Liza Donnelly: Drawing Upon Humour For Change.

Subject matter: Gender Roles and Femininity

Style: Simplistic Cartoons

Opinion Perspective: 

• From a young age, women are told how they should act
• Women often push the stereotypes onto each other rather than helping each other, however, using humour to show the shared experiences that women have can create change. 
• “Humor relies on the tradition of a society”
• Context is everything → each culture has their own “rules” (traditions)
• Cartoons can help us make sense of the world
• Humour can make us question the ridiculous standard which is set in society (many of them hypocritical). For example, the cartoon which showed a girl saying should I be a “good girl” or “slut” shows labels which are placed on women and when said by the character, which was a small girl audience can see how harmful labels like those are. 

Act 1 introduced us to the main characters Iago, Othello, Cassio, and Desdemona. From the opening scene, Shakespeare explores the concepts of deception as well as its antithesis, loyalty. In that scene, Roderigo accuses Iago of tricking him into giving him money. At this point in the play, the audience isn’t introduced to Othello or Desdemona however they can understand that Iago doesn’t like him. Iago is shown to be a hypocritic and deceptive person. Iago sent “three great ones of the city” to woo Othello in hopes of winning the promotion however continues to say that Othello was self-interested and gave the promotion unfairly to “ One Micheal Cassio, a florentine”, here audiences can pick up on Iago’s hypocrisy as well as his views on non-Venetians. Line 39 once again shows Iago’s views on non-Venetians as he calls Othello a “Moor” which meant a Muslim or African, a non-European, an outsider. Iago justifies his hatred to Othello by claiming that the pass over for a promotion was the reason however as the play progresses he starts adding more reasons such as his growing suspicion that Othello’s “done his office” which means slept with his wife. Iago is an insecure character who finds a reason to dislike everybody. He is shown as an unreliable narrator/character as, after his description of characters, those characters walk in and act very differently. Othello and Cassio seem to be the opposite of Iago’s description. Othello is a well-spoken, diplomatic, and a trusting character whereas Iago describes him to be self-interested and predatory. Cassio was described as a “bookish theoric” who doesn’t deserve his role, however, when they reach Cyprus in Act 2 Governenr Montano praises Cassio for he has “served him” and seen him in the field. Desdemona was described by Iago as naive, cunning, and deceptive, Iago also objectifies Desdemona, as if she were a prized possession or a sexual object. Through Iago’s character, Shakespeare explores the negative side of many large concepts such as racism, appearances/ deception, vengeance, hate, and lies, whereas most of the other characters show the opposite love, loyalty, truth, and community.

How is Othello characterised by others in this scene? Use quotations to support your interpretation.

Othello is characterized as an old black man using bestial imagery in his representation to dehumanise and villainize him. At the beginning of the first scene, audiences are not sure who Iago and Roderigo are talking about, however, there is a clear hatred towards that person.

• In the 12th line, Iago describes who we find out to be Othello as “loving his own pride and purposes”, essentially calling him selfish and opportunistic. Iago feels unfairly passed. over for the position of lieutenant saying that “Micheal Cassio” flattered his way into the job, though audiences are not given proof of that, rather audiences see Iago’s quest to send “three great ones of the city, in personal suit to make to make me his lieutenant”. Iago is portrayed as a hypocritical two-sided character who looks out for himself, manipulating Roderigo in the process.
• In the 33rd line the word “Moorship’s” is used when referring to Othello, the word moor which is used in a religious context to refer to Othello as a Muslim or someone with dark skin. The word “Moor” is repeated throughout this scene dehumanizing Othello’s identity to colour rather than a complex human being.
• In line 67, Roderigo says “Thick-lips” drawing attention to Othello being “different” from them appearance-wise.
• Iago later in line 80 describes Othello to be a thief, stealing Desdemona and the value and inheritance which is tied to her. “Look at your house, your daughter, and your bags! Thieves, thieves!”.
• Iago then describes his military commander as “an old black ram”, a ram is a sheep. This uses bestial imagery to dehumanize Othello and paint him in an animalistic way.
• Line 93 explicitly uses the word “devil” to describe Othell, using diabolical language to paint him and a demonical villain.
• From line 111 to 113, Iago insults Othello, characterizing him like a horse. ” you’ll have your daughter covered with a Barbary horse, you’ll have your nephews neigh to you, you’ll have courses for cousins, and jennets for germans”. Jennets are a less valued species of horse when compared to german, Iago insinuates that if Othello has kids with Desdemona they will also suffer sue to Othello being a black man.
• “To the gross clasps of a lascivious Moor”, In line 125 translates to has been caught by a lusty man, making Othello seem like a weird creature.
• Roderigo describes Othello as a “stranger” in line 135, as he is a non-Venitian who is not being accepted into the community, but just being used for his military skill.

Rumours of war by Kehinde Wiley is a statue of a black man riding a horse. Statues are symbolic of Society and what is important in them. Kehinde Wiley challenges the representation of black men in art and society by placing them in positions of power. This artwork was partially inspired by the confederate statues which are erected on Monument Avenue. During the US civil war when the confederacy and Northern USA states argued about the abolition of slaves. Confederate statues honour the individuals who helped support the slave trade. In recent years the question of the removal these statues due to their racist history and symbolism has been in the spotlight. In 2020 with the murder of George Floyd many statues have been torn down. Wiley changes the conversation by adding new statues rather than only discussing removing them.

Personally, I feel that statues which represent racist individuals should not be commemorated in public spaces. Many believe that removing statues reduce and try to hide the history of the country or constrain people’s freedom of speech. However removing a statue isn’t going to change a high school curriculum, rather make individuals in the society more comfortable. When these statues stay up they can become symbols of racism. Removing a statue with bad sentiments doesn’t mean that history is being changed however it shows that we longer stand for such things and are moving ahead. The idea of not judging people based on current values is valid, however, we are living in the present, there is no need for these statues anymore, read about them in history books. I like that Kehinde Wiley created new works challenging these ideas, I think new art is crucial for shifting the conversation to what we as a collective do want to commemorate.

 

link to the ted talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9Ihs241zeg&ab_channel=TED

This common assessed task wanted us to analyse an advertisement/ PSA by the Singapore kindness association and the way that visual and written text work together to create meaning in this advert. In my next CAT, I will spend more time planning my essay and making the paragraphs have overall themes and analyse the evidence in detail.

Kehinde Wiley’s recreation of Jacques-Louis David’s famous ‘Bonaparte Crossing the Grand Saint-Bernard Pass’, both express the theme of power. Wiley, however, challenges the traditional canonical representations of power shown in David’s painting by altering the elements of composition, colour, fashion, and background and incorporates them with a modern twist of his own.

 

Though the composition is very similar and uses the traditional equestrian symbolism as a portrayal of power, there are small changes in positioning and facial expressions which produce different meanings. In David’s painting, the horse has a lighter face but the darker shadows on its legs and back give it a more sinister look. On the other hand, Wiley’s painting has a smoother texture giving it a more majestic look. In both paintings, the positioning of the arm and finger-pointing ahead shows a leader with a vision. Wiley, however, portrays a serious yet kind and welcoming expression of a black leader in contrast to David’s rather harsh and arrogant expression of a white leader. This is to break the stereotype of how society portrays black men as dangerous and violent.

 

The use of fashion and colour in the two paintings give us an insight into the culture and identity of the leaders. The repetition of yellow throughout Wiley’s piece, in the hues shadows and cape, give a warmer and friendlier feeling. Yellow and gold are mostly associated with wealth and power compared to David’s red cape which can be associated with blood and danger. Wiley dresses his man in modern streetwear influenced fashion including yellow Timberland boots, red branded wristbands, a white bandana and a loose camo pant-shirt combo. David dresses Napoleon in a fancy traditional military uniform. The clothing in Wiley’s piece represents black culture and challenges the predominantly white culture represented in portraiture, and awards power to a black man. Wiley also found his sitter by scouting the streets, the anonymity of the sitter challenges how portraiture was typically for monarchs and famous military leaders. Wiley added “WILLIAMS” which is the name of the sitter into the engraved rocks, positioning him with the powerful leaders.

 

The background has red and gold embellishments of a Baroque pattern and small white sperm swimming throughout it. The colour scheme represents power and royalty. Jacques-Louis David explored Napoleon being a powerful leader who overcame the treacherous Alps, playing on the idea of a man overpowering nature. In Wiley’s piece the alps are replaced with the baroque pattern which can show the sitter overcoming the challenge of racism and toxic masculinity. The tiny sperm which are scattered in the background is Wiley’s way of challenging hyper-masculinity present in traditional portraiture.

 

In this work, Wiley puts a black man in a position of power, this is a key part of his work as he aims to promote diversity in art. He uses the elements of design to make the subject powerful but more modern and approachable, something his viewers could connect to. He uses contrasting colours and smooth textures to make the figure look elegant and challenge the negative stereotypes, the powerful equestrian imagery and composition to show him as strong and powerful.

These are stills and my analysis of Scenes from How to get away with murder. The post-it notes have my thesis outline (of which there is also more written on the backside of the post-it note.