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I wholeheartedly agree with your admiration of Ursula’s work, Alexander. I was amazed by their sheer size, and the amount of pieces she has produced. I understand that she has a full team working with her to execute her creative insight, but I would think to would take years for a piece to be completed. When looking at her website, it is clear that this is not the case. I think she is able to complete pieces so quickly because she has a very clear creative vision and drive.
I found her answers to the questions the class was asking to be very insightful. The response that I was really surprised by was when she was asked what the meaning behind some of her pieces are, and her choices for which mediums to use. Ursula revealed that her artistic decisions that she makes are more like “why not?” rather than having a solid meaning that she’s looking to execute. I thought this was really interesting because when I took studio art classes in high school, every decision that I made, whether it be the medium used or the placement of objects on a page, had to have some sort of justification behind it. This always led to it being a struggle for me to start projects because I was never sure where to begin. The organic shapes of her pieces reflect Ursula’s open creative vision, rather than a concrete form of how the piece will be executed from start to finish.Liam, I like the fact that you tied both Frankie and Mateo together in your post. Aside from how they ended up being connected at the end, with the death of Mateo and Johnny’s attempt at letting go of how he feels at fault for Frankie’s death, I never connected Frankie and Mateo as characters throughout the movie. As they were moving in, the family certainly was scared and definitely felt out of place in their dilapidated apartment building full of unfriendly people and drug addicts. While he may have appeared very threatening at first, Mateo was certainly the “beacon of mottled light” that you describe him as. He made the family feel more in place and at home. I like the question that you posed about the magic between the characters. Though I did feel like Frankie’s “magic” was too coincidental to be purely imagined, I think the belief in Frankie as another beacon of hope just helped to explain some moments that went right for the family when they were destined to have gone terribly wrong.
Chaz, I like how you said that the nervousness of the family was “palpable”. I thought the exact thing when the movie began. All of the characters then began to open up more and more, despite the fact that the glamour of New York soon begins to dissipate and the reality of the family’s situation sets in. I found the most drastic personality change to happen to Christy. From the beginning of the film, it appeared that she was almost mute. She obviously didn’t wan’t to leave home, but I was unsure if she would ever break out of the shell of nervousness and anger she had built for herself. She ended up being the most outgoing member of her family along with Ariel. If Christy had not opened up, she definitely would not have gone trick-or-treating with Ariel which was the catalyst for her, and soon her entire family becoming so close with Mateo
I would definitely choose the trick-or-treating scene as the turning point of the film. That scene is the first time that Mateo’s true character is revealed. Prior to this scene, he is known as “the man who screams”. His door is painted with “KEEP AWAY” which makes him appear to be a threat and certainly unwelcoming character. When no one in the building answers the two girl’s knocks and screams of “trick-or-treat”, their last resort is to go to Mateo’s door and see if he will give them anything. He responds the first few times with a yell for them to leave him alone, but eventually he answers the door. It’s a very tense scene from the beginning, since it seems like he would harm the children. But once he invites them inside, it is clear that he doesn’t have any malicious intent. I found the moment that he gave the girls the jar of coins to be extremely touching. Mateo could have just told them that he didn’t have anything to give them and just sent them on their way. But the fact that he went and looked for something to give them showed that he truly cared about the girls and wanted to have a positive impact on them. The change he gave the girls meant a lot to them, especially because of the situation they all were living in.
From this point on, Mateo is an integral character in the film. He creates conflict between Johnny and Sarah initially since it seems like Mateo begins to have romantic feelings towards Sarah. Once that is resolved, Mateo seems to almost become part of their family. They truly care about him. Mateo is seen as an outsider in the film, and even the other tenants in the building don’t want to have any interaction with him. When he faints, no other person that lived in the building rushed to help him. This could be due to many things – racism, expected drug use, or the knowledge of his implied HIV/AIDS. But from the trick-or-treating scene, it is clear that the little girls do not have any of these internalized prejudices, and Christy goes to help him.I really liked your link between Van Gogh and Corrigan – that is a really cool fact. I had seen Corrigan as a character that was so far above everyone else in society due to his strong inclination to help others and he was the “saint” that the characters needed. I didn’t really see him as “dirty” because I felt that he stooped down to the level of the hookers and those he was helping, rather than live at the same status. His struggle was definitely internal, and it was surprising to me that the reader was able to gain so much insight into him as a character because it wasn’t him that was narrating his story.
I also found the difference between Corrigan’s faith and his actions to be quite interesting. I definitely agree with calling him a “mad, impossible angel” because he truly wanted to help others as much as he could. He never made life easy for himself because he was constantly seeking to better the lives of others. In the eyes of someone who practiced the same religion that Corrigan belonged to, I am certain that they would have looked down upon him. While Corrigan seemed to hold very strong ties to his religion, he did break what I would say was his most physical vow to it – his celibacy. Corrigan represents the paradox of the book – whether you can remain religiously faithful while still helping all members of society and being considered an “ordinary person”
I definitely agree with your idea that Smoke is full of uncertainty. None of the characters have any true stability to their lives. I also agree that the way Rashid introduces himself to his father made sense. It would have been too abrupt and would have changed the entire pace and tone of the movie if Rashid had immediately introduced himself to Cyrus as his son. It was a nice scene towards the end to have everything line up with them and have Auggie and Paul there.
I like your personal connection to the photo album – I also thought that would be a super cool project to do when Auggie showed the album to Paul. I also noticed that “slowing down” was a prominent theme throughout the entire movie, not just when Auggie had mentioned it. I feel that the theme of slowing down also matches the pace of the movie – all of the events take place in a very small but believable time frame. You highlight Paul Benjamin as reflecting the theme of “slowing down” the most, and I would agree. He acts very erratically, but you can see the arc that the character takes throughout the movie and by the end he seems to become more aware of the reality of the situation he got himself into.
