One thing I noticed is that a lot of the imagery in the videos we saw contained characters with deformed bodies. It was common for people to have white painted faces and dark black eyes. In particular, one of the versions of Wozzeck had people with hunched over bodies.
These characteristics are intense enough to seem out of place, but still subtle enough to seem almost human. I believe that's what induces the most fear into people: distorted reality.
A lot of the expressionist work deals with distorted, grotesque reality. Mary Wigman's dances played around with this concept. All through the Witch dance, she was twisting her body in all sorts of awkward positions.
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| The Witch Dance (this is not Mary Wigman) |
It was interesting to see how expressionism was used in music and writing, where you don't create a physical image.
Listening to the atonality of Wozzeck instantly made me think of Sweeney Todd (which I'm guessing is definitely expressionistic). The music in Sweeney Todd has a tendency to change keys randomly, and change time signature randomly. Stephen Sondheim definitely knew his stuff when he was composing. Even though there's no clear melodic path, the songs in Sweeney Todd are still quite memorable. And scary.
One thing I find interesting about modern art/movements: It's funny how after hundreds of years of cultural evolution, we've decided to throw out all of the rules and standards that have been created for art in favor of our own set of rules. It's like we've all started from scratch once again, from the beginning, when art was first developed by the human race. Perhaps this is a common cycle that is necessary for new things to be created. I just find it intriguing.
Great observations!
ReplyDeleteWhat you said about the distorted bodies caught m attention....it's odd how different you can make your body by just doing something as simple as extending your fingers or moving something a little out of place (an action you can do even at home!)
Thinking about that, I feel like maybe there's a connection between the use of distorted bodies and all sorts of diseases that make your body move in uncontrollable ways, like Cerebral Palsy. It's a simple movement, but it relates to the scope of lost control, which adds to the scare factor.
ReplyDeleteWow. Your thinking has grown exponentially this year. You've jumped from Expressionism to Cerebral Palsy, and found a wonderful, riveting connection between the two, that explains the discomfiture of watching certain types of dance performance. Did you notice the heavy use of expressionist movement in Metamorphoses?
ReplyDeleteSondheim - especially Sweeney, well, that's quite an expressionist piece in many ways. The plot is looped and twisted - and who really cares, because what matters is revenge, new love, and lost love - all emotion, all expressionist.
Did you notice the Witches Dance picture you posted looks decidedly Butoh?
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