Critique and Art

Chef managed to give us a very interesting look at what not only chefs submit themselves to, but artists of all kinds. We more than any other line of work submit ourselves to critique. Sometimes that critique is in line with what we wanted other times it is not. Now it's one thing if a critic says something about our work, but when someone who is "just another guy says it" we can become offended..."what do they know about art" But that's the nature of art. We as artists have to be willing to take the critique because our line of work demands it. If we are not critiqued we do not get better.
Now as an artist you can react in one of a few different ways. You can simply brush it off, you can take it and use it, or you can have a complete meltdown and take it personally. I highly suggest that you do not take the third option. The fact of the matter is if you can't handle critique than maybe art shouldn't be your thing.

Running Behind

I meant to post my Spirited Away blog quite a long time ago. But I believe that this film actually ties in quite well to Letters to Momo. Both films are a wonderful look at japanese culture Spirited Away on the other hand takes a much more fantastic look. Instead of the spirit world coming to us we go to the spirit world. This gives us a much more interpreted look at religion and spirituality. This is spirituality and religion through the eyes of Miyazaki, and it's beautiful. The designs of the different spirits are magnificent and it's a wonderful glimpse into the mind of an individual and how he sees the culture. I remember watching a making of documentary and Miyazaki was discussing some older paradigms with some of the other writers and artists and none of them had any indication as to what he was talking about. He is such a mine of mythology and information and he drew on things that he understood and created a beautiful world because of it.

Symbols, Religion, and Culture

A Letter to Momo is one of the best examples I've seen of how a culture interprets it's own religion. A lot of care was taken in being faithful to the symbols and visualization of the demons. It was very fascinating to see another cultures religion I found the bit about the rice boats to be particularly interesting. I think that christian film makers could learn a thing or two from this film especially in how it sticks to tradition in particular places and how it moves away from tradition in others. Christians tendency to either throw out our symbols completely or stick to them so stubbornly that they lose all sacredness, is a problem. This is also an excellent look at how the Japanese merge there religion and culture. Even though they may not necessarily be religious both Momo and her mother pray in front of the shrine to her father and husband. In japan it is very common for people to continue the practice of such things even if they themselves don't believe in it because their faith is such an integral part of their cultural identity.

Nostalgia and Rose Tinted Glasses

I remember watching this as a child and reveling in the magnificent imagery, and my imagination filling in what other possible candy making rooms there could be in that factory. I remember it very distinctly fueling my imagination; "what more could there be to this amazing world?" In the years I have spent revisiting it my out look has grown slightly more cynical (I would hope not as cynical as the rest of the world). I find myself asking, has this movie just become a marketing gimmick that plays on our nostalgia? Is there some executive twirling his mustache as he counts enormous piles of money. Now as someone who enjoys film I can look at it with a similar enjoyment I had as a child, but I often find that people enjoy this movie not because it's an excellent film, but because they want to get caught up in the nostalgia that everyone else gets caught up in, like it's become this awesome little club "oh you like Willy Wonka, I like Willy Wonka too." Don't mistake me though, I think this is a great film, and I think nostalgia can be a very powerful tool, but has liking this film become a bit of a fad because of it's nostalgic properties.

Yojimbo's through the years

The Yojimbo character has managed to become it's own sort of sub archetype that can be found in nearly every form of media. I thought I would cover some of the characters that have fallen into this sub archetype.

1)

Obviously the orignial, Yojimbo (Toshiro Mifune), you can't have a list about this archetype without the original. This character epitomizes the character. Mysterious past, unknown name, a skill set rivaled by no one, and finally he attempts to convince everyone he has no allegiance.












2)

The second character to fall into the Yojimbo archetype would have to be Clint Eastwood's Man With No Name. He fits perfectly within the archetype mostly because the character was based directly off of Mifune's Yojimbo. He is all of the traits mentioned above, but with one added feature that has since become essential for the archetype, a man of few words.




3)

Another less popular character to fall into the archetype would be One Eye from the film Valhalla Rising. This character is an incredibly dark and violent take on the archetype. He spends most of the movie convincing everyone around him that he is a dangerous man, if only to protect a young boy from being killed by a group of crusaders they have fallen in with.


4)

And finally one of the most recent renditions of the character can be found in the character of The Driver in the movie drive. This character falls in love with his next door neighbor whose husband is released from prison. In order to help him out of a prison debt The Driver helps him pull off a heist, but as always goes in these situations something goes wrong. This is another very violent take on the character, but very interesting and slightly more complicated than the others.