Thursday, October 20, 2011

Androgyny

Androgyny is a short, 10 second animation that I finished for my art theory class. The wonderful part is that I stayed up until 5 in the morning finishing the damn thing. It is not as clean-looking as I wish it would have been, but considering the time constraints and the fact that I lost the work I did a week ago, it is better than it could have been.

The video is essentially a commentary on the loss of femininity, especially in the workplace, but also in society at large. We see models with boyish figures, and women are encouraged to "grow some balls". Masculinity is emphasized in any patriarchal society, but today it seems that we are encouraging women to obtain masculine features at the cost of what is feminine. This is done often with the premise that women and men need to change in order to become more equal in society, but I see very few men taking on masculine traits for the cause.

In this video, the opening scene shows a woman with short hair and bound breasts holding a sword. She turns to the audience and drops the sword, a symbol of masculine power, and it disintegrates, representing a loss of power. She also loses color, representing a loss of passion and personality. She blinks her eyes, and as they close, she begins to disintegrate as well, representing the loss of value associated with loss of masculinity or (often at the same time) loss of power. Only the eye remains, representing the third eye concept, and the idea of spirituality that is closely associated with women. The eye opens and the same woman is there, only a nude bust in full color, set against a lavender background. She flips her long, feminine hair, which begins to turn progressively darker shades of red, until it turns completely black. The background and her green eyes also begin to darken, an ominous symbol for future misfortune. A sword comes out of the background, again a symbol of masculinity, and cuts her hair as she closes her eyes. When she opens them again, her hair is short and her eyes are red, both symbols of masculinity and power.

The video is set to Eluveite's Gobanno, which is one of my favorite songs by the band for the deep wordless vocals of the male singer and the trilling voice and lilting flute lines. 

Hopefully I get a decent grade for this project, because I may cry if I don't.

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