To continue: This was another piece from the same "Arts in Cinema" class from 2007. I'll admit, it's not my best, and I think it resorts to some cliches typical of assemblage art. But give me a break. I made it in probably an hour and a half for class the next day.
"There are certain things about that other girl, that Miss Pomeroy '26 that I rather like."
...says Tracy Lord from The Philadelphia Story. On my Top 10 list of favorite films, it has the ultimate cast: Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart, and Katherine Hepburn. I mean, how can you go wrong? I always say that you can judge an actor's talent according to how well they can play a drunk, their skills in fake phone conversations, and how convincingly they can play a woman.* Cary Grant has more or less mastered them all: his phone conversations with "Happy Dale Sanitarium" in Arsenic and Old Lace are amazing, I would consider his "I've suddenly turned gay!" point in Bringing Up Baby his dressing-like-a-woman moment, and in terms of drunk scenes, I fall back on silly/at-wits-end scenes in the previously mentioned films (because he's always a little too cool for being drunk). Jimmy Stewart is master of drunk scenes. It's A Wonderful Life, Mr Smith Goes to Washington (doesn't he?), in Harvey he played a former drunk, and of course, The Philadelphia Story is the best. And Katherine Hepburn, of course, has a marvelous drunk time in this film. Thus the title of my piece: "Miss Pomeroy 1926".
So in the story, spoiled rich girl Tracy, on the eve of her second wedding, is separately confronted by most of the men in her life (including a stranger, Stewart). The theme of their monologues are much the same: that she is a beautiful "goddess", but is always like a cold statue, propped on a pedestal. She is worshiped, but not really loved because her distance makes that impossible. Her "goddess" image is both created by the men who meet and become infatuated with her, but most dangerously, is partly her own making. On this pre-wedding night, the shit hits the proverbial fan, and through the glorious power of champagne, her ice queen image melts away into someone warm-blooded and human.
In my piece, I interpreted this theme of positive growth of character as marked by a single event. Suddenly realizing how everyone sees you and doing something about it. It's fairly literal: the box on the right represents the rigid and formal. Stark, Classical white, standing on formal legs like Greek architecture, soft feathers** like clothing of the wealthy (at least in 1930s and 1940s movie world). Yet this is contrasted with the mesh cover. Something like chicken-wire.
The piece on the left is the interior. As its position on the left, it represents the true interior. It is also the viewpoint of the audience. From this view, the audience and Tracy/other person can look at the white piece from a distance. She is still chained but she is also nearly separate from it. The support is a cordial glass (representative of champagne), which symbolizes the agent that promotes freedom. This portion of the sculpture is more organic, less clean. It's green, symbolizing growth. A plant actually grows out of the glass and penetrates the confines of the box. It's still a young plant, and it is implied that the plant will continue to grow. The mesh is still present, but it is not as confining. In general, the piece points upward and outward, as contrasted with the white piece on the right.
It's a very simple sculpture. And it may be a simplistic message. And the whole idea that the loss of inhibition through alcohol is a good thing is even applicable to 1980s teen comedies... lets face it, most teen comedies.*** However, alcohol here is not "a good thing" but rather, the thing that sets her free. The key to the vault, as it were (but not Schnapps). She's free, not necessarily in terms of letting her hair down, but rather, she is free to see the amplified version of the flaws people see in her. And the implication is that she will positively act on this new perspective.
As the conversation between Tracy and her father (Seth) goes in the end:
"Tracy: How do I look?
Seth: Like a queen, like a goddess.
Tracy: And do you know how I feel?
Seth: How?
Tracy: Like a human. Like a human being."
*This last point is tricky: case in point, David Duchovny in Twin Peaks plays a transvestite very well, which redeems him in my book. Otherwise, meh. Sorry X-Files people.
** Incidentally, I was banned by my advisor to use feathers in my work FROM THIS POINT ON.
"There are certain things about that other girl, that Miss Pomeroy '26 that I rather like."
...says Tracy Lord from The Philadelphia Story. On my Top 10 list of favorite films, it has the ultimate cast: Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart, and Katherine Hepburn. I mean, how can you go wrong? I always say that you can judge an actor's talent according to how well they can play a drunk, their skills in fake phone conversations, and how convincingly they can play a woman.* Cary Grant has more or less mastered them all: his phone conversations with "Happy Dale Sanitarium" in Arsenic and Old Lace are amazing, I would consider his "I've suddenly turned gay!" point in Bringing Up Baby his dressing-like-a-woman moment, and in terms of drunk scenes, I fall back on silly/at-wits-end scenes in the previously mentioned films (because he's always a little too cool for being drunk). Jimmy Stewart is master of drunk scenes. It's A Wonderful Life, Mr Smith Goes to Washington (doesn't he?), in Harvey he played a former drunk, and of course, The Philadelphia Story is the best. And Katherine Hepburn, of course, has a marvelous drunk time in this film. Thus the title of my piece: "Miss Pomeroy 1926".
So in the story, spoiled rich girl Tracy, on the eve of her second wedding, is separately confronted by most of the men in her life (including a stranger, Stewart). The theme of their monologues are much the same: that she is a beautiful "goddess", but is always like a cold statue, propped on a pedestal. She is worshiped, but not really loved because her distance makes that impossible. Her "goddess" image is both created by the men who meet and become infatuated with her, but most dangerously, is partly her own making. On this pre-wedding night, the shit hits the proverbial fan, and through the glorious power of champagne, her ice queen image melts away into someone warm-blooded and human.
In my piece, I interpreted this theme of positive growth of character as marked by a single event. Suddenly realizing how everyone sees you and doing something about it. It's fairly literal: the box on the right represents the rigid and formal. Stark, Classical white, standing on formal legs like Greek architecture, soft feathers** like clothing of the wealthy (at least in 1930s and 1940s movie world). Yet this is contrasted with the mesh cover. Something like chicken-wire.The piece on the left is the interior. As its position on the left, it represents the true interior. It is also the viewpoint of the audience. From this view, the audience and Tracy/other person can look at the white piece from a distance. She is still chained but she is also nearly separate from it. The support is a cordial glass (representative of champagne), which symbolizes the agent that promotes freedom. This portion of the sculpture is more organic, less clean. It's green, symbolizing growth. A plant actually grows out of the glass and penetrates the confines of the box. It's still a young plant, and it is implied that the plant will continue to grow. The mesh is still present, but it is not as confining. In general, the piece points upward and outward, as contrasted with the white piece on the right.
It's a very simple sculpture. And it may be a simplistic message. And the whole idea that the loss of inhibition through alcohol is a good thing is even applicable to 1980s teen comedies... lets face it, most teen comedies.*** However, alcohol here is not "a good thing" but rather, the thing that sets her free. The key to the vault, as it were (but not Schnapps). She's free, not necessarily in terms of letting her hair down, but rather, she is free to see the amplified version of the flaws people see in her. And the implication is that she will positively act on this new perspective.
As the conversation between Tracy and her father (Seth) goes in the end:
"Tracy: How do I look?
Seth: Like a queen, like a goddess.
Tracy: And do you know how I feel?
Seth: How?
Tracy: Like a human. Like a human being."
*This last point is tricky: case in point, David Duchovny in Twin Peaks plays a transvestite very well, which redeems him in my book. Otherwise, meh. Sorry X-Files people.
** Incidentally, I was banned by my advisor to use feathers in my work FROM THIS POINT ON.
***Superbad though, that's different.
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