Reflection 1: Postmodernism - Truth & Grand Narratives

How do you know if something is true? It could be argued that truth is what we see and experience ourselves so we know it to be true. However, the Postmodernist way of thinking would argue that just because you've seen it for yourself does not mean what you experienced was the absolute truth (Straker, 2013). Postmodernism's idea of truth is that there is no single truth but instead our own interpretation of truth. "We view the world through human perspectives" (Luntley, 2002). Our previous experiences and beliefs affect our perspective so how we percieve something will always be a skewed version based on our interpretation.

Our interpretations are also affected by where we get our information from. If someone else has altered information before it has reached you it will affect how you perceive it, effectively constructing a narrative for you. This is similar to how different world Governments would control their own meta-narratives that they would use to influence the public to legitimise their cause during World War II (Nicholas, 2018) . As an example I created a thought experiment to demonstrate this concept: You enter a room and someone places you in chair with a blue ball opposite to you. You are unable to leave your chair so you can only see this ball from this perspective. You could assume that the object in front of you is exactly as it appears, a blue ball. But being locked in the one perspective means you have no way of actually knowing if this is actually true. If could be a ball with one side blue and the other side red but you cannot see the red side so you assume the whole thing is blue. It's also possible it's not a ball at all and only half a sphere with the flat side turned away from you, or it could even be an extremely realistic painting that appears to be a solid object but is in fact an illusion. Whoever put you in the room with the ball is controlling the narrative of what the ball is and how you perceive it.

This meta-narrative controlling technique can be seen in the media when news outlets might only show one perspective or completely ignore information on a topic to move the narrative to their own agenda (Hakim, 2018). In the TV series "The Boys" this concept is an integral part of the plot (Kripke, 2019) . The series itself is a parody and social commentary of the popular superhero franchises we see today in comic books, shows and movies and the culture that surrounds them (The Ringer, 2019) . Almost all of the heroes in The Boys are based on recognisable characters from Marvel or DC. Homelander, for example, is a Superman crossed with Captain America type character who is the symbol of justice and patriotism to the public but in reality he is a psychopath who is willing to hurt or kill anyone if it benefits himself.

A company called "Vought" are responsible for managing these heroes and creating a positive public narrative, often hiding the truth about the heinous acts their heroes commit out of the public eye. Vought will keep track of how their heroes rank on social platforms, often targeting certain demographics to gain more followers. The company will utilise things such as female empowerment to market their merchandise and movies. The Boys asks the audience to think about how real life companies do the exact same thing with their franchises; is it about the message or the money? Can you trust the narrative when it's being controlled by a company driven by profits above all else?

Our perspective shapes not just our lives but how we view and interpret the media we consume. I believe this is a powerful tool for telling stories. Stories themselves are narratives that are preconstructed before reaching the audience.

References

Hakim, K. (2018, May 20). Censoring the truth to control the narrative. The Black Wall Street Times. https://theblackwallsttimes.com/2018/05/20/censoring-the-truth-to-control-the-narrative/

Luntley, M. (2002). Reason, Truth and Self: The Postmodern Reconditioned (p. 17). Routledge.

Nicholas, T. (2018, April 16). Postmodernism: WTF? An introduction to Postmodernist Theory. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6s_sW6FZ2g

Straker, D. (2013, September 13). Postmodernism and Truth. ChangingMinds.Org. http://changingminds.org/explanations/critical_theory/concepts/postmodernism_truth.htm

Kripke, E. (2019, July 26). The Boys [Action, Crime, Drama].

The Ringer. (2019, November 21). How ‘The Boys’ Deconstructs the Superhero Genre and Relates to the Scorsese-Marvel Feud. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RUv88sVFwM

Reflection 2: Poststructuralism - Deconstruction

The concept of deconstruction is, in my opinion, vitally important for any artist in the field of animation or visual effects to understand and utilise. The poststructuralist deconstruction is the analysis of a text or any form of media and breaking down the individual elements to find it's contexts, subtexts and connotations (Silverman, 2004). For the artist, using deconstruction can be a tool for being able to see or understand the various processes that go into an animation or visual effect by just seeing the end result.

Animation is a series of images that appear to have movement when shown in quick succession (Sito, 2006). Being able to deconstruct the creation of an animated work isn't hard with much of the varying methods are already understood. Hand drawn animations can be deconstructed to just that: hand drawn images on paper, coloured and photographed onto film which is then played through a projector create the illusion of motion on a screen (NFTS, n.d.). With the creation of computers these techniques became more complex but still can be deconstructed to their basic ideas. 3D animated work is generated by rendering polygons, three or four sided shapes, that collectively created the appearance of an object which is then lit by a simulation of light to add depth (Beegel, 2020).

As the technology has developed, more and varying methods of the animation, lighting, rendering and compositing processes have evolved in the 3D animation and visual effects industry. There can be many different ways of creating a certain effect. For example, to create a realistic fire a 3D artist could create a simluated CGI fire effect by using dynamic voxel fluid simulations to have complete control over the look and feel, or a compositor could take a video or a real fire and place it ontop of the scene instead. A good artist could see such an effect being used and deconstruct it in their mind to figure out which method could have been utilised (MasterClass, 2021). Practising the deconstucting of animation and effects can be incredibly educational and open up new ideas that an artist might not have thought about before.

Being able to deconstruct media through thought alone is one thing, demonstrating it t others is another. 'VFX breakdowns' are popular among visual effects artists and studios to show off their work. They often show the underlying techniques used by decostructing the final image back down into the basic elements that make it up in the first place. This common consists of showing a background plate then a rough CGI version used as starting point then layering the different iterations of work on top until lastly the final version is shown, as can be seen in the VFX breakdown for Averngers: Infinity War by Framestore (Framestore, 2018).

The practice of deconstructing has been useful not just for philosophical purposes but as a practical tool for animators and other digital artists to expand their knowledge of processes and methods for creating their work. In my opinion, without deconstruction the evolution of the animation and visual effects industry may not have advanced as quickly as it has. We can use breakdowns to teach and educate others what makes today's CGI look so good despite it all being just pixels on a screen or frames from a projector. There is never a correct way to achieve a particular effect or image, but a lot of different varying methods can used depending on the situation and deconstruction is a vital part of that process.

References

Beegel, J. (2020, August 24). What Is 3D Animation ? IGW. https://infographicworld.com/what-is-3d-animation/

Framestore. (2018, August 14). Avengers: Infinity War | VFX Breakdown | Framestore. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5mS7BHmZJI

MasterClass. (2021, June 21). How Visual Effects Work in Film: A Guide to the 4 Types of VFX. MasterClass. https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-visual-effects-work-in-film

NFTS. (n.d.). Persistence of vision:  how does animation work? FutureLearn. Retrieved March 6, 2022, from https://www.futurelearn.com/info/courses/explore-animation/0/steps/12222

Silverman, H. J. (2004). Derrida and Deconstruction (p. 4). Routledge.

Sito, T. (2006). Drawing the Line (p. 11). University Press of Kentucky.

Reflection 3 : Aesthetics - Aesthetic Judgement

Aesthetic judgement is how we perceive and value things, also referred to as 'aesthetic taste.' There are common theories to explain the way humans have developed aesthetic judgement: the Darwinian theory of beauty and 'eye of the beholder.' I believe the truth may lie in-between the two.

The Darwinian theory of beauty is based on the idea that we have developed a 'taste' for art as an evolutionary trait (Dutton, 2002). For example a talented person is often seen as very intelligent and skilled, making them desirable as a mate. Evidence of this can be seen in artifacts made by early humans where they would craft hunting items that were not as effective as weapons but instead looked beautiful in an attempt to impress others (Dutton, 2010). According to this theory, we have evolved to find beauty where there are certain traits, such as patterns, colours, shapes, etc. that we universally recognise as beautiful. This would explain why many different types of art have spread so easily around the world throughout almost all cultures.

The other theory, 'eye of the beholder,' describes beauty as being subjective to the individual. Everyone is different in the way we have experienced the world and this shapes our tastes as we grow older. The full saying is 'Beauty is in the eye of the beolder' which can be traced back to as early as 1863 (Quinlan, 2020). Every genre of music has lovers and haters, same with movies, TV shows and almost any medium of art imaginable. The common argument is this: "Every person is different so every judgement will be different, right?" (Philosophy Tube, 2014). Yet there are works that are universally deemed as objectively worse creations than others that came before, such as films like Sharknado (Levin, 2013) or The Room (Wiseau, 2003).

While one theory of aesthetic beauty tries to define it scientifically, the other views it as subjective in nature instead. Eye of the beholder may not be the perfect theory for how we see beauty but it does offer some questions to the Darwinian counterpart. If judgement of beauty is an evolutionary trait then how come people's opinions of art can be completely different to one another at times? They say one man's trash is another man's treasure, and if this is the case then how come the man who saw it as trash did not evolve to see it the same way the other saw it? Personally I believe the truth may lie in-between the two. I think that part of our perception of everything in this world is partly shaped by how our bodies have evolved to sense what's in our environment and react in a certain way, but as our brains have developed to understand more complex concepts we have become very individualistic and thus have developed very different 'tastes' for things such as art. This, to me, can only be a good thing as it helps with innovation, creation, and imagination for what's possible both in art and other aspects of life.

References

Dutton, D. (2002). Aesthetic Universals. http://www.denisdutton.com/universals.htm

Dutton, D. (2010, November 16). A Darwinian theory of beauty. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PktUzdnBqWI

Levin, T. (2013, July 11). Sharknado [Action, Adventure, Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller].

Philosophy Tube. (2014, May 2). Is Beauty in the Eye of the Beholder? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1UsGWxDPKA

Quinlan, J. (2020, August 31). Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The Village Idiom. https://thevillageidiom.org/beauty-is-in-the-eye-of-the-beholder/

Wiseau, T. (2003, June 27). The Room [Drama]. Chloe Productions, Wiseau-Films, TPW Films.