Then I first started to study this module I could not understand the concept at all. I was beginning to wonder what I had let myself in for! But I decided that I must go for it. It has been a slow process but I am glad that I continued as my outlook has changed in many ways.
I look at other artists work that I would never have coincided even going to an exhibition containing this modern work. I now look under the basic painting etc to try a analysis what the artists is saying and thus ask different questions (instead of a quick look and move to something else)! My one drawback is that I found I have trouble with explaining myself in writing (mild dyslexia does not help) my tutor very kindly sent me a booklet managing dyslexia which has been a help.
The latest book I have purchase is What are you looking at? (150 years of modern art) by Will Gompertz which am finding interesting. This module has defiantly opened another aspect of art to continue to study and learn.
Sunday, 20 January 2013
Wednesday, 16 January 2013
notes on visual art
Visual art is a a dynamic art form that seeks to constantly reinvent itself. It embraces a board range of media. Visual art works are original graphic, and sculptural works which include two dimensional and three dimensional works of fine graphic and applied art. These can range from anything advertising, artwork, applied to clothing, drawing, painting murals, photographs, sculpture, glass design these are just a few the list is endless. It is notable also for blurring boundaries and for collaborating with other social practises and creative disciplines. Throughout many countries contemporary visual art helps to animate and add value to public places and spaces. Arts Council.org.u.k.
Tuesday, 15 January 2013
Project 3 Base and Superstructure
Marx (1818-1883)
Marx divided society into two major classes- the bourgeoisie- (capitalist society or employee), who owns the means of production and the proletarian- working class - those who have the ability to work- meaning that the working class have no option but to work for the employee.
Marx argued that Das Kapital (1867) that the fundamental condition of a capitalist society is the exploration of the working man or woman labourers by the employee. Thus meaning that the workers do not receive full value for his or her labour as the surplus is retained into the employee's profit. This being so the unregulated labour does not oblige the employee to pay the worker full value for his work.
Marx and Engels (1820-1895) believed the exploration of the workers led to class struggle (The Communist Manifesto: 1848 state "the history of hitherto existing society is the history of the class struggle, and capitalist society results in class domination. This then leads to the development of 'class consciousness,' a perspective of the world determined by the economic position.
Theories which position economic relations as the bases of social phenomena are called "materialist theories" where as Marx's version so known as "historical materialism".
Marxist concepts can be applied to the visual culture - especially to the role of the mass media, in the reproduction of the 'status quo'. The media is viewed as an example where these class views are fought out. These professionals while enjoying a certain illusion of autonomy are socialised the norms of a dominant culture (what we say,show etc. is the truth).
Marx meaning of Base and Superstructure is that he uses these as a metaphor for the capitalist social structure. The base, the economy (which includes relations of production is the foundation and thus determines the superstructure, society which are the forms of state (social, political and intellectual consciousness).
Ideology and cultural leadership are part of the superstructure which is less important to the base. Base and superstructure is a two way interrelationship and when applied to the mass media it is associated with control and ownership (ultimate control) results in monopolies.
The different way of looking at the subject outlined by Chandler and which one makes more sense and why are as follows ;- The one that makes more sense is to Marxist tradition of the culture industries (in terms of their economic determination, the contents and meanings of the media and its message are firstly determined by the economics of the organisation in which they are produced. These organisations are in control of the dormant class which reinforces their control and strenghtens their consciousness through ideology is subordinate to the economic base.
In my understanding of the base and superstructure is that society in general (plus media and the arts), is that the ideas that we form are part of the superstructure and the economy informs that superstructure.
Chandler D 2000 Marxist theory "Base and Superstructure".
D. Alleua Anne 2005 Methods and Theories of Art History.
Marx divided society into two major classes- the bourgeoisie- (capitalist society or employee), who owns the means of production and the proletarian- working class - those who have the ability to work- meaning that the working class have no option but to work for the employee.
Marx argued that Das Kapital (1867) that the fundamental condition of a capitalist society is the exploration of the working man or woman labourers by the employee. Thus meaning that the workers do not receive full value for his or her labour as the surplus is retained into the employee's profit. This being so the unregulated labour does not oblige the employee to pay the worker full value for his work.
Marx and Engels (1820-1895) believed the exploration of the workers led to class struggle (The Communist Manifesto: 1848 state "the history of hitherto existing society is the history of the class struggle, and capitalist society results in class domination. This then leads to the development of 'class consciousness,' a perspective of the world determined by the economic position.
Theories which position economic relations as the bases of social phenomena are called "materialist theories" where as Marx's version so known as "historical materialism".
Marxist concepts can be applied to the visual culture - especially to the role of the mass media, in the reproduction of the 'status quo'. The media is viewed as an example where these class views are fought out. These professionals while enjoying a certain illusion of autonomy are socialised the norms of a dominant culture (what we say,show etc. is the truth).
Marx meaning of Base and Superstructure is that he uses these as a metaphor for the capitalist social structure. The base, the economy (which includes relations of production is the foundation and thus determines the superstructure, society which are the forms of state (social, political and intellectual consciousness).
Ideology and cultural leadership are part of the superstructure which is less important to the base. Base and superstructure is a two way interrelationship and when applied to the mass media it is associated with control and ownership (ultimate control) results in monopolies.
The different way of looking at the subject outlined by Chandler and which one makes more sense and why are as follows ;- The one that makes more sense is to Marxist tradition of the culture industries (in terms of their economic determination, the contents and meanings of the media and its message are firstly determined by the economics of the organisation in which they are produced. These organisations are in control of the dormant class which reinforces their control and strenghtens their consciousness through ideology is subordinate to the economic base.
In my understanding of the base and superstructure is that society in general (plus media and the arts), is that the ideas that we form are part of the superstructure and the economy informs that superstructure.
Chandler D 2000 Marxist theory "Base and Superstructure".
D. Alleua Anne 2005 Methods and Theories of Art History.
Monday, 14 January 2013
yues keins and picasso the blue period
I recently watched a interesting program on Pablo Picasso and Yues Keins about their "Blue Period".
Picasso's Blue period 1901-1904
When he painted essentially monochromatic paintings in shades of blue and blue - green only occasionally warmed by other colours. These sombre works inspired in Spain but were painted in Paris, are now some of the most popular works although he had difficulty selling them at the time. These 'Blue Period' works seemed to reflect his experience of relative poverty and instability depicting beggars, street urchins and the old, frail, and blind.
Yues Keins
Many of his early works were monochromes which were painted in a variety of colours, however by the late 1950's he attributed a particular role to blue. For Keins blue embodied for him the most abstract aspects of tangible and visible nature (the sky and sea) it is said that at one time he laid on a beach a studied the blue sky. His monochromes became almost exclusively patented as "International Klien (IKB) although the colour was never produced commercially.
( must look into this subject further).
Picasso's Blue period 1901-1904
When he painted essentially monochromatic paintings in shades of blue and blue - green only occasionally warmed by other colours. These sombre works inspired in Spain but were painted in Paris, are now some of the most popular works although he had difficulty selling them at the time. These 'Blue Period' works seemed to reflect his experience of relative poverty and instability depicting beggars, street urchins and the old, frail, and blind.
Yues Keins
Many of his early works were monochromes which were painted in a variety of colours, however by the late 1950's he attributed a particular role to blue. For Keins blue embodied for him the most abstract aspects of tangible and visible nature (the sky and sea) it is said that at one time he laid on a beach a studied the blue sky. His monochromes became almost exclusively patented as "International Klien (IKB) although the colour was never produced commercially.
( must look into this subject further).
Friday, 4 January 2013
Project 28 Lacan's prose is notoriously remote
Project 28 Lacan's prose is notoriously remote
Having read the passage three or four times as with all of Lucan's work I still remain unsure of his theory. I did a web search but was unable to find anything relevant although I did come across a number of articles vilifying Lucan and his ideas. I then turned to Kaja Silverman. On this subject I came across this interesting quote.
" Lacan's prose is notoriously remote, and his presentation deliberately a- systematic. Many of the terms to which he most frequently returns constantly shift meaning. These qualities make it almost impossible to offer definitive statements about the Lucanian argument indeed, Lucan himself almost never agreed with his commentators" (Visual Culture The Reader; eds. Jessia Evans and Stuart Hall; Sage Publications 2010p340).
Silverman seems to avoid the problems that this raises for her as a commentator. It seems that she picks those parts that supports one's theory and even then ignores the problems with the parts that remain unclear. i.e. when she fails to address the questions of the congenitally blind child and Lucan's initial belief that the mirror stage occurred around four months. Having argued with Lucan's "almost never agreed with his commentators" Silverman failed to see the irony of her being a commentator with whom Lucan would most likely disagree - so added to my confusion!
I would like to give my thoughts to a poster shown in my course book by Dan Smith called This is my war too!
As follows
I think this is dismissing Lucan's theory by saying that the female is equal to the male in bring able to defend in the aspect her country by the wording "This is my war too" maybe not in the front line but by bringing support in any way possible.?
Having read the passage three or four times as with all of Lucan's work I still remain unsure of his theory. I did a web search but was unable to find anything relevant although I did come across a number of articles vilifying Lucan and his ideas. I then turned to Kaja Silverman. On this subject I came across this interesting quote.
" Lacan's prose is notoriously remote, and his presentation deliberately a- systematic. Many of the terms to which he most frequently returns constantly shift meaning. These qualities make it almost impossible to offer definitive statements about the Lucanian argument indeed, Lucan himself almost never agreed with his commentators" (Visual Culture The Reader; eds. Jessia Evans and Stuart Hall; Sage Publications 2010p340).
Silverman seems to avoid the problems that this raises for her as a commentator. It seems that she picks those parts that supports one's theory and even then ignores the problems with the parts that remain unclear. i.e. when she fails to address the questions of the congenitally blind child and Lucan's initial belief that the mirror stage occurred around four months. Having argued with Lucan's "almost never agreed with his commentators" Silverman failed to see the irony of her being a commentator with whom Lucan would most likely disagree - so added to my confusion!
I would like to give my thoughts to a poster shown in my course book by Dan Smith called This is my war too!
As follows
I think this is dismissing Lucan's theory by saying that the female is equal to the male in bring able to defend in the aspect her country by the wording "This is my war too" maybe not in the front line but by bringing support in any way possible.?
Thursday, 3 January 2013
meanings etc
EXACERBATION problem – or bad situation it makes it worse
SOMNAMBULIST sleepwalker someone who walks in their sleep
SOMATIC relating to the body as distinguished from the mind
MYOPIA visual defect in which distant objects are blurred
EROTOGENIC causes sexual excitement
INNERVATION the distribution or supply of nerves i.e. the supply of nervous energy
OPHTHALMIC of or relating to the eye
PSYCHOANALYTIC method of treating phobias by analysing emotional conflicts
FETISHING object or activity regarded with excessive devotion
FREUD best known for his theories of the unconscious mind
CHRISTOPHER STRACHEY British computer scientist
PREGENITAL designates the libidinal phases prior to the definitive genital organization of psychosexuality i.e. fixation on something i.e. reading in the toilet the fixation is that part of the body’s substance is being lost so fresh matter must be absorbed through the eyes!!!!
Freud Chapter 20 (page 324-6 Visual Culture) Fetish
ABHERENT a supporter of a cause or an individual
THRONE AND ALTAR relations between the church and the state
SCOTOMIZED the minds ability to erase a traumatic or overwhelming experience
BASILISK legendary reptile (king of serpents) said to have the power of death with a single glance
ONE LOOKS AT AN OBJECT IN ORDER TO SHARE FROM ITS EXPERIENCE
PHALLUS Undifferentiated tissue in embryo (that becomes penis or clitoris
VICISSITUDE up and downs – successive changes
AMBIVALENT unable to decide what cause to follow
LIBIDINAL sexual drive manifestation of sexual drive
SCOPTOPHILIC obtaining pleasure by looking at nude bodies. erotic photos etc.
ENLIGHENMENT criticizes from the outside
MODERNIUM criticizes from the inside
LIBIDINOUS showing strong desires (sexual?)
ANTITHESIS direct contract opposition of hope is the antithesis of despair
ARCHAIC period of time proceeding a “classical time”
PSYCHOANALYTICAL study of the human psychological functioning and behaviour three applications
1) Investigating the mind
2) systematized body of knowledge about human behaviour
3) method of treatment
MOLILTY biological term refers to the ability to move independently
SOMNAMBULIST sleepwalking
Train of thought the essential points is that looking is conceived as a means of identification
MYOPIA lack of discernment or long-range perspective in thinking or looking
TECHNOLOGICAL DETERMINISM a reductionism theory that presumes that society’s technology drives the development of social structure and culture
ALTHUSSENAN Louis Althusser was a Marxist philosopher 1918-1990
QUOTE THERE IS NO REPRESENTATION WITHOUT INTENTION AND INTERPRETATION – DAVID OLSON
ARXICM named after Karl Marx also known as scientific (as opposed to utopian) socialism
UTOPIAN SOCIALISM term used to define the first currents of modern socialist thought
MONOLITHIC unchanging structure that does not permit individual variation
ORTHODOX MARXISM used to describe the version of Marxism after the death of Karl Marx seeks to simplify codify and systematise Marxist thought- ironing out perceived ambiguities and contradictions
CODIFY to organize or collect together dialectical materialism the materialistic philosophy of Marx and Engel’s.
OPIATE something that dulls the senses and induces relaxation? Marx view of religion
PROLETARIAL poorest class of working people
WILLIAM MORRIS English textile designer artist writer and socialist associated with Pre-Rap.Brother-hood 1834-1896
H.G. WELLS English author socialist and sympathetic of pacifist views
CAPITALISM individual ownership of wealth and dominance of it
COMMODIFICATION art targeting specific buyers – art that is not purely an expression of the artist’s ideals but tailored is subject matter and style to meet a specific market
MINIMALISM movement of art and design – worked stripped down to its most fundamental features
CONCEPTUALISM conceptual art is art that the ideas involved to the work take precedence over the actual making of the subject, so the work of some artists can be constructed by anyone by following a set of instructions
BANAL commonplace
CRITERION a standard law or rule by which a correct judgement can be made
SOMNAMBULIST sleepwalker someone who walks in their sleep
SOMATIC relating to the body as distinguished from the mind
MYOPIA visual defect in which distant objects are blurred
EROTOGENIC causes sexual excitement
INNERVATION the distribution or supply of nerves i.e. the supply of nervous energy
OPHTHALMIC of or relating to the eye
PSYCHOANALYTIC method of treating phobias by analysing emotional conflicts
FETISHING object or activity regarded with excessive devotion
FREUD best known for his theories of the unconscious mind
CHRISTOPHER STRACHEY British computer scientist
PREGENITAL designates the libidinal phases prior to the definitive genital organization of psychosexuality i.e. fixation on something i.e. reading in the toilet the fixation is that part of the body’s substance is being lost so fresh matter must be absorbed through the eyes!!!!
Freud Chapter 20 (page 324-6 Visual Culture) Fetish
ABHERENT a supporter of a cause or an individual
THRONE AND ALTAR relations between the church and the state
SCOTOMIZED the minds ability to erase a traumatic or overwhelming experience
BASILISK legendary reptile (king of serpents) said to have the power of death with a single glance
ONE LOOKS AT AN OBJECT IN ORDER TO SHARE FROM ITS EXPERIENCE
PHALLUS Undifferentiated tissue in embryo (that becomes penis or clitoris
VICISSITUDE up and downs – successive changes
AMBIVALENT unable to decide what cause to follow
LIBIDINAL sexual drive manifestation of sexual drive
SCOPTOPHILIC obtaining pleasure by looking at nude bodies. erotic photos etc.
ENLIGHENMENT criticizes from the outside
MODERNIUM criticizes from the inside
LIBIDINOUS showing strong desires (sexual?)
ANTITHESIS direct contract opposition of hope is the antithesis of despair
ARCHAIC period of time proceeding a “classical time”
PSYCHOANALYTICAL study of the human psychological functioning and behaviour three applications
1) Investigating the mind
2) systematized body of knowledge about human behaviour
3) method of treatment
MOLILTY biological term refers to the ability to move independently
SOMNAMBULIST sleepwalking
Train of thought the essential points is that looking is conceived as a means of identification
MYOPIA lack of discernment or long-range perspective in thinking or looking
TECHNOLOGICAL DETERMINISM a reductionism theory that presumes that society’s technology drives the development of social structure and culture
ALTHUSSENAN Louis Althusser was a Marxist philosopher 1918-1990
QUOTE THERE IS NO REPRESENTATION WITHOUT INTENTION AND INTERPRETATION – DAVID OLSON
ARXICM named after Karl Marx also known as scientific (as opposed to utopian) socialism
UTOPIAN SOCIALISM term used to define the first currents of modern socialist thought
MONOLITHIC unchanging structure that does not permit individual variation
ORTHODOX MARXISM used to describe the version of Marxism after the death of Karl Marx seeks to simplify codify and systematise Marxist thought- ironing out perceived ambiguities and contradictions
CODIFY to organize or collect together dialectical materialism the materialistic philosophy of Marx and Engel’s.
OPIATE something that dulls the senses and induces relaxation? Marx view of religion
PROLETARIAL poorest class of working people
WILLIAM MORRIS English textile designer artist writer and socialist associated with Pre-Rap.Brother-hood 1834-1896
H.G. WELLS English author socialist and sympathetic of pacifist views
CAPITALISM individual ownership of wealth and dominance of it
COMMODIFICATION art targeting specific buyers – art that is not purely an expression of the artist’s ideals but tailored is subject matter and style to meet a specific market
MINIMALISM movement of art and design – worked stripped down to its most fundamental features
CONCEPTUALISM conceptual art is art that the ideas involved to the work take precedence over the actual making of the subject, so the work of some artists can be constructed by anyone by following a set of instructions
BANAL commonplace
CRITERION a standard law or rule by which a correct judgement can be made
Wednesday, 3 October 2012
project 29 buffy the freudian
Project 29 Buffy the Freudian
Buffy - ("Well you have not seen this Adam thing. He is the Terminator without the bashful charm") The little character from the movie The Terminator was far from being bashful or charming. Buffy uses the hyper bile to express just how dangerous Adam is.
Willows dream - Willow is painting Sappho's love poem ` Hymn to Aphrodite` in Greek onto Tara's (her girlfriend) back. She then find herself on Sunnydale High School stage about to perform in a radically changed `Death of a salesman` she is uneasy as she doesn`t know her lines or role. Then Buffy take her to stand in front of a classroom wearing nerdy clothes. Xander mocks her as she nervously begins her book review. Oz (willows ex boyfriend) flirts with Tara while watching Willow doing her book report. Suddenly Willow is attacked and the life is sucked out of her by the first slayer.
Her confusion in the dream represents her lack of self confidence, her fear that she does not fit in or have a place in the world. By her wearing ordinary clothes, which the others comment on the excellence of her `costume` this gives reference to her fear that these friends do not see what she has grown into, but rather what she was when younger, nerdy and awkward. It also suggests that the maze of red curtains on the stage represent the safety and comfort of being with her girlfriend Tara and are a sexual metaphor as well. (Freud her sexuality with another female - Lacan -what she shows to others is an illusion she puts on an act because she is unsure of herself).
Xanders Dream-- Xander wakes up on Buffy's couch, excuses himself to use the restroom finds himself the object of an attempted seduction by Joyce (Buffy's mum) in the restroom he starts to unzip then realises that the bathroom is attached to a large white room with many men in white coats ready to take notes and observe his performance. He then meets Buffy, Giles (Buffy's watcher) and Spike (a vampire) in a playground where Spike tells him Giles is going to teach him to be a watcher, while Buffy plays in a sandbox. Xander then finds himself in an ice cream van with (Anya) (a demon) Willow and Tara they are all dressed in skimpy clothes and heavy make-up they ask him to join them in the back he goes to the back only to find himself in his basement (where he lives) then goes to the University and meets Giles, who starts to reveal the reasons for the dream, but suddenly starts speaking in french. He then finds himself in a reenactment of the `Apocalypse Now`. The scene between a captive Capt. Benjamin Willard and Colonel Walker Kurts. Throughout the sequence Xander end up in his basement again and again. Chased by an unseen pursuer who revealed as the first slayer when she tears his heart out.
The main theme of Xanders dream is his sense of failure and being left behind by his friends he feels stuck throughout his dream by the inability to leave the basement bedroom in his parents house. Also by being the only one not at collage with the others he feels anxiety about his ability to understand (ideas and conversations) and keep up with them. This is further shown when Buffy and Willow tells him "We are well ahead of you)". Underscoring his fear that this is really the case. (Freud - young son whats to replace father as the main focus in the family life and sexually).
Giles Dream - Begins with Giles swinging a watch in front of Buffy (a Watcher is a mentor and trainer). They are in Giles apartment which has no furniture other than a chair and a bed. Buffy laughs ,then the dream cuts to his family with Buffy and his girlfriend Olivia at a fairground, quicker than the others to realise something is wrong he confronts Spike who is posing for a photo shoot in his crypt. In the Bronze (a club) he meets Anya failing as a stand up comedian and Willow and Xander,(with a bloody chest wound) warns him of their attacker. He then breaks in to song, giving suggestions on how to deal with what hunts them, but the sound system breaks down, He then crawls backstage to trace a wiring fault be begins to realise his pursuer is the first slayer just as she (slayer) scalps him.
Giles is represented with two choices whether to remain a father figure to Buffy or begin his own life. This is shown by the appearance of his girlfriend Olivia who pushes an empty baby stroller. In this dream of the dream Buffy is dressed as a child unable to throw a ball without his help, this being an indication of that Buffy will not be able to do her job without him. Then we see Olivia weeping this signifies elements of his unfulfilled life i.e. marriage and children.
Final Dream Sequence
Buffy is woken by Anya in her dorm. room, then finds herself in her room at home. Then Tara speaks cryptically about the future. At the University Buffy talks to her mother who lives in the walls, then meets Riley (was her boyfriend I think) at the Initiative. He is promoted to surgeon general and is drawing plans with Adam for world domination, the three of them are interrupted by a demon attack and Riley and Adam make a pillow fort, When Buffy finds her weapons bag it only contains mud which she smears on her face. She is transported to the dessert and finally meets the First Slayer through Tara the First Slayer tells Buffy that she must work on her own which she (Buffy) rejects.The major theme of Buffy's dream is her fear of the personal cost of her life as a slayer the isolation and the loneliness she is forced to endure.
Further notes - The opening dream sequence focused though Willow, illustrates the way that language dissociates us from our own desires (Lacan's psychoanalysis) By sexualizing the painting on Tara's back could this exemplify a point made by Freud; "The most prominent of the parts of the body from which libido arises are known as 'erotogenic zones' although in fact the whole of the body is an erotogenic zone of its own kind.
Xanders continual return (in the dream sequence) is to the scene of his childhood trauma (the basement of his home) perfectly illustrates Freud's understanding of repetition compulsion. Xander also exhibits the classic desire (oedipal) for the mother though his sexual encounter with "Buffy's mum," this ties up with the phallic phase of development (Xander's visit to the bathroom but cannot perform due to the gaze of his father which changes into doctors.
extracts taken from Prof. Fellugu. (felluga/373 engl 373 the theory of SF-F.
"Restless" centres on the dreams of the four main characters after ending an exhausting fight in the last episode. These are used to comment on the characters their fears, their past and their possible future. Consistent in these dreams is the first slayer who hunts and kills them one by one until she in confronted by and dis-empowered by Buffy.
Two Allusions - Faith (" So that my dream that had some stuff about cigars and a tunnel") Faith makes a Freudian kind of joke. Freud believed that things in our dreams where symbolic. Cigars and tunnels would therefore be symbolic with sex.
Buffy - ("Well you have not seen this Adam thing. He is the Terminator without the bashful charm") The little character from the movie The Terminator was far from being bashful or charming. Buffy uses the hyper bile to express just how dangerous Adam is.
Her confusion in the dream represents her lack of self confidence, her fear that she does not fit in or have a place in the world. By her wearing ordinary clothes, which the others comment on the excellence of her `costume` this gives reference to her fear that these friends do not see what she has grown into, but rather what she was when younger, nerdy and awkward. It also suggests that the maze of red curtains on the stage represent the safety and comfort of being with her girlfriend Tara and are a sexual metaphor as well. (Freud her sexuality with another female - Lacan -what she shows to others is an illusion she puts on an act because she is unsure of herself).
Xanders Dream-- Xander wakes up on Buffy's couch, excuses himself to use the restroom finds himself the object of an attempted seduction by Joyce (Buffy's mum) in the restroom he starts to unzip then realises that the bathroom is attached to a large white room with many men in white coats ready to take notes and observe his performance. He then meets Buffy, Giles (Buffy's watcher) and Spike (a vampire) in a playground where Spike tells him Giles is going to teach him to be a watcher, while Buffy plays in a sandbox. Xander then finds himself in an ice cream van with (Anya) (a demon) Willow and Tara they are all dressed in skimpy clothes and heavy make-up they ask him to join them in the back he goes to the back only to find himself in his basement (where he lives) then goes to the University and meets Giles, who starts to reveal the reasons for the dream, but suddenly starts speaking in french. He then finds himself in a reenactment of the `Apocalypse Now`. The scene between a captive Capt. Benjamin Willard and Colonel Walker Kurts. Throughout the sequence Xander end up in his basement again and again. Chased by an unseen pursuer who revealed as the first slayer when she tears his heart out.
The main theme of Xanders dream is his sense of failure and being left behind by his friends he feels stuck throughout his dream by the inability to leave the basement bedroom in his parents house. Also by being the only one not at collage with the others he feels anxiety about his ability to understand (ideas and conversations) and keep up with them. This is further shown when Buffy and Willow tells him "We are well ahead of you)". Underscoring his fear that this is really the case. (Freud - young son whats to replace father as the main focus in the family life and sexually).
Giles Dream - Begins with Giles swinging a watch in front of Buffy (a Watcher is a mentor and trainer). They are in Giles apartment which has no furniture other than a chair and a bed. Buffy laughs ,then the dream cuts to his family with Buffy and his girlfriend Olivia at a fairground, quicker than the others to realise something is wrong he confronts Spike who is posing for a photo shoot in his crypt. In the Bronze (a club) he meets Anya failing as a stand up comedian and Willow and Xander,(with a bloody chest wound) warns him of their attacker. He then breaks in to song, giving suggestions on how to deal with what hunts them, but the sound system breaks down, He then crawls backstage to trace a wiring fault be begins to realise his pursuer is the first slayer just as she (slayer) scalps him.
Giles is represented with two choices whether to remain a father figure to Buffy or begin his own life. This is shown by the appearance of his girlfriend Olivia who pushes an empty baby stroller. In this dream of the dream Buffy is dressed as a child unable to throw a ball without his help, this being an indication of that Buffy will not be able to do her job without him. Then we see Olivia weeping this signifies elements of his unfulfilled life i.e. marriage and children.
Final Dream Sequence
Buffy is woken by Anya in her dorm. room, then finds herself in her room at home. Then Tara speaks cryptically about the future. At the University Buffy talks to her mother who lives in the walls, then meets Riley (was her boyfriend I think) at the Initiative. He is promoted to surgeon general and is drawing plans with Adam for world domination, the three of them are interrupted by a demon attack and Riley and Adam make a pillow fort, When Buffy finds her weapons bag it only contains mud which she smears on her face. She is transported to the dessert and finally meets the First Slayer through Tara the First Slayer tells Buffy that she must work on her own which she (Buffy) rejects.The major theme of Buffy's dream is her fear of the personal cost of her life as a slayer the isolation and the loneliness she is forced to endure.
Further notes - The opening dream sequence focused though Willow, illustrates the way that language dissociates us from our own desires (Lacan's psychoanalysis) By sexualizing the painting on Tara's back could this exemplify a point made by Freud; "The most prominent of the parts of the body from which libido arises are known as 'erotogenic zones' although in fact the whole of the body is an erotogenic zone of its own kind.
Xanders continual return (in the dream sequence) is to the scene of his childhood trauma (the basement of his home) perfectly illustrates Freud's understanding of repetition compulsion. Xander also exhibits the classic desire (oedipal) for the mother though his sexual encounter with "Buffy's mum," this ties up with the phallic phase of development (Xander's visit to the bathroom but cannot perform due to the gaze of his father which changes into doctors.
extracts taken from Prof. Fellugu. (felluga/373 engl 373 the theory of SF-F.
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