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April 29, 2007
EL312: Project Literary Criticism: complete
As Tiffany's already reported, the "Project Day" in EL312 was fabulous. Even though we had to stay a little later than normal--till about 9 p.m.--I'm glad that everyone got to go. I think it's also interesting that we all used media of some sort--be it videos, websites, movie clips, or music. Very nice, friends!
Anyway, the whole night was a little crazy. For me it started off with the Quicktime movie I burned to a CD not playing on the computer supplied in the classroom--said there was missing software. Nice. So frantically, I tried to think of other ways to get it to work: Windows Media Player, upload to YouTube, upload to my website, upload to Kevin's website... nothing worked. So then we tried using cables to hook my laptop up to the television. That worked (thank God!). The presentation wouldn't have been the same (plus I would have been sad that I put so much time into the video and no one could enjoy it...)
I've tried uploading the video to YouTube again... it's too big. If anyone has any hints on how to chop it to a third of its size, let me know and I'll happily upload it.
After Jay and I finished our skit and completed the discussion, the night unfolded to be quite enjoyable (and I could relax again).
While I'm definitely not a Harry Potter fan, I could still understand where Tiffany and Valerie were coming from with their project. I enjoyed how they worked elements of the uncanny into the blog they created, but the best part of the discussion was about reader response and fanfic.
Erin's project was strange but interesting (or delicious, one might say!). I loved how she worked with a popular skit on SNL to reinforce intertextuality. The most interesting part was, for me, that I didn't understand all the lyrics and references--that seems like a reminder that we're not necessarily expected as the "average reader" to catch every last example of intertextuality... Great job (and great cupcakes), Erin!
While Gina and Mitch's project was somewhat hilarious because of the examples they provided (it was like a flashback to childhood for awhile), I definitely appreciated their creative idea in examining the "ideal viewer" for children's programming. They did a great job of explaining how children are and are not ideal viewers for movies like Shrek and tv shows like Dora the Explorer... They even made a MySpace page to discuss it!
Vanessa and Diana's project involving formalism and historicism and Sleeping Beauty started off with a kick when Diana walked into the room in full-costume. :) The website they created (complete with works cited page!) gives a detailed description of the criticisms they applied as well as great graphics (cited!). Thanks for breaking it down so neatly, ladies--I really understood your reasons for the project.
The last presentation of the evening (but by far not the least) was Dave's on Bono's lyrics for multiple songs from U2. I really don't do well with lyrics, so I was glad he passed out copies to the class... I also don't do well with pop culture, so I had no idea Bob Dylan was nominated for the Nobel Prize in literature... for song lyrics... I was happy to listen to Dave's reasons for believing that Bono should be placed in the same arena as Dylan--I don't know much about either, but I'm grateful for the comparison!
And this week, since Lorin had been rather ill, Denamarie and Lorin presented their project, which involved some creatively directed videos reenacting scenes from "The Yellow Wallpaper" so that we could compare them to scenes from the movie "Garden State." I love that movie, even though it's been a long time since I've seen it. The acting in their video was really well done (I think we should thank your actors, too!). They based their argument for intertextuality between the movie and the book on the doctor/patient relationship--a unique focus, when considering Gilman's story. Their presentation was nicely done.
Thanks to everyone for working so hard on your projects. It ended up being a fun night in lit. crit. after all.
Posted by KarissaKilgore at April 29, 2007 9:57 AM
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Comments
Yes, I hope I remembered to thank everyone for staying late.
Posted by: Dennis G. Jerz 
at April 29, 2007 11:51 PM