Please take a look before reading the context and feedback questions!
password: "amar chitra katha"
FEEDBACK QUESTIONS:
1. The video switches from close-ups of mudras to video of my face and body. Do you like the combination or would you prefer that I focus on one approach. If the latter, which do you prefer?
2. What do you think of the combination of the cultural stereotype of the Hairy Arm-Pitted Feminist and the (usually lovely, feminine, and seductive) apsara, Urvashi? Is it interesting? Problematic? What might need to be further fleshed out, if anything?
3. Comments or suggestions on the text? The movement vocabulary?
4. How would you like to see this further developed?
5. What do you know about Urvashi, the mythological character, if anything?
6. Other thoughts?
CONTEXT:
This video is a rough sketch that parodies the original Superman TV trailer, drawing on and translating its text, music, and imagery. (I will eventually have to get different music if we want to further develop this.) See the following link to see the original video:
http://www.fiftiesweb.com/superman.htm
Here is my script:
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password: "amar chitra katha"
FEEDBACK QUESTIONS:
1. The video switches from close-ups of mudras to video of my face and body. Do you like the combination or would you prefer that I focus on one approach. If the latter, which do you prefer?
2. What do you think of the combination of the cultural stereotype of the Hairy Arm-Pitted Feminist and the (usually lovely, feminine, and seductive) apsara, Urvashi? Is it interesting? Problematic? What might need to be further fleshed out, if anything?
3. Comments or suggestions on the text? The movement vocabulary?
4. How would you like to see this further developed?
5. What do you know about Urvashi, the mythological character, if anything?
6. Other thoughts?
CONTEXT:
This video is a rough sketch that parodies the original Superman TV trailer, drawing on and translating its text, music, and imagery. (I will eventually have to get different music if we want to further develop this.) See the following link to see the original video:
http://www.fiftiesweb.com/superman.htm
Here is my script:
Faster than a speeding bullet.
More powerful than a locomotive.
Able to blast through expectations in a single bound.
More powerful than a locomotive.
Able to blast through expectations in a single bound.
Look! Striding angrily through the street!
It's a butch. It's a femme. It's...the HAIRY ARM-PITTED FEMINIST!
Yes, it's Urvashi, the Hairy Arm-pitted Feminist - strange visitor from another planet who came to Earth with powerful body odor far beyond that of mortal men. Urvashi, whose reek induces gender-bending reincarnations, whose stench can change the course of patriarchal oppression, and who, disguised as Good Little Confucian Girl, dutiful daughter of an Asian immigrant family, fights the never-ending battle for Truth, Gender Justice and Freedom of Sexual Expression.
It's a butch. It's a femme. It's...the HAIRY ARM-PITTED FEMINIST!
Yes, it's Urvashi, the Hairy Arm-pitted Feminist - strange visitor from another planet who came to Earth with powerful body odor far beyond that of mortal men. Urvashi, whose reek induces gender-bending reincarnations, whose stench can change the course of patriarchal oppression, and who, disguised as Good Little Confucian Girl, dutiful daughter of an Asian immigrant family, fights the never-ending battle for Truth, Gender Justice and Freedom of Sexual Expression.
According to Ravi, Urvashi was an apsara in the Mahabharata who transformed Arjuna into a woman as a punishment for him offending her (she was attracted to him, but he regarded her as a grandmother). Later she turned it into a boon when he acknowledged how difficult it was to live as a woman, allowing him to switch genders at will; as a result at one point Arjuna became a court dancer. There seem to be competing versions of the story; Wikipedia says that Arjuna was transformed into a eunuch rather than a woman: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arjuna#Urvashi.27s_curse. I need to do more research, as I'm not so familiar with her or the story myself.
This is soooo funnny....I love the parody and humor Cynthia....brilliant! Will give feedback later :)
ReplyDeleteHah, this is awesome, Cynthia!
ReplyDeleteOkay, and now for feedback:
1. On the film style combining close and distant, I like it, it's very classic old school "BAM!" "POW!" TV superhero and it works. I thought we could have used some more stylized close-up shots of the Hairy Arm-Pitted Feminist (HAF), the closeup shots before introducing her fully were great, and perhaps it would have been nice to see more of those a bit throughout. Perhaps even a half body shot of HAF in a Vira Rasa type pose, looking out towards the future of femininity? Maybe couple more inter-spliced shots of the awestruck onlookers, and maybe some more armpit shots. :)
2. I like the meek, taiwanese alter-ego character. :) Perhaps you might play a bit more with the costume of the HAF? Something a bit more "out there?"
3. Could be nice to see a little fast kathak sequence, thundering her feminist influence all throughout the realm, perhaps panning out from a closeup as the tihai (is that the right word?) increases in intensity.
4. Hmm.. will think on this one...
5. Well, she's the epitome of beauty and sensuality and the kind of sexual partner who can only be found in swarga itself, and she's very, very exclusive. Indra himself is very lucky to get consistent dates with her. So if she chooses you, (Arjuna), don't dare scorn her advances, because then she'll likely curse you (not terribly) to live as a woman for a year and see how it feels (asshole!) As far as I know, Arjuna was not turned into a eunuch, just more of a trannie, he didn't sleep with men (or women, really) during that year, although he certainly got the brunt of unwanted advances from sleezy menfolk that he found he needed to fend off. In that year, he worked as a very competent dance teacher to royalty, and it always seemed to me that he kind of enjoyed the experience, as a whole. I very much doubt that Urvashi ever asked him out again.
Nice job, Cynthia and hope my feedback is helpful!
1) I really love how the focus switches from face, to body, to mudras because the shots are really inventive in terms of what you are doing movement-wise in sync with the music--very powerful
ReplyDelete2) I think the irony and over the top humor of juxtapositioning the hairy arm pitted feminist as Urvashi is a wonderful brain teaser. Yes it is problematic and that's what makes it so ripe with perfromance possibilities. In terms of fleshing out, you might research more about Urvashi's character and all that she is (there are so many stories/versions surrounding many of the Hindu heroines so it may just give you more to play with and tease out. Perhaps one side or facet of her is the hairy feminist but she still has the other good clean shaven side too? Is the clean shaven Urvashi quiet/subdued?
3) I love what you do in the beginning with the close-ups and the movement vocabulary. When you move to full body shots, I was reminded of the What the F lady from Sunoh! I like all the slapping and hard ass movement and am wanting to see the other side, the softer side that surprises us about this hairy feminist without so that we are not just seeing the stereotype, but the nuances and complexity. Exploring this would be definitely rich
I love love the text!
4) Further development...see #3. Also, since this is a trailer, you open up a great opportunity for live performance or what follows the trailer (which is usually the film). You could take it into a logomotion direction with Urvashi live?
5) Don't know more than you about Urvashi
6) Hugely exciting! I love the trailer as a structure to get us thinking as well as the humor which is very cleverly integrated throughout
3)
1.I really like the switch. I found that the close-up on hands was the ongest-- would have loved to see more on face!
ReplyDelete2. I actually don't know enough about Urvashi to fully be able to gage possible problematics- but stereotypes are in any case-- which makes their performance potential
that said- playing with stereotypes always requires research, if you want to pursue this idea....
I think its worth pursuing.
I like the way politics comes in!
3.
Movement.... great use of hands.
More Face!
I wonder about the relationship between her powers and her physicality.... does her power go beyond the smell?
I wonder about her range of movement? TO me she seems mostly butch and tough? Are there more facets to her? Does she transform (repeatedly) and how?
I dont detect the apsara-
4.
See 3
5.
Not enough
6.
Pursue pursue!!!!!
I think the sound effects have tremendous potential. Especially with the kathak rhythms- i love the slap of your foot amplified.
Also, the black and white video is interesting as a texture, in its potential as a story telling tool
1. This is so funny! I really like the combo of close-ups of mudras to face and body! More close ups could be nice…Like maybe after we see the full Urvashi for a moment then we hone in on a few details, like the foot stomp, maybe a corner of the gay gay gay shirt (it’s so far I can’t read it here), and/or a close up of arm pits. The last pose is great with the elbows high and showing off the pits…it would be great if it got closer slowly like the last pose in the super man video does and/or with animation showed the waves of scent coming out of those pits!
Delete2. I like that Urvashi’s image is totally turned upside down and reinterpreted. Perhaps to make sense of it, this current Urvashi is either a reincarnation of the original, or the orig is her ancestor and after generations of intermarrying and immigration we get her Asian-American self? I love the “good little Confucian Girl” so funny! The original Urvashi was a dancer? So maybe this Urvashi has repurposed Kathak to a more butch version?
3. Love the text!
I enjoy the movement vocab of the close ups…very sharp and clear. I like that the locomotive also can be interpreted as punching movements. The knock-out of the shikara is funny. A lot of the gestures have energy or movement towards the camera which is particularly effective in terms of the feeling of the bang hitting the viewer.
In the full body vocabulary, I particularly like the movement to the text “..whose reek induces gender-bending reincarnations, whose stench can change the course of patriarchal oppression.” I expecially like the reverberations of the body in this section…makes me think of the body odor spreading and I would like to see more of that and/or a close up version. I am seeing the last movement here and the final stamp in the video as possibly the “movement signature” of Urvashi: elbows high, proudly showing off her pits and with hands in fists looking tough. Everything’s very frontal, but I could also imagine her starting with her back to the camera and turning around into a more forward confrontational movement similar to the mudras coming at the screen.
4. Ideas for development are in 1 and 3 above.
Would you consider a cape? It would reference the superman image visually. Or something else to make the Urvashi costume a bit more over the top and thus match the movement? Perhaps because I know you, the Urvashi outfit looks rather every- day-like, while the other characters (the on lookers and the good little Confucian girl) look over the top. Hmmmm, actually perhaps this works for she can reveal others’ un-realness, or gender constructs? But to me the text is so over the top and ridiculous that I think it would make sense to make her costuming more so too.
5. I just learned about Urvashi from you. I knew about Arjuna being disguised as a female (didn’t know the Eunich interpretation) dance teacher for a year. But never knew there was any reason other than the need to have a disguise while the Pandavas were in exile.
6. The feet sounding like bullets is great, but I can’t hear certain bits of the text because of them. Probably sound balancing whenever you redo the music would be key or having the stomps between the words.
Hi Cynthia,
ReplyDeleteI am a little late with the feedback so will focus on something that has not been mentioned already... I really liked the aesthetic connections (and breaks from) the superman epic but wonder if there may be a way to make it clearer? The love the dual character (meek confucian girl disguised as a feminist) and wished there was a way to make this more explicit. In the superman comics and movies there is always that pivotal moment when superman transforms from clark kent into superman (tears open his shirt to reveal the superman suit), turns superfast to transform etc. I wonder if there would be someway to incorporate this into the trailer?
Hey Sangita, thanks for your thoughts! I really like the idea of creating movement to signal the transformation from Good Little Confucian Girl into Super Urvashi -- perhaps there could be some sort of modified chakkar? -- especially in the context of a physical dance. As it was, I was trying to mimic the existing 1950s trailer for the Superman show as closely as possible, and they actually just cut from one figure to the next without showing that pivotal moment. Do you think it'd be more effective to have me transform via a physical movement rather than a jump-cut? And if you have other thoughts about the video editing, I would love to hear!
DeleteAlso, If you agree or disagree with any of the other people's responses about the feedback questions I asked, I would love to know! It's super helpful to know when something is a shared opinion rather than one person's.
Thanks all for your fabulous feedback! Great food for thought. Yes, Super Urvashi needs a better costume (you can't tell in the video, but her shirt says "gay gay gay gay gay" in a repeating pattern). I also want to do some character brainstorming on how the different aspects of Good Little Confucian Girl, Urvashi the apsara, and the Hairy Arm-pitted Feminist might intersect (or whether I need to give one of them up for clarity). :)
ReplyDelete