Asterios Polyp is a perfect example of an art form exploiting its medium. It's visual metaphors and clever framing brings the art of storytelling through illustrations to its maximum potential. The contrast between the geometric and organic shapes representing the two main character represents the difference in personalities and how they compliment eachother. The color scheme and abstract drawings symbolize feelings and behaviors of people. This trickery is best achieved through comic strips or visual novels rather than live action. The intricate representations in the drawings went hand in hand with the dialogue which transmitted its messages with much clarity and at the same time entertaining.

     Asterios Polyp is a perfect example of an art form exploiting its medium. It's visual metaphors and clever framing brings the art of storytelling through illustrations to its maximum potential. The contrast between the geometric and organic shapes representing the two main character represents the difference in personalities and how they compliment eachother. The color scheme and abstract drawings symbolize feelings and behaviors of people. This trickery is best achieved through comic strips or visual novels rather than live action. The intricate representations in the drawings went hand in hand with the dialogue which transmitted its messages with much clarity and at the same time entertaining.

Similarities between Jim Jarmusch's three films discussed in class

-Slow ongoing shots.

-Unique characters that aren't your typical hollywood heroes.

-Coincidences that take the characters in different situations/

-Reoccurring topics such as violence/guns, sex, death, drugs, and love.

-Sexist implications.

-References to musicians.

-Harsh reality of life.

-Settings are usually in cities and towns surrounded by society.

-We find ourselves rooting for the "bad" guys which in this case are the protagonists.

-Dark tones with small chances of hope.

-Point of views are similar when they cut between the main characters.

-Themes of regret, redemption, revenge, freedom.

-Justice has its way at the end.

  

GOOSE FATHER SHORT FILM­­

VISUAL CUES PRIORITIES

1.     Introduction to Gilho being lonely in his apartment

a.      Establishing shot of apartment

b.     Camera focuses on family photos

c.      Gilho going about his lonely life.

d.     Advertises his need of an assistant.

2.     Wuesong is introduced with the goose in front of Gilho’s apartment.

a.      Cut to Wuesong making breakfast for Gilho.

b.     Scene dedicated to conversation between the two men

c.      Reveal Wuesong’s past and the reason as to why he has a goose.

3.     Gilho and Wuesong go out on a Kareoke night

a.      Show friendship between the two men.

b.     They both get tipsy with the alcohol intake.

c.      Gilho and Wuesong almost kiss, but Gilho slaps him.

d.     Wuesong runs away crying.

4.     Gilho returns to his sad apartment and skips work because of sad events

a.      Parallel editing between Gilho and Wuesong

b.     Gilho stares at the sunset outside his balcony

c.      Wuesong walks around the city with his goose with no destination in mind

d.     They both miss each other.

5.     Gilho goes out with friends at a Korean bar

a.      Show Gilho  having fun with friends, but clearly still has wuesong in his thoughts.

b.     Gilho returns to the apartment with one drunk friend (Taeyeong)

6.     Gilho and taeyeong surprisingly finds Wuesong inside the apartment cooking a meal.

a.      Taeyeong screws with the goose until the goose bites him

b.     Wuesong panics and patches him up.

c.      They decide to go to sleep.

7.     Wuesong wakes up in the middle of Daeboreum (full moon night)

a.      He finds his mother on the balcony

b.     Intimate moment between boy and mother.

c.      Gilho wakes up as well and is surprised to see the goose was really his mother all along.

d.     Gilho and Wuesong decide to kiss in this magical moment and the screen fades to black.

   
     Hypothetically speaking, as a director of photography for the screenplay "sleep donation" I would try to visually transmit a neurotic feeling. When one goes a full day without sleep, you see the world through a different perspective. Everything is exactly the same, yet at the same time everything feels slightly off. It's as if you're living a different version of your life where you don't pay too much attention to details and everything feels a bit surreal because you don't have the brain power to register everything as you usually do. In order to translate this feeling visually, I would use a large variety of dutch angles and plenty of depth of field. With a tilted camera, everything can feel "off" similar to that neurotic state of mind. The excessive use of depth of field will get rid of the needless details and focus on only what's important. Dizzy and strange movements of the camera would be done to relate to the feeling of drowsiness.

     What I find brilliant in this novel is the manner in which it is narrated to us. It certainly isn't the only work of art that tells its story through a non linear path, but it is one of the successful ones. Similar to the movie "Pulp Fiction" it tells us a story through a variety of characters and locations, but sticks with one theme. The main subject of this book is Totalitarianism, also known as a form of government where power is very unbalanced and usually unfair regimes reinforced by leaders and their workers. In this case, the leaders are known as "The Duvaliers" and the workers are the dew breakers. They're known as torturers who break into their victim's houses early in the morning. The way it was written was surely the correct way of telling the story.

     Another ironic feminist literature piece where the wife finds peace when the husband is not there to control her life. However, there was no sexism involved in this short story. We have to take into consideration that when this was written, it was the norm that the husband would be telling his wife what to do all the time. Kate Chopin made a clever trick into sneaking feminism by showing us how limited women are without us even noticing. To the naked eye, the story reads as if the wife died of how happy she was to finally approach death, but if you dig a little deeper you'll realize that the joy she receives isn't from the sweet release of death. Instead, it's the sweet release from her husband. 

     Chopin sneaks this message through her story because she doesn't even make it so that the protagonist was happy for her husband's death.  She shows the woman mourning at the begging, it was not until halfway into the story where the woman realizes all the benefits she is granted by not having a husband. It was not that she did not care for her husband, it was that she desired the freedom to do whatever she wants as a human being more than her husband's life. It's almost a passive aggressive comment towards men's control over their lovers back in 1890's, but in short story form. At the end  of the story, the woman officially dies because she realized her husband wasn't actually dead, meaning that all the freedom she just fantasized about was all a lie as well. Having such a weak heart, she died from the shock of going back to the woman she was before the false news of her husband's death.

'The Secret History of Wonder Woman,’ by Jill Lepore

     The theme here has become ironic. With such a strong start in feminism through art that inspired many people during the 1900s, one would think that we would be socially advanced at this point in our lives relating to sexism. However, the opposite is true. We seem to be going in reverse when it comes to treating the two genders as equal despite the amount of effort that has been made by so many feminist groups and leaders. 

     William Marston believed that women should and will rule the world someday. Yet, when we were given the chance to have a female elected as president, we neglected the offer. Instead, we replaced her with a man who represents the symbol that William was so against. It's almost as if there's something that's not allowing women to take control. In times when it seems there's about to be a change in gender role, we retract and make another mistake.

     With all that said however, I still believe gender equality is on it's way. Slow, but steady. After reading what Marston attempted to do by inspiring women through his art, I realized that we are going through the exact same phase again, only this time many female artist are voicing their opinions. Although it will take time until we might reach pure equality, we certainly are setting a route for the next generation to come and make it right.

EDIT:
     - If I were to create a female super hero, I would give her any kind of entertaining features that all the other super heroes have. Whether they're shy or strong, it  doesn't have anything to do with the character's gender. I would first make an interesting character and then I'd assign his or her gender.