Tales of Genji I, 1998, coloured woodblock print. Source: http://nga.gov.au/exhibition/frankenthaler/Detail.cfm?IRN=120694&BioArtistIRN=16772&MnuID=2&GalID=5

Pink Lady, 1963. Source: http://www.wsj.com/articles/a-flower-arrangement-inspired-by-a-helen-frankenthaler-painting-1413562323

I’ve always admired Frankenthaler’s work. It could be useful to me because I want to incorporate an expression of the internal self in my painting.

–> Visit Pip in open office hours to discuss

In today’s society we are very accustomed to violence, in fact we seem to expect it in our media. Most blockbuster films and nearly all video games will contain at least one form of battle, fight or abuse. For the most part we hold a polarising view of this violence, mainstream media will often have clearly defined ‘goodies’ and ‘baddies’ that make the extreme violence depicted feel acceptable. 

The avengers destroying half the city is fine because they are saving the day. There is a possibility that this is also because the violence superhero films is highly dramatised and theatrical, no one really believes that Hawkeye can take out 50 aliens with just a few arrows, there’s a greater sense of suspended belief that allows us to enjoy the intense fight scenes shown on screen. On the other hand video games often have a first person perspective, where the player is responsible for the character’s actions. This has led to divisive debate over the years about the impact of video games on young adults, perhaps because the violence contained within the game is seen as less acceptable since you have to engage with it on a personal level. Likewise, an intense thriller is more likely to have a higher age rating than a superhero film because the violence is much more realistic and graphic, there is a possibility that something similar could happen to you or I. Perhaps that scares us.

Of course the level of violence acceptable varies between individuals according to personal taste. Although there is a tendency within films for violence to be more accepted if it is accompanied by a moral lesson or retribution, perhaps in the form of a political statement. Similarly there are many instances in film and television where the ‘good guy’ loses control, for instance Jon Snow’s treatment of Ramsey Bolton in the latest series of ‘Game of Thrones’, at such a point the violence can become more repellent as we instinctively sense a primal chaos tearing through our constructed social order. 

So why do we like so much blood, gore and fighting in our media? You only have to look at the popularity of the aforementioned ‘Game of Thrones’ or the recent slew of Swedish Noires as evidence of our taste for the graphic. One possibility is that through cultural forms we can safely engage with an aspect of society that, in some parts of the world at least, we no longer have access to. Films and video games can act as outlet for something primal within us that our societal conventions have slowly made unacceptable in our day-to-day lives.

There are many ways to factor this in when discussing Macbeth, for example we see in the opening scene that violence on the battlefield is praised and rewarded. Whereas murder solely for ambition, without moral justification is accompanied by natural and supernatural unrest. Suggesting that Macbeth’s tyranny and uprooting of the sovereign state threatens to throw Scotland into moral and political chaos.

Link to Cairngorms Women Contributions: http://www.simonekenyon.co.uk/current/into-the-mountain/cairngorms-women-contributions/

Found Simone’s talk yesterday very interesting, particularly her discussion of her work in the Cairngorms National Park; she talked about her examination of the gendered aspect of the landscape and mountaineering culture, linking masculinity and heroism to the conventional ideas of mountaineering. 

She has met with numerous women of the Cairngorms and discussed their relationship to the land and where they feel their place is within it. 

I felt this was relevant to my concept of womanhood and our relationship to ourselves, explored through our surroundings. Although I have so far focused on the urban landscape and architecture as a form of armour. The idea of linking femininity to the sublime (something I considered originally) is very intriguing for me.