First of all, thank you Dr. Renzi for letting us make up a blog.
So I have seen this movie a handful of times over the years but watching just the first portion of it in class made me look at it in a whole new light. I never before looked at the film in terms of a daily life performance. I always just related to the character of Bridget Jones and never really looked past that. However when I read the article and then after discussing it in class I was able to look at the movie in a whole new way.
The concept of daily performances interests me more than anything else we've studied, probably because I can witness it just walking around campus. It intrigues me to relate this movie with "Without you I'm Nothing", which is a much more outrageous way of making the same point; that everyday people and experiences are actually performances. Sandra expresses this point by becoming different versions of herself or portraying different identities entirely, it's hard to tell. This shows that every person is putting on a performance just by choosing who to be on a daily basis. This differs from the daily performances that are displayed by Bridget Jones. This film clip mainly shows the performances that are given regarding relationships with others, such as Bridget's interaction with her mom and then with Mr. Darcy. It's interesting to me to look at the two different ways of approaching daily performances; relationships and personal identity.
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
On forgetting to blog and Bridget Jones
Well, this is a make-up blog...and a comment to say how much I need to watch the rest of that movie.
Also - this is the worst keyboard I have ever used, so I apologize for typos that I don't catch.
I was thinking more and more about the blatant judgements made by the clothing.
Bridget thought Colin Firth's character was perfect until she saw the reindeer sweater.
Along the same lines, he pointed out her outfit as one of her major flaws.
So, essentially, both characters were bothered by the same flaw. This is a "flaw" that we encounter everyday when people break the norm of what is considered to be appropriate costume for each gender, social class and race. I remember back in High School when people used to point out that some boys in our class "Acted black" which is extremely inappropriate and stupid. They had the notion that clothing (costume) and music taste meant that the boys were performing a different race, which is stereotypical anyway. This reminds me of Paris is Burning, as we touched on in class. People are judged so quickly by their costume to either be good or bad. I think the clip we watched was really eye opening as to what kinds of things are performance. So much was performed in so little time...and it was performed also to a degree that allowed for analysis of behaviors, costumes and choices.
I also appreciated her little self-performance, because I am willing to admit that I do that...and I am sure my cats are thrilled about it.
Also - this is the worst keyboard I have ever used, so I apologize for typos that I don't catch.
I was thinking more and more about the blatant judgements made by the clothing.
Bridget thought Colin Firth's character was perfect until she saw the reindeer sweater.
Along the same lines, he pointed out her outfit as one of her major flaws.
So, essentially, both characters were bothered by the same flaw. This is a "flaw" that we encounter everyday when people break the norm of what is considered to be appropriate costume for each gender, social class and race. I remember back in High School when people used to point out that some boys in our class "Acted black" which is extremely inappropriate and stupid. They had the notion that clothing (costume) and music taste meant that the boys were performing a different race, which is stereotypical anyway. This reminds me of Paris is Burning, as we touched on in class. People are judged so quickly by their costume to either be good or bad. I think the clip we watched was really eye opening as to what kinds of things are performance. So much was performed in so little time...and it was performed also to a degree that allowed for analysis of behaviors, costumes and choices.
I also appreciated her little self-performance, because I am willing to admit that I do that...and I am sure my cats are thrilled about it.
Monday, December 3, 2012
Acting vs. Being
Today's class discussion about acting and performance got me thinking. As we stated, acting is a type of pretending, whereas acting is more honest, where the actors are deeply involved with their roles. In chapter 6, part 2 of our Schnecher reading states, "social scripts permeate daily life." So are we ever not acting? Can we ever truly just be? In my opinion, I don't believe we can. Breaking a role or going against what is socially accepted has clear consequences, like alienation physical risks/harm, etc. As members of our society, we keep up appearances in order to avoid social scrutiny. Even when we are sitting in our room, completely alone, our web browsing, television watching, or even magazine reading, can resonate the beliefs/ideas society, media, or our peers place in our thoughts. Even if they are an afterthought, our reactions to certain situations can be seen as a kind of performance. For example, if we deny ourselves a piece of cake because swimsuit season is right around the corner, that is a lingering statement made by society. We see images of our Facebook friends in their bathing suits during spring break, or we hear about the latest celebrity diet craze on television. Regardless of how hard we try to avoid society and "just be ourselves," I believe that it is impossible to completely disregard the effects society has on us.