Last class we had discussed how music videos tend to deconstruct and play with ideas every once in awhile. With examples like the one music video with the red head girl and the drummer (that i cannot think of the name of right now off the top of my head) and the two women going reverse and forward at the same time, where the surreal aspects of the video were choreographed and planned in such a way to look really freaking cool when watched.
Current Deconstructions that i recommend: Anime Edition
The moment i heard the word deconstruction, I immediately thought of anime. Anime, a genre in itself that has gained popularity over the years has it's tropes. For anyone who has seen anything from Japan that relates to high school, magical girls or giant robots knows what i'm talking about. But every now and then something that breaks down that barrier and puts it back together with pieces in different places.
Here are some honorable mentions as to what i'm talking about:
Puella Madoka Magica
This is a more recent anime that takes the general idea of a show about a magical girl (female superhero who can transform and uses her powers to defeat evil) such as the likes of Sailor Moon and Tokyo Mew Mew, and deconstructs it into a new idea. If you were given the chance to make one wish of anything you desire in exchange for your work to protect the people against witches? What would you wish for? Would it be selfish or selfless? Is it even worth it? Taking ideas like that and questioning the audience about the kind of shows that are defined as Magical Girl shows.
Revolutionary Girl Utena
I just recently started watching this one, but so far so good. This show takes the concept of the fairy tale where the prince saves the princess and turns it around. Like, what were to happen if the princess wanted to become more like a prince? Would she make a better prince than the other princes? Despite all of the lesbian symbolism and strange situation where the Student Council is literally sword fighting over who will be "engaged to the Rose Bride" it's actually turning out to be a really good story about a girl who is fighting for her friend's right to live her life the way that she wants too. Highly recommend the show if you enjoy strong female leads.
School Rumble
Love triangles, love triangles everywhere...well, kind of. If you're looking for a good comedy show that makes everyone have a crush on someone but redefines the stereotypes of romance shows, i highly recommend this. It's also great ackward situational humor, making the main girl fall in love with the most boring looking man possible while the main tough biker bad boy character has a crush on her. It's hard to explain. Here's a clip.
Quick word on The Gorillaz is also a great example of this with the who taking the physical star out of a rock star group. Personally i love their music for the fact that they play with different sounds and genres and kind of squished them together. I know it's common now for pop songs to have segments of rap music within them, but the Gorillaz takes that seemingly normal concept and plays with it a little in how some songs are rap focused, some sound like rock and roll and every once in awhile a song can sound like it didn't even come from the same album. From Demon Days, which was a mostly rock focused album with some rap aspects in it and was song by the original band the majority of the time, Too Plastic Beach. Plastic Beach is an album composed of mostly guest singers and rap artists, all wrapped up in a package that gives great commentary on consumer goods and what is really important in culture; a warm instant breakfast or a life outside of the machine. Yes i know it's not the most Christian choice in music, but i enjoy it for being so creative and different from everything else out there.
(Also PHASE 4 COMING SOON NEXT YEAR, AKA NEW ALBUM )
Have a good day :)
I was excited to see anime mentioned alongside deconstruction. One of my favorite directors, Satoshi Kon, has a great animated film called Perfect Blue that takes a look at both the girl singing group culture in Japan and what it takes to try and make it in the acting business. It's about a girl who quits her girl singing group to pursue an acting career. A fan of hers who has been stalking her gets very angry because her image is changing and crazy stuff starts happening, like murder. It's a great psychological thriller, but it can be very disturbing- just to warn you. It raises some really important questions about the phenomenon and the effect it has on the girls.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah i've heard of that one! Very great director of psychological horror. I have yet to see it myself, but i did watch Paranoia Agent (same director) and i have a sense that it is even better than that! :)
ReplyDeleteOh yeah i've heard of that one! Very great director of psychological horror. I have yet to see it myself, but i did watch Paranoia Agent (same director) and i have a sense that it is even better than that! :)
ReplyDelete