(I know that the test about the three authors mentioned in the title was last week, but I always come up with the brightest ideas a bit too late)
When we think about Modernism a lot of concepts and images may came up to our minds. Pound, Yeats, Eliot and Lawrence have given us imput on what was like to be an artist during a time of fast changing technological, social and political chaos ( or at leats chaos to them). So, why on earth do I think of Madonna when speaking about Modernism? Should I even dare to add this pop "artist" to the mixture of great Modernist artists? For some, my analysis may seem shallow and empty, but for me it helps to understand the way in which Modernism has even influenced current "commercial " art.
It was 1989 and Madonna hired Oscar-winnig director David Fincher to direct her "Express Yourself " music video. She wanted the video to be inspired by the movie "Metropolis" ,but through a female perspective. For those who do not watch german silient science-fiction expressionism (like me), "Metropolis" is a classic 1927 film. It depicts life in the future : a society that has become technology's slave, a society that lives to work and works to live, a society cought in a "modern" lifestyle.
In "Express Yourself" Madonna is a high-society woman who lives in a extremely technology-obsessed world, where factories have taken over and technology has eslaved people to work and dehumanize their living. Madonna feels trapped in this lifestyle and realizes that this modern way of living has not allowed her to fulfil her desires, thus she decides to go back to her animal instinct, to a more primitive self (symbolized by the cat) and seduce a man. Since the modern city has not allowed her to contact any man, she has to mask herself as a factory supervisor. She breaks the rules that the modern lifestyle has imposed her and finally fulfils her desires.
I used to watch this video and say " wow, this is a very coold video", but studying Modernism for more than a month has made me analyze this video under a whole new scope, trying to find traces and symbols of Modernism. Now, instead of "cool" I have found myself saying " that is very Eliot" or " that could be a trace of Modernism". Maybe the video has not got any Modernist influence, I may be over-analyzing the video, but this first month of studying modernism has made me see some videos, some book, some pieces of art and even some songs under a different perspective.
Has this happened to you? do you like a book or a movie or a song which you connected with some traces of modernism ?
ahaha Javier I found interesting the comparision that you made with the video, since it is showed real characteristics of modernism, which are still in our lifes. In relation to your question, there is a movie called Modern Times by Charles Chaplin ( maybe you have heard about it ) that connected me to that era, showing us the conditions of life that modernism brought to our lifes after the industrial revolution.
ResponderEliminarMy first thought was 'She doesn't even go here!', but then I started reading and I realized you were right, you can see traces from Modernism within different productions if you try hard enough.
ResponderEliminarI actually can see a bit of Modernism in the movie Fight Club, and guess what? it was directed by David Fincher as well.