Tag Archives: reading

When Marnie Was There

Posted on by
Reply

During this week I watched Studio Ghibli’s new film: “When Marnie Was There.” Overall I enjoyed the visuals and the sentimental story, but felt as if something was missing. Reflecting on Roberts McKee’s ‘The substance of story” I was able to conclude that I personally did not find the protagonist Anna empathic. She did not strike a chord within me as I found a lot of her problems petty and childish. As an audience I found Anna to act hypocritically, treating others without maturity and then expecting it in return. I also struggled to find her friend with Marnie believable as she earlier in the film showed no interest in making friends or interacting with others. Overall when I was feeling sad by the end of the movie, it was not sparked by anything the main protagonist did.
Furthermore the supernatural elements in “When Marnie Was There” acted as a source of confusion, rather than highlighting the protagonists skills and ability to cope in a new and frightening situation. These encounters with Marnie often left Anna in the middle of no where passed out and vulnerable.

Allow I enjoyed the movie, but it missed the mark when it came to forming a connection between the audience and the characters.

McKee, Robert. (1997). ‘The substance of story.’ In Story: Style, Structure, Substance, and the Principles of Screenwriting. New York, USA: HarperCollins, pp. 135-154.

Fandom

Posted on by
Reply

“fan cultures are a problem for legitimate culture because they muddy it, demanding attention to there culture. “

Taken from todays lecture, when shown I couldn’t help but think about the fandom that forms around children tv show: My Little Pony. 

Cartoons are often a mixed audience of the children the show is intended for and the adults who are also avid viewers. However the a lot of the adult male fandom of My Little Pony, wanted a distinction from the rest of the shows audience and coined the term. “Bronys” 

Bronys not only needed to establish that they were in fact a male audience (evidence by the name it’s self a mixture of Bro and Pony but their insistent to call older female fans, Pegasisters.) enjoying a “girls” cartoon, but also they’re “real fans of the show.”Although it’s been suggested that theres nothing wrong with adults enjoying media originally targeted at children, the idea of Bronys are less about enjoying a show, but the act of a like minded audience trying to reassure themselves that it’s okay to like a show target towards little girls and when that failed they tried to make the show theres. 

The fact that most conventions panels start with, if there are any little ones in the audience can we please allow them to the front. This example shows that rather than being welcomed little girls are pushed out of a space that had every intention of belonging to them. 

Selfies and Self Portraits

Posted on by
Reply

I personally find that theres nothing wrong with selfies. They’re a quick and effortless why to show how good my makeup looked before it sweated off or my immediate expression to when I found myself locked out of my house again.  But selfies aren’t and they certainly don’t represent anything permanent. This is what I feel is the main distinction between a selfie and a self portrait. Take snapchat for example; its a app that allows users to share photos up to 10 seconds and unless they are screenshoted by the viewer they disappear. However even if these images are saved, are uploaded they are still lost and forgotten because there will always be another selfie whether it’s yours or the billions of over people posting online.

A friend linked me an interesting article (nsfw) about an artist who wove selfies used in sexts (inducing her own) into tapestries. These tapestries work to pull these selfies out into the public eye, and gives the viewer something to marvel at as it is not often that cross stitching is linked to anything sexual. This is what not only gives these selfies their permanence but transforms them into art, which is more widely regarded as a respectable form of expression.

But aside from their permanence or respect “self portraits” also offers the creator to express something abstract about who they are while the selfie demands that your face or body is always the subject. This is what I believe is the most important difference between the two.