written by: anonymous

This week we went further into The Shining. There were so many different aspects of the movie that are hard to notice when you watch it for the first time. One particular thing that was discussed in class was the television. Before the class discussion, I barely even noticed the tv in the different scenes at all. Now that I was informed to watch out for what the tv was saying, I saw how the tv was a crucial part of the scene. The tv was more than just a prop: the words on the tv were carefully constructed to accompany the storyline of the movie. Another thing that was explained in class was the scene with the man dressed in the animal costume. When I first watched the movie, I was so confused on that part. It seemed so random and just put in for no reason. In class we discussed how it was supposed to symbolize the loss of innocence and the perversion of childhood. It was an interesting scene selection and now that I know the reasoning behind it, it makes perfect sense.

This week Band 3 made their presentation on "The Death of the Author". This was definitely one of my favorite readings by Barthes so far. Like Thiago pointed out, I also believe that Barthes theory is correct for writing and text but not film. The intent of the filmmaker is generally always considered in the analyzation of a film. Barthes theory intrigues me because it goes against many things I learned in high school. Many times when we read a piece of writing, we spent time analyzing the author as well. Many teachers have expressed how important it is to read behind the lines and see what was going on in the author's own lives. They said that more times then not, this will help explain why the author wrote about the topic he or she chose. Barthes completely discredits this idea. I do not personally agree with Barthes. I do agree that when you read a work, you should focus on the story and not the author. This will better focus you on the actual story and force you to make your own interpretations. But, I do feel it is important to research the author when you want to know why the story was written in that way. This is also true of artists. A great example of this is Pablo Picasso. When one of his friends committed suicide, he began a period of art known as the blue period. His sadness in real life was displayed in his paintings. Here is an example of a painting that was created during Picasso's blue period entitled Crouching Woman.

Shayna Tucker