Pentathalon Semester 1

This event consisted of the readings of poet named Natalka Bilotserkivets of Ukraine by Dzvinia Orlowsky and Ali Kinsella. Natalka was first published in the midst of the fall of Stalin and in the middle of much political turmoil. Her works take an intense and emotional look at some devastating events in Ukraine's history, such as journalists being decapitated for speaking against the President and the Chernobyl disaster.
The poems were first recited in their original language, Ukrainian, and then recited in English. I found this presentation of the work to be interesting because we were able to hear the poems how they were truly meant to be heard. Without even knowing the context, I was able to feel the emotional shifts within the readings just based on the tone of voice, the syllables of the words, rhyme scheme and repetition, and the lilts and pauses of phrase. I think this proves the universal power that poetry holds over the human species. The emotions felt and transcribed surpass the need for contextual meaning and come off of the page. When the poems were put into English, the emotions became tied to very real events in history. For example, the poem of the Chernobyl disaster rang of devastation and pain in Ukrainian and understanding the context in English solidified this emotion. This reflects what I have learned in an Arts Scholars supporting course where I focused on poetry and composing my own. We learned about how to put emotions and power behind our words.

This event was a documentary about the production of Les Gallants Indes, which is a classic French opera. In this version, the many youth of France were included, which each of them performing their own form of dance, whether it be hip hop or krumping. The intent was to revitalize the opera with the youth and make it seem as if they had rushed upon France and taken it back as their own. The film features dancers of all races with all backstories where French opera traditionally includes the white French who have had generations of family inhabiting the country. Many of the dancers had families from elsewhere that were forced to flee to a French trading post not that long ago. The director takes age old themes of love, tension, and sexualization and heightens them by shocking the audience with the races and styles of the dancers, making the audience view these dancers as what they are, French citizens. I have never been too interested in opera, but the director's work has moved me. I hope to see more productions moving in this direction and out of the traditional roles to continue reviatalizing the art.

It was also interesting to see the elements of opera that I learned about in an Arts Scholars Supporting Course, Music 289I. In this course we had a section about grand operas, and the staging and lighting reflected this concepts very well. They were able to stick true to the roots of opera, but expand to allow the art to become what all art is supposed to be; truly inclusive.

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This short film began with a montage of a man named Anton's life, showing the audience that he has always been alone and pushed around. Anton is extremely tiny compared to the rest of the world, and as such, no one takes notice of him. In the first minute, Anton goes to feed his fish, but feeds him the entire canister, which led me to foreshadow that Anton was going to bring his life to an end. Later that day, he was among other extreme body types, and each was celebrated as he was forgotten and ignored. He then proceeded to end his life. At this point in the film, imagery and metaphors become more apparent. Anton comes back as what appears to be a ghost, and as a ghost he competes with all of the other ghosts (who are bigger than him) to get to heaven first. In this moment Anton's small size finally becomes useful to him, and he is able to squeeze past people to become the first to arrive, but instead of arriving, he hits a wall. He climbs in and then we see he is in a ball, and this ball is an egg cell, where all of the ghosts competing with Anton were other sperm cells. This representation was very confusing and I honestly didn't understand at first, but after taking the time to research the Director's thoughts, I gained a better understanding. The purpose of this film was to show that a new life is always possible for ourselves, and we always have the possibility to create that new life. Anton's life wasn't over, but he was leaving his past behind to find something better for himself. 

Ever since I watched a short film for pentathlon last semester, I have been fascinated with the ways they fit such complex themes into such little time frames. It appears that much of this is done with intense metaphors, that may not be clear to the audience while watching the film, and leave you thinking when they are over. Another thing I loved about this film was that it had no words, so anyone is able to gain insight from its important message and content. I also appreciated the subversion of expectations. After the foreshadowing, I believed I knew how the story would end, when I didn't. This made the impact of the film much heavier. I would recommend short films for anyone who enjoys analyzing films and literature with an artistic perspective.

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