Saturday 15 September 2012

graffiti from pompeii

O walls, you have held up so much tedious graffiti that I am amazed that you have not already collapsed in ruin.
(VIII.2 (in the basilica); 1904), more here

Friday 14 September 2012

all aboard

And then I thought: "What if I write about the performance of everyday life?"

Board meetings. Or just meetings in an office environment in general. In my lifetime, I've sat through innumerable meetings of various purpose and quality. And when the subject discussed has been of lest interest to me, I've often found myself drifting off into analysing what people are doing, rather than what they are saying. Especially the ones who are not talking, what are they doing? 

But how does one go about observing a meeting? 

And what exactly is it that I want to observe?

Wednesday 12 September 2012

bachelorette

I'm supposed to be gathering material for my bachelor's thesis.

I am. In a way. 

But mostly I'm still thinking.

The lecture on feminism and gender studies yesterday gave me lots of interesting ideas, but not one clear path to The Subject as I had hoped.

There are three contenders:
1. something about gender roles in dance.
This is so vague an idea I don't even know if it will ever materialize into an actual anything. I suppose I could look at how women are portrayed in classical ballet vs modern dance. Or the inherent heteronormativity in a lot of dance, even modern. Or the complete lack of any hinted at sexuality in modern dance.

2. something about patriarchal structures in drama.
This idea came to be from watching The Last of the Haussmans by Stephen Beresford, because in his play there is no male lead role. Or I should say, there is no classical male patriarchal lead role. There is a matriarch. Does this shift the focus to something else? Why? Where does that place the three male roles in the play? 
3. something about genderbending in drama.
When I was in London earlier this year I saw Joe Penhall's new play 'Birthday'. It focuses on Ed and Lisa, who are about to have their second baby through a (planned) caesarean. The plot twist is that it is Ed who is giving birth. One could say that this play takes place in what in fanfiction is called an Alternative Universe. It's not sci-fi, it's a fictional place where otherwise "unnatural" events are normal. So in this play men have been given the opportunity to carry a child by having an artificial womb implanted in their body. The procedure is more common among gay male couples, which makes Ed and Lisa somewhat of an anomaly at the fictional hospital where everything takes place. (There is also an interesting sub-theme about race, which I remember stood out for me when watching the show. But I may need to re-read the play-text before I comment on that.)



Wednesday 5 September 2012

germs


There is this thing that we do when entering a hotel room for the first time.

We make a mental list, a list of things that never happened in the room prior to our stay there:

  1. No sex was had anywhere on any surface. 
  2. No food was digested inside the room. 
  3. No bodily fluids were spilled onto the bed sheets. 
  4. No hair strands of any kind were washed down the drain in the shower. 
  5. No-one dried their naked body on the towels. 

 And so we are the one unique entity ever to have stayed inside those four walls.

 Until we leave and the next guest arrives, making a new list.