Essay Question Research 2

I have been reading an article in which a psychology student writes a series of questions to Dr Michael J Hurd who is an "American psychotherapist, broadcast radio show host, author, public speaker, and commentator" according the wikipedia. The title of the article is 

'Escapism vs. Refueling: Good? Bad? Or Indifferent?'

The student asks “What do you think of escapist subcultures such as Cosplay and gamers? Is this healthy behavior for people or is it deviant?”. Hurd answers the question and broadens the context of it comparing these activities to even more common methods of escapism such as shopping. he acknowledges that these escapist behaviours could take over someones life and become their primary purpose but no more so than sports or using the internet. 

"The dose makes the poison"

Dr Hurd says " don’t find anything inherently irrational or wrong – which I define as against the interests of advancing one’s life – in these activities. The question with fantasy is whether you lose contact with reality in the process of taking part in the fantasy. In other words, not whether you become psychotic or delusional (unlikely), but do you become so involved with the activity that it becomes your primary purpose in life rather than merely a method of refueling.

Refueling refers to something like a hobby. It means an activity you can pick up and put down at will. You might go days or weeks without it, as you become involved with primary relationships or career/school activities in your daily life. But you can pick it up again any time."

This is the first time I have come across the term refuelling in the context of its relationship to escapism. I'm not sure it is a necessary term unless you automatically assign a negative or extreme connotation to escapism. If escapism helps us to understand the world we live in or makes us happy when the world around is bringing us down then how do we tell when we should get back to reality? when does positive become negative?

I think this answer may overlook the possibility of an escapist activity creating a new world for that person that provides all they need in terms of social interactions and career. 

Essay Question Research

"We all have evolved to the live this kind of ‘double-life’. But for such a duality of consciousness to function effectively, Time is of the essence. By this I mean that without regularly ‘taking time out’ from the daily round to regularly ‘mull things over’ in the Mind…one is less likely to distinguish between significant and trivial experiences, and so come to develop some smidgen of wisdom as life takes its course. And the accumulation of self-knowledge is likely to be more than minimal—until one dies never really knowing one has ever lived."

This is a quote from Graham collier who is the author of 'Art and the Creative Consciousness' and ‘What the Hell Are The Neurons Up To?’. The quote id taken from an article he refers to as a short essay called 'Escapism and Contemporary Life'. He talks about the importance of spending time analysing our experiences to help us understand the world. We have become more and more used to being bombarded with information all day everyday whether it be through television, computers or our phones. Collier addresses the problem with this modern method of escapism saying. 

So I would suggest that the real form of ‘Escapism’ nowadays is the compulsive need to constantly be engaged in living an electronic life of fact-finding, problem-solving, video game playing, and personal chit-chat…And this at the expense of retreating from life’s ‘goings-on’ from time to time to exercise the Mind by mentally re-living events…in the course of which one discovers unexpected, intuitively held sensibilities and attitudes concerning the way things have been going: the overall result being the ability to ‘see’ oneself as very much an individual—very much one’s own person.

He suggests that we have become constantly plugged into news feeds for almost every waking hour in our lives and have lost our individuality and sense of self in the process. I think we need time to make sense of our environment. people struggle to take in information that challenges their beliefs. I remember reading a study about how long it takes people to admit they are wrong, I will have to see if I can find the study again. 

Which is more dangerous escapism or a complete lack of it?

Essay Question 2

I got the idea to research escapism from a quote by Neil Gaiman. He disagrees the way escapism has become viewed as negative in modern culture.

“People talk about escapism as if it's a bad thing... Once you've escaped, once you come back, the world is not the same as when you left it. You come back to it with skills, weapons, knowledge you didn't have before. Then you are better equipped to deal with your current reality

as a writer of escapist fiction should you try to tailor your work as a positive influence on your readers lives?

I think it would be interesting to see if any studies have been done to evaluate the effectiveness of escapism as a coping mechanism. Escapism is a broad term that can include a wide range of activities from drug use to reading. Is it the case that there are good and bad kinds of escapism? is any form of escapism a good thing as long as it is used in moderation?

There seems to be a view that there is a risk of becoming lost in the world that you escape into and it becomes more important than your 'normal' life. Some people manage to make careers from there escapist activities, have they managed to create there own world? better than the one they previously inhabited?

Neil Gaiman touches on the idea that escapist fiction can do more than just provide an escape from everyday life but that it can teach you how to deal with your life, giving you knowledge and skills to help you cope with the stresses and strains of the real world.

I think that chosing escapism as a basis form my essay will provide me with interesting research material and could provide an inspiring basis for my practice.

Essay Question

This is my original research question that I decided on a few weeks ago. I like the question and think it would be an interesting avenue to research. While working on another module I started to look at escapism and why it is viewed in such a negative way. I have started looking into this as another option as the basis of my essay. I am going to brainstorm ideas and see if I can find some useful pre existing research into escapism. I am not going to completely abandon this question at this point but I want to make sure I am exploring different possibilities at this stage.

Triangulation

Yesterday we were given 3 texts and asked to read one of them then as a group determine what was the common theme between them and how they relate to each other. We determined that the text 'Visual Pleasure and  Narrative Cinema' by Laura Mulvey was the primary text as it contained the most information about the common theme and it was referred back to in both the other texts. Laura Mulvey is a Cine-psychoanalyst, film theorist and feminist who is currently professor of film and media studies at Birbeck, university of London. This text in an analysis of the representation of gender in film. Mulvey addresses the ideas of phalocentism (the privileging of the masculine (phallus) in the construction of meaning), scopophilia ( sexual pleasure derived from looking at erotic objects), objectification (the act of treating a person, or sometimes an animal,
as an object or a thing), narcissism (the pursuit of gratification from vanity or egotistic admiration of one's own attributes) and exhibitionism (behavior that is meant to attract attention to yourself). Mulvey proposes that women are always portrayed in film as passive because films are aimed at young straight men and an active female character would be emasculating. Mulvey believes the current structure of cinema should be torn down and replaced with a feminist avante-garde cinema. Mulvey obviously feels very strongly about her theories and analysis of gender roles within film and the cultural implications of this.

John Storeys text 'Cultural Theory and Popular culture' is in support of Laura Mulveys theroies and analysis. John Storey is a cultural studies theorist and professor at the University of Sunderland. in his text storey talks about the male gaze and how in film we are lead to view the world and women specifically from a heterosexual males point of view. he talks about the pleasure of sexual cinema needing to be destroyed which ties in to mulvey's idea of a feminist avante-garde cinema. Storey also talks about scopophilia and women being presented as sexual objects in film from the viewpoint of the male character. The male characters are meant to appear as idealised version of ourselves ( if you are a heterosexual male), the women are desirable and portrayed as sexual objects inviting the male viewer to put them selves in the place of the male lead character and to objectify women in the same way.

Richard Dyer is a Film studies professor at Kings College London specialising in cinema, queer theory and the relationship between race, sexuality and gender. Dyer's paper 'Stars and Audiences' is an analuysis of spectatorship theory addressing life mimicking film and how people identify with 'stars'. Dyer seems to have the least emotional investment in the subject, he references a large number of sources compared to the other texts and tries to put forward counter arguments to aspects of the theory and its research. Dyer addresses possible flaws in Mulvey's theories such as narrative film often including views of male characters bodies and looks between male characters. He then goes on to provide additional analysis of this from another source that says looks between male characters are purposely made threatening or aggressive to remove any possibility of them being interpreted as erotic. Dyer is approaching the subject from a different perspective incorporating queer theory which breaks down the simple male, female boundary. The text also addresses the direct effects of 'stars' on the spectator. Spectators mimic the characters they see in films whether it be pretending to them as children or trying to look and dress like them as adults. Dyer looks at the positive and negative aspects of this. He addresses the work of Jackie Stacey who argues that women are left in a "contradictory discourse" as the styles from movies where based on being an object of male desire but that they offered an escape from the material difficulties of women in Britain at the time. I don't think the latter is in any way a justification for the former but it does highlight the attempts by Richard dyer to produce a balanced perspective.

Study Task 1

johnny cupcakes is an illustrator and clothing designer that has built a successful business and international following based on a some vibrant fun designs and a a very simple premise. Johnny cupcakes reuses the same 'fat kid' character with imagery from american diners that are an iconic staple of american culture. He draws references from popular culture through films, cartoons, music and so on, his work could be described as "a tissue of quotations drawn from the innumerable centres

of culture." He often uses references from cult classics and iconography from the past focussing on 80's and 90's culture. This may give some indication of the illustrators age but once the image is introduced to the viewer any of the meaning disappears as the viewer redefines the image based on their own knowledge. "Writing is that neutral, composite, oblique space where our subject slips away, the negative where all identity is lost, starting with the very identity of the body writing." I think the same can be said for illustration as the images only gain meaning as they are given it by the viewer. I was born in 1984 and grew up listening to hip hop so I am drawn to the clothing made by Johnny Cupcakes that features those specific references, however there are plenty of designs from the same era that I am not familiar with and so have no impact on me aside from the design itself.

It is the viewer that dictates the meaning of the image based on their own experiences, culture, biases, prejudices and loves, "The reader is the space on which all the quotations that make up a writing are inscribed without any of them being lost; a text's unity lies not in its origin but in its destination."

Taking into account the target audience is a huge part of being a successful illustrator and although in al lot cases there will be no huge differences in knowledge in the multicultural, information age we live in it is still easy to stumble into the discovery through conversation, reading or illustration that your view point is yours alone and is based on a very specific set of influences. Andrew Saris proposed a set of 3 criteria based on François Truffaut's ‘politique des auteurs’ (auteurs theory): "the director must demonstrate technical expertise, have a stylistic signature that is visible over the course of several films and, through his or her choice of projects and cinematic treatment, show a consistency of vision and interior meaning." I think this set of criteria can be applied to the work of johnny Cupcakes, his work maintains a signature style both through the aesthetics of his designs and his repeated use of set visual devices such as characters and logo's.

Although the subjects of Johnny cupcakes work vary there are common themes that run through his body of work. His work is based often based on popular culture from the 80's and 90's, he does not try to subvert the original meaning of the subject matter but rather celebrate its memory, it is very much a nostalgic look back at that era. Some of his work can not really be given a specific date such as his designs based on Halloween, baseball or other American cultural institutions, however the common theme could well be childhood memories. I think this is an interesting choice of subject matter in that its entire appeal depends on the viewers previous knowledge of the subject matter, this could seem like it would limit a target market but what it does is give your work an instant appeal to a large audience even if they are not familiar with your work. The success of this choice of subject matter shows the power of popular culture and the fondness we have for childhood memories.

Although Johnny Cupcakes choices of subject matter could inform us about his life, age, nationality I think the only thing it tells us for sure is that he understands the strength of his subject matter and the size of the demographic he caters to. His work engages the interest of his audience at which point we assign meaning to his illustrations based on our own experiences.

Getting Started

I have been trying to think of interesting themes for this years COP project. Last year I enjoyed researching the idea of universally recognised symbols. I would like to try and find a theme that will directly impact my practice. I have been trying to brainstorm ideas that I find interesting and that will help me to push the boundaries of how I view illustration.

• I think it would be useful to try and use methods that I don't normally use in my practice during this module to try and broaden my practice.
• I would like to investigate the Reappropriation of subculture/counterculture by high fashion. I find it interesting that counter cultures often lead the way in innovation of fashion and art and their aesthetics are invariably adopted by high fashion labels once they reach a certain level of popularity. is it possible for these labels or designers to reproduce the message of these cultures without losing the essence of it in the process. Kidult is a graffiti artist from Paris who targets fashion stores for their reappropriation if graffiti and the 'Vision' section of his website makes for interesting reading. Kidult Vision
• I would like to investigate the influence of Japanese art of western art and design.
• How fiction benefits society. Neil Gaiman Fiction
• How Genre works Neil Gaiman and Kazuo Ishiguro
• How can Illustration change the world Ted Talk JR
• cultural appropriation
• praise for appropriation