Please review the Final Project Assignment, which can be found on Blackboard. Use this blog to post your preliminary topic proposal.
It should be a brief statement only, giving:
--The work, artist, or phenomenon you intend to investigate further.
--Your considered but still preliminary ideas for how this topic represents a significant and suggestive instance of the uncanny in the arts. For example: Your first ideas on how and why this work inspires the uncanny effect in the receiver; or how the work exemplifies an extant theory of the uncanny; or how the work represents the uncanny in a surprising medium or context; or how an artist's work demonstrates a consistent and illuminating attraction to some subject in the Uncanny.
A great approach would be to demonstrate that some application of a theory of the Uncanny allows us to see the work from a new and helpful perspective.
If you have more than one idea, share more than one. If you haven't developed a topic yet:
Aside from the artists and exhibitions that appear in the links in the sidebar of this blog, you might consider some of the literary works and films that are listed on the course bibliography. I'd be particularly interested in speaking with anyone interested in presenting on:
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Donnie Darko (Richard Kelly, 2001)
God Told Me To (Larry Cohen, 1977)
Rosemary’s Baby (Roman Polanski, 1968)
The Ring (Gore Verbinski, 2002)
Ringu (Hideo Nakata, 1998)
The Twilight Zone: The Complete
Definitive Collection (Image, 2006)
Twin Peaks: The Definitive
Complete Series (Paramount,
2007)
Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958)
At our next two sessions, we will try to refine project topics, and we'll meet in small groups the week of November 4 to finalize proposals.
You can post your brief proposal as a comment to this post. If you'd like to share images or video, please post it as a separate blog post including the image.
I would like to do my project on the film The Shining.
ReplyDeleteThis movie is one of the most unsettling films I have ever seen and there are many layers that contribute to its uncanny nature. Everything from the cinematography to the set design contributes to the disturbing feeling that persists throughout the film. In each shot, everything is meticulously considered to subtly disorient the viewer and also is representative of the main character's descent into madness.
I am interested in applying what we have learned in class to two movies, Samsara and Baraka, both directed by Ron Thicke. I want to breakdown the aesthetic choices that were made that makes the documentary look of the two films feel subliminal, and subsequently uncanny. This can include camera angle, time lapse, speed and lighting which make ordinary scenes feel extra ordinary and in this case uncanny because of the indescribable feeling that comes about because of them. Right now one scene sticks in my head were ethereal light shines down on sex dolls being made and how there likeness and realness is given the treatment as if they are religious relics with some supernatural force shining down on them. I will probably apply my own feelings of what the uncanny is, which I wrote about in one of our earlier essays; a mix of Freud’s views of the uncanny, Todorov’s views and Burke’s views of the sublime and human emotion.
ReplyDeleteA maze is an intricate, elaborate and confusing concoction of paths which is designed in a manner where one cannot find their way and where you cannot establish boundaries or physical placement. In most uncanny works of film, such as The Haunting by Robert Wise, Stalker by Andrei Tarkovsky, The Shinning by Stanley Kubrick and L’Année Dernière à Marienbad by Alain Resnais, the image or idea of the maze is used as a way to demonstrated the flooding of one’s mind or psychology into the our realm of reality. It defies our logical understanding of our world but also mimics a dream, where you do not always know how you got from point A to point B. Is the altered and ambiguous physicality of these places reality or a mirror image of the state of mind of the character. Does our notion of the uncanny stem from the influence of literature and the arts, by depicting the impossible have we invented a way to physically depict our mental fears and state of mind?
ReplyDeleteWith this idea I would like to compare and contrast Stalker with L’Année Dernière à Marienbad and further explore the use of the maze as a literary and cinematic tool to create the uncanny. Both films are adaptations of different novels, Stalker is based on Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky and L’Année Dernière à Marienbad is inspired by the novel The Invention of Morel by Adolfo Bioy Casares, I would also like to incorporate the novels as support for the comparison.
The subject that I am wanting to research for my final project is the Darren Aronofsky film, "Black Swan". This film is notorious for it's disturbing plot line and equally disturbing images that down right unsettle the viewer. This movie also has a very uncanny and dark way of filming and editing that give this film a very film noir kind of feel. It also utilizes many aspects of the uncanny that we've been introduced to, including the notion of the "double", the uncanny subject line of repressed thoughts slowly driving the main character to madness, and many more.
ReplyDeleteI would like to explore the uncanny in Twin Peaks by David Lynch and Mark Frost.
ReplyDeleteI've been wrestling all semester with whether or not I should do Twin Peaks and I've come to the conclusion that I don't really have a choice. I looked forward to and watched the show every week when it first aired. Agent Cooper is my favorite character ever created. I had (may still) a crush on both Audrey and Shelly. I love the combination of campy soap opera and bizarre thriller. I love the rock n' roll 50s vibe. As someone who makes music, Angelo Badalamenti's score (as well as the score for Wild At Heart) is a major influence on me. I now own the box set and force it on every new person of importance that comes into my life.
Now I've never found it particularly "scary" but most people I show it to find it very uncomfortable. I've seen more than one person cringe or jump at the sight of Bob. I'm excited to look at the show in a new light and pay closer detail to the uncanny elements of which there are numerous.
I have decided to choose the show American Horror Story. Particularly season 2. It takes place in the 1960s in an asylum. What i think is uncanny about this season is the measures that the authority take to "discipline" the "crazy". The story line is amazing and keeps you wondering what crazy and "insane" thing is going to happen next. Season to has so much going on with each character and they all have an uncanny history to them. This is my second favorite season of the 3.
ReplyDeleteAs I previously mentioned, I would like to approach Maya Deren's unsettling, surrealist film "Meshes of the Afternoon" (1943), for my final project. The approximately thirteen minute long video is full of symbolic imagery, including mirrors, which on their own are inherently uncanny elements. The plot unfolds on a dizzying loop and Deren herself is doubled, then tripled, and must confront her psyche (or something). The repetition is a major element that not only becomes creepy and eerie and all of the above, but also speaks to Freud's writings on 'repetition compulsion'. Though there is much to sift through when it comes to analyzing this work, I think it will be a perfect subject for an uncanny lens.
ReplyDeleteWatch the video here (it's so good): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4S03Aw5HULU
I would like to do my final project on Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf the movie, directed by Mike Nichols or on Rhinoceros directed by Tom O'Horgan. I had seen both movies once before taking this class and now from what I have learned I think both would be interesting movies to look closer at. Throughout Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf it is really hard to know for sure if you know what is really going on. It’s almost hard to watch an abusive relationship as the couple fights with each other, and at the same time they are emotionally dependence upon one another. You really can’t stop watching until you figure out what’s going on… like watching a train crash, you can’t look away. The set design and story also makes you feel very tense while watching it, which is a feeling I think falls close to the uncanny. You are really left questioning the sanity of the couple.
ReplyDeleteIn the movie Rhinoceros it kind of deals with the same topics, is everyone going mad or is this something that it really happening. The way the movie is filmed you only see half of what is taking place, or what you are told it taking place; can you believe what you can’t see? I think in Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf the movies tells you more or less the outcome but in Rhinoceros you are really left wondering… which I am still trying to understand myself.
I have choose to do an in depth insight on the film Crash from 2004. Its crime and drama based, stirring up racial issues, identity, and cultural difference. I think A lot that is view uncanny comes from those differences of not being experienced in different cultural backgrounds. There are also just plain spooky elements that surface with no explanation other than God or a higher spiritual presents. The movie shows how all these different people are connected or come in contact with each other in some way, sometimes good and bad, and in some point through out the film they need each other in some way. In addition to that a little girls gets shot by a gun and the bullet disappears into thin air with no questions ask just relief of both the target and shooter. Interesting how that was the most uncanny thing thru out the movie and ppl dismiss it with love. Then you have the white women who clinches her purse and husband tighter when a black man walks by who she will later need his help.. uncanny.
ReplyDeleteI want to explore the relationship between photography and the uncanny. Primarily it's relationship to the photography that would otherwise be considered to exist within surrealist designations. I want to find the thread between the surreal the uncanny, and find the point of divergence between these two subsets. More specifically artists who directly converse with theories of the uncanny such as the double or castration and deformation.
ReplyDeleteIn order to do so I want to call forth the work of artists such as Lee Friedlander, Asger Carlson, and the interior work of Arnold Kramer. This will act as attempt to break down the process and intention of these artists and find there conversation with the ideas of the uncanny as a framework in which to approach the medium as a whole.
From Ashley VanGemeren:
ReplyDeleteThe subject I chose to investigate for my project/presentation is the cult-classic film “Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story” directed by Todd Haynes. The short film narrates the life of Karen Carpenter from the time she was discovered in 1966 to the time of her death in 1983. The film touches on major points of her life including her record label with A&M, her successful music career, and (most importantly) her battle with anorexia nervosa. What gives the film its unique, cult edge is the fact that every character is played using modified Barbie dolls. For my project, I’m interested in the artistic simulacrum and the waves it produces as one tries to comprehend what it is they’re actually watching. I’m intrigued by the process in which the viewer initially identifies the presence of the dolls, moves past that in order to connect with Carpenter’s narrative, losses that assimilation, and then ultimately falls back into the doll driven story. I’m also interested in the inferiority side of simulacrum, and how the story of Carpenter is transcended when told by inanimate and, in some ways, immortal objects. The experience of watching the film creates eerie sensations as one watches Barbie, a heavily familiar object, being taken out of her original context to perform various dark realities of Carpenter’s life such as being spanked by her mother and throwing up in the toilet. I find the relation to the Uncanny in the response to try and dissimilate and disassociate the objects and events with the struggle to accept them in their new context. This relationship of unfamiliar/familiar brings about feelings of uneasiness and confusion, both natural to the treading of Uncanny territory.
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ReplyDeleteAlma is a 2009 Spanish short film, written and directed by ex-Pixar animator Rodrigo Blaas. It received notable recognition at the Fantastic Fest awards and many others worldwide. This short story is packed with suspense and filled with uncanny moments.
ReplyDeleteAlma, tells the story of a girl, who while strolling down a snowy street, finds herself in front of a strange and ominous toy store who happens to have a doll on display that looks like a miniature version of her. Captivated by the odd resemblance and the beauty of the doll, she decides to enter the store to get it.
My interest in this assignment lies on my investigations on the Uncanny Valley in animation. The Uncanny Valley, the skin shivering place between realism and cartoon fantasy where 3d animations are just far enough off-base from realism to give us the creeps. From the poorly written Monster House to the dead-eyed and nightmarish characters of The Polar Express, we observe the discordant signals telling us something might be real but it does not feel right, activating our subconscious into an instant aversion reaction. “Some believe the Uncanny Valley represents the limit of the animators’ abilities to achieve realism in animation, and that animation technology will never achieve the precise detail in form, motion, texture, and emotion required to convince the subconscious mind that what we perceive is real”. What is the issue at hand? Lack of technology, or the human mind has a difficult time suspending disbelief and feels very uncomfortable when confronted with hyper-realistic things that echo our humanity.