Medieval Post

One of the most noticable differences between The Last Judgement as depicted in the Romanesque era and the Early Gothic era, is that in the Gothic era, the tympanii has a much greater depth.  This depth creates a more three-dimensional, realistic illusion that engages the person viewing the image.  In the Gothic era, the image looks more realistic; the people are more natural.  This shows that art is moving to a more natural time, where people want to see realistic images. In the Gothic era tympanii, there is more order to the image.  On one hand, this shows what people wanted to see in art.  Along with a more natural look, they also wanted there to be order, which makes it more aesthetically pleasing.  On the other hand, from a perspective looking more on how they were thinking about religion, the beauty of the order and natural look of the people shows how Christianity was more accepted, and how they weren't only trying to scare people into repentance like what appears to be happening with the Last Judgement piece from the Romanesque period.  The Last Judgement from the Romanesque era is intended to remind the people who see it that they need to repent.  The images in this depiction are more demonic and distorted, with crowded bodies at odd angles.  The people in the image seem more animalistic and frightening.  This would, in theory, scare people into obedience and repentance.   This contrasts greatly with the symmetry of the Gothic tympanii with the lovely angels creating a frame around the focus of the piece, which is Christ.  This piece also shows an angel next to a demon, holding a scale as they judge those coming through.  The demon still serves as a reminded to the people that they need to repent to avoid a hellish fate upon judgement day, but there is more emphasis on the beauty of Christ and the goal of going to heaven than the threat of ending up in hell which is emphasized in the Romanesque piece.  

China Blog Post

In the the passage written by Ban Zhao, titled "Lessons to Women", Zhao outlines the proper way for women to behave.  She emphasizes that women should be submissive and serve their husbands and their families.  Her passage relates easily to Fu Xuan’s poem “To Be a Woman” as in the poem he describes how a woman is thought to be less important than the men and the way they are expected to submit to men and how girls aren't as valued as men, even when they're first born they aren't celebrated the way boy babies are celebrated.  Zhao also mentions this in her piece when she mentions, "Now to lay the baby below the bed plainly indicated that she is lowly and weak, and should regard it as her primary duty to humble herself before others."  This idea contrasts greatly with the image that Fu Zuan gives us of boys when he says, "Boys stand leaning at the door/ Like Gods fallen out of Heaven."

The poem from Liu Xijun, “Lament,” is also a piece that shows the suppressed state of women at this time, and accents parts of Zhao's essay quite effectively.  Xijun talks about being married off into a strange land, and Zhao mentions that she was married and sent to serve in her husband's home when she was fourteen years old.  Xijun's last lines are, "O to be a yellow snow goose/floating home again!"  She longed to go home to be with her family, but Zhao seems not only content there with these strangers, but she seems to feel it is so much her duty that she wouldn't even want to be anywhere different.

All three of these sources show that women were oppressed and taught that they should be submissive and weren't worth as much as the men, but interestingly enough, Zhau's attitude toward the situation was opposite of the two poems.  She didn't seem to feel like there was anything wrong with it, it was just the way the world for her was and those were the duties she felt were important, while Xijun and Zuan felt bad for the women in their society.

Antigone Review

Antigone is not your typical Greek hero, mostly because she is a woman, but she shares many heroic characteristics with those classic heroes such as Odysseus.  Like Odysseus, Antigone has nobility, she is courageous, and she has confidence in her own strength.  Odysseus shows his courage by going to war and bravely facing many dangerous situations, Antigone shows her courage by standing against Creon to do what she thinks is right.  Odysseus shows confidence in his strength by being a strong leader for his men and overcoming many trials in his long journey; if he didn't believe in his own strength, he wouldn't have been able to get through the situations they went through.  Antigone knows that if she breaks civil law to do what she feels is divine law and bury her brother that she will be killed, but because she knows her strength and knows what she wants to stand for, she show her confidence in herself and buries her despite knowing the consequences,  

In his funeral speech, Pericles mentions the Greek virtues, which are the power of adapting, versatility, and grace.  I don't think Antigone showed adaptability or versatility or else she probably would have been more obedient to Creon's law that her brother would not be buried.  She would have adapted to that change and went along with whatever Creon said.  While I don't think she displayed either of those characteristics, I think she did show grace as she accepted her punishment, even death, as a consequence of defying Creon to do what she felt was right.

Odysseus, on the other hand, I think showed all three virtues.  Over the course of his journey, he was put in many different situations and he had to adapt and be versatile to use different strengths of his, whether they be physical strengths or wit, to get himself and his men through the situations to get home, and through all these situations, he was still graceful and dignified.  

Death in the Sumerian and Egyptian Cultures

From reading the Epic of Gilgamesh from the Sumerian culture and from both reading parts of Last Judgment of Hunefer, and looking at the pyramids of the Egyptian culture, I would say that the two culture’s outlook on death are very different from one another.  

In The Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh is absolutely crushed when his best friend, Enkidu dies.  After his death, Gilgamesh is unable to stop grieving and can’t stop fixating on his own death.  He then decides to find Utnapishtim and ask him how he might have Eternal life.  After a series of events, Gilgamesh fails to achieve eternal life.

I think this epic says a lot about how the Sumerians felt uncertain and scared of death.  If they were more comfortable with it, I don’t think Gilgamesh would have grieved for Enkidu as he did, and I don’t think he would have sought out eternal life as he did.  

In The Last Judgement of Hunefer, Hunefer is led through the judgement hall and tested to see if he is worthy to pass through to the next life.  According to the Book of the Dead, there were 42 sins he needed to claim he was innocent of.  Some of the things on the list seem impossible to be innocent of, but Hunefer passed the test.  I think if the people of Ancient Egypt were more scared of death, the tale of Hunefer would be much more stressful and have more obstacles for the hero to overcome.  I think one of the reasons they don’t seem scared of death is because of all the preparations they make.  The Egyptian people are famous for their elaborate preservation of their bodies and for the pyramid burial chambers.  I think it made it easier for them to look at death with less fear because they knew the care their bodies would get post mortem.  

ALthough both The Epic of Gilgamesh and The Last Judgement of Hunefer deal a lot with death, I think their feelings towards death differ dramatically.  It’s interesting to see how things like how a culture deals with death can affect it’s literature so much.

Docutah: Road to the Globe

The documentary, "Road to the Globe" follows a theater company of Maori actors from New Zealand as they prepare to be a part of a Shakespeare festival involving 37 different companies from different countries all performing different plays at the Globe.  Making this documentary, the filmmaker was able to record a unique experience that not only can those actors treasure and share with their kids and grandkids and many generations to come, but also a great film to present to others so that we can have a peek into their culture.  

Throughout the film, the filmmaker would spend some time with a few different characters, interviewing them and allowing the audience to get to know them.  In a film like this, a documentary with plenty of great information, but not much action, it is important that the audience develops a kind of bond with the subjects of the film.  If the audience has an emotional attachment to the characters, they will feel more invested in the film and be much more intrigued to continue watching.

In making this film, the maker gets to show the hard work and long hours that the Maori people put into their production.  The theater company had their ups and downs and struggled to get to the Globe, but their efforts and teamwork paid off in the end.  As a filmmaker, showing the audience the struggles they had to overcome is a very effective tactic because whether we are watching a film, or play, or reading a book, we, as an audience, like to have someone to cheer for.  Having a goal that we want the characters to reach keeps us engaged throughout the film.  In this film we got to watch the actors overcome weaknesses as performers and also watch the whole company come together to meet their goals.  It made it more engaging to watch them work and struggle towards these things than it would have been if the filmmaker had simply showed their everyday work and just led us to believe that they would make it to the Globe without any hardships.   

I feel that this film’s subject was very interesting and it would have been a shame if this documentary was done poorly and did not express the amount of hard-work and dedication that went into the production that the Maori group took to the Globe.  Allowing character development, and showing the characters struggle, are to techniques that come together very effectively to convince the audience to care about the film.  This documentary will be a treasure for not only the people directly involved in the filming and play production, but also anyone interested in learning more about unique Shakespearean culture.

 

#1: Intro. to Self

My name is Sydney Haack, I’m nineteen years old, and this is my second semester here at Dixie State.  I am from Grants Pass, a town in southern Oregon.  I've lived there my whole life with my family, my mom, dad, brothers Joshua, Eli, and my sister Mason.  Grants Pass was a nice place to grow up, but there isn't much opportunity there once you graduate high school and I was getting a bit stir crazy and was ready for some change so I decided to move out of state for school.  My mom’s parents and five siblings all live in the Orem, UT area.  They’re a super close knit family, so I always wanted to move to Utah eventually and this seemed like a good opportunity.  Dixie State was a pretty random choice for which school to go to, I thought about going to Utah Valley University to be close to family, but something about Dixie really stood out to be and felt right so I decided to go with it.  I’m a pretty reserved person and was really nervous to be moving by myself to a new state, to a new city and school where I did not know one person, but after one semester I can say it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.  I’ve met great people and have been enjoying the independence and different perspectives that being on my own gives me.

As of right now, my major is Elementary Education, but I haven’t completely decided whether or not that’s what I want to do.  I’m also considering secondary education to be a high school English teacher, or maybe go into social work.I am excited for this course and don't have any concerns about it right now. I have always loved making and looking at art.  I recently took a painting class but I've never taken any art history type of classes so I look forward to getting to dig a bit deeper this semester.