Sunday 23 March 2014

Task 4: Transform Yourselves

This week has been a good amount of productive. I am happy with mine and Lesley's collaboration and my paper is coming along. I have a few more musicians to add to the pool for my portfolio this term including Tami on violin and Chris on acoustic guitar! 

Another strange thing this last week was the realization that I might have some sort of underdeveloped synesthesia. I took a mini test online, but it didn't really fit the criteria of what I think I can do. Basically, I never noticed my association of chord relationships to colors. It's not a visual thing, it's just an understanding. Anyway, I squashed out a thought I had about a note I wanted to hear someone sing in their song in class. I don't know how I concluded that the note should be D, I didn't know what key the song was in or anything, but it was a green mood. I quickly glanced at his hands to see what he was playing and it definitely was not a D. So I told my brain to shut up and forgot about it until 10 minutes later when Joe said the note would sound better as a D. I realized I was right and I associate D with green. OMG. Once I develop this more, I will continue to post more hahahha.

March 19th, 2014

Archetypes and Authenticity! It was a manic lesson that jumped across so many psychological studies. It was intense, so forgive me if my notes just seem to be all over the place. It was a huge topic(s) covered in a short time by someone who is very passionate about it, so it was an exciting class.

Spretzzatura - an art that doesn't seem to be an art. Something that is done by avoiding practice and is characterized by carelessness and disdain.

I think of all the musicians and actors and artists out there that just do things so well effortlessly. Its a very attractive quality. Its authenticity. "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee" - Mohamed Ali

Archetypes are not stereotypes, its the subconscious relationship we have with myth that sprinkles human culture. Myth is the oldest form of storytelling and they say there are two ways to interpret them: literally and symbolically. Some scholars suggest that myth is the way we as humans make sense of the world.

There are so many myths that have turned into archetypes. Robert Johnson at the Crossroads, selling his soul to the devil in exchange for musical skill.

TRANSFORMATION! Success of any brand is its claim to authenticity - the law of credentials. There is a difference between advertising and publicity.

The Collective Unconscious, by Carl Yung, suggests that all humans share a deep level of unconscious mind. Its the tendency to perceive common meanings that are embodied within symbols. And archetypes are the components of the collective unconscious and exist in the psyche, preparing individuals for the unknown.

Symbolic meanings in popular culture including the anima and animus. The anima is the unconscious of the male with some senses of femininity among the masculinity. Animus is the female with aspects of masculinity.

"The anima is the female aspect present in the collective unconscious of men, and the animus is the male aspect present in the collective unconscious of women. Together, they are referred to as syzygy. The anima may be personified as a young girl, very spontaneous and intuitive, or as a witch, or as the earth mother. It is likely to be associated with deep emotionality and the force of life itself. The animus may be personified as a wise old man, a sorcerer, or often a number of males, and tends to be logical, often rationalistic, even argumentative. The anima or animus is the archetype through which you communicate with the collective unconscious generally, and it is important to get into touch with it. It is also the archetype that is responsible for much of our love life: We are, as an ancient Greek myth suggests, always looking for our other half, the half that the Gods took from us, in members of the opposite sex. When we fall in love at first sight, then we have found someone that "fills" our anima or animus archetype particularly well!"

The Heroes Journey! 

1. The Mentor: The term mentor comes from the Odyssey and includes many characters that emulate the same role in storytelling. Yoda, Merlin, Fairy Godmothers, Gandalf, Morgan Freeman, Mr. Miyagi, Glenda the Good Witch, Rafiki, and Phillip Seymour-Hoffman from Almost Famous to name a few. “Mentors provide heroes with motivation, inspiration, guidance, training, and gifts for the journey. Every hero is guided by something, and a story without some acknowledgement of this energy is incomplete.”

2. The Mother: A good example of the mother archetype is the Virgin Mary. "The mother archetype is symbolized by the primordial mother or "earth mother" of mythology, by Eve and Mary in western traditions, and by less personal symbols such as the church, the nation, a forest, or the ocean."

3. The Shadow: The shadow archetype is usually a representation of the character's subconscious. Sometimes the shadow is neither good nor bad. Good examples are the snake from the garden of Eden, Mal from Inception, Venom from Spiderman, Mr. Hyde, Mila Kunis in Black Swan, and Tyler Durdan."An animal is capable of tender care for its young and vicious killing for food, but it doesn't choose to do either. It just does what it does. It is "innocent." But from our human perspective, the animal world looks rather brutal, inhuman, so the shadow becomes something of a garbage can for the parts of ourselves that we can't quite admit to."

These are a few of the archetypes you will find in most stories. They say there are only about 6 stories. Its a lot of cool literary psychology relating back to the heroes journey.

Thoughts

Going to come to class as an archetype on Wednesday! lol

Recorded vocals this week for Two Faces! It sounds pretty good, I am very proud of my efforts!

Yay for spring time :)

~SR

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