Wednesday, July 28, 2010

#3

In this clip we see a silly example of the Oedipus complex that Freud elaborates on in his work The Interpretation of Dreams. As we discussed in class the past week there are a plethora of examples and spin offs of the Oedipus complex in the media since Freud’s time. This clip exemplifies how advertisers can use fundamental plot lines of stories, such as the Oedipus complex, to market their product.

In this short view the reason that the husband is able to get his wife’s attention back from their baby is by giving himself baby soft skin by using a Schick Quatro Titanium razor. However nonsensical this short is, its thematic and contents is in line with Freudian thought, with a slight variation. In the clip the baby, while it is still an infant, fights for the attention of his mother. This however is impossible in reality; nonetheless Freud’s description of this parallels this one. Freud suggests that the results of the Oedipus complex can affect children, specifically boys, and the effects thereof. He explains, “There is an unmistakable indication in the text of Sophocles’ tragedy itself that the legend of Oedipus sprang from some primeval dream-material which had as its content the distressing disturbance of a child’s relation to his parents owing to the first stage of sexuality. At a point when Oedipus, though he is not yet enlightened, has begun to feel troubled by his recollection of the oracle, Jocasta consoles him by referring to a dream” (816). This dream that Freud references can be parodied with the pictures on the wall of the basement that the baby is working out in. The recollection of what used to be, what he longs to have again.

I want to theorize a little bit about the last scene in this video clip, the baby confronts the father in the bathroom when he is shaving. Although the baby does not see itself in the mirror we can contemplate what may have happened in such an instance. Perhaps, I am straying too far from the topic with this theoretical exploration but up to this time, the video has not shown the child in the presence of a mirror. To reference Lacan as well, he explains, that before a child has seen its reflection in a mirror he/she characterizes him/herself based on the mother figure in the child’s life (1164). Suppose for a moment that the child saw his reflection in the mirror when he went to attack his father, what could have been different? I do not know that there is an answer to this, he could possibly have not had the desire anymore to attack the father, or he might have been too intrigued or surprised by his own appearance. There are various different scenarios that could have played out, assuming that this were an actual possibility. Another scenario as Lacan explains, “…in the case of a child [practices] a series of gestures in which he experiences in play the relation between the movements assumed in the image and the reflected environment, and between the virtual complex and the reality it reduplicates—the child’s own body, and the persons and things around him” (1164). I know it is a silly sort of thing to contemplate but as this video shows there are various different ways that the Oedipus complex can be displayed and I think that a combination of Lacan’s mirror stage could have created an entirely new element to this story.

The story of Oedipus can be a little bit confusing; however this video clip, though it may be silly clearly exemplifies this competition between father and son, or as Lacan broadens it, mother and daughter.

Works Cited

Freud, Sigmund. The Interpretation of Dreams. The Norton Anthology of Theory & Criticism Second Edition. Ed. Vincent Leitch. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2010. 814-824.

Lacan, Jacques. The Mirror Stage As Formative. The Norton Anthology of Theory & Criticism Second Edition. Ed. Vincent Leitch. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2010. 1163-1169.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BA35ys91QJU&feature=related

Analysis #3 Clip

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

analysis #2

Analysis #2

Part 1

As I walk past the extravagant building I wonder what looms inside its walls. I see it every day on my walk to and from the bus stop and marvel at its beauty. In the morning it is an unimaginable white, the whitest white that I have ever seen. But at night, that is when its vast beauty is truly visible. The stained glass windows are illuminated with a welcoming glow. The lights surrounding the vast building emphasize its every angle. The gold plated man blowing a horn on the top of the tallest pillar is shinier than ever. I wonder what the inside looks like.

Years I have been passing this extravagant beauty and always wondered what it is, what’s inside. Today I venture to the marvelous white building, I am determined after six years of goggling at it to finally approach it, to stop wondering what the lights inside are lighting, and to see for myself. I walk curiously around the corner onto Charmant Drive and see huge white gates leading up the vast grass and into a surrounding parking lot. I approach the gates and see that there is a place for some sort of attendant to be at the entrance but the quaint room is vacant. I head towards the opening between the two gates and see the sign out in front on the matching white cement wall. It reads, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Mormons I think to myself. This building is owned by the Mormon Church. My brow furrows, and I stop before I enter the gates. I stare up at the beautiful building; it is closer than I have ever been to it before. I can now vividly see the grass and extravagant flower arrangements all around it. I glance at the sign again and read it softly to myself. Then I turn around and head towards my house without a turning back.

Part 2

For this analysis I am going to focus largely on Edmund Burke, specifically his ideas and opinions on the sublime. To begin, in the first part of this analysis I created a story of a man curious about a beautiful building that he sees every day, and one day he decides to take a closer look and find out exactly what it is. This is the first principle that Burke explains in his work “A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful.” He explains that it is the simplest emotion in the human mind (454). The story that I created also relates closely with what Burke explains as the motivation for one’s curiosity and that is passion. Various theorists that we have encountered thus far have touched on passion and how strongly it influences are decisions and more importantly our perceptions.

The two elements that I have explained thus far relate largely to Longinus’ depiction of the sublime. However, a very important difference that Burke exemplifies in his work is that the sublime is not secluded to pleasurable things alone, but also includes the painful or the negative. In relevance to the perception of the character that I created in part one of the analysis I want to refer to Section V. Joy and Grief in Burke’s text. In this section he explains the cessation of pleasure and that it affects the mind in three ways. He writes, “If it [pleasure] simply ceases, after having continued a proper time, the effect is indifference; if it be abruptly broken off, there ensues an uneasy sense called disappointment” (457). I will elaborate on the third principle after I relate this back to the story. The unnamed protagonist ventures to an extravagant building out of curiosity; however, when he discovers that it is a Temple for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints he is disappointed and decides to leave without fulfilling the goal that initially started his journey. The third stage or mindset reached is explained by Burke, “if the object be so totally lost that there is no chance of enjoying it again, a passion arises in the mind, which is called grief” (457). I found this definition of grief to be quite diverse to the common knowledge of it today. Here Burke explains that grief is not today’s understanding or deep sadness or depression, although he does not rule that out, he merely explains that the passion that was sparked by curiosity has been lost. The object of one’s desire can no longer be reached, or the desire to reach it is no longer relevant. In relationship to our character, he once walked past the temple awestruck and curious, and yet when he finds out what it really is he is disappointed and no longer desires to see the inside of it.

Although this is a somewhat silly story the explanation is valuable and relative. Burke explains that pleasure and pain are not opposing forces per say. Or more importantly they are not predicated on one another like the master/slave relationship proposed by Hegel. But rather, that they are two entities that create sublimity and beauty, and that there is a grey area between the two known as indifference.

Works Cited

Burke, Edmund. “A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful.” The Norton Anthology of Critical Theory & Criticism 2nd Edition. Ed. Vincent B. Leitch. New York: W. W. Norton & Company Inc., 2010. 454-460.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Presentation Reflection

For our presentation, presentation number one we pretty much split everything evenly into four aspects. I came up with the idea to play jeopardy and Cherie organized the layout. We decided to each choose one philosopher to create five questions on. The philosopher that I selected was Aristotle and I came up with five different levels of questions. Jessica made the PowerPoint, and ran it during our presentation. I created the rules, broke the class into groups, and facilitated the game. On a nonacademic note I also provided the tasty prize for the winning team.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Analysis #1 you tube clip

Analysis #1 Response

Analysis #1—Classic Literary Criticism—Aristotle
For this first analysis the class has been discussing classical literary criticism focusing on three classical theorists; Gorgias, Plato, Aristotle, and Longinus. In order to illustrate an understanding and correlation between one of these theorists and society today I have created a connection between one of these theorists and a YouTube clip. The theorist I have selected is Aristotle, focusing particularly on his later text On Rhetoric. I will explain the YouTube clip, which illustrates the first segment of the presidential debate of 1960 between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon.
This YouTube clip is from the first segment of four derived from the first ever presidential debate which aired on September 26th 1960. This debate is between Senator John F. Kennedy of the Democratic Party and Vice President Richard Nixon from the Republican Party. One key element to this presidential debate is that it was not only the first ever presidential debate, but also the fist televised debate. However an interesting widespread dynamic is that those listening on the radio believed Nixon to be the winner; whereas, Americans watching the debate believed Kennedy to be the clear winner. This segment is dominated by Senator Kennedy’s opening argument, and the last three minutes by Vice president Nixon’s rebuttal. For this reason, I will focus largely on connecting Kennedy’s remarks to the elements that Aristotle depicts in his text.
One crucial element that Aristotle elaborates on in his text On Rhetoric is his three appeals. These three appeals can be coupled with the “Kennedy-Nixon Debate ¼ (1960)” to explain how these appeals are still prevalent in society centuries later. Each of the three appeals is illustrated in this video in Kennedy’s opening. The reason that this presidential debate has so many correlations to Aristotle’s three appeals is because of persuasion. Aristotle writes in On Rhetoric, “Persuasion occurs through the arguments when we show the truth or the apparent truth from whatever is persuasive in each case” (116). Persuasion is key in any presidential debate, because each candidate is essentially trying to win their over country, or to triumph over their opponent. Therefore each of these three appeals will be prevalent in this debate.
The first appeal is logos or the appeal to logic. In any political debate or intelligible argument an appeal to logic is crucial. Kennedy adheres to the logical appeal by elaborating on relevant concerns that the American public is concerned with in his argument. He discusses topics such as the Cold War, the fear of communism, economic instability, slavery, and various other relevant topics. In doing so he uses evidence, names of Communist powers, and their plans to instill fear in the American public; however, comfort by his proposed resolution to the issue of the rise and spread of communism.
In using these relevant examples of real world issues Kennedy also elaborates on a second appeal; ethos. In focusing on these real world issues all Americans are facing, Kennedy gains their trust. He uses ethos by focusing on the fears and concerns of the American public, both foreign and domestic issues. By illustrating these he is describing how they can both affect the American standard of living. Since he is running for office he has various foreign and domestic information outlets that the American public does not have access to and therefore can be seen as an authority figure for America to trust in.
The final of Aristotle’s appeals that Kennedy uses is possibly the most influential; pathos or an appeal to emotion. Overall, regardless of the viable factual evidence given by the candidate, regardless of the points that he makes on foreign and domestic issues, the way that he makes a voter feel outweighs everything. This is when the dominating element of persuasion comes into play. As Aristotle describes in his text On Rhetoric, “[There is persuasion] through the hearers when they are led to feel emotion [pathos] by speech; for we do not give the same judgment when grieved and rejoicing or when being friendly and hostile” (116). Kennedy opens strong in this debate. He exhibits his goals and desires for the up and coming nation and for its people. He speaks of hope, freedom, growth and wealth in the United States. Each of these elements is so important to Americans. These are all examples of appeals to emotion that Kennedy uses in his speech.
It is clear that Aristotle’s three appeals are still prevalent centuries later in public speaking, and they can be applied to various other examples as well.

Works Cited
Aristotle. On Rhetoric. The Norton Anthology of Theory & Criticism Second Edition. Ed. Vincent Leitch. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2010. 115-119.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6Xn4ipHiwE&feature=fvw