Contextualizing Practice 1 - Framing the Visible

Contextualizing Practice 1 - Framing the Visible

Introduction

This is the first assignment as part of our contextualizing practice. This will help us gain a better understanding of both others and our own work and to look see deeper into others works. 

Assignment

What we have to do is create a ten minute presentation on our chosen field about a medium we have also chosen. This can be: film, television series, animated short etc. We decided to call our group: "The MEME Team" and within the team there is: Myself, Daniel Nield, William Ballou, Siobhan Gilmore and Chloe Johnson. 

So far we have decided to present and research the theme of Ideology as a group we feel that we have the best understanding compared to the other themes. Despite this we understand that is a lot more to learn and research about Ideology. 

We then had to decide what we would medium we would apply the them of ideology to. As we were unsure we all decided to create a list where each of us had to watch what was on the list, take notes and then share our thoughts the next week when everyone is together again. From there we could decide as a team how to progress. We chose to create a list because not everyone in the group had seen the same films, TV series etc; therefore we shared our individual preferences and now everyone can see each others best ideas. 

The list we created was; 

-Don Hertzfeldt (An artist/Animator) chosen by: William Ballou

-Big Hero 6 (Film created by Disney) chosen by: Siobhan Gilmore

-Disney (An American Multimedia and Entertainment Empire) chosen by: Myself because this allows the freedom to explore all of the companies movies ranging from the 40s to today. I felt it would be best to explore how ideology has changed over the past century and how this is shown through Disney films. 

-Studio Gibley (Japanese Animation Film Studio) chosen by: Chloe Johnson

-Samurai Champloo (Anime) chosen by: Daniel Nield

Don Hertzfeldt

I started with Don Hertzfeld by watching some of his videos which included: 'Rejected' 'Wisdom teeth' and 'Billy's Balloon'. 

These are a series of short films created by Don Hertzfeld which in my opinion are rather odd. While watching these shorts i took notes and felt this artist challenges ideology. This is because Don Hertzfeld challenges expectations within these shorts be it through the events that happen or the long pauses. Without realising I found that I had expectations and that is why I believe I found the video odd because they challenged those unknown expectations. These ideologies of film such as narrative and progression or even conclusion are all challenged though these shorts. I will take the example of "Rejected" to state its referential meaning and its symptomatic meaning. Rejected is a series of short films created by Don Hertzfeldt that were rejected by companies that were created to be adverts for those companies. The symptomatic meaning could be that these films are accepted as rejections as seen and judged by social convention and are ahead other time. 

Big Hero 6

Next, I watched Big Hero 6 created by Walt Disney Animation Studios. While I was watching I found that there were a lot of different themes throughout the film which could be seen as ideologies.one such example is that technology is major theme in the film which is portrayed as a positive and that it should be encouraged with education. This can be contrasted with a film such as 'terminator' where machines and technology are viewed negatively. This can be seen as an ideological message in the film that Disney is promoting technology and the advancement of it.  Another theme within the film was crime, punishment and justice, this is shown through the super-hero theme of the movie and the morals that face the characters. With the loss of his brother, Hiro feels that the culprit must be apprehended and punished, however in the film it is shown that are limits to being a vigilante. this is shown when the scene where Hiro orders Baymax to kill the culprit, this is shown negatively and can be seen as the film sending the ideological message that killing/murder is wrong. Another ideological message within the film is "brain over brawn". This is shown as a major part of the film that the characters are faced with a series of challenges that they must think around rather than fight against head on. This can be seen as an ideological message that Disney believes it is positive to be knowledgeable which links back to the original theme of technology and that is also a positive message through the film.  The referential meaning could be that a young boy and his friends join to gather and defeat a super villain. The symptomatic meaning could be a young boy is lead by the ghost of his brother to face hi depression after his loss.

Sleeping Beauty

After that, I watched the Disney film: Sleeping Beauty. This ilm is based within the 14th century; therefore it presents ideologies and themes from both the 14th century and the 1940s when the film was made. I found that the entire film had few but consistent themes of authority, good vs evil and true love. These are shown through the kingdoms and royalty that are the families that are portrayed with a lot of power and responsibility over their respective people and are concerned with the future of their kingdoms. The good vs evil theme is shown throughout the film through the good fairy characters against the very clear and evil maleficent character. This good vs evil theme portrays the ideologies of disney through the messages that they send through the film. An example of this could be that the good fairy characters sate that they cannot use their magic for "bad" and only to bring happiness. This can be seen as a way that Disney have imprinted their ideologies onto the audience, even if they are positive and accepted as socially standard. I.e. its bad to kill people.

The true love theme is consistent through the film as the characters always long for each other despite their very short time together and their arranged marriage. This can be seen as Disney further implying that their ideology of love is 'love at first sight' and that love is 'perfect'. This is ridiculous concept but yet an ideal and accepted one within these films i.e. they're accepted as ridiculous in reality but most people wish and hope to find their 'true love'. The referential meaning within this film could be that a curse is cast upon a princess and a prince saves the princess. The symptomatic meaning could be that in a world where woman are seen as a lesser citizen and that mean are superior must care for and provide for the woman through life and that they will both be happy.

Initial

After watching these films, we have decided to proceed with the project: Disney as a company as our subject and to investigate: how ideology has changed over the years and how these are shown through the films of Disney. 

This is because we decided as a group that we would work best if we work with material we are familiar with, therefore we can build and produce from this and be effective during the presentation. We understand that everyone in the group did not watch all of the films we decided to watch but this is because of the time this project is set (during other project deadlines) and other circumstances. Despite this we have progressed as a group and have decided on the final theme of the project and will work together to meet the deadline.

In addition we have decided to progress with this theme for a project because Disney has nearly a century as being a film company and that provided a wide range films from the late 1930s to present day that not many (if any) other companies have. This is a wide enough span of time which can show many different themes and ideologies that are not present now and an effective way to compare the ideologies of the past to present day. 

Therefore as a group we have chosen two different films to compare ideologies. Preferably two films with a significant time gap between them. Because this would make it easier to compare the ideologies of the different times at which the films were made.  Therefore the two films I have chosen to research are: "Sleeping Beauty" and "The Princess and the Frog".  These two films were produced by Disney, are both 2D hand drawn animation about princesses; despite their similarities they are completely different by the times in which they were created.
We have also gained an additional member to our team: Tom Baines , because there were a few people who had missed the session when the groups were created; Tom was one of them and is now part of the MEME Team.
As the group is now, we have decided our films which we are going to research:
Myself: "Sleeping Beauty" and "The Princess and the Frog"
Siobhan Gilmore: "The Lion King" and "Big Hero 6"
William Ballou: "The Little Mermaid" and "Tangled"
Chloe Johnson:
Daniel Nield:
Tom Baines: 

I then watched and analysed the two Disney films: "Sleeping Beauty" and "The Princess and the Frog" for their ideologies of relationships.  

Sleeping Beauty

What

Sleeping Beauty is a fairy-tale story originally collected by The Grimm Brothers in their book: “Grimms’ Fairy Tales” [http://www.notablebiographies.com/Gi-He/Grimm-Brothers.html] and the story has adapted over the years. The story can be seen as a classic where a handsome prince rescues a beautiful princess and they both live happily ever after. Within this report I will be discussing the Disney version of the Sleeping Beauty story. Sleeping Beauty is an animated film produced by Disney Company in 1959 [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053285/]. Within the Disney’s version of the story a prince breaks the curse with ‘true loves kiss’, they marry and live happily ever after.

Referential meaning

The referential meaning of sleeping beauty could be: after a curse is placed upon a princess a prince comes to the rescue and they both live happily ever after.

Symptomatic meaning

The symptomatic meaning could be Disney’s symbolic views on how woman are helpless and that men must be the ones to ‘come to the rescue’.

How relationship is shown?

Within this story a prince and princess both fall in love and live happily ever after. Despite how perfect this sounds, it is rather forced and almost feels un-natural to watch now. This is because the film opens with the princess being born and a young prince is shown his future wife which is the new born baby. In the context of the film, this is normal as these are royal families that wish to join their nations together by marrying their children. However the story develops to the point where the prince and princess meet for the first time and do not know who each other are. They begin to dance and briefly talk which may have lasted a few minutes and then the princess runs away as she knows not to talk to anyone else for her own safety. Despite this very brief encounter, both characters are convinced that they have fallen in love and they will be married. Both characters do not see each other again until the prince kisses the princess and breaks the curse, shortly after that they are married and live happily ever after.

What does it mean?

In my opinion, I believe this shows that the Disney Company believes in love at first sight and that couples can live happily ever after. This is a very optimistic view as this is a fairy-tale perspective of relationships as they do not always turn out as perfect as that. Moreover, it is very convenient that the prince fell in love with the princess even if their marriage was planned anyway since the princess’ birth. This is because most planned marriages do not turn out as successful or as ‘happily’ as the one portrayed in Disney’s Sleeping Beauty.  In addition, this could also be seen as Disney’s opinion on planned marriages as they are portrayed positively through the Sleeping Beauty films whereas other films have portrayed these marriages as controlling and negative. 

The Princess and the Frog

What

The Prince and the Frog is a fairy-tale collected by Brothers Grimm in their book “Grimms’ Fairy Tales” [http://www.notablebiographies.com/Gi-He/Grimm-Brothers.html] and is about how a princess kisses a frog to break a spell which turns the frog into a handsome prince and they both live happily ever after. In this report I will be discussing Disney’s adaptation of the Frog Prince story; “The Princess and the Frog”. The film does take a very different approach to the story of the Frog Prince and shows a very different ideology of relationships. The Disney film was released in 2009 [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0780521/].

Referential meaning

The referential meaning of “The Princess and the Frog” could be: that after a prince and woman are turned into frogs, they embark on an adventure to turn them human again and live happily ever after.

Symptomatic meaning

The symptomatic meaning could be: a representation of inequality with an optimistic end for the characters whereas reality would have a very bleak ending.

How relationship is shown?

Throughout the film the characters develop their feelings for each other, and it is only the ending they are truly happy together and live happily ever after. This can be seen as a more reliable and accurate representation of a relationship through the development of the characters. This is shown by the characters first interacting with each other badly with arguments and insults, and as the film progresses the characters discover each other and begin the develop a relationship. By the end of the film the characters are married and live happily ever after.

What does it mean?

This can be seen as Disney’s developed ideology of relationships. This is shown through the characters developed relationship and even within the film they humour the ‘old ways’ of relationships. This is shown through the secondary characters one of which is a spoilt rich daughter of a wealthy father who can be seen to represent the cliché princess. This is shown by the character “Charlotte La Bouff” having everything such as money, power and beauty who also wishes upon a star for her desires which at the start of the film works. Therefore the main character, Tiana challenges this throughout the film and has to discover her ‘true love’ rather than just stumble upon him because Tiana’s motivation through the film is not love or dependence on a husband (prince) but rather achieve her own life goals which makes her forget the ‘importance’ of a relationship. Moreover, the initial motivations of the prince to marry was to gain the money from the wealthy parents of his bride, much like an arranged marriage rather than him trying to find his ‘true love’. This can all be seen as Disney’s ideology of a ‘modern’ relationship as this film was released in 2009, and throughout the film Disney acknowledges their ‘old ways’ and almost pokes fun at these conservative and dated ideologies.

Conclusion

Compare the two relationships ideologies

Sleeping beauty can be seen to have a very optimistic and perfect outlook on relationships through the characters limited time together and lack of development between them. This is because it is already planned and is shown to be ‘true love’. Whereas in The Princess and the Frog, the characters have to develop their relationship throughout the entire film and finally at the end they marry and live happily ever after. This can be seen as an accurate representation of a relationship because partners in reality must know each other and learn to like each other first rather than marry the first person you see which is very unlikely.

These ideologies of relationships are very different from another and this can be shown through both the setting of the film and the dates when these films were created. Firstly Sleeping Beauty was released in 1959, and the film is based within the 14^th century. Within the film the prince and princess have an arranged marriage to unite two different nations as this was common during the time. This is portrayed in a positive way through the characters having fallen in love with each other very quickly and they both live happily ever after. In the 1950s woman weren’t treated as equally as men and were seen as house wives or dependant on men.

This is therefore challenged in Disney’s The Princess and the Frog because the main character Tiana challenges these ideologies within the film’s context and setting. Tiana is a young black woman which is an extremely challenging position where the film is based: New Orleans in the 1920s. This is because the southern states of America were prejudice and racist against African Americans during this time as well as the inequality of woman. This is shown through the film by how other characters see her and tell her that she cannot achieve her dreams because of these prejudices. Therefore throughout the film Tiana challenges these ideologies and is rewarded at the end of the film with her ‘true love’ and ‘happily ever after’. This can be seen as Disney’s modern ideology of relationships because they have updated how the characters develop through the narrative of the films and also acknowledge their dated ideologies of love at first sight and royalty. 

I have recorded my references in my bibliography, which is a separate document. 

I then went onto creating an initial layout of the presentation on PowerPoint. This was to plan what the presentation may look like and for the group to decide together what the presentation should look like and how it will be presented. Therefore the layout has no content and just displays a basic structure of how the presentation may be presented.

I then uploaded this to Google Drive for the rest of the group to download and edit their sections into it. We also planned to have sessions where we rehearsed the presentation; that we are prepared as a group when it comes to the deadline when we have to present.

I then added more information to the report and started to research the reasons WHY the films have these ideologies of relationships and I found this is linked to gender roles and the context of the time when the films were created:

Ideologies of 1950s relationships

Because Sleeping Beauty as released in 1959, it can said that it was made during the 1950s and the ideologies were very different compared to modern ones. We will focus on the ideologies of relationships and how they were in the 1950s. This is a time shortly after the Second World War and a time of change where conventional ideologies clashed with new ones. Relationships ideologies mainly stayed traditional and these ideologies of relationships included: the men must always provide and that the wife stays at home and maintains the house. This links to gender roles and stereotypes which were apparent during the 1950s and these roles are very different. In conclusion the ideologies of relationships in the 1950s would be that the man would ask and provide for the woman whereas the woman stays at home and is seen almost as the ‘property’ of the man. [http://www.psychologyofmen.org/male-gender-role/] [http://www.healthguidance.org/entry/15910/1/List-of-Gender-Stereotypes.html]

Ideologies of modern relationships

The ideologies of relationships today are very different from the past. They have changed with the advancement of technology including online dating and social networks. This has had a significant impact on the way people meet and talk to each other because some people can even maintain long distance relationships with communication via telephone or email. Modern relationships are very diverse with different people because people have become more expressive over the years as society has become more accepting, therefore no two relationships are the same and are accepted as not being perfect. In addition, with events including the rise of woman’s rights gender roles have changed and now relationships do not have specific expectations or standards. Despite this people still maintain the traditional ideologies from the past, relationships continue to change and even surprise people. [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/17/technology-changing-relationships_n_5884042.html]

Comparison

There are a number of differences that can be pointed out between traditional relationships compared to modern ones. The most significant in this case are gender roles within a relationship and how these have radically changed over the years. These gender roles are no longer seen as the norm or even necessary in modern relationships compared to the 1950s where they were the norm. The man was always seen as the provider for the family and was the dominant half in the relationship whereas now this can be very blurred in dominant roles and even looked down upon if one partner is dominating another.

Conclusion

After researching these fields I have found that the ideologies of relationships have been shown through Disney’s films. These films have clearly shown elements of the ideologies of gender roles and how these have drastically changed over the past century. Whereas the male was always dominant in traditional relationships, as shown in Sleeping Beauty where the prince is the one who saves the princess. Compared to the Princess and the Frog where there is a balance on the character’s strengths and weaknesses and they build off each other to develop a relationship. In conclusion I believe that these films clearly show that Disney as a company have adapted with the times and show their developed ideologies of relationships through these two films effectively. 

 These different sections of the report are compiled together on the one Word document.