My video project relates more to the poem than my actual paper (that sounds weird). I wanted to make the video a contrast between what is considered to be traditionally beautiful and odd/unusual things that we don’t see every day. I attempted this by going to Central Park to find “traditional” beauty in the form of nature, and I went to MoMA to find some awesome art that portrayed unusual/uncommon things. I really enjoyed my experience and I was awed by the things I saw in both in places. Also interesting to note that I found a “You in a park around a stupid old statue.” =D haha
I also wanted to explore beauty itself and observe the reactions people had at the museum toward these strange paintings. I also wanted to see how people would react in the park. In both cases, people were amazed and were taking pictures to immortalize their discoveries. It was super interesting watching them and thinking “Why do people find these things so amazing and/or strange? Can’t we have a woman with a unibrow?” This touches upon Myles’ poem and in particular the part about the tulips being mixed and beautiful.
I incorporated what I thought were the most important lines in her poem, which I also thought connected best to my video. I love that when I collected all the small clips and put them into one video, I could connect one “unusual” painting to the next, especially the ones with women in them. Come to think of it, these painting related directly to my paper because they are poking at the viewer’s sense of what a woman should typically look like. I think video is wayyy better than pictures once I saw my finished project. Pictures simply wouldn’t have the same effect because with small clips we see movement and what the people are doing in them, so it feels like you’re there. With pictures, you may or may not be able to tell what the people are feeling, so videos just make everything more real.
My main purpose with this video is to force the viewer to think about the contrast between “typical beauty” and “unusual beauty.” Why define one as beautiful while the other is ugly or weird? Can’t both be beautiful or nothing at all? Can’t they just be? Why define them as anything? By the way, I chose “Jimmy Eat World – The Middle” as my song cause it relates directly to the images and my paper. A person trying to fit in, but they don’t have to! (That’s basically what the song is trying to say.) I definitely feel that my video project enhances my paper or vice versa. Now my paper has a visual depiction and it’s awesome! Well, I hope you enjoy my digital essay!
