Summer Assignments:
Community is intertextuality. Just this week it "spoke" to Doctor Who and 2001: A Space Odyssey.
I think intertextuality is my favorite thing about literature. I get excited when I recognize a reference or something I've seen before.
I was raised Catholic, so I was never a bible-reader but a listen-to-what-the-priest-says-er. Now that I've read some of the bible, why it's such a universal big deal, I still don't understand. It's this beacon of morality and there's a lot of... moral ambiguity.
Mythology was super interesting. Charlie's Angels even uses the Trojan Horse.
I wonder when writers use something like the Trojan Horse or a Cassandra whether they know its origin or know it from some other previous work in which it's been used; or conversely what happens when a reader recognizes it, but not from its origin but from a different work. The intent of its use can be wholly misunderstood.
D.I.D.L.S.: I continue to have trouble discerning between these categories of technique. Most of the time I still have to ask but aren't they all language? What exactly constitutes a detail and not imagery or language? I also am having issues with picturing describing regionalism/level of formality on a one-word-at-a-time basis; that feels more like a syntax thing.
When studying meaning of text, it's difficult for me not to feel like all of this is much too sentimental and can't we just get on with it oh my God. I don't feel comfortable analyzing something a writer may have done "unconsciously" yet, either.
I should read more David Sedaris. Interesting choice for practicing close reading.
It's sad that I won't be able to write about movies on the AP Lit exam (HEY aren't they literature?); they're the only titles I can even come up with for open prompts and my analyses of them would probably be...better. Analyzing camera movements is so much easier than remembering enough of a novel/poem to analyze it on the spot.
I agree with you on intertextuality. My favorite example it the movie where the Fairly Oddparents and Jimmy Neutron enter each other's worlds. Aside from being fun, it basically says that kid shows inhabit a shared universe.
ReplyDeleteI'm a Catholic too, and the bible seems to contradict itself on just about everything. I hate when people hide behind bible quotes. It's impossible to get the "real" truth because it doesn't exist. The whole thing has been translated and retranslated a zillion times, and there are different versions and accounts of everything. There is room for tons of interpretation. Add to that all the writing that didn't make it into the book or was lost. And the Davinci Code.
I didn't know movies were off limits. What a shame. Being John Malkovich opens a metaphysical can of worms. Memento does too.
I agree that we should be able to use movies and on the AP lit exam. Isn't the script they use part of literature? Don't tell me movies like The Kings Speech aren't significant.
ReplyDeleteOn the topic of religion it kind of reminds me of a Unitarian church. They are considered progressive christians in the sense they preach the message of being a good person and not emphasizing what you need to do to get into heaven. As a result they sometimes have athiests attend their services.
I feel like I should have wrote my response like yours, and how casual yours was. Good job!
The language thing bothers me too! I feel like all of it is part of the larger category of language, not that language is among them.
ReplyDeleteThe movies on the AP exam disappoints me too. I agree they are literate and can have legitimate merit. When I was first reading the prompts I kept thinking about movies that would have worked with it.
I said this to Nick too, I don't know how to analyze your personal opinion.