Full outline

Introduction
Iconography (ī'kŏnŏg'rəfē)
-When first used in the 18th century the term was confined to the study of engravings, which were then the standard mode of illustrating books on art and on antiquities in general. But it came shortly to be applied more specifically to the history and classification of Christian images and symbols of all sorts, in whatever medium they happened to be rendered originally or in whatever way they were reproduced for study.
-With the rise of the systematic investigation of art from prehistoric ages to modern times, it became apparent that each major phase or epoch in which figural representations occur had created and developed in varying degrees of richness and elaboration an iconography of its own. As used today, therefore, the term is unavoidably qualified to specify the field of iconographic period under discussion.

I. The importance of iconography briefly in history- how language is defined by it.
A. Cave paintings
-Found in Europe, Africa, Australia, and Southeast Asia. – Images unite. Images speak.
-Cave Paintings, everyone has heard of them, but just in case not, these are images dating to prehistoric times. The earliest known European cave paintings date to 32,000 years ago. The purpose of the cave paintings is not known, and may never be. The evidence suggests that they were not merely decorations of living areas, since the caves in which they have been found do not have signs of ongoing habitation. Also, they are often in areas of caves that are not easily accessed. Some theories hold that they may have been a way of transmitting information, while other theories ascribe them a religious or ceremonial purpose. Well, whatever the initial purpose of these paintings, today they certainly are a way to transmit information. These simple pictorials capture and explicate a long inaccessible historical moment.

B. Rosetta stone
-A 114.4 centimeters tall, 72.3 centimeters wide, and 27.9 centimeters thick, 1,676 pound stone entirely changed our understanding of an integral society in human history, how? Through images.
-One of the most famous iconographical discoveries was the discovery of the Rosetta stone.
- The Rosetta stone also offers another historical importance, a famous representative sample of language as images. It is often forgot that written language is just a series of images that have been imbued with significance. The letters on this page form and image, a word, and in its unique form it presents to you a message.


II. Language as an Icon in Watchmen (Blaringly explicit but overlooked often)

A. The language of the work itself

B. Newspapers and what it says (5-12) (3-24/25)

C. ---- Perhaps The internal comic

III. Icons as Language in Watchmen ( the unspoken)

A. Professor Manhattans Hydrogen atom finds meaning ( 4-12)

B. Costume icons representing Gender roles

C. Costumes as icons for internal refelction (6-8)

D. Images that unite.

IV. Real world relations to Watchmen ( images as a function of Cognitive estrangement)
A. The monster unites… like the atrocity of 9/11
B. ----
C. ----


Conclusion

-The very last picture on the list is the one I want to quote from. Relation to how images are all we have that defines humanity. Images define us. (expand on this topic).
- Perhaps a plug about then why does society, our cannon, resist illustrated literature so vehemently? (leave the reader with an idea to ponder)

Palistine

I think it is an interesting aspect of the novel that most of the narration is Sacco retelling stories told by the locals. I liked it. Also the artistry was perfect I think. It was not as realistic as say Watchmen or V for Vendetta but it was not TOO outlandish and abrasive like that of stuck rubber baby. It was full of almost stereotypical charictizations but to me it was not offensive as an outsider. I would like to read some of the reactions with in the country itself after reading the novel.
That is all for now... one week till finals... AH!

Final paper

Well.. I didn't manage to salvage my draft, so I will post a new rough draft here in a bit instead of re-typing the outline. Overall working on the paper i find it hard to think in a non linear fashion. My outline was easy to draw out and plan a route but It seems i want to write more about each topic to keep it quasi linear but I cant cover as much as i want on each topic because 1. i don't want to write that much and 2. i only have 8 pages. *sigh* and suggestions for dealing with this frustration? 

No?... no one ever post on here. Maybe because I never blogrolled any one. 

O well.

Ill keep this updated! 

Final Project

so.. here is my FULL outline with info.

Well it wont post because I did the thing at the FAR computer lab... and it sent my file as a DOC X and I cant open that ANYWHERE>.. so I am going to head back to FAR to see if i can open it on the computers there. IF not I will be retyping the whole thing.. and you will get it then. Stupid Word...

This is why I use a Mac.- compatible with most everything I need it to be and always reliable. Now eve PC's cant work with each other  because of the new software. Whatever Mac. haters... * this goes out to my friend Ryan* you can all just go play with windows vista in a corner. 

 :) 

Berlin

Boo.. I have 3 more exams BEFORE finals week. I have not finished Berlin yet, I will.. PLACE HOLDER POST!

Well good news, I did really well on my exam and I got and A ( with out the curve) . YAY whoohoo.. I will get an A in Orgo now. No small feat, and much thanks to the flexibility of this class and its wonderful instructor ;) 

ON now to Berlin. 

I thought our in class discussion of Berlin could have been more in depth but seeing as I  didnt have time to read it for each class I am very sure there were several others who could not. Overall though I enjoyed the novel, the historicity and the artwork of it caught my attention and the diverging and converging plot structure kept it. I think that the novel severs a great representation of the disassociation between humans existing in the laminal space of the urban landscape. The transition from person to person in the novel harkens back to Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, a distinctly modernist style that captures the horror and the chaos of the World War II. 

I think its a re-read worthy work. 

Final paper...

Hopeful outline..

General assessment of importance of iconography

examples in history of important iconogoraphy ( say the rosetta stone and others)

Language as a icons-language in watchmen

watchmen's icons
- costumes
- others like the H atom for Prof. Manhattan

How iconography defines gender roles

How images bind ( catastrophe)

How iconography defines real life ( 9/11)

Berlin

A book is a book.
However I am enjoying this one. I like the Historicity of it, not just fact but emotions of the moment. I think capturing the style of life during a historical moment is difficult for a historical text to do, but any art piece makes it more comprehendible. Berlin compiles two of the most complementary forms that allow for emotional expression, art and literature. I think the novel should be assigned in history classes that cover WWII instead of dry historical articles. It would be refreshing and educational for the class.

Random Post

Its beautiful out and I do not want to be studying or working right now, I bet everyone else feels the same in the class. I find it hard to work when spring is finally here and tests are starting to pile up again. Finals is going to be an atrocious time. One this is though at least  for this class I can go outside and type my posts or read the books. Many other classes, the homework and studying required is too difficult to maintain on the Quad, So I end up stuffed into a small little cubicle in Granger Library still as pale as I was mid December studying for some godforsaken Chemistry, Bio, or English class. We need more than a week off this semester... 

Thanks to this class though I have an excuse to get out of the library and have some kind of fun. 

Proposal

So I cannot make it to class today because of an exam mixup in my Bio. Class that had to be worked out. I was wondering if anyone could help me figure out what specific historical event that involved iconography i could focus on for my paper. I wanted to do a short walk through history discussing the importance of Images, but it would be too broad. Therefore I need a specific event or time period to work on. If anyone has any suggestions that would be great! 

Here are 2 of my main ideas. 

- the first written language- cuneiform ( argue then that our letters are infact just symbols) 

- the egyptian period/ rossetta stone 

Thanks in advance for your help~ 

Fun Home

So Fun Home. 

I kinda liked it. I felt that the novel could have expanded more in many places and the end though powerful was rather flat. I did enjoy the allusion to icarus though. I also question the validity of the story/plot. When we first started this class, I read blankets and assumed that it was an entirely fictional piece,  because thats what comics were to me, fictional cartoons. Not until the very end did i realize that the craig from the book was Craig Thompson the author. By reading the novel this way it made all the unbelievable aspects of the work more acceptable for me, because in my mind it was a work of fiction. After i had the realization that it was a memoir, it was too late for me to start questioning details because I had already finished. This was not true for Fun Home, i knew from the beginning that this was supposedly the true story of her life. I felt that it was believable for the most part, but some of the crucial details, such as the diary and the letters, made me question the reality of the work. I would like to know if those were real objects she wrote the story from, and if they were did her re-reading of those texts change her outlook on the story and alter the way she remembered her father and her childhood? Could things really have been as bad as she expressed at the beginning if at the end her father was "always" there to catch her? 

Some of these questions popped into my head as i was reading and it disturbed the flow of the plot for me. I think it is better, if you are looking to enjoy the work, to read it as a work of fiction or semi fiction in-order to accept the unreal. 

 Overall it was a controversial peaice becasue of the topic and the possible ramifications of the text to those still living and i think the book tried to tiptoe around that fact leaving out important ponts that could have enhanced the plot, but its understandable .

Thats my final take on Fun Home

Fun Home

Meh, I can take it or leave it. I would not recommend it to any of my Friends where as I have lent out both Watchmen  and Blankets already.

I am looking forward to talking about the Final project though, I hope it is open ended so we do not have to do an essay. I think this class is a rather creative way to form a writing class with both online writing and in class writing and many different styles. When I signed up for a class about writing I expected like 5 essays and 2 in class essay/exams. Dare I say, I was pleasantly flabbergasted, 1 because there was really no essay writing involved, and 2 we were doing things I had not imagined i would write in college, LIke this blog and a manifesto and a comic. How cool. Everyone who asks what my 300 class was, kicks themselves when i tell them because they took some normal dry English course that they barley remember. I on the other-hand will remember this class for a long time to come because it has expanded my range of writing abilities.