Analysis #5 Poststructuralism and Postmodernism

Analysis of the open mic nights, controversial issues of voice vs. written word by way of Derrida and others from the post structuralism and postmodernism theory

It would be very useful if Jacques Derrida went to a poetry reading, if he had any interest in it at all, because he would be able to experience how reading off of a page more often than not, brings a work alive rather than dulling it. Many times, the spoken word is more powerful than written, due to the ability to control fluctuation in the rhythm and pronunciation, the levels of volume and tone, and other things like body language. Most often, we find that people, especially in these days, are visually wired, and have short attention spans. But with this in mind, we see that Derrida has a good point. However, writers of poetry and lovers of words would obviously say the opposite. That there is room to fight for the other side, that the written word does not compare, because, like Sartre would say, the meaning ends in the reader. Because of this, there are more avenues that one piece's interpretation can go down, rather than the one presented to us, already decoded through biased opinions and persuasion of rhetoric.
Derrida says that writing is a fall from the full presence of speech. That it is only a derivative. Someone like Donald M. Bahr would agree, in his article on transferring Native American oral poetry to the page. This is ingrained in their culture. But we must not underestimate the power of our minds to read the written word as if it were spoken, and the opportunity to have no voice but our own interpret its value.



Works Cited

Bahr, Donald M. Reading the Voice: Native American Oral Poetry on the Written

Page. Wicazo SA review: A Journal of Native American Studies 15.2 (2000) 153-157.

Web. 17 May. 2011. .

Analysis # 3 Reader-Response

Reader-Response theory using the "text" of Salvidor Dali himself and his paintings such as this, and Jean-Paul Sartre's theories

In art pieces, Sartre says "if they come from the depths of our heart, we will never find anything but ourselves in it. Though entitled "Autumn Cannibalism," at first glance we wouldn't think of these things. After staring at this picture without the title, it would be assumed that most people wouldn't think of cannibalism off the cuff. They might see arms, faces, some sort of human characteristics melded together with the environment and random objects. But as Sartre talks about the author, or in this case to draw a parallel, the artist, he says he does not see the words or the work as the reader or viewer does, since he knows them before writing, or painting them. He only "projects." He says it is directed creation. The text "does not serve my freedom, it requires it," he says.
For Dali, he had many endeavors and an eccentric personality. He had made a collection of jewels, and in speaking about one, said himself, Dalí himself commented that "Without an audience, without the presence of spectators, these jewels would not fulfill the function for which they came into being. The viewer, then, is the ultimate artist." In this way, he completely would agree with Sartre, who believes the meaning ends in the reader.
While many would look upon this painting and draw their own meaning from it, not many would think of cannibalism, or hopefully not, which shows that Dali had a strange, unique mind that only "projected" an instigator of interpretation, regardless of his inspiration or thoughts at the time. In this way, "art exists as fact when it is seen," not before.

Analysis #6

Just Ain't Right
Analysis on Feminism and Gender Studies through Genesis and the show Mad Men

It is interesting to see that Beauvoir starts out by bringing up the fact that people have discussed if women exist. Beauvoir says that we have all the proof; ovaries and such. She says "In truth, to go for a walk with one’s eyes open is enough to demonstrate that humanity is divided into two classes of individuals whose clothes, faces, bodies, smiles, gaits, interests, and occupations are manifestly different. Perhaps these differences are superficial, perhaps they are destined to disappear. What is certain is that they do most obviously exist" (Beauvoir).
And on to the question of what a woman is. This topic, as she says, was not easily written about with all the controversy and exhaustion. But I would like to highlight her statement that leads back to Adam and Eve. She says that "St Thomas for his part pronounced woman to be an ‘imperfect man’, an ‘incidental’ being. This is symbolised in Genesis where Eve is depicted as made from what Bossuet called ‘a supernumerary bone’ of Adam." Whereas most people cannot fathom that their equality be muted in any way, shape, or form, Genesis highlights the point that Eve was made from Adam's rib, and created as a helpmate for what symbolizes the head of a body, Eve symbolizing the body, which symbolizes the church, which we all know is a part of the head, and yet the head, holding everything together (representing Christ) is the Alpha and Omega, not the body. And so we have a text to consider with the feminist theories today. Her quote from Benda confirms this idea, that "'the body of man makes sense in itself quite apart from that of woman, whereas the latter seems wanting in significance by itself ... Man can think of himself without woman. She cannot think of herself without man.’"

Taking the show Mad Men for example, we see how women are discriminated and used, looked down upon and trying to be controlled. However, we see that man, as Beauvoir brings up, sees women as sex, and thus, this notion is brought into play as the men give way, appreciate, and extend grace, seemingly only for this reason, throwing the women into turmoil and confusion, but thus, gaining more confidence to be equal, socially, and in the work place. Now, we see that this is a place where the "other" is full blown. Eve was just as important as Adam, yet they had different roles. What we see today, is imperfection in God's perfection through these two beings, who even to this day, are continually struggling to be happy, just as feminists see that things just aren't the way it should be. And they are right. But then, what better to strive for God's perfection? Gaining a real sense of love, and therefore going about our daily lives with respect, concern, and understanding of the other gender, bringing relationships together not apart? Being ourselves in our specific roles as individuals and not putting men or women in a box?

Analysis # 7 Ethnicity Studies

Black Hair, Blonde Masks
Analysis on Ethnicity studies through cross cultural influences of America on Japanese fashion and maybe more

"The white man is sealed in his whiteness. The black man in his blackness"(9). Though Fanon Frantz brings out this concept in "Black Skin, White Masks, he reveals that the widely held, subconscious wrench that is thrown in is that "for the black man there is only one destiny. And it is white" (10) It is the ultimate place that he saw a certain class of black people drawing their visions from, their day to day goals and instillations of values for their children. Today we see a parallel, in the area of America still being a desirable place, the land of the free and better education; a place where people from all over the world want to reproduce the Hollywood style and glamor. Whereas Langston Hughes stands for identifying one's self not as a poet, but a black poet. Because he says "it is the duty of the younger Negro artist, if he accepts any duties at all from outsiders, to change through the force of his art that old whispering "I want to be white," hidden in the aspirations of his people, to "Why should I want to be white? I am a Negro- and beautiful! (1316).
So in this case, of the modern Japanese girls who bleach their hair and make their skin bronzed, we are not just dealing with fashion, but a desire to be like Americans in many other ways. From the older, more traditional generation, we see a new generation, adapting the culture and lifestyle of Americans. Langston Hughes would say that these girls, called gangurus, are Japanese, not American, and to be all that you are inside, not trying to conform to some idealistic lifestyle or different way of living than what they are used to for the sake of envy or what people will think of them. To hold on to your own culture and accept who you really are. I would like to think it is only for reasons of fashion, but you never know.

Works Cited

Hughes, Langston "The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain." The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. New York: Norton, 2001. 1313-317. Print.

Fanon, Frantz, Black Skin, White Masks. Trans. by Charles Lam Markmann. London: Pluto, 1986.