Opt. HW Media Exploration

Optional Homework Assignment (Apr 29. 2021)

Narrative COMPLEXITY IN TRANSNATIONAL CINEMA – FALL 2020

(link: https://interactivemediaarchive.wordpress.com/2020/12/11/visualizations-finals-for-mind-games-in-film-narrative-complexity-in-transnational-cinema-fall-2020/)

This set of projects reminds me of the theories about the gendered gaze and the destruction of aesthetics or alternative aesthetics in feminist theories from theorists like Mulvey in her essay “ Visual Pleasure and narrative cinema”. The destruction of the aesthetic depiction of what is shown on the screen resonates with me in the project of the rubix cube puzzle like rendition of the image. What was most notable of this project and how narrative is complexity pushes visualization and the comprehension of visualizations is that this project not only breaks the image into pieces but also more importantly the face. This notion is also carried forward in the second photo as well. The second image/project covers the idea of feminine trauma. It pushes me to think about how the destructions of the faces of the female body affects the viewer or spectator’s experience around interpreting and experiencing the work. From the face on the left you can tell from the jaw and lips and the separate eye but the covering of the face, if this photo were the original it would be very beautiful. However, with the destruction of the face the aesthetic inevitability warrants a different viewer experience. Thus, my understanding of feminine aesthetics is destroyed– hence the notion of “feminine trauma”. Both works push the viewer to reassess their notions of not only aesthetics but manipulates their gaze to a heightened level of reality. Just like how the notion and fear castration freezes the look, the destruction of beauty and the female body also brings interpretation of visual manipulation to a higher level of realistic and reflexive exploration of the spectator’s own human condition.