Up until now I have been playing the character of Urvashi. However this assignment allowed me to explore the physicality and expression of the Super Villain: Razor Girl.
What you need to know before watching this... Super Ruwaxi is approached by a slimy guy in a dance club named Fedora Boy/aka The Fed. He makes inappropriate advances on her. She gets mad and discovers her magical gender-bending body odor, changing him into Fedora Girl. Fedora Girl is shocked and runs away. What follows is Fedora Girl's transformation into Razor Girl, aka Lexi Luthora.
Fedora girl to razor girl from Shyamala Moorty on Vimeo.
Password: Ruwaxi
Questions: 1. What interests you emotionally and/or physically? How would you as an audience member feel about this character (like, dislike, empathize with, scared of, be amused by etc...)? How else might I push this rendition of Razor Girl into a convincing and complex Super Villain who was accidentally created by Super Ruwaxi?
2. How does the song and spoken words inform you about what is going on for the character? (I got the idea from something Cynthia wrote that happens in the gender police headquarters where men are teaching their sons that "boys don't cry.") Could you imagine other words, or no words support this transition? If so, what could you imagine?
3. Costuming: is it clear that the two costumes are the same person? Right now I interpreted Cynthia's description of Razor Girl as having the razor in a french twist as best as I could with short hair. However I realized, after I made the study, that keeping the hat might help us know that this is the same person as the audience members who were wearing it as Fedora Boy and Girl.
Here is a pic of a hat I have that actually has a little slot that a normal sized razor fits into perfectly (do we need to exaggerate the size of the razor?)
What are your thoughts about razor placement?Anything else about her costume that interests you, that you're not sure about, or that you have ideas about?
4. Costume transition: As the music ends in the video, I tried to recreate a sequence similar to Ruwaxi's transition into her club self...walking into the closet and being afraid of being caught. Is this confusing without hands and narrative? Could you imagine hands and narrative coming in here? On a stage, I could do it in a different space than where Fedora girl just came from, but with a still camera it was easier to do it in place. Right now I relied on a video transition to create the clothing transition, but Razor Girl could, like Super Ruwaxi did earlier, change cloths live on stage if it is a simple enough transition (or in a video sequence). Any thoughts about this transition?
5. Anything else?
1. Physically I am interested in the narrowness of the space you are in (though the multiple doorknobs and doorways are somewhat distracting to me) and how that could bring up more movement possibilities in terms of conveying the feeling of being trapped.
ReplyDeleteEmotionally, I am interested in the vacillation between what I am reading as “masculine” and “feminine” expressions of emotion. In particular, for the first half when you’re still in Fedora Boy’s clothes, I am struck by the movement between a tearful, panicked desperation (feminized emotion) and the stoic containment of that emotion (masculinized emotion). Oddly, I find your expression of emotion more feminine in the beginning, when you are in masculine clothing, and more masculine in the end (because Lexie is super aggressive), when you are in feminine clothes.
I feel most sympathetic towards Fedora Girl when she is acting stoic and subtle tremors of her fear show through. I dislike and am slightly disgusted by Razor Girl – I think because she is so aggressive and leering. Razor Girl feels like a slightly flatter character to me than Fedora Girl.
As a viewer, I sometimes find myself confused about whether the character/s are supposed to be emotionally over the top or realistic. Right now the over-the-top moments are not funny to me, but a bit off-putting – particularly when you gaze directly into the camera. I’m curious what the piece would look like if (a) the whole thing were more subtle or (b) the whole thing were more over-the-top and included much more “dance”/movement abstraction or (c) the whole thing was over-the-top and animated instead of live…maybe you could narrate the animation while changing onstage in a pedestrian manner onstage from Urvashi into Lexie.
2. I tried to listen to the words of the song, but honestly I just caught the lyrics “boys don’t cry.” I know the song is famous, but I’m not familiar with its context, so I’m probably missing its connotations. I found the words interesting but a little confusing, mostly because you were transforming into a woman (or at least a female-presenting person) while stopping your tears. I think this connects to my earlier perception that you become more emotionally masculine while becoming more physically feminine. Perhaps these lyrics would mean that Razor Girl is still male-identified? I did enjoy the transition from “boys don’t cry” to “but you will, Ruwaxi.” I could definitely imagine the whole thing without words. Or with weird comic book sound effects. There is also that song, “Big Girls Don’t Cry” by Fergie. Either way this would be a great thing to work with Derrick on.
ReplyDelete3. Outside of the context of the larger work, I interpret you as being the same person in this video because it is your body throughout, the spiral video effect implies a “transformation,” and you have not set up a convention of switching between multiple characters. However, this would be clearer if we actually saw your physical transformation/costume change. While I like the idea of the hat signifying the same character as a theatrical device, the fedora makes you look gender non-conforming to me. In my head, Lexie Luthora’s particular brand of femininity is a cross between dominatrix and corporate femininista (which you represent very well with your outfit, though I wasn’t sure about her bright blue heels) and would probably not be the type to wear a fedora. Perhaps a long blonde wig instead (since I have written her as being blonde several times throughout the script)? Also, I imagined that the razor would be an old-fashioned straight-edge razor (more dangerous and like a knife) rather than this kind of razor. And a small detail – I think you might have been wearing the fedora backwards?
4. The closet sequence was confusing without hands/narrative because you didn’t actually open a door when there were many doorknobs around you. The moment of potentially getting caught with your pants down wasn’t confusing in this way, but it made me wonder why you were so loud/expressive…would you be quieter if there were other people in the house? I do think that the emotional valences of showing the costume transition and how Fedora Girl/Razor Girl feels about their body (disgusted, attracted, confused, etc.), their confusions about how to properly wear feminine garb, etc. could really add a lot to this study emotionally. It could also be a really interesting re-interpretation of the act of sringara (getting decorated). It would certainly be easy enough for me to act as narrator and do hands in this sequence, though we would need to decide, dramaturgically, whether Urvashi is always the narrator, or whether multiple people can play the character of the narrator.
5. I’d love to understand more about the direct gaze into the camera. Sometimes I feel like you are looking at Ruwaxi (how would this be possible? Does Lexie have a secret mirror that she can see her enemy in?); sometimes I feel like you’re looking at yourself in a mirror. As an audience member I often feel like I’m supposed to be a voyeur, given how private an act this is, and am not sure why I’m being directly addressed. I'm curious how the video read if shot from the side or at an oblique angle (viewer as voyeur), or if you emphasized the looking into the mirror aspect more...
1. I am most interested in the emotional changes that I see on your face. As an audience member, I am not quite sure how to feel about Fedora Boy. Some of his movements and expressions feel “over-the-top” for me (example 0:27). I am not sure if this is the reason that I don’t feel for his plight until 0:55. Something about the more internal, subtle shifts that happen around 0:55 (small chest breakdowns, shaking arms, gaze inward) make me feel more for him. The larger gestures (grabbing crotch, chest area, looking directly at camera) read more as caricature to me. I wonder if a journey from an internal experience of struggle/confusion/WTFness (The Fed in transition) to the more externalized experience of figuring out how to present oneself in public (Razor Girl – also through gaze - where do the characters look, when, and why) might make me more empathetic. I think it could be great to play with the external presentation of the Fed (slimy dude) to the private internal ways that he expresses masculinity – sensitive, scared, confused by his transition. Maybe he is kind of intrigued with what is happening!?? Ways to comment on and perhaps subvert stereotypical notions of cis-gender masculinity. I am scared of Razor Girl. She is scary! There is something dark about her. But I think that’s good. She feels like a dominatrix.
ReplyDelete2. I like the song and the words. I do like The Cure though and feel like their different expressions of masculinity add something to the context maybe? So The Fed doesn’t speak during his transition and Razor Girl does? I can see that. I am not imagining any other words. I interpret this scene as in a club, and this song is playing at the club.
3. I do see this as one person. Mainly because it is still you Shyamala playing both characters. And the 70’s style transition (water ripple) for me is also an indicator that it is the same person. I don’t need Razor Girl to wear the hat. I like the razor placement. I imagine that it can be used differently and placed elsewhere depending on what Razor Girl is doing, and who she is trying to intimidate. Yes to straight-edge old-school razor!
4. I would be interested in seeing the costume change on camera. But it might take a really long time and how would the costume magically appear in front of The Fed. Also, when I saw the video without reading your writing indicating that this was a closet, I thought it was the bathroom in the club. I can imagine the camera using the gender figure representation signs (to indicate “boy” or “girl”) on conventional bathroom doors as a powerful message to audience members. I also don’t think I need the extra moment when The Fed is afraid of being caught. Somehow, I think I already got that from previous movements and expressions. I am curious about trying a ‘realistic’ club bathroom soundscape while this is going on. So though The Fed’s silence and the ambient noise (other club goers entering and exiting the bathroom, stall noises, washing hands, etc) we know that he is trying to keep his experience private and silent. He walks out of the “men’s” bathroom as Razor Girl and we see the bathroom door close with the bathroom sign for “man” as the final image of this video! Or maybe The Fed enters the ‘girls’ bathroom and steal someone’s clothing!
5. I'm excited!
FROM BABLI: 1. For the first part (discovery of change) I empathize- somehow it reminds me of either the beginning or the trailer of the film “SWITCH”- where the guy is sleepy in the morning, wants to go to the bathroom- and gets a shock, cause something is missing- maybe because of that association I feel you could take a little more time in the initial discovery- it is engaging and I am with you til the end of the section.
ReplyDeleteThen my relationship to the character (femme fatale type) changes- I am curious about her, but it takes me a while to figure her out. Somehow, I expect clues from the words, but they just repeat the text of the prior song…..She becomes clearer to me- like an evil queen/stepmom from a fairy tale when she approached the camera into a close up.
At that time I start disliking her, but I am also drawn in a fascinated, especially by the razor in the hair!
2. The tone of the music as well as the words work for me in the beginning section (especially since the character does kind of want to cry and the abhinaya plays with that….)
I am confused by the repetition of the words as the femme fatale character is approaching the camera- I find the physical exploration of learning to move in this new body and on these high heels very engaging, but the words draw me in again when she is in close up, talking into the camera mixing the words up with the evil laugh and the reference to Ruwaxi-
I wonder if the words can go away in the middle and come back?
3. I think showing more of the costume change might make that clearer, though I LOVE the ripple transition effect in this case!
Keeping the fedora, yes, I agree, but I like the razor in the hair as well. Maybe she can have the fedora on until she puts the razor in, to cement the transformation- or put razor in addition to fedora?
After seeing the additional pix: I like the fedora with the costume-
I am starting to wonder- why just one razor?
How about on in hair, one on hat, one around neck, etc?
4. Yes, I really enjoyed the mirroring of Ruwaxi earlier here- I can well imagine that!
I wonder if the hands can direct the change of dress? Or razor placement?
5. I am excited!!!