The Politics of Art & Authenticity

To be honest, I wouldn’t say dance is my kind of thing. This might be because my elegance on the dance floor is similar to the elegance of a four year trying to swim for the first time. I only get up at weddings for cocktail hour (the appetizers only of course) and for the songs that have directions in the lyrics, like “The YMCA.” But this isn’t to say I can’t appreciate the art of dance. If anything, my inability to properly “shake what my momma gave me” makes me more appreciative of people like Jody Sperling,

courtesy of verrier-fashion.com

who are gifted in that category. When Sperling gave her lecture on Loie Fuller, I could tell how appreciative Sperling is of Fuller’s style. Fuller impressively was the first to use long flowing dresses and excess fabric coupled with colored lights as part of her costume. This allowed her to choreograph unique and “enveloping” performances. Though Loie Fuller isn’t a name I had heard of before, or likely will hear again, it was interesting to see how she has influenced many modern dance forms. But the best part of the lecture was learning of Sperling’s dedication to Fuller’s style– her “mish-moshed” funded ensemble’s interpretation of only Fuller-type dance– and seeing a video of them actually performing.

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When people hear the word graffiti they usually cringe or look down upon the practice.  They think graffiti is done by rebellious teens who want to damage other peoples’s property.  But this is not the case.  Graffiti is a type of art and  few weeks ago I went to 5Pointz Aerosol Art Center, located in Long Island City, New York, where I saw graffiti being utilized to the fullest of its potential.

This old 200,000 square foot factory building has been called the “graffiti Mecca” by many artists, and it is very obvious why.  Graffiti artists from all over the world come to paint on this building.  Walking around the entire perimeter, you can see each artists distinct style and the detail that goes into all the pieces.  While I was there, I observed an artist creating an outstanding masterpiece that would’ve taken many people weeks or even months to complete, but what he probably finished within a day or two.  That is another amazing thing about 5Pointz.  You might go there one week and see some artist’s graffiti, and the next week it is covered by another artist’s piece of work.  I don’t understand how someone can put so much time and effort into something when they know it will be gone in such a short period of time. Hopefully someone will view it and photograph it before it disappears.  It shows people that these artists don’t just paint at 5Pointz for the fame, but because they truly love art and want to express it.  Even if not one other person sees their work, they will still feel proud and accomplished to have painted their graffiti at 5Pointz.

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While at 5Pointz some of the people who work at the center told us that the owner of the building is trying to sell, because it is pointless to be paying for an abandoned building when they can be making a profit by selling it.  I was upset by this because I find beauty when people are able to make something amazing out of an abandoned building, just as they did at 5Pointz.  In my hometown of Beacon, NY, there are many old factory buildings that haven’t been used for almost a century.  Instead of taking them down they have been transformed into different art exhibitions, such as Electric Windows, and some have been made into natural parks.  People do not realize how much history and story is behind buildings.  When these historic buildings are taken down, a supermarket or commercial store is usually put up in its place.  Wouldn’t you rather see a historical factory building covered in beautiful murals or artistic graffiti than see another Walmart?

It’s important to keep places like 5Pointz so we, as students, can experience and see great art, even when we might not think it is.  What I like most about 5Pointz is that you don’t expect it to be so amazing and breathtaking, so when you see it for the first time your speechless.  It made me realize that you musty expect the unexpected when looking at art, and to always keep an open mind.

I was never introduced to folk art until last week, when I made a trip to the American Folk Art Museum. Folk art is nothing like the fine art I’m used to seeing at museums; folk art expresses different cultures and is more decorative than aesthetic fine art. It just isn’t the type of thing I would assume I’d like. I mean, folk art… it sounds pretty random. So I was shocked when I found myself looking at exhibits made of sequins, beads, buttons, foil, and other interesting materials. One thing I thought particularly great was a traveling exhibit called “The National Tribute Quilt.” The quilt is a memorial for September 11th and its victims. Each one-inch square of the quilt has the names of one person who died on September 11th and was made and sent in by the someone in honor of the victim. Some of the blocks are quilted, some embroidered by hand or machine, and some even printed on the computer. The squares make up a picture of the skyline with the twin towers in the middle. The edges of the quilt are dedicated to the the four flights that were and the Pentagon. It looks like the background is smoke from the fire. I think this quilt represents a type of art that everyone is involved in some way or another. Art is a way to express oneself, and with this quilt, a large number of people worked to express their emotions after such a devastating tragedy.

Wasp, a short film by award winning director Andrea Arnold, portrays a day of a single mother with four kids.

When I first saw this film, I could not help myself from frowning all the time. From the beginning, I was appalled by how the mothers (in the film) could use such language, show such violent actions in front of the kids. Where are all the manners, where’s the courtesy. The fantasy I used to have of “Great Britain” lifestyle,as a child: the tea parties, living in a big mansion with maids and servants, having the ability to get what you want whenever you want, broke into pieces as I was more exposed to the reality-perhaps more various aspects of the society-depicted through these short films and documentaries.

Recently, I have been childishly pouting about the things I felt I missed out throughout my childhood  and have been shamefully blaming those on my parents and the society I was in. Only looking at the things I didn’t have, I forgot to be grateful for what I really had, a secure family, home, education and all that I was lucky enough to enjoy compared to the kids in the film.

Initially, I blamed the mother.What did the children ever do wrong to deserve such lifestyle? The mother was not acting wise enough to save food and money for the kids, neither was she taking care of the children’s hygiene nor setting a good example of conduct or behavior.  All the time, no matter how good the intention may be, or how much she deserved it after a period of time, which the audience probably does not know about, she was acting on her selfish behalf. Trying to satisfy both her lives, as a young women in her twenties and as a mother of four children. I even questioned the reason why she kept those kids. Was it to satisfy her needs for income or was it for loves sake. Later I searched for how much benefit she could receive by having those kids. Skip the details, the general equation was the more (children) you have, the more you receive from the government.

As these questions swept through my mind,  I saw how she desperately tried to bring the positiveness within the grim situation she and her kids were in. Although not necessarily educational, she sang, she danced, she tried “her best” to help the kids see the positive side. Well, it can also be seen as a way to “trick” the simple minded children but the point is she did “her best” in the situation. Looking at that scene, the only one who genuinely fell for that “avert the children’s attention” idea was the third child. The second was maintaining her “protesting” stance while the more mature first child was trying to cheer up no matter what her mom’s intention may be. This led me to think the mother might be only thinking up to the level of the third oldest child.

See the parallelism?

After watching the video, I found that this was almost an biographical short film, based on her growing environment. Andrea Arnold, growing up as the eldest. I figured that this could be her way of trying to understand her mother, or to tell people that there’s more to just being a immature single mom, urging empathy and understanding.

Sources

snap shot image : http://vimeo.com/27862959

Going into this film, I imagined it to be a distressing documentary on mankind’s hurt to exterminate the often-feared wasp – that behind their frightening stinger and ability to inflict pain was a soft, gentle creature yearning to live in a peaceful world where they wouldn’t have to fear flyswatters and newspapers.

Oh no. No no no. Whatever that film might have been, “Wasp” was ten times as emotionally tense and just as dire. Throughout the film, I felt as if some sudden, shocking event would arrive to scare me, ironically saving me from this stirring fear of the unknown the film was presenting me with. In a way, had a car somehow run over someone, or if those men who dropped the food turned out to be violent thugs, “Wasp” would have scared me less. “Wasp” was one big unknown because it was only a snapshot in the lives of Zoe and her kids, leaving us to fill in the blanks while watching this poor family struggle. I didn’t know anything about Zoe’s life, or how she found herself alone with four kids, and I didn’t know anything about David, and his past with Zoe. I sat there trying to piece it all together, all while this little wasp starts guest starring in the film, and I just knew it’d cause some havoc eventually. Thinking about it now, I think that’s exactly what director Andrea Arnold wanted. Your mind is buzzing around, wondering what’s possibly going on in the lives of the characters; distracting you from the actual story, just like a wasp distracts pretty much everybody from their tasks.

“Wasp” left me afraid. It left me dumbfounded. Mostly though, it made me want to find out more. Why this story? Why this one specific day in the lives of these specific characters? Why are there four children? Why the Beckham allusions? Why the wasp? Why did she get Coke and not Pepsi? (All these short films have really driven that idea of “Everything’s there for a reason,” into my head, don’t you think?) So, I did, and I think I managed to come up with a few good reasons on what makes “Wasp” belong to Arnold.

Director Andrea Arnold

Nathalie Press, who played Zoe, was practically unknown in the film community before “Wasp,” a fact that’s made me wonder if that’s the reason why I believed the film to be a documentary for the first few minutes. I didn’t feel as if I was watching an actor assume a role, but rather the character was real and true, and that Press had become Zoe. Using lesser-known actors would become a motif for Arnold, even going so far as to literally grab a woman from a train station to give her the lead role in “Fish Tank.” In the case of “Wasp,” and surely in Arnold’s other films, this decision is what drives home the realism of the story. Which brings me to my next idea…

The idea for “Wasp” had to come from somewhere, and while Arnold may think it cliche to base a film around her own life, it’s hard to believe she didn’t draw a significant influence from real life. “I grew up in a working-class family, so I guess you could say I write from what I know,” she explains. The comparisons don’t end there, with her Wikipedia page noting that she was raised as one of four children by a single mother. Is “Wasp” then, a nod to her past? Though it could be far from the actual events, there’s a chance that “Wasp” is a dramatic retelling of Arnold’s childhood; a chance for her story to be told in a medium that will reach the lives of others who may have been, or still are, in her position.

What really terrified me about the film was its paradoxical ending. We don’t know how long David will take on the role of savior for Zoe and her children, nor do we get a definiate answer on if Zoe ever grows up and escapes the cycle of poverty and fear she’s lived in. What we do get though, is a car-full of children singing along to an upbeat dance song as the camera pans out. Sure, you can draw the conclusion of a happy ending from that – which after reading more about Arnold’s films, I’ve begun to believe – but my first instinct was that the song consumed the film with its volume, growing louder until we were left with a black screen, and then credits. After sitting through twenty-six minutes of the emotional roller coaster that is “Wasp,” that song was the last thing I expected. Which is exactly why I loved the film. It was real people, real situations, real conflicts, but Arnold made it the most bizarre thing I’ve ever seen.

Photo Credit

I went to 5Pointz Aerosol Art Center, expecting to see the usual crude graffiti that I’ve grown used to in the City, but was blown away by the artistic genius that covers the walls of the decrepit, abandoned buildings. It is mind-blowing how such an ugly part of Queens has managed to become a hotspot of creativity for artists worldwide. Because the vivid colors and detailed paintings are nestled amongst such dirt and decay, instead of in a beautiful museum, the level of expertise of the participating artists is amplified. I still have no idea as to how they can spray-paint on all those different kinds of surfaces. It really has to be seen to be believed. For whoever thinks “graffiti” isn’t art (I put it in quotes because 5Pointz is reserved specifically for this use so it is 100% legal) I really urge you to give it another shot. Because maybe you’ll learn to see ugliness for what it really is – an opportunity to infuse beauty.

Wasp, by Andrea Arnold, is just one of those short films where you have a love/hate relationship with the main character. The mother, Zoe, is a young girl with four kids. Clearly, she did not know how to raise a family for she curses in front of her kids who are all under the age of 10 at least. She does not bother to properly feed them, dress them, nor give them a strong figure to look up to. The one thing that I hate about Zoe was the way she spoke to her kids and the way she treated them. She didn’t talk to her kids with kindness or as a mother should talk to her kids. Zoe spoke to them as if they were nothing but a bother to her, as if the kids are just troublesome in her life. Although Zoe does not really treat her kids the way they should be treated, Zoe does care about them. Maybe not the most proper way, but she does. The way she tries to bring some sort of fun to the kids in the situation they are in, the way she tries to feed them even though she doesn’t have enough money, and the fact that she brings them out shows how she does care for them. Bringing the kids to a bar and having them wait for her outside wasn’t the smartest idea, but there is a possible reasoning behind it. As Konstantin said in class, that Zoe brought the kids to the bar with her because she would be close to them and if anything were to happen that she’d be there sooner than she would be if she left them at home. Zoe, by the way she acts, is not fit for being a mother, however, she does care for her kids and she does try to be the mother her kids deserve. I guess that is what I love about her. The unconditional love that she has for her kids.

WASP, written and directed by Andrea Arnold, is filled with emotion– anger, sadness, pity, endearment, love. It depicts an eventful day in the life of Zoe, a single mother, and her children. The family lives in a dingy apartment, surviving off very little money. The innocent, dirty faces of the kids pull on the audience’s heartstrings, while the actions of their irresponsible yet loving mother pluck them violently. In the first few scenes Zoe takes action against one of her kids being bullied by attempting to beat-up the other girl’s mother. Oh, and she brings her kids with her to watch. I would really like to be doing the job of the other mother at this point (kicking Zoe’s a**), but I also feel a sense of pride for her misguided attempt at defending her children. The same feelings occur when Zoe has her kids wait outside a bar while she goes on a date with this guy David. I couldn’t help but to feel pride for Zoe that she is trying to get her life moving, but I also couldn’t help to want to kill her. How can you leave your kids outside a bar? and then only feed them chips and soda? Zoe continually walks a tightrope for the night, balancing taking care of her children and making a good impression on Dave. And in the end, Arnold reveals that Zoe’s love for her children is an overbearing emotion for her. She runs to her kids when they scream, as opposed to hooking-up with David. I really like Zoe at this point, she runs to her children and holds them. And the best moment of the whole movie is when David (the nice guy) takes the kids to get some real food for once, and tells Zoe that they “have to talk.” I laugh in delight when the little blonde girl pushes her hair behind her ears and stuffs her face with french fries.

Photo Credit: http://dearcinema.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/Wasp-2003.jpg

At first, Wasp by Andrea Arnold left me speechless. I was unsure about what to think about this short film.  It was not the thick accent that left me wordless, just the storyline.  In this film, Zoe, a young mother of four, is attempting live out her life how she thinks someone her age should.  This means, at times, she will disregard her children and, despite their young ages, she will leave them to fend for themselves.

I watched this short film twice because I felt I was missing something.  I was.  At first when I saw the film in class I thought that Zoe was a horrible mother.  Her actions annoyed me.  The way she treated her children annoyed me.  In my eyes she was not doing anything right.  Even after the discussion in class I felt this way.  However, I watched it again and began thinking.  The audience doesn’t know what type of life Zoe lived before.  She could be following in her parent’s footsteps and doing the same thing they did, having children at an early age.  Her parents could have abandoned her after having her first child.  There are numerous possibilities as to which could determine what shaped her into this type of woman.  One thing became clear to me though; Zoe loves every one of her children.

I find it interesting how Andrea Arnold showed Zoe’s love for her children.  The short opened to Zoe, in her nightgown with no shoes on, grabbing her children and bringing them to another child’s house and starting a fight with the mom who lives there.  This may look irresponsible to some but I’m sure many would do the same.  In Zoe’s eyes she was protecting her children, protecting her child who was hit by another mom.  It is not like this does not happen.  In fact, it does happen.  In the news a few years ago a mother beat up the bully instead of the parent.  On the way to meet David, Zoe tries to make things fun for the kids by having them race and makes a zig-zag pattern with the stroller.  This shows she cares by knowing what they like and what can make them smile.  Also, she takes them with her to see David and keeps them outside which is better than keeping them home; if something happened and they were at home without her, she might not be able to make it back in time.

I’m not too sure what the wasp represents.   In literature a wasp represents a female warrior.  I think this could also work for the main character Zoe.  She might not have the greatest life, she doesn’t have a man to support her, she has four children but she’s still trying her best.  Zoe is still able to make all four children smile which is what counts in the end.  She will fight for them, she will fight to protect them. She will do anything for these four children.

Arnold is unique in that she made this short which reveals the flaws of humanity.  She went below the surface and looked past the picture perfect families to this, a not so uncommon scene.  Through his film Arnold showed that life is not all smiles that it is not what many believe it to be.  There are those who have it harder than others and we should be thankful for what we have.  I find it different how Arnold used the children as foil characters in order to show how irresponsible the mother was.  The older children were left in charge to take care of the baby and the third oldest.  The children were more mature than the adult who is responsible for their lives.

The piece that remains in my mind is the ending.  In the end the children get to eat and as David drives away they’re singing the song they heard and that uplifting song begins to play.  To some this may seem weird.  Why would such a sad film have such an uplifting ending?  I believe it shows that they have hope.  The children survived another day and their mother, quite possibly, will change how she does things.  She may become more responsible.  I believe by having the children sing and have the music play it shows there is hope.  As Allison Clarke stated in Taken, “Hope is the biggest lie there is, and it is the best. We have to keep going as if it all mattered, or else we wouldn’t keep going at all.”

Sources

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