The theme I am presenting in my animation is disorder, and the overall effects it has on a person’s life. For instance, we saw that Kovalev’s existence was in a chaotic state after he lost his nose. Initially, he considered himself very handsome, and had a high stature in society. Meanwhile, after losing this importance feature, he felt ashamed to go out in public or to meet with his mistress. I took this idea of beauty being tainted and began to work on my animation. For instance, I started with an image of the Eiffel Tower, which for me is the epitome of beauty. Meanwhile, on to this background, I started to overlay different things in life like animals, hearts and flowers. In this manner, I brought in the theme of disorder and things being out of place. Surely, an image of the Eiffel Tower is not the same when it is covered by hedgehogs, dogs, owls, cats, washed-out flowers, and hearts. Although the picture is still pretty, it does not show the full, commanding beauty of the Eiffel Tower, Similarly, Kovalev is not the same handsome, powerful man without his nose. On the same token, we found Kovalev’s nose wandering around the city, which was also quite weird and disorderly. For this reason, I took animals, like owls, cats and hedgehogs, and put them in a picture where one doesn’t expect them to be. It once again capitalizes on the idea of disorder.

Collage- Midway Point

After this first set of images depicted things being out of place, like they are in Kovalev’s life after he loses his nose, I was finished with my collage and I had reached my half-way point. I then took the image I had created of tainted beauty, and drew purple lines on it to depict shattering, which goes to show how Kovalev thought everything was falling apart in his life, since he lost his nose. Meanwhile, I then added a sudden, rotating black hole to depict how unexpectedly Kovalev’s nose was found. I then show Kovalev growing in size, for now that he has this important feature of his face back, he is once again on his high-horse. Thus, I played off of the idea of disorder, and the effect it can have on someone’s life, by tainting beauty and leading to confusion. Meanwhile, a sudden turn of events can bring everything back to normal. I also satirize Kovalev’s big head and high opinion of himself by making him much larger than anyone else at the train station in Russia, in the last section of my animation.

In my computer graphic, I also show the importance of position in society during this time. Clearly, to Kovalev, being stripped of his nose was a big deal for many reasons. He held a good job and needed to uphold his reputation. Mainly, I hope to make clear through my animation the overall theme of disorder in The Nose, as well as the effects it can have on someone’s life. For Kovalev, when things go wrong, he feels like his life is shattering, but, when things go right again, he is haughty and elated.