Katabasis in Myth and Film

“The Six-Fold Law of Symbolism” by Perter Fingesten

This article talked chiefly about symbols from a very religious standpoint, which does not exactly pertain to what I will be doing for my Final Project, but however, the article did provide some interesting facts on the origin and original meanings of symbols and symbolism in society.  The article states that symbol stems from the Greek word of “symballo” which means to throw together, to join, or to unite.  A cultural significance in the root of the word symbol is that it comes from the practice of “symbolia” which means signs of recognition between a host and guests in a household.  The tradition was that the host would break a clay or terra cotta pot or ring, and distribute the pieces to the guest.  They would go their separate ways after the meeting and then upon seeing or meeting again, they would combine to form the original structure again.  Others did not know what these pieces of broken pottery meant or who they shared them with, but to those who were present at the breaking within that certain household would recognize its significance.  Therefore, it is stated that a symbol, in its original context “meant a secret sign of recognition.”

further, the article addresses the role of symbols in art.  The usage of symbols stretches way back into the prehistoric times.  It states now that symbols in art forms are by far the most complex and meaninful, and an art form that is symbolic takes on a role that is not so much aesthetic and self-explanatory as it is open to a variety of interpretations.

Summary of The Sense of an Ending: Reflections on Kieslowski’s Trilogy

Krzyszoft Kieslowski’s films are difficult to understand. Though politically based, they are true stories with complex characters and plots. This sometimes hides meanings, and causes differences of opinions. Three Colours  fits perfectly into this mold.

Blue: Sound is a big part of Blue. The noise of the outside world pulls Julie back to the real world. The mice, the street fight, and doors slamming draw her out of her world. Julie has conflicting desires to damage and preserve herself.  The scarping of her hand on the stone wall and the destruction of her/Patrice’s score are examples of her destruction. Her “dips” into “pure sound” as well as her dips in the pool are ways for Julie to escape into nothing. She leaps off “into the abyss yet always stops short of death. “  The title comes from her blue moments, with blue light falling over and around her. The ending of the film shows Julie waking. She visits Patrice’s mistress and finally goes to Olivier about the score. The music of the film is finally second-chair to the images. Liberte has been achieved, almost.

White: Karol Karol, divorced and poor, lures his ex-wife back to Poland and gets her accused of his murder. Egalite- getting even- is the theme of this film.  In White Karol is able to obtain liberte through non-tragic means when he pretends to be dead, whereas in Blue Julie had to go through an extreme loss for liberte. Fraternite is another theme present in both films: Julie’s bond with the prostitute and Karol’s country’s involvement in his revenge. The white of this film is shown mainly in the flashbacks to the white wedding of Karol and Dominique.

Red: Valentine and Auguste are saved from a ferry disaster in the ending of this film. Their lives seem to be doubles of one another’s. The ending of this film uses doubling to balance the finale of the three films. The red of the film comes from the red of the cafes, the awnings and the chairs, and is reflected in the bubble gum ad and then in the ending with the red anorak. Fraternite is shown by Valentine. She is deeply connected to her brother, and also to the human race. She connects with the judge, and with people in general.

Coates, P. (1996) The Sense of an Ending: Reflections on Kieslowski’s Trilogy. Film Quarterly, 50. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1213420

Bibliography:

Sanchez-Escalonilla, Antonio (2005, January, 1). The Hero as a visitor in hell: the descent into death in film structure. Journal of Popular Film and Television.

Lawson, Gerard (2005, September, 22). The hero’s journey as a developmental metaphor in counseling. (Joseph Cambell). Journal of Humanistic Counseling, Education and Development.

Homer, The Odyssey (Translation: Lattimore, Richmond (1967). Harper & Row Publisher Inc.)

Anonymous, Hymn to Demeter, (Translation:  Evelyn, Hugh G. (1914). Loeb Classical Library)

Virgil, The Aeneid, (Translation: Fitzgerald, Robert (1981). Vintage Books)

Bodewitz, H. (2002). The dark and deep underworld in the ‘Veda’. Journal of the American Oriental Society. 122(2), 213-223.

Rice, J. (2006). Myths of the Underworld journey. Plato, Aristophanes, and the ‘Orphic’ gold tablets. Journal of Hellenic studies. 126, 160-161.

            For my project I plan on using a youtube video and create my own katabatic journey that will be spliced into the already made video online. I will create my own still frames that will depict the characters experience while I overlap music that is also katabatic. The clip is from youtube, which is one of the places on the internet that allows people to more easily share information.

Jean Baudrillard has this to say about the real and the imaginary:

In this passage to a space whose curvature is no longer that of the real, nor of truth, the age of simulation thus begins with a liquidation of all referentials – worse: by their art)ficial resurrection in systems of signs, which are a more ductile material than meaning, in that they lend themselves to all systems of equivalence, all binary oppositions and all combinatory algebra. It is no longer a question of imitation, nor of reduplication, nor even of parody. It is rather a question of substituting signs of the real for the real itself; that is, an operation to deter every real process by its operational double, a metastable, programmatic, perfect descriptive machine which provides all the signs of the real and short-circuits all its vicissitudes. Never again will the real have to be produced: this is the vital function of the model in a system of death, or rather of anticipated resurrection which no longer leaves any chance even in the event of death. A hyperreal henceforth sheltered from the imaginary, and from any distinction between the real and the imaginary, leaving room only for the orbital recurrence of models and the simulated generation of difference.

Read the rest of this famous essay, which may have been a source of inspiration for the THE MATRIX:
 http://www.stanford.edu/dept/HPS/Baudril…

Very interesting review, which discusses the themes of skepticism and confidence in a film which explores “a thoroughly realized and considered universe unto itself” which consists of “multiple realities” and “perceptive complexities”.
 http://www.filmjournal.com/filmjournal/e…

Bibliography

For my final research project I will be examining how Darren Aronofsky uses cinematic and technical elements to draw the viewer into the dark and seductive underworld of drug addiction, in his film Requiem for a Dream. I will discuss how the main characters journey through their own personal versions of hell in the form of an addiction to drugs, only to reemerge in a reality that has been drastically changed by the time they have spent away.

Beachem, John (2002, Apr, 17). Requiem for a Dream . Culture Cartel, Retrieved Nov 9, 2008, from                http://www.cinema-scene.com/archive/02/4…

Berardinelli, James (2000, Oct, 10). Requiem for a Dream. ReelViwes Movie Review, Retrieved Nov 8, 2008,    from http://www.reelviews.net/php_review_temp…

Gonsavales, Rob (2006, Dec, 30). Requiem for a Dream . Retrieved November 9, 2008, from EFilm Critic Web site: http://efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=…

Heilman, Jeremy (2001, Sept). Requiem for a Dream (Darren Aronofsky) 2000. Retrieved November 11, 2008, from Movie Martyr Web site: http://www.moviemartyr.com/2000/RequiemF…

Milanovic, Anji (2000, Oct, 27). Requiem for a Dream Directed by Darren Aronofsky. La Plume Noire,              Retrieved Nov 9, 2008, from http://www.plume-noire.com/movies/review…

O’Hehir, Andrew (2000, Oct, 20). Requiem for a Dream. Salon, Retrieved Nov 8, 2008, from                            http://archive.salon.com/ent/movies/revi…

Perry, David (2000, Nov, 24). Requiem for a Dream . Cinema-scene, 2, Retrieved Nov 9, 2008, from               http://www.cinema-scene.com/archive/02/4…

Stark, Jeff (2000, Oct, 13). Its a Punk Movie. Salon, Retrieved Nov 8, 2008, from                                             http://archive.salon.com /ent/movies/int/2000/10/13/aronofsky/

Walsh, David (2000, Nov, 29). Shouting but not saying much-Requiem for a Dream . Retrieved November       9, 2008, from World Socialist Web Site Web site: http://wsws.org/articles/2000/nov2000/re…

Weinberg, Scott (2000, Oct, 10). Requiem for a Dream . Retrieved November 9, 2008, from EFilm Critic          Web site: http://efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=…

William, Thomas (2000, Nov, 4). Requiem for a Dream(18). Empire, Retrieved Nov 9, 2008, from                    http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/Revi…

Rowse, Darren. (2007). Telling Stories With Photos. Retrieved November 11, 2008, from Digital Photography School. Website: http://digital-photography- school.com/blog/telling- stories-with-photos/

O’Halloran, K. (2005). Mathamatical Discourse: Language, Symbolism, and Visual

Images. Great Britain: Continuum.

Lombergar, Dowen. (2007). Creating Mood With Color In Photography. Retrieved November 11, 2008, from Picture Correct.Website: http://www.picturecorrect.com/photographytips/207/creating_mood_with_color.htm

Callow, Rhonda. (2008). Framing Your Subject. Retrieved November 11, 2008, from Bright Hub. Website: http://www.brighthub.com/multimedia/photography/articles/956.aspx

Jaffe, Eric. (2001). Dictionary of Symbolism. Retrieved November 11, 2008, from University of Michigan Fantasy and Fiction. Website: http://www.umich.edu/~umfandsf/symbolismproject/symbolism.html/

For my project I plan on using photography edited by use of photoshop. The techniques I am planning to use with the photographs are use of filters that will create a darker and more twisted image. I also plan to use color alterations to set a mood with the image. Another Idea I have is to frame it with another image of a rocky staircase I have to emphasize descent with the main image.

Bibliography

Coates, P. (1996). The Sense of an Ending: Reflections on Kieslowski’s Trilogy. Film Quarterly, 50. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1213420

Perkins, H.W. & Harris, L.B. (1990). Familial Bereavement and Health in Adult Life Course Perspective. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 52. http://www.jstor.org/stable/352853

Robinson, H.T. (2007). The Ego, the Eye, and the Camera Lens—A Psychoanalytic Reading of Traumatic Loss and Mourning in Krzysztof Kieslowski’s Three Colours Blue. Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 27. doi: 10.1080/07352690701484683

Santilli, P.C. (2006). Cinema &Subjectivity in Kryzysztof Kieslowski. Journal of  Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 64. doi: 10.1111/j.0021.8529.00236.x

Zisook, S. & Chentsova-Dutton, Y. & Shuchter, S.R. (1998). PTSD Following Bereavement. Annals of Clinical Psychiatry,10. doi: 10.1023/A: 1022342028750

My final art project is going to be about katabasis brought about by an unexpected sorrow and the effects of the sorrow on one’s life. From studying the film Blue and articles about both the film and the psychology of loss, I am going to create a picture in the style of collages by Henri Matisse. The collage will not be the simple magazine clipping  type, but one made from precisely cut newspaper and carefully glued together pieces.
The newspaper as a medium represents the number of unexpected sorrows in the world and also society in general. I’ve chosen this collage technique because its monochromatic quality and also because of the detail it allows while still being vague. Distinct outlines can be created but specific details are obscured, which is similar to sorrow- specific, yet also not.

Brook, Donald.(1983). Painting, Photography and Representation. The Journal of Aesthetics and Representation , 42(2), 171-180. Retrieved November 11, 2008, from JSTOR database.

Eigen, Edward.(spring 2001). Dark Space and the Early Days of Photography as a Medium. Grey Room, 90-111. Retrieved on November 11, 2008, from JSTOR database.

Eoin Nash, Richard. (May, 2001). Follies and Falsities: Architectural. PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art, 23(2), 71-74. on November 11, 2008, from JSTOR database.

Lavrentiev, Alexander. (1994). Inventions from Photography: Light, Shadow and Optical Transformations. Leonardo, 27(5), 383-386. Retrieved November 11, 2008, from JSTOR database.

I plan to take a trip to Georgetown in Washington D.C. and take pictures of the famous “Exorcist stairs.” I plan to capture the shadows that are created by the narrow pathway on the way down and the light that is visible on the way back up. Then I will be able to print the photographs in a dark room to create a photo journey in the katabatic theme.

Kimberly Zeitz

final-semester-project-bibliography-2003

For my project I am going to further develop how the katabatic and classical vision of the underworld transcends into a number of modern films. Even if different readers have individual opinions and interpretations, the descriptions and ideas expressed in Homer’s Odyssey and Virgil’s Aeneid can be combined to create a very detailed landscape of the underworld. The classical katabatic themes are not only found in the plot and characters of modern films, but can be found visually as well. The settings and resulting atmospheres of films can evoke feelings toward and symbolize a type of hell. With a close comparison of the many divisions and elements that form the traditional underworld in the two ancient texts and of the locations, backgrounds, and scenery that are used in present day movies, a parallelism can be seen. I hope to visually show these alignments and the symbolism of the scenery in three movies with a painting centered around the classical image of the underworld and transforming into the scenes that are based off of and represent that image.