern

Form (female) follows function (male)

1960s - beginnings

1970s - established as term

1980s - recognisable style

1980s & 90s - dominant theoretical discourse

Today - tired & simmering

There are certain things we are taught through socialisation.

This isn't just modernism, is is society and there is a bias in the way we describe the world and ourselves.

• The history of art and everything really is very very male, they are almost all built with this patriarchal bias.
• Post modern theory and philosophy tries to unpick these biases before it starts to see anything as a truth.

Jacques Derrida - Of Grammatology

• All of western thinking/philosophy has been flawed and all has been based on setting up very simple opposites between things.
• There is always one superior side and one inferior, it's about implicitly judging.

Eg- MAN/WOMAN, WHITE/BLACK, CULTURE/NATURE.

Logocentrism - it's a biased reading used in debating.

Helene Cixous - The Laugh of the Medusa

• All the things we privilege in life, are actually masculine in themselves.

Phallogocentrism - similar to Logocentrism, instead by hidden masculine biases.

Edward Said - Orieltalism

• All the privileged things aren't just masculine they are in fact western and white

Hegemony - We’re all forced to think in the same way subtly.

Patriarchy relies on people recognising themselves in their own oppression.

This is an animation that I found which basically outlines the feeling of living in a postmodern world, the character seems to be doubtful of the world that surrounds him and the animation relates to culture, literature, fashion and uses metaphors throughout to show it's meaning. I thought it was a good example to show the frustration that people may have felt around this time of a lost world with seemingly no real meaning to it.

Choosing a Research Question - Study Task 4

Research Question: 

Why would someone use stop motion animation in the digital age?

Within my research question I can primarily study why practicing animators choose stop motion as their medium by talking to them individually and interviewing them. There are different ways to use stop motion and also ways to combine it with other mediums to make a final product, leading to the strength and weaknesses of each method. I can know about these processes through animation investigation, technique investigation and primary research.

Resources:

• Purves, B. (2008 [2007]) 'Stop motion: passion, process and performance', Massachusetts, USA, Focal Press.

Library Reference: 

• The Brothers Quay (2006) 'Quay Brothers: The Short Films', DVD.

Library Reference: 

• Harryhausen, R (2005) 'Ray Harryhausen: The Early Years Collection', USA, Sparkhill Production, DVD.

Library Reference: 

• Pribe, K. A. (2011) 'The Advance Art of Stop-Motion Animation', Massachusetts, USA, Delmar Cengage Learning.

Library Reference: 

• Blumenthal, E (2005) 'Puppetry and Puppets: An Illustrated World Survey', London, Thames & Hudson Ltd.

Library Reference: 

   

In relation to my question I want to look at modern examples of stop motion animations, such as Tim 

Burton and look at how they combine stop motion with CGI in the digital age. I could possibly look at Kubo and the Two Strings as my animation as this is the most modern example that combines the two processes. I also want to look at traditional stop motion and how this differs, I could look at the original examples such as The Brother's Quay or I might want to look at Ray Harryhausen's work.  

Reference:

'Kubo And The Two Strings', Oregon, USA: Lakai, 2016, Film.

Research & Epistemology Lectures

[creative practice] doesn't just straighten the world, it reflects the world as we venture beyond problem solving into process, experiment and discovery - Martin Venezky

Approaches to generation and investigation of ideas

• Stimulated Approach - search for inspiration from an external repertoire: in the surroundings, media, in discussion, libraries etc.
• Systematic Approach - the systematic collection and modification of components, characteristics and means of expression: such as by structuring and restructuring, enlarging and reusing ect.
• Intuitive Approach - development of thought process, which is primarily based on internalised perceptions and knowledge.

What is research - the process of finding facts. These facts will lead to knowledge.

Information is the result of processing, manipulating and organising data in a way that adds to the knowledge of the person receiving it.

Strategy for researching into a problem

1. Analysis of problem
2. Research and ask yourself ‘what happens if..?’
3. Evaluate which looks best, which fulfills the brief?
4. Solution which is usually a creative compromise, which you produce.

Post-modern Animation - Goodbye Blue Sky - Pink Floyd

In our seminar we looked at post-modern animations and I feel that The Wall by Pink Floyd using Gerald Scarfe's animations is a great example. This animation above explore historical themes of war and itself explores post-modern themes within society, it suggests saying goodbye to the blue-sky nostalgic ideals that Britain once had.

Study Task 2 - Parody & Pastiche

Frederic Jameson describes how pastiche has taken over parody in this post-modern world in his book ‘Postmodernism’ (1992). Jameson states that pastiche is where there is an imitation of a particular style without knowledge of any historical context behind it, as a 'desperate attempt to appropriate a missing past' (Jameson. F 1992, p.19). He talks about this in an extremely dystopian way and portrays the process as a way of recycling culture with 'blind eyeballs' (Jameson. F 1992 p.17). Jameson relates pastiche back to the post-modern by describing how post-modern actions are led by deathlessness, similar to the way that pastiche has a lost meaning for history as it is merely seen as something ready to rework. Jameson also talks about his theory on parody and that he views it as ‘blank parody’ with no meaning (Jameson, F 1992 p.17). On the other hand, theorist Linda Hutcheon challenges this dystopian impression given by Jameson through explanation of parody as the ‘deliberate refusal’ of the past and instead giving history ‘new life and meaning’ (Hutcheon. L 1986, p.182). This is quite an interesting contrast, as it gives a more optimistic outlook and tone of voice, in comparison to the negative attitude that Jameson appears to have persistently throughout his ideas. Instead, Hutcheon sees it as something that modifies the old to bring new life to things that already exist in time. In relation to animation, all of these ideas could suggest how animations follow trends that have been set in history, such as the ‘fundamentals of animation’, or how films follow similar narratives over and over. However, it could be that animations follow these same paths, such as the 'hero's journey', to bring new life even to the most basic of narratives that may have been done before.

 

Study Task 1 - Triangulation - Women as Image, Man as Bearer of the Look

Laura Mulvey, a past activist feminist and now practicing professor of film, famously creates the ideas of the male gaze in her most famous work, where she outlines the 'sexual imbalance' in cinema (Mulvey, 2009 [1975], p.19). Mulvey goes on to explain the two different roles that each gender take; the male being active and the female passive and strengthens this argument with a quote from Budd Boetticher who states 'the woman has not the slightest importance' (Boetticher in Mulvey 2009 [1975], p. 20). It is then told how patriarchy has an overall effect on culture and thus affecting the way cinema works, however this could be challenged today as feminism is much more recognised.  'The male protagonist is free to command the stage' (Mulvey, 2009 [1975] p.21) and here Mulvey reinforces her idea of the male having control over the production and situation in general. Looking at modern cinema we can see how sexism still exists, yet there are females working in every part of the industry and even directing huge blockbusters. In comparison the the time that Mulvey wrote her text, things have changed quite drastically in this sense. Numerous author's writings have emerged from Mulvey's argument, either to acknowledge her points or to dispute them. McDonald (1998), Storey (2008) and Mulvey (2009 [1975]) all comment on how the male is not seen in an erotic way and is represented differently compared to the female in cinema. For example, McDonald in Dyer's 'Stars' (1998), illustrates how the male uses 'aggressive' looks in order to 'divert their erotic potential'. This states the ways, purposefully or not, how the males make themselves separate from this sexualisation. On the other hand, in modern day cinema can we now see signs of the female gaze where the sexualisation of men is apparent. Storey (2008), justifies Mulvey's points as well as McDonald's as he goes on to state that male audiences fix their gaze on the male character in order to 'satisfy ego formation'. This is an interesting point as McDonald states the characters stray away from sexualisation of themselves and Storey explains they do this to influence a more egotistical perspective on their male character. The ego idea behind male characters in film can still be seen today as we have strong, masculine super heroes who promote this idea of a strong male who has control and is responsible.

Mulvey, L. (2009 [1975]) 'Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema' in Visual and Other Pleasures, Basingtoke, Palgrave.

Reading Texts - Seminar

Contextual Facts on Laura Mulvey:

• Professor of film
• Feminist Activist
• Born in the 1950s
• Published essay in 1975
• Avant-garde filmmaker

Key Points:

• In cinema there is a difference between the roles of men and women
• Men project themselves onto characters
• The Male Gaze
• 'To-be-looked-at-ness'
• Active (male) / Passive (female)
• Patriarchy and its effect on culture

Important Quotes: 

• 'Traditionally, the woman displayed has functioned on two levels: as erotic object for the characters within the screen story and as erotic object for the spectator within the auditorium.'
• 'The male protagonist is free to command the stage, a stage of spatial illusion in which he articulates the look and creates the action.'
• 'the woman has not the slightest importance'
• 'woman displayed as sexual object is the leitmotif of erotic spectacle'
• '... as the bearer of the look of the spectator'

The Flipped Classroom Lecture

Jacques Ranciere

• The Ignorant Schoolmaster
• The Politics of Aesthetics
• Proletarian Nights