Ramblings of seasons and stuff

         Yesterday's class reminded me a lot about Mythology class from my last college...Like references to Corn mother and the whole cycle of the seasons being related to life. Relating the seasons to life and death, colors and different types entertainment; reminds me a lot about the Hero's Journey and studying that. Starting with the adventure, then half way there is the Abyss (death and rebirth), the atonement and return. It was a nice throwback to my past classes, a nice picture indeed.

SPEAKING OF PICTURES (see the segway i did there) i really liked the whole seeing pictures thing with the author of Narnia! I've always found myself imaging stories based on images that i've had in my head. Lately i have been weirded out by that though, i mean as a human i can picture things with my imagination but i can't SEE what i am imagining... Brains are weird man. A very relatable point there. 

Back to seasons! When it came to naming the colors of the seasons, we've all grown to recognize these colors and the seasons associated with them. Spring is mostly pastels, Summer is full of bright vibrant colors such as yellow or green, and Fall (or Autumn if you wanna get technical here) has mostly browns, oranges and reds. When i think of winter there are mostly greys, dark blues, black and white. All of these color combinations set a mood in our mind. And color i think is important when creating a certain setting for a story. 

To show this, let's look at something that has the best portrayal of autumn and winter to set the mood ever (in my opinion).  A while back in November of 2014, Cartoon Network aired the mini series (10 episodes in total) of a show called Over the Garden Wall. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaYYB9A690w

The series follows two brothers as they travel through the unknown and the story is set during late fall and later on in the climax/ending of the tale, early winter. The show's setting in the beginning is painted with shades of browns and golds, giving that feeling of late autumn when everything is dead but so mysterious at the same time. Near the end of the series (no spoilers) shifts to a more serious and climatic tone, so do the colors of the setting shifts from the dying leaves of autumn leaving that sort of mystery in the air, to the cold deadly winter. Winter is then portrayed with dark colors such as black and greys, and the brightness of the white snow to contrast that. A shift in color, though sudden and most may not even notice, does compliment the story around it.

I say if you have not seen this mini series already, go check it out. Again it's ten short episodes long, the atmosphere is great (especially in between a little before Halloween and before Thanksgiving, get's you in the spirit of things!), one of the main characters is voiced by Frodo himself and the story is fleshed out and ends very complete with a bow tied around it.

What other series incorporates color and/or seasons into it's story telling? Do you imagine a picture in your head that you turn into a story? And is it weird how the hero's journey kind of parallels the whole seasons thing or is that just me? Anywho, have a good weekend! :)

---Carley Shepherd---