Completed Essay Review

To begin with I was quite daunted by the challenge of writing about a cultural item, while relating it to actual theories. But through extended planning and collecting of research, as well as by attending the sessions and lectures, the tasks became easier the more that I became engaged with it.

I started with Metropolis as my cultural item as not only am I a fan, so I wanted to research it's creation, e.g. use of camera angles, sets, etc, but I knew that it had a lot of themes in it and history attached. I wanted to keep it as broad as possible to begin with, to make choosing a specific area of analysis easier later. This proved to be the case as I actually had too much that I wanted to research into. However, the process of stripping back and focusing on certain points began to become quite natural after a while, as some areas were easier to relate to the theories and research. Also, I found that choosing an item from the start of the 20th century was incredibly helpful as it meant that there was a lot of information on the item already to study. At the same time, it was sometimes difficult to sort through all of this information, but by using a range of sources, from books, online journals to websites, it meant that a range of information, whether it was focused on Metropolis, or more general, was always available. My main problem was with the title 'Metropolis' - as it's so generic, it frequently brought up anything even remotely related.

The actual writing of the essay wasn't as problematic as I'd imagined it would be. I'd collected all of my research, I had a basic plan and I'd completed the poster which outlined my direction for the essay. Having notes compiled on my blog was useful for me as well, as it meant that all of my notes at least were in one place. Using these it was pretty easy to just get started and then to determine more structure to the essay later. I did have difficulty not including more information on the film's history and production as it is so interesting, but this would have slowed down the pace and diverted slightly off topic. The word limit was my biggest problem - I could have continued to write, so in a way it was good for making my writings concise, but it was quite taxing to develop a point with so few words. However, I liked to think that I focused in enough to anaylse the item to a degree where a point is picked out well. After completing my first draft, getting it checked by a lecturer and making amendments, like collecting extra research, helped to make the essay more analytical and to fit the brief. Plus it helped me to know that I was on the right track.

From the whole process I now have a much better understanding of what is needed to compile and write an essay, from research, drafting to the bibliography and referencing. As well as a knowledge of selected theorists' work. Using the information learnt here, I feel I can apply them to other areas of my practical work, particularity if working for a client, to understand how my work may be interpreted by an audience. Not only this, but I feel that I know more about my cultural item as well. I set out wanting to analyse how Lang had constructed the film, because it's style is so iconic. While I only partially focused on this in the final essay, I actually learnt a lot about how a cultural item exists in the world, surrounded by other items. Next time I think I'd like to collect more wider research as most was based around Metropolis. I found that reading around the item on related topics actually not only helped me to understand the film, but other areas and perspectives on culture. This way it might aid in understanding other texts as well, not just Metropolis. However, I feel that I've learnt a lot that can be taken and improved upon next year.

Essay Work

I was able to find a lot of material on Metropolis from the UWE library. Most of it focused on Fritz Lang and his filmography, but some offered more in depth reflection on the film. A lot of the same information was repeated, but most were great for picking parts of the film apart. It took a while to find information on Lang's wife, von Harbou (to say she was involved with the Third Reich, there really isn't a lot chronicling her life). By looking around the subject, at design books and books by suggested theorists, this helped as well to get a different perspective on what could be influencing the film and us as consumers.

This was only an efficient way to work because I researched which books were relevant beforehand. I think if I had picked every book up, I wouldn't have found half of the information that I needed. Still it guaranteed that the sources were reputable - which I've been careful with over the research, although the Eisner book did seem quite biased. Even reputable sources can be misleading in this way and had to be checked when doing an essay on opinion.

I managed to find relevant images as well, mainly from the film or the documentary Die Reise Nach Metropolis. I initially thought that I wouldn't be able to relate any images to the essay, as it focuses on the audience. But it's their interpretation of the item that's being studied, so illustrating this with images, that the reader can interpret themselves, actually works well.

Poster Exhibition

To advertise which Cultural Item we were analysing we had to create a poster, detailing our intentions for the final essay, e.g. which theorists and theories we're studying and why etc, as well as being visually appealing.

Below is my poster for Metropolis:

I really wanted to get across the style of the film as well as have enough room for all of the text - the poster image was perfect for this, as it communicates that it's about the film.

Original Film Poster:

While the altering of the poster (the bright red and yellow) relate to how it's been appropriated, especially by Moroder's Pop version. I took inspiration from that version's poster:

I did a bit of thumbnailing as well on how to position the text:

This helped to get a good idea of where the text would go. It was a bit of a challenge to have such a busy background and to fit the quite large amount of text on as well. It was useful practice though as normally I don't have to consider this amount of text on a visual document.



On Display:
( 04/03/14 - 07/03/14, F Block, Bower Ashton)

The poster helped me to cement some of my ideas and pushed me to prepare an outline of where I want to go with the essay. This made starting to write the first draft a lot easier then I previously thought.

W8: Class, Cultural Capital, Taste and Power

Key notes from this lecture:

The measurements for social class have varied over time. Marx determined them entirely by a person's relationship to 'means of production'. There used to be 3 main classes; Proletarians, Bourgeoisie and Aristocracy. These were determined by looking at your occupation, wealth and education.

However, a recent BBC initiative has determined that there are now 7 classes, which are determined by your relationship to the economic, social and cultural.

Taste can be said to be an indicator of class. Catherine McDermott stated that a critical judgement of human objects and culture creates a well trained appreciation of what is aesthetically pleasing. It depends on knowledge, connoisseurship and critical appreciation.

But what is aesthetically pleasing? A study of beauty/ branch of philosophy/ a colour palette?

Is taste learned as well? Historically, it's admiring and desiring objects that are deemed 'beautiful'. But can taste be learned and then taught to others? Can it be natural or neutral, or is something always affected by cultural capital?( the status gained from non-financial factors, like education, clothes, food).  Learning is said to start the moment that we're born and can reflect our family's culture, religion and value system. Our taste positions us withing cultural hierarchies as well though.

Pierre Bourdieu defined cultural capital. He was also interested in the construction and performance of class and in what roles education, consumption and cultural capital had in this. Whether there was a form of value associated with culturally authorised tastes, such as consumption patterns, attributes, skills and awards.

Also considered was whether the same cultural level means it is easier to connect and share with others. Here parent influence plays a large part as practicing the same activities may generate a taste or make it easier to relate to similar others.

Essay:

I found this lecture really appropriate and interesting for my essay as reviews are basically centered around personal tastes. As it appears that there has always been a mass evaluation of Metropolis, it would be useful to apply McDermott's theory to see why, when we're all developing tastes, that we could have ended up with one mass opinion and at set times in history? Highlighting contributing factors would help this as well.

Essay Planning: Film and Documentary

As I'd not seen it in a while I needed to watch Metropolis again to see if I could see any themes in the film myself. I also watched the accompanying documentary about the film, Die Reise nach Metropolis (Dr. Artem Demenok) and it's recent reconstruction to get a better historical background on it.

Below are all of my notes.

Die Reise nach Metropolis notes start here

 From watching Metropolis I found that a lot of the theories from Elaesser's book were really apparent. What was useful though was getting my own perspective on the film - I'd been reading a bit of negative material on it, so it was great to watch the film and remember my own opinion on it. This should be useful for linking in how different experiences influence our perception of cultural texts.

The documentary was incredibly helpful for getting an overview of Metropolis's history, in particular how it's been viewed, edited and received from it's conception to the most recent restoration.

I'll build on these materials and my own notes for my essay, looking at how the film is interpreted through the decades.

Essay Planning: Further Plans

Developing ideas for essay:

 

 Another point to add is how Walter Benjamin's theories apply well. (re-produced art. Meanings coming from moment of consumption).

Elsaesser:

(p17) "Metropolis's combination of sophisticated design with radical naivety of mythic cliches in the mode of a self-referential mise en abyme is now a familiar feature of mainstream film-making, almost a condition for entering the international market in the first place. Like Steven Spielberg's 'politically correct' (i.e. timid) fairy-tales or George Lucas's Star Wars saga, Lang and von Harbou's film shows the 'imagineer' at work, rather than the artist striving for self-expression."

(p21) Elsaesser lists multiple references and provides image evidence.

 The clock image would fit perfectly for the poster: references focus on time.

 (p55) Reference to 'The Vamp and the Machine'
"...Freder's castration anxiety and the fetishised image of woman did indeed receive ample textual, as well as contextual attention. In his essay 'The Vamp and the Machine', Andreas Huyssen took up two traditional Weimar motifs, the anxious male and the intellectuals' technophobic cultural pessimism."

I think definitely exploring different interpretations of the film over the years and comparing them, focusing on the political and cultural relevance, will be interesting. There's von Harbou's contribution, the USA's interference with it's screening, the Nazi period, Lang's fleeing of Germany, Lang's extensive use of Expressionist references, it's modern viewing and how it's now a cultural reference itself.

Essay Planning: Initial Plan

Few notes on what topics I could research more for my essay.

 

I really got into the idea of how the film can be seen in a social and political context, but more over how frequently it's seen in different lights on these issues. From it's initial screening, it's reception in America, over the Nazi period, the late 20th Century to it's re-release in the 21st Century, it seems to gain a different meaning from each period. Over the years, people/ cultures seem to have wanted to take control of the interpretation of the film.