POST 4: Myths and Heroes

Myth and Heroes

I'm going to talk about the notion Myth and Heroes . First I would like to give brief definition of the notion. A myth is a popular belief or story that has become associated with a person, institution, or occurrence , especially one considered to illustrate a cultural ideal.

A hero is the protagonist of the story , the principal male or female character in a novel, poem,or dramatic presentation or a film. It can also be a modern-day hero, a person who has performed a heroic act or simply our own personal hero, our role model, who we look up to.

The Martian

The Martian is a 2015 American science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott based on Andy Weir's 2011 novel The Martian. Matt Damon strats as an astronaut who is mistakenly presumed dead and left behind on Mars.

  

During an expedition on Mars, the astronaut Mark Watney is left for dead by his team-mates,a storm having obligated them to take off as matter of urgency. But Mark survived and it is alone from now on, without way to leave on a hostil planet. So he is going to deploy all the means to contact the earth.In 225 million kilometers,his team-mates try to organize a mission to get back him at the risk of their lives.

                                                        
       

In my opinion Mark Watney illustrates the notion of Myth and Heroes. First he is like a ''Robinson Crusoe'' because he is surviving of a storm and is lonely in a place where there is nobody who live there.Even if he has not the qualities of the traditional hero , he still embodies  the idea of the modern and fictional hero,because he is an ordinary person in as extraordinary circumstance.He is  going to appeal his intelligence and his ingenuity. He is confronted with himself in Mars. Because there nobody and it’s an extreme solitude because it is another planet and another world.

   

Alone on Mars,he has resources in food limited which cannot allow him to survive until the arrival of the next mission. Thanks to the science he arrives to grow some potatoes. Mark Watney is also a scientifical hero because he have a camera with him and that he uses it as a newspaper for the scientists, so that they can be inspired by his experiment in case he would die. For example he arrives to do water with some fuel by realizing a chemical transformation.

Thanks to his courage and his determination he become an hero with whom we can easily fasten.

POSt 6: An Art Exhibition Review

Pop Art Myth

This exhibition called "Pop Art Myth" , have took place at the Thyssen Museum in Madrid from June10 to September 14,2014.
  The exhibition can be seen in Internet by a Virtual Visit which is very productive. The Thyssen Museum is located in Madrid at Paseo del Prado 8, 28014.And fort more information i add the link of the exhibition :

  http://www.museothyssen.org/microsites/exposiciones/2014/mitos-del-pop/index_en.html#ancla 

Pop Art Myth, opens with several collage by Pop Art artists like Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warold, 
Robert Rauschenberg etc. They have introduced on their works artist who have become a myth and have achieve sucess in the dream factory, like Marilyn Monoe ,Marlon Brondo. For Pop Art any image was recyclable and every object could become art . and that is What the artists like Andy Warold did . The object which have existed during the late 50's and early 60's.                   
                                                                                                                                                                   

                                                      

Andy Warold, Bigtorn Campbell's soup can 1962                                              Andy Warold, Brillo Soap Pads 1964                     

This exhibition has reunited many pieces of pop art artist like Andy Warold, Richard Linder or Wolf Vostell. They introduced in their pieces the traditional collage from Cubism and Dadaism. 

                                                     

                 

                         Wolf Vostell, Marilyn Idol 1962                                              Richard Linder , Thank you , 1971

  The exhibition is divided in many section which is related with the type of art which is presented.
I think that this exhibition is very productive and very complex at the same time. Because there are a lot of pieces with different compositions and various forms of reperesentation. For example we pass from a collage to a painting. Through the pieces we saw the particular characterictic of each artists.
The particularity which make this exhibition very interressnte is the presence of the color on all pieces . This gives an illumination.Personally, I think that in this exhibition that nothing it missing. All the pieces are appropriated because they have a good esthetic.
The works that i value the most are the ones where there is Marilyn Monroe. 

I would like to emphasize most on the fact that there are animated character who are represented. For example Mickey Moose is very present on many pieces.It brings a diversity on the exhibition . It enables different types of people from different ages to enjoy art.

Look Mickey, 1961

                                         

I have chosen  this pieces by Wolf Vostell, called Marilyn Idol. First i would like to say more about Wolf Vostell. Wolf was an german a painter and sculptor . He is known because he is the pioneer of the fluxus movement (contempory art) and of his technical like the De-coll/age. In particular the piece which called Marilyn Idol.

Wolf Vostell

First it seems that the piece is very interesting. Because it is made by collage ( the artist have superposed different image) and decollage . It´s a  very personal work and he has surpassed the limits of the original. The papers which are used seems to be the page of many magazine where Marilyn Monroe appears. The artist have made a decollage, we can see that because the is some part of de collage which is riped .This collage give an effect of something vintage and the unfinished work. It also shows that Marilyn Monroe is more than icon she is a myth.And that she appears in many magazine.

The color of this work are very equal . In order words the artist stayed in the same tone of color.

This exhibition is very interesting because we learn a lot on the technical of many artist.And i would advise you to go on the interactive visit.

      

        

MARILYN IDOL, 1962

                    

 
    

Into the Wild

POST 2 : Chris/Alexander & the myth of the noble/good savage in Sean Penn's Into the Wild movie

Chris/Alexander in Sean Penn Into the Wild

A representation of the noble/good savage

A noble/good savage is a literary stock character who embodies the concept of an idealized indigene, outsider, or "other" who has not been "corrupted" by civilization, and therefore symbolizes humanity's innate goodness. In English, the phrase first appeared in the 17th century in John Dryden's heroic play The Conquest of Granada (1672), where in it was used in reference to newly created man. "Savage" at that time could mean "wild beast" as well as "wild man".
The idea which "the good savage" lives in a heaven on Earth before the original since developed in the XVIIIe century, having its foundations at the explorers and the conquerors of the Renaissance.The myth of the good savage allowed the contemporary writers to develop a shape of social criticism on the aberrations and the injustices of the society.

a) What does Alex seem to believe about the wild/nature as opposed to society/civilization? To what extent does he embody the myth of the 'noble savage'?

Alex seems to believe that in the wild he can be himself and make its own decisions without being to criticize by people in particular by his father. We were able to see, at the beginning of the movie in the scene in the restaurant, his father criticized and wanted to check all the Chris's choices.Chris was fed up with his parent's hypocrisy.
At the same time as, Chris shows towards our society a certain disgust , he is sick and tired of her .It is show when this one, leaves having a walk in the streets of Los Angeles. He feels bad and horrify by what surrounds him it.He seems to think that the nature represents a place which are not be contaminated by the human.

Alex embodies the myth of the noble savage because he lives alone into the wild far from civilization and without means of communication. He lives with the bare minimum.

He lives in perfect harmony with the nature,he hunts for eat . But he is not totally a noble savage because he comes from a society. He was condition by society and knows how she works.

b)What does he hope when going to Alaska/into the wild on his own? What is he longing for?

Chris hopes to be happy and free and that he can live alone with barely anything ,in the wild.His goals is to find the ultimate freedom. Chris hopes to dicover a life without responsabilitiy,possession,people and money.He eventually burnt his money and cut all his card. This would enable, to forget the past because, his parents liars to him and his sister during all his life.He is longing to learn on himself , to know what he is able to do alone.He wents to discover new horizon and make his own story. 

c)What basic truth(s) about living close to nature does he fail to grasp (=understand)? Illustrate with concrete situations taken from the film.

 He fails to grasp that the nature can change because Chris went to Alaska during the winter and he had crossed a freeze river to join the "Magic Bus" but many time later , when he decided to make the inverse way ,he fails to cross the river because the thaw (melted the ice ) caused a very strong current . So he begins the prisoner of the nature. He fails to grasp ,that there are other predatords in the nature. For example , when he killed a moose , he did not manage to keep the meat fresh because the flies laid eggs in that turned into maggots.Before that Chris wants to kill a femal moose but he cannot manage to do it because he sees the baby of the animal. That, shows that Chris has a heart . After we can see that at the end of the film, Chris is starving because he doesn't find wilg game. He becomes crazy , and he doesn't make attention of what he do and what he eats . He finally , eats a poisonus plante and dies . He forgot that the nature is very dangerous. 

d)Is he a good savage or a romantic? Justify.

 I think that he is a romantic and a noble savage. Even if he is in contraction with the idea of "good savage " . He also represents this idea because this one lives in the wilds and he is in accordance with her. In order ,he has lived and born on this society that he thinks she is bad.He is a romantic because at the end of film Chris seems realizes that he badly needs relationships as he has become scared and lonely in the wild. he eventually understands that he will never see his loved ones again.

e) Is it really possible and/or advisable to go back to a state of nature when one has lived in society? Why or why not?

I think that it's very difficult because we are accustomed to live in the society. And we have not the technical to live in the wild . We are on society  which is very based on the consummation , all is more easy .People have neither the courage nor the motivation to do this . their also haven't the time .We can see that on the film chris at the end has regrated his choice.

But It could be possible but for a very short duration.

                         The Idea of Progress

   As an introduction to the idea of progress as a whole, please check the worksheet on