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Western Carolinian Volume 75 Number 03

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Western Carolinian Volume 75 Number 03

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  • February 28, 2009 Artist to Speak at WCU By Jen Toledo Arts and Entertainment Editor Mel Chin, American conceptual artist, will come to speak at WCU on Tuesday March 17 at 4:00 pm in the Fine and Performing Arts cen- ter in room 130. Art students and art appreciators should without a doubt mark this in their calendars, as Chin is a very important artist of our time. Chins work spans over . environmental, social, political and cultural spheres. His work employs many unorthodox artistic disci- plines, often collaborative, from weaving to video to natural science. Chins work is most noted for the benefits it offers the communities effected by it. Chin breaks down many barriers between art and other disciplines. Think of Chin, and others who have broken such barriers recently, as radicals in the way that Leonardo Da Vinci was considered radical for his time, when he referenced actual human anatomy through direct re- search for the sake of his artwork. Chin has teamed up with scientists, animators and even rug weavers in order to see his visions through to higher potentials. One of Chins most recent works, Revival Field, functions concep ally as a sculpt was used in the Pigs in St. Paul, Minnesota, for years. The soil was contaminated with heavy metals. Inspired by psi- locybin expert Terrence McKenna, who first suggested the idea in a paper, datura plants were grown in Photo Courtesty of Art21, Inc. the plot. Where most plants would have died from the toxins, the da- tura plants, called hyperaccumu- lators, absorbed the metals. The plants were then harvested, burned, and sold for pure ore. To Chin, this work was sculptural conceptually because over time, it physically carved away something in the land and transformed it. Where the block pollution is, so we can carve it away, says Chin in an Interview with Art21, referencing his ideology and comparing his work to an actual block of marble. I believe that in the near future, we will see Chins work in mul- tiples and on more massive scales. Chin is a truly postmodern artist, recognizing the human need for creative energies, while at the same time recognizing our current condi- tion on the planet earth as humans, and developing a conversation and an interaction with those problems. Chin, a first generation Ameri- can, was born in Houston, Texas, in 1951, to Chinese parents. He grew up in a multiracial neighborhood . of minorities and worked at a local grocery store. In 1975, Chin earned his BA from Peabody College in _ Nashville, Tennessee, and in 1988 and 1990 he received fellowships the National Endowment for Mel Chin: Biography. Art in the Twenty-first Century. Art21, Inc. 2001-2007. . Watchmen: A History By Catherine Connor Staff Writer Comic book fans, weve got an- other one-- another superhero flick to round out last years Iron Man and The Dark Knight. youve only just discovered. the movie through the trailer or youve been an avid Alan Moore fan for years, you are probably highly an- ticipating Watchmen, hitting the- aters on March 6. Watchmen: revolves around the tale of a band of masked heroes who have retired from duty. When the Comedian, one of the original Watchmen, is murdered, the group must re-join forces to uncover the killer. The entire premise is designed to deconstruct our fascination with superheroes and their mythos within an alternative United States that is heading towards a nuclear war with the Soviet Union. And it does a bril- liant job at challenging our ideas of humanity, relationships, and just who watches superheroes when they need help. The beauty of the Watchmen graphic novel is its ability to tell a story through multiple layers within the comic pages and artwork them- selves. Each page is layered with symbols, suchas the smile-face with blood, that help provide clues as to what is really going on in the comic book. The interesting challenge with adapting a comic book like Watchmen is how to take visual cues that can only be told through the pace of comic books and trans- late them to the screen. Alan Moore, the writer of Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and From Hell, was the first to denounce the adaptation of his works as impossible. Moore originally wrote the book in 1986 in twelve installments for DC Whether comics, with the idea originating from several unused DC characters. This was eventually reworked to allow Moore to write several new characters, rather than just writing new plots for old characters. Moore realized that by making the char- acters similar to other superheroes, like Night Owl is to Batman, the audience would be able to resonate with the character without him hav- ing to write within the rules of an already established characters uni- verse. Artist Dave Gibbons took up the task of illustrating Alan Moores 101 page single-spaced manuscript into a working comic book. What resulted was the comic book as it stands today. From there, the comic book be- gan its journey to the screen, despite legal battles over the film rights and the usage of the book itself. Moore and Gibbons originally tried to purchase the tights to their own material, which is unfortunately a common problem when a book is published by a major publishing house. Moore ultimately ended up leaving DC comics over the fight for the rights of his characters in Watchmen and V for Vendetta, The comic book then traveled to Hollywood where Twentieth Cen- tury Fox bought the rights to the film adaptation. The project was put up for grabs, and Warner Brothers snagged it to be produced by Zack Snyder. While Gibbons became an advisor to the film, Moore persis- tently will not be involved with any film version of his work. So, there you have it - the lifetime of a single comic book from manu- script to theaters. After reading the heart-wrenching tale of the Watch- men characters, all I can hope to do is wait and see if the movie holds true to the book. I hope it will. WESTERN CAROLINIAN ARTS AND-ENTERTAINMEN'T Mel Chin, Internationally Renowned Page 10 A Review Of Coraline By Max Kath Staff Writer Kids today can be cruel, rude little brats that have no respect for any form of higher power, espe- cially their parents. That is why Coraline, the newest stop motion animated film from director Henry Selick (The Nightmare Before Christmas), is such a breath of fresh air. In this day and age, we movie lovers are often forced to sit through sub par animated features like Kung Fu Panda and Bolt. Most film studios feel that the ani- mated movie market needs to be dominated by family friendly car- toons because kids are the target de- mographic for these types of mov- ies. This isnt to say that Coraline wasnt made with children in mind; it is just intended for slightly more intelligent children who arent both- ered if they get a little scared while watching a movie. The films plot starts off fairly simple. The main character is Cora- line Jones (voiced by Dakota Fan- ning), a very angry pre-teen who has just been uprooted from her home in another state and moved to a very quirky apartment complex located literally in the middle of nowhere. She is neglected by her parents, has no friends to speak of, and gets poi- . son oak all over her hands the first time she goes out to explore the woods around her house. She reluc- tantly befriends a young boy by the name of Wybie, short for Whyborn, a very bizarre little boy who rides around on his bicycle wearing a hel- met that is a cross between an old welders mask and a microscope, as well as his pet cat. The film features other quirky characters, such as the old stage actresses, who live in the apartment below Coraline, and the Russian mouse-circus owner, who lives in the apartment above her, but the real meat of the story comes when Coraline discovers a small door in the living room of her apart- ment that leads to another world. The new world is similar to the real world, except that everything seems to be exactly what Coraline would want her world to be like. Her parents, known in the second world as her Other Mother and Other Father, become loving and devoted to her; they fix her favorite meals at dinner time and they play games as a family after the dinner. The only real difference that exists in this world, aside from it being ev- erything that Coraline wants, is that everyone has buttons for eyeballs. However, that is of no concern to Coraline; she just wants to give up living in her world and stay in the other world forever, or that is until she is informed by her Other Mother that she would have to re- place her eyes with buttons. Then Coraline starts to wonder if this oth- er world is all its cracked up to be. The rest of the story is fairly easy to figure out from that point on, but it does not change the fact that this movie is one of the best examples of the type of animated features that film companies should be making, along with the ones exclusively for young kids. Coraline is a darkly imaginative film that is not for chil- dren under the age of ten, but that does not mean that it is not a charm- ing film. The stop motion animation is absolutely stunning to look at, the writing is very sharp and witty, and the characters are engaging if not just a bit cold natured-- Coralines parents often tell her to leave them alone so that they can work on their vegetable calendar. The most important thing here is that the filmmakers are not scared to present the main character as imper- fect. Coraline is shown to be a rather bratty kid who thinks she has to get her way or the world may very well end. | think this is a rather impor- tant theme for younger kids to see in movies that are geared towards them; if they are just shown really cute or silly images then they will develop a skewed vision of the real world. There is also the fact that the parents are shows as being neglect- ful and uncaring towards Coralines feelings, so the film is also very even handed. Going to see this film was a very special event for me. I found the movie to have a wonderful cast of characters and drop dead gorgeous animation, and to be very moving without being overwhelmingly sen- timental. If you have a chance to go see it in the theater, drop everything you are doing and do so. Coraline is one of those movies that needs to be seen on the big screen. DVD Pick of The Week Don't Look Back, a Documentary by D.A. Pennebakers By Max Kath Staff Writer in a long while; we are coming off the coattails of George W-: Bush, and we are moving into a new and exciting time in which artistic ex- pression is finding a stronger, more powerful voice through the various new art forms that are being devel- oped everyday. I say all this because there are parallels between the pres- ent day and the sixties, when Bob Dylan was making his unique mark on the world of popular music and poetry. He was the man that people looked to be a voice of reason in times of uncertainty and confusion. Of course, he wasnt really looking to be that voice for most people; he just considered himself to be a man writing songs because he wanted to write songs. D.A. Pennebakers 1967 documentary Dont Look Back follows Dylan on tour in England, his last acoustic tour be- fore he went electric, a move that many of his fans would never for- give him for. Through out the gritty black and white documentary, we get a very intimate look at the artist in his younger years. At times, Pen- nebakers film isnt very flattering, but it is always honest. Many critics of this film are quick to point out that Dylan comes off as a self-absorbed jerk who treats the people around him as if they were lucky to be in his presence. While that critique is rather fair, I think there is more to Dylans behavior than meets the eye. Dylan has been notorious for changing: his entire persona throughout his career, often changing his personality to match the style of the music on whichever album he was recording at the time. In this phase of his career, Dylan was getting extremely tired of being constantly asked by the press about what his songs were suppose to mean. He never liked to explain his style to anyone, or explain where his songs came from. According to him, they just happened. It should come as no surprise then that Dylan became a bit of a jerk during this time in his life; anyone would get annoyed with having to constantly explain what their work is suppose to be saying. That being said, there are some moments of the film where ( one has to suspect that Dylan is let- ting his recent fame go to his head. In a rather sad but revealing scene, we see Dylan waiting in his dress- ing room before a show, playing music with Alan Price, the former piano player for The Animals. Price had just recently been kicked out of the band and was clearly trying his hardest to have a good time and for- get how depressed he was about not being in the band anymore. Both he | and Dylan are having a good time, playing music and joking around, when Dylan asks about The Ani- mals new piano player, Prices re- placement. After that Price becomes visibly saddened and gets very quiet until he starts playing a blues song on the piano and singing in a very sad tone, before giving up entirely and opening a bottle of beer. This scene is important because it shows how badly someone in the spotlight can hurt someone who used to be there with just a few words. To just dwell on the negative as- pects of the film would take away from the fact that it is one of the best documentaries that has ever been made on the subject of a rock star. We get a true fly on the wall per- spective of Dylan, courtesy of direc- tor and camera man Pennebaker, He followed Dylan around for months on this tour, getting some of the most invaluable, candid footage of him that anyone would see for years to come. Not to mention, the DVD of the film comes in one of the best double disc packages that I have had the pleasure of purchasing in a long time. It has many extras, such as a commentary from Pennebaker and Dylans road manager, Bob Neuwirth, a book of transcriptions of all the scenes in the film, and a second disc that has over an hours worth of deleted scenes and perfor- mances with commentary. I cant recommend this movie enough, and I would like to also recommend seeing Martin Scors- _eses. documentary No Direction Home, which makes an excellent companion piece to Pennebakers documentary. By watching both, you can get what some people would consider the most complete history of Bob Dylans acoustic and electric years. Be sure to put Dont Look Back at the top of your queue on Netflix, and enjoy it when it shows up in the mail.
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Western Carolina University Publications

The Western Carolinian is Western Carolina University’s student-run newspaper. The paper was published as the Cullowhee Yodel from 1924 to 1931 before changing its name to The Western Carolin...

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