Quote It Research It

Finding Research Sources Study Task



Week 3    
17 October - 23 October
Choosing a quotation and theme to work on for the next few months... and finding initial research responses to our choice. 


Theme: History

Quote: "The history we read[...]though based on fact, is, strictly speaking, not factual at all, but a series of accepted judgements"
Carr E.H. (1961) What is history? Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Undertones: History - Ideology - Propaganda - Linear - Non Linear - Truth - Revisionism - Politics - Power

LCA Library

• Fredrik Stromberg, 741.5. (2010) Comic Art Propaganda: a graphic history,

              United Kingdom: ILEX

• Paul Ricoeur, 306 RIC. (1965) History and Truth,

              Northwestern University Press

• Jacques Ellul, 306 ELL. (1968) Propaganda: The Formation of Men’s Attitudes, Vintage Books e. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc

JStor

• Quentin Skinner (1965) History and Ideology in the English Revolution

              The Historical Journal, Vol. 8, No. 2, pp. 151-178, Cambridge University Press

              Accessed on: 17-10-16

• David Shambaugh (2007) China's Propaganda System: Institutions, Processes and Efficacy

              The China Journal, No. 57 , pp. 25-58, The University of Chicago Press

              Accessed: 17-10-2016

• Leonard W. Doob (1950) Goebbels' Principles of Propaganda

              The Public Opinion Quarterly, Vol. 14, No. 3, pp. 419-44,  Oxford University Press

              Accessed: 17-10-2016

• Cynthia Herrup (1996) What's in a Name?

              Journal of British Studies, Vol. 35, No. 2, Revisionisms, pp. 135-138,  Cambridge

              University Press          

              Accessed: 17-10-2016

• Hadley Cantril (1938) Propaganda Analysis

              The English Journal, Vol. 27, No. 3 (Mar., 1938), pp. 217-22, Published by: National

              Council of Teachers of English

              Accessed: 17-10-2016

Google Books

• Ann Curthoys, John Docker (2010) Is History Fiction?

              UNSW Press, https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Is_History_Fiction.html?id=qQXXlCaApe4C&redir_esc=y

• Jeff Riggenbach (2009) Why American History is not What They Say

Ludwig von Mises Institute, 2009

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=HFEHf7J33moC&dq=history+revisionism&source=gbs_navlinks_s

• Edward Hallett Carr (2008) What is History? Penguin

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=eL9JNAAACAAJ&dq=what+is+history&hl=en&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwjJp6jx-enPAhVkJ8AKHdPkBlAQ6AEIJTAA

• Phillip.M.Taylor (2003) Munitions of the Mind: A History of Propaganda, Third Edition

Manchester University Press https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=_KS3fBvjkicC&dq=history+propaganda&lr=&source=gbs_navlinks_s

Websites

• What are some recent examples of revisionist history? https://www.quora.com/What-are-some-recent-examples-of-revisionist-history

Accessed on: 28-10-16

• Schulze-Wechsungen , Political Propaganda “Politische Propaganda,” Unser Wille und Weg, 4(1934), pp. 323-332. http://research.calvin.edu/german-propaganda-archive/polprop.htm

• Global Research (2016) Truth, War Propaganda, CIA and Media Manipulation

http://www.globalresearch.ca/truth-propaganda-and-media-manipulation/23868

Animation Analysis

Week 2 
10 October - 16 October

Animation Genres

In the same way that we can characterize the music we listen to and the films we watch, animations fall under similar groupings. Examples are Political, Abstract, Paradigmatic (exploring the concept of paradimes) and Primal (containing animalistic themes, in turn making us question our humanity).
 In more detail:


RE NARRATION uses expectations of stories as stimuli for re-direction. This may take a well known story such as Red Riding Hood, or less well known stories and narrative strands from the point of view of an object, animal or form without a voice. The creator benefits from being able to make a narrative from established themes and motifs whilst avoiding expected outcomes. (Source: P, Wells, Basics Animation 01: Script writing)

More Sex and Violence (Bill Plympton) This animation contains multiples skits containing the concept of re-narration, one playing on the phrase "Elvis has left the building" where Elvis has an iron stomach and eats everything in his sight, so when he inevitably vomits it back up, the narrator calls out "Ladies and Gentleman , the building has left Elvis".



DECONSTRUCTIVE animation is when it steps out of its own boundaries, where a character might speak to the audience, or a way of showing how the artist is involved, hinting to the illusion of how an animation is made. Used for comedic or intellectual effect.


Manipulation (Daniel Greaves) is a perfect example of this, where the artist is seen to be directly interacting with his character; and where the audience is allowed an insight of the drawing and design process. The hardship that the character goes through and their fluctuating relationship is used for comedic effect.



FORMAL animation is one that focuses intensely on one characteristic: narrative, character, colour, sound/music, technique or movement. By focusing and possibly repeating a technique, we can be taught something about the narrative.

For example in the Roadrunner series the Roadrunner makes the Coyote fall off the cliff in every episode with the repetition making it more and more funny, but without interrupting the plot. Therefore this device teaches us how to set up a narrative structure to tell jokes; as well as making us consider the premise behind fairy tales and how the "baddies" are always doomed to fail.

We also see repetition in the Looney Tunes cartoon series with the phrase "Eh, what's up Doc?" being delivered by Bugs Bunny. Tex Avery commented that "We decided he [Bugs] was going to be a smart-aleck rabbit, but casual about it. That opening line of 'Eh, what's up, Doc?' floored them. They expected the rabbit to scream, or anything but make a casual remark. For here's a guy pointing a gun in his face! It got such a laugh that we said, 'Boy, we'll do that every chance we get.'" [source: http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/406400.html]

A 2000 Year Non-Linear History of the Image

Week 2   
10 October - 16 October

The main theme that I took from this lecture was Power. This being the power of art and its ability to create sub cultures and cult like behaviour around it. But also whether the power comes from the creations or the select individuals who decide what is or isn’t “Art”. We therefore explore the elitism amongst institutions, artists and the audience.

An attempt for Magicians of the Earth at the Pompidou Centre to be a cultural display and show that Western Art holds a continuity to Aborigine Art in fact just eluded to the idea that Modern Western is the eventual end point to Aborigine Art, undermining its cultural importance. This cultural appropriation is either a kind gesture of representation from the West, or an accidental racist commentary where third world culture is hi jacked by the first world yet again.  

In the same way, we see the same issues portrayed in the past as the present. In response to female artists not being represented in galleries, The Guerrilla Girls bought advertising space outside of these institutions with a petition of “Do Women Have to be Naked to get into the Met?” A report* says that in nineteenth and twentieth century galleries, not even 5% of the artists represented in the galleries were women, while 85% of the nudes were female. This is an example of Art being a weapon against Art.

Similarly, the expressive and emotive art of Jackson Pollock was employed as a cultural weapon by the CIA to retaliate against Soviet Russia’s oppression of Avant-Garde Art. This questions whether Modern Expressionism would have been so successful without this overriding power.

Why is it that we allow a select group of people to agree on what is powerful image making? It is questionable whether the Mona Lisa does in fact evoke emotions in crowds of people; or whether they want to be involved in a cultural obsession with this priceless bullet proofed painting.  So is it the art or the institution with the power?

*http://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/Collection/art-object-page.139856.html

Visual Literacy and Language of Design

Week 1 
3 October - 9 October

Maybe being communicative artists living in a digital age means we are unaware of how we have grown to learn a visual language so fluently. We are able to interpret symbols, images and type whilst discerning the message that is being communicated to us. Visual Imagery teaches the idea that pictures can be read, under the convention that they are a combination of universal and cultural symbols.

We are constantly flooded with this imagery, and instinctively hold an awareness of the relationship between image and intention. We lose sight of the strength that this visual language has as it becomes an intrinsic part of the language that we already recognize.

"Why is this not an apple?"
Given the image of a crisp apple, we suggested connotations of health, but when a smaller apple was placed next to it, our original image became the bigger apple, or Big Apple, thus indicating New York City. This is an example of a Visual Synecdoche- when a part is used to represent a whole.

A Visual Syntax refers to pictorial structure and visual organization of an element.
Visual Semantics are the way an image fits into the cultural process of communication and the relationship between form and meaning.

Semiotics (the study of signs and sign processes) are another part of visual communication that we have a passive understanding of and include at the core of our work, starting at storyboard level in an animation, as we need to have an understanding of linguistics and non linguistic sign systems in order to accurately portray a character or story message.