I thought you might like to read this book tour diary by Gary Shteyngart. The first entry is linked at the bottom of that post, if you want to start at the beginning. It’s pretty funny to see the behind-the-scenes of events like the one we attended last week.
I’m also including the book trailer for Little Failure, which is hilarious if also really stupid.
Here’s a really interesting set of links about experimental film, featuring David Lynch. You might check them out, especially if you’re interested in some of the more fantastical aspects of The Elephant Man.
David Lynch Presents the History of Surrealist Film
A sea monster’s been found in Iceland! Or, well, maybe this town just wants to attract “cryptotourism” (tourists who flock to see cryptozoological, or mythical, creatures).
Check it out!
Iceland Sea Monster “Authenticated”
Here’s another fun video I though you might like. It’s almost cruel, really! What a difference the darkness makes: that adorable, costumed dog is absolutely terrifying.
I thought you guys might like to see this parody trailer, which imagines what Monsters, Inc. would have been like if it were directed by Ridley Scott (the director of films like Alien and, more recently, the Alien-prequel Prometheus.
This really highlights the way that stylistic decisions can change a film. We’ll discuss this (at length!) during our second unit.
E.T. (obviously coming to devour me)
When I was a kid, everyone was obsessed with E.T., the Extra-Terrestrial. Well, everyone but me. The movie, by Steven Spielberg, had come out the year I was born, but it was still popular years later, spawning stuffed animals, coloring books, cartoons, and action figures. E.T. delighted all of my friends, but he completely terrified me. E.T.—a short, rounded alien with expressive eyes—seems cute enough to me now, but, when I was three or four, he would come to me in nightmares: towering above me in my back yard and threatening to gobble me up. I distinctly remember asking him if, when he ate me, he would also eat my bones or spit them out. (This was, I thought for some reason, a very important question.) But E.T. never gave me an answer. My bad dreams ended each time with E.T. picking me up, hurling me into his mouth, and then . . . that’s it. I would wake up sweating, panting, but relieved.
I was basically like this.
This memory raises a few questions for me that I think are worth thinking about further. First, does an alien even count as a monster? And, if so, why? Is a monster just a creature that doesn’t fit in or does it have to be something from earth (that is, from that place where it doesn’t fit in)? Does E.T. help us think about what, exactly, counts as a monster? Second, why did I find E.T. so terrifying when he was clearly intended to be cute? (The movie is, after all, a kids’ movie.) Maybe it has something to do with the phenomenon called the “uncanny valley” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley), which considers how creatures that start to look like humans but don’t quite look like humans can provoke a reaction of disgust. Finally, I’m curious about my fear of being eaten. One of our readings for next week calls this fear an “infantile fear” (and I was a little kid), but I’m not sure what that means (Carroll, 43). Is this a common fear in children? Do psychologists have thoughts about why that is?
[Your monster journal entry should look something like this. Share what you think is most promising, most interesting to you, from your journal. It can be a personal reflection, like this one is, or something more detached. Either way, it should end with some possible questions to pursue, and it should be the best prose you can write: detailed, proofread, and thought-provoking. Feel free to play around with links and images, and ask me if you have any trouble doing this. Your entries should be about 300-350 words; this one is right around 350. Finally, tag your entry with “monster journal” so that we can easily find them in one place.]
For Tuesday, we’ll be reading two very different interpretations of the myth of Polyphemus, the Cyclops. Both come from ancient Greece. The first is an excerpt from Book 9 of Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey, in which the hero (Odysseus) encounters Polyphemus during his long journey home from the Trojan War. The other interpretation may be less familiar to you. It consists of two poems from the Idylls of the Greek poet Theocritus (an “idyll” is a short poem about country life).
If you’re having trouble (and even if you aren’t), you should take a look at the notes to each poem, which I’ve included in your packet. Don’t forget, though, to make notes of where you find yourself confused as you annotate. Those moments could be useful!
Odysseus Blinding Polyphemus, by Matisse
This is the course blog for Writing I. You’ll be able to find all of the readings and handouts for the course (under the “Readings” tab), and you can always check the syllabus if you have any questions. This will also be where you post entries from your Monster Journal.
The word “monster” comes from the Latin “monstrum” meaning “omen” or “portent.” The word was often ascribed to biological abnormalities (like the two-headed lamb in the painting above). The idea was that a “monstrum” was a sign of something bad to come.