Creative Project: "The Journey Through"

"The Journey Through" by Martin Yee

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FD9AY8Xc1E

    I spent one entire night reading the complete Carl Jung chapter in Man and His Symbols, and I went to sleep shortly afterwards. The morning after, I woke up from an exceptionally vivid dream that when I could remember and visualize clearly as if it was a “vision”. Having read Jung’s chapter, I just sat there on my bed, thinking and trying to figure out what this dream meant or what my unconsciousness was trying to tell me. Thanks to Jung, I became aware that my dream wasn’t “meaningless” and I did not disregard the dream as if it was “just another dream”. Instead, I utilized the new tools supplied by the Jung readings and analyzed my dream. After five minutes of replaying the dream in my head, I was finally able to decipher some of the inner workings of my dream.

    In this dream, I wake up lost on top of a snowy mountain, wanting to find and go back home. I encounter a friendly woman who agrees to help me find my home, so we embark on a journey across a valley with killer insects, a hot dry dessert, the town with the train station, and eventually we hit my expected destination, anticipating my return home, only to find nothing but empty fields across the landscape. When I woke up from this dream, I was really confused by the strange ending and I couldn’t comprehend it. Some questions that popped up in my head were, “Where’s my home?”, “What happens next?”, “What’s the significance of the woman?” and so on. Equipped with new analytical tools, I realized that my dream was telling me that my home was not a physical place. In the dream, I was obsessed with the search for my home and I failed to realize that the journey was my “home”. After I had awaken, I was then able to figure out that “the journey through life is my home” was the main message brought from my unconscious into my conscious.

    After learning about archetypes in Jung’s readings and in my English 214 class, I farther analyzed my dream to identify archetypes within the dream. Archetypes are universal symbols that generally symbolize the same concepts for everyone.  In my dream, the killer dragonflies are an archetype for the obstacles and negative emotions that one encounters throughout life, such as the catastrophes that test our ability to survive in this world. Another universal symbol is the companion that I made during my journey because she represents the people we encounter in our lives, whom we share our journeys with. The companion(s) may also represent the love interest(s) or it could represent friends, families, or acquaintances that have helped or guided us through life and also involves the help or guidance that you have provided to others. As shown in my dream, a journey involves traveling and mobility, which represents the ever changing scenery we encounter each and every day. As the Japanese poet, Matsuo Basho put it, “Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home.” No two days are exactly the same and each new day that we experience gives us the opportunity to grow and open our eyes wider. In Plato’s terms, mobility represents the steps we take in life as we attempt to move out of our personal “caves”.

    After experiencing such a vibrant dream, I knew immediately that I had to base my English 214 Creative Project on this dream because I wanted to share my “vision”. Right away, I knew I wanted to recreate this dream and present it in a movie format. Marshall McLuhan once coined the term, “The medium is the massage,” and even wrote an entire book under that title. Under my personal interpretation, I believe “The medium is the massage,” means that a medium has the ability to transfer or “massage” messages, ideas, and forms of thought processing from the medium producer to the medium viewer. Having read McLuhan’s work, I recognized the importance of using the correct medium to deliver the vision that I wished my audience to experience. For my Creative Project, I picked the most engaging mass medium available, the motion picture, which primarily engages the visual and auditory senses. I initially wished to transfer this dream into a realistic medium such as a live action movie, but since I didn’t have the multi-million dollar budget or a Hollywood Studio, I settled for a more practical means of conveying my dream. With the strict time constraints, I realized that the best method for depicting my dream would be in animation style, such as a slideshow or live graphic novel.

    Originally, I wanted to use computer programs to draw out scenes for my movie, but I wasn’t “tech-savvy” enough and failed to draw a stick figure even on such a simple platform as Microsoft Paint. So, I finally decided to go with hand-drawn illustrations (with the use of markers and color pencils) that I ended up scanning onto my computer to build my movie. The illustration process involved an extensive trial and error process because it has been four years since I last took an art class and I was out of practice. I finally decided that I was satisfied the scenes that I had drawn, so I began working on the stick-figure cut-outs. To produce my motion comic, I had to place my stick-figure cut-outs on top of my background sceneries and scan them for each individual frame of the movie. Then I had to write dialogue for my movie and select appropriate music and audio that would do justice to my movie.

    After presenting my Creative Project to my English 214 class, I was not entirely satisfied with the product because I noticed slight details that I left out or went wrong. The movie did not turn out exactly the way I had imagined it, so I revisited my movie and made minor edits to correct the faults that I witnessed during the classroom presentation. Now I can say that I’m satisfied with the final cut of this film (supplied by the links above) and can rest peacefully. Even though this project was tedious and challenging, I was compelled and motivated to complete this art piece because it felt awesome to transfer a part of me into a piece of work that can be viewed by others. This English 214 class has taught me that not only is the outside world important, but the world inside is just as important, if not more.

Imagery on Album Cover

Image: "Let It Enfold You" - Senses Fail (album cover)
Artwork Done By: James Rheem Davis
Source: http://www.giantsumo.com/id71.html

Facts:
The image appears to be a photograph taken, but has been photo shopped.
The photograph is taken of a man in a white colored bathroom.
The entire image is distorted, there are blurs and smudges.
The man in the photograph is wearing a black suit, white collared shirt, and a black tie.
The man has his right hand placed on what appears to be the bathroom mirror.
The man is staring into the bathroom mirror.
Instead of the man’s reflection, the mirror shows an image of a man in a similar outfit in a red back ground, full of flames and tree branches without leaves.
The man in the burning image has his mouth wide open and his eyes are white.
Inferences:
The burning image is not actually a reflection, but it is the image of what he sees of himself and his environment.
The “reflection” of the man has mouth wide open and eyes rolled back because he is screaming in pain.
The burning environment is causing his “reflection” great distress.
The man’s reflection shows his true inner emotions that are not shown by the image of the man, himself. 
Judgments:
This man is weak minded and weak willed.
This man is scared of the world.
This man’s life is a “living” Hell.
This is a catchy image, because I feel like I can relate to it and makes me want to buy the album. 

Propaganda By Images vs. Art

      Imagery exists everywhere I turn and it’s nearly impossible to hide from it. Whether we like it or not, we are being exposed to images produced by the media. Imagery has the power to mold our way of thinking and allows businesses to brainwash us into becoming their consumers. I can’t think of a better example than the San Francisco Giants and their recent “World” Series Championship win. Today, a million people attended the Giants’ Championship parade and celebration ceremony in San Francisco. All these people were covered in their Giants’ merchandise, which consisted of orange & black clothing, fake beards, “SF” caps, jerseys, towels, and pom-poms. “Okay … Giants won it all. So, what? Why is it so important?” I say. When I think about it, the Giant’s championship really isn’t that important to me or any of us. After their win, it’s not like the Giants’ are going on a parade where they pass out money to everyone. Instead, the Giants’ are the ones who want to take our money! Those one million attendees of today’s Giants’ celebration have fell victim to the imagery produced by the Giants and the media. One million people skipped class or took a day off from work so that they could attend a ceremony that they believed was “important” due to image propaganda. This image propaganda was developed and broadcasted through ballgames at the ballparks, live coverage of Giants’ games on TV, billboards on buses and bus stops, catchy slogans like “Fear The Beard” or “Come See The Freak”, ad campaigns, and local news stations skipping their regular programming to cover the Giants’ hype (which only farther contributed to the Giants’ hype). These Giants fans were made to believe that they are buying a “superior” product through this aggressive propaganda through images.

      After reading “The Image Culture” by Christine Rosen, I asked myself: “Are images a completely negative influence on me?” My answer is “no” because I believe there are positive aspects of the image culture that Rosen does not go into. In Rosen’s article, she mostly attacks the image culture by saying that we lose our ability of judgment by allowing the media control our thoughts and actions through the use of images. I agree with Rosen that imagery may be used as propaganda, but Rosen misses out on the use of imagery as an art form that artists may use to express and share their images with the public. Art is another form of imagery that doesn’t act as propaganda, but allows its viewers to interrupt the image for themselves instead. There are paintings that are viewed by numerous people and each viewer will give their own interpretation of the painting when asked. After viewing Inception (film), I came out of the theater with different ideas and analysis of the movie than my brother. Artistic imagery inspires the viewers to construct their own thought processes, whereas image propaganda almost completely constructs uniform thought processes in their viewers.


Article Source: "The Image Culture" by Christine Rosen

Movies: A Medium of Expression

    Ever since I could remember, I have been exposed to this form of medium called the movie. Looking back at my childhood, I can say that I viewed a few good movies. But now, I am surrounded by so many great movies that it’s almost impossible for me to keep up with. In my early childhood, I enjoyed watching movies like Aladdin, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Power Rangers. In my mind, those movies were good because they had a fairly decent storyline with some entertaining action here and there. On the other hand, the lame movies were the crappy 80’s action movies that came out every other week. The 80’s was a period dominated by “D-rated” action movies that showed nothing but a linear plot filled with mindless action, consisting of gunshots, punches, and explosions every 5 minutes. These 80’s action movies could not be any more predictable.

    Marshall McLuhan once said, “Movies are much better than ever!” Just as McLuhan had described, the introduction and use of CGI (computer-generated imagery) in movies has made recent movies much better than the previous non-CGI era. CGI added a new medium within a medium. CGI became a medium for movies because it allowed movie makers to express ideas, images, or the movie experience in a manner that movie makers previously were unable to produce. During the pre-CGI era, movies were limited to cartoon drawings and what producers can put together with their actors, props, and sets. Movie makers are now granted more freedom to depict their visions to their audiences. CGI permitted movie makers capabilities to translate their abstract ideas into images that audiences immerse themselves in without having someone in the audience point out, “Oh, that spaceship looks so ‘fake’, it’s obviously a toy-sized model.” CGI gave birth to the modern movie era, where almost anything is possible and the imagination of movie makers can be shared with its viewers. Movies like the The Matrix, Spider-man, and Watchmen would not have been so great if they were made during the pre-CGI era. These movies would have been limited by the process of being filmed under real and existent props, actors, and sets that all have to abide by the laws of physics. If these modern superhero movies were produced in the pre-CGI era, they’d all end up being dwarfed by the lack of “super powers” because these “super powers” had to be filled in by special effects of CGI. The modern movies that viewers see in theaters today are allowed to be created because the rules of the CGI medium permit these movies to exist.

    I am currently pleased by the constant introduction of new technology in the movies. Each new technology brought into the film industry enhances the abilities of movie makers to portray their visions, ideas, and experiences to their audiences. Recently, the new improved 3-D technology is being utilized by the film industry. It takes the whole movie experience to a more intimate dimension than the 2-D movies. A few weeks ago, I saw Resident Evil: Afterlife in 3-D and I was quite impressed by my first experience of viewing 3-D zombies. Contemporary movies are no longer restrained by the old laws of the previous movie era. Movie makers will continue to produce increasingly better films as more mediums are introduced into movies, which will farther relieve the restraints held on this medium called the movie.

Image Taken from: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/3d-stereo-technology,1023-2.html

Facebook?

    When I first made my Facebook account, I didn’t think much of it because I already had a MySpace account. At that time, MySpace was the most popular internet social networking site and I would browse it once in a while. Then suddenly, the entire MySpace community plus everyone else migrated to Facebook. I was heard from everybody around me, saying that “Facebook is so much better [than MySpace].” So, I ditched MySpace and started using my Facebook account. These people that added me (or I added them) were not really my “Friends”. These “Friends” were former classmates of mine, whom I hardly ever see in person. The first thing I noticed was the status updates. I became aware that most of my “Friends” were posting status updates, videos, and photos to express their large egos. In other words, they were showing off.  Then I saw that most users had well over 500 “friends”. I only have a few close friends and I find it hard to imagine having 500 close friends.

    I thought to myself, “What is the purpose of Facebook if these users aren’t really ‘Friends’ with one another?” To me, it appears that Facebook is a site where people put up illusions of themselves. Whenever you put any information on your Facebook page, that information is made public to all your “Friends”. When a user posts “last night was fun”, that user intends for all his or her “friends” to see it. And then I asked myself, “Why would this person want everybody to know that he or she had a great time last night?” Well, there’s always a reasonable answer. The most reasonable answer is probably because Facebook users wish to satisfy their need for attention. This becomes a “game” where Facebook users battle each other by comparing their self value against each other. Facebook is very much like the High School popularity contest, except without the “high school” part. I find Facebook as a flawed technological social medium because of its structure. It is structured in a format where the users may project “shadows” of their true identities.

Nightmare

    Plato’s “cave” reminds me of my own personal “cave” that I struggle through. Throughout most of my life, I have been caged within my own personal “cave”. I have been a prisoner to my own mind by falling victim to my own fears. I can remember when this all started. In the 10th grade or sophomore year in high school, I had a nervous breakdown. Before my nervous breakdown, I was a happy, energetic, social person. After this event, I was never the same again. This nervous breakdown was both mental and physical. Mental in that my parents had put so much pressure on me that summer to learn to drive, learn to swim, get a job, and get good grades to go to a UC college. At the same time, it was physical because I had stopped eating and my diet basically consisted of soda and Gatorade (that’s a lot of acid). I broke down and sunk deep into my shell. I became so afraid of everything that I could hardly leave the house. It was hard to raise any confidence for myself since I had developed acid reflex and an eating disorder. It was really hard for me to do anything because I felt like throwing up constantly. I still had to go to school next year, because my parents forced me. But, I wasn’t the same kid in school. I was in a constant state of panic while at school. I was afraid and really nervous during class participation and class presentations because I was afraid I might throw up in front of everyone. I was really sad and disappointed by what my life was and all I could think about was suicide. I felt that living this way was torturous and that the only way I could find peace was through death. I never actually committed suicide, but it was on my mind 24/7.

    Eventually, I did begin to fight my fears. I put in personal effort to expose myself to the outside world and I was able to gain some confidence back, though it was gradual. After graduating high school, I did eventually learn how to swim, drive, got a job, and went to a city college for school. I did everything at my own pace, even though others might consider it as "slow". At times it has been very hard for me, but I was able to keep my fears at bay. Two years ago, I met my girlfriend online and took a big step by getting onto a plane (first time flying alone) and flew 3,000 miles to meet her in person. She has given me inspiration and strength to live. I’ve gone a long way, but I still haven’t defeated my fears. I’m still very nervous about attending my new school here at San Francisco State University. It’s my first semester here and I don’t know what to expect. I guess I’m still in the process of crawling out of my “cave”. I know that I’m locked inside my own “cave”, but I want to get out because I do want to live the life that I desire. One thing I know for sure is that it’s not fun to live inside a cave.

The Journey Through

    After reading a translation of Plato’s “The Allegory of the Cave”, it reminded me of my own curiosities of life and the search for the Ultimate Truth (if there is one). As a human being, I was born as a creature of curiosity. I have always looked at the world that we know as a puzzle and I guess my purpose in life is to figure out “where do I fit within this puzzle?” I’m pretty sure the rest of the world is and has been asking similar questions. After all, religion has been one of the strongest driving forces in human nature. When I was born into this world, I knew close to nothing. My natural instincts drove me to eat, sleep, and play. Looking back, I see my younger self as a piece of clay being molded into fashion as society sees fit. But as I grew, I did begin to learn of my environment.  As school years stacked upon me, I began to understand society’s expectations of me. Social protocol called for me to finish grade school, then graduate college, get a well paid job, start a family, and then die (hopefully after I’ve seen my kids grow old). Eventually, I realized that the world that I see only contains parts of the truth. I became conscious that I was an actor playing out a script that I did not write.


      In Plato’s “The Allegory of the Cave”, the man (or prisoner) steps out of the cave and is shown light. This man eventually realizes some of the truth, but this isn’t the end. One day, the man steps on the moon and realizes that there are stars and galaxies. Another day, the man steps into a lab and splits atoms apart to discover more truths. Man has always been driven by curiosity to take steps towards the truth. Each time man takes a step, he steps into a whole new, stranger world that he doesn’t understand yet. I noticed the irony employed by Plato’s “cave” metaphor. Plato compares the fire in the cave to the sun outside. In my perspective, I believe Plato is saying that the world outside the cave is no different than the world inside the cave and that if the man keeps taking steps, he will eventually end up back where he started, a circle. Plato is saying that the world outside the cave is no more “real” than the world inside the cave. I feel exactly like this “man” from Plato’s “cave” metaphor. The more I learn, the more confused I become. I find that every answer that I get only brings up more questions. As my vision of the world opens wider, I begin to see more and more things. I see things that I don’t understand and the truth becomes more elusive. After learning so much and knowing so little, I come to realize that I might be looking in the wrong direction. Maybe, I shouldn’t be looking for the answers outside. Maybe, this world is an illusion and I should be looking inside myself. Perhaps, if I look deep enough … I might be able to find the Ultimate Truth.