Saturday 11 October 2008

Narratives 09-10-2008

I found this weeks lecture similar to the reading that was set last week, as what Molly said about (Narratives) connected to the reading which made it a lot more clearer.
The lecture consisted of the following...
  • Ball game, The objective of the game was to respond immediately to a set topic for example (story's) this meant that as the ball was thrown towards you once it was caught you had say something based on that particular subject, if any hesitation occurred one had to get down on one knee, the player could redeem oneself by catching the ball on the next occasion it was thrown at them. This particular exercise not only had a sport approach, even though it involved physical exertion, It required skill as for example one had to be prepared and always awake in case the ball was thrown towards them. This meant that one had to be fully engaged, also being able to multi task as one had to catch the ball and at the same time you had to verbally respond to the given topic. I thought that introducing the penalty in not catching the ball, is a good factor in a game because it adds determination and purpose which makes the player enjoy the game a lot more . At times it is also enjoyable to see other people failing in catching the ball also hesitating to respond in time, this made the game very relaxed and introduced a comic factor as it was funny to see people not in control. Finally I think that this particular game is quite powerful in developing oneself imagination and knowledge on certain subjects.
  • 'Overspill' reading, In groups of three we had to read the beginning of a play by Ali Taylor
Overspill' takes place today in Bromley. A play about three guys going on a night out to their regular hanging out place 'McDonald's', the play has a sharp beginning into the lives of these characters, The style of writing works on two levels, This is because the three characters are forcing to create a narrative about them selves which 'represents them' this simply collapses when one of the characters decided for a change to get the 'Filet O'Fish' instead of getting the usual 'Big mac' this brakes down the groups ritual, also the relationship between the three characters is jeopardised, as they are used to doing the same things since they where young "Do all the same thing same school, same clothes, same thing every Friday night" Ironically they reveal what the groups narrative is through their roles within the group with ought realising. Which I find quite amusing and enjoyable, as I feel that I am very well informed what the play will be about, In this case Ali Taylor is very successful in revealing what the play is about in a short piece of time, as I feel that this captures the readers attention instantly.

I think that this particular play can be successful in various communities, the reason I believe this is because the three characters possibly exist in our everyday society. As it is a simple narrative about three friends who share a sense of ritual and unity, which usually it happens to be broken by outsiders which are not always welcomed, as it brakes down the groups routine and jeopardises the groups togetherness. I thought the group presentation of the play was quite funny, whilst it was performed it proved to me that it can be easily adapted, for example changing the gender of the characters or even the narrative of the characters.

  • The 12 Dancing Princess, This particular part of the lecture was very enjoyable, we had to sit in our most comfortable position as Molly recited the story of 'The 12 dancing princesses' during the recital of the story I felt very relaxed and allowed my imagination to run away with me, it particularly reminded me of child hood when my parents and grand parents recited stories to me, which made me felt really safe and entertained and eager to find out what happened in the end. Halfway Molly raided through the story with a severe teacher in role character. This made brake out from the imaginative world of childhood which made me feel quite upset as I wanted to know the ending of the 'The 12 Dancing Princess' I felt that I lost all focus of the story and started to concentrate more on responding to Molly's commands, and found my self looking at the fairytale from a different point of view by imitating the sound of a trumpet and rowing a imaginative boat, this made me question the point of it all. Furthermore I felt that the story was no longer owed by the book as it was in the first half, where we were allowed to imagine the story by ourselves, in the second half it felt that Molly's severe character owed the story rather than the book, also I felt quite uneasy when Molly began to bring out the morals of the fairytale, as I felt it got ruined and turned the main characters the princesses into bad characters as they did the wrong thing when they sneaked out at night with ought the King knowing.
  • Retelling the story, I found this quite interesting when we had to retell the story of the 12 princess just from what we remembered, I felt that it brought up a comical factor as the story become modernised, this was when Amir replaced the glass of wine with the can of Coke, this made me realise that this process of remembering stories allows room for different styles of narrative. This particular way fairy tales can become a lot more remember able as the children can associate with them better because it relates to their everyday lives in this case a can of Coke. Furthermore this particular fairytale can be told from many points of views in (Drama in the Community) such as looking at the story from the following issues such as; 'Parenting' The king not allowing the Princess to go out at night, or paying a lot more attention to the eldest Princess, wanting to know what happens to the rest of the Princesses? also looking at the story from a 'Patriarchal' point of view such as 'arranged marriages' Why the king has to decide who the Princesses marry? Finally looking at the story from a contemporary point of view which allows to reveal the struggles of growing up and parents letting go.
  • Memories, This particular part of the lecture looked at storytelling, We had to get in pairs and retell a night out, one person had to retell it in a interview style, which I think restricted the storyteller as oneself could not fully engage in the essence of what happened in the night out. I think it become slightly robotic and not as free in just simply retelling the story, this style being the other way of retelling the story of the night out. In this particular style I retold my night out, which was a freeing and fun way, even though it was not a particular pleasant night out, I felt that it was celebrated as I retold it to Emily also I felt that I revived it as tried to remind my self of what fully happened. During the process of retelling Emily my story I felt quite uncomfortable, as I thought about if I should fully tell her the full details of the story, as I am quite close to Emily I did feel half way thorough the story I become a lot more comfortable in telling her the full story, but I fell that if I were to retell it to the rest of the class I would probably be more careful of how I would retell my night out, as it would become more about the performance, and it would not be as genuine as I retold it to Emily. This made me realise that memories are very sacred and personal, we tend to choose the right style to retell it depending on our audience, I believe this is because we become quite insecure of our audiences thoughts and conclusions, in response to our stories which may than lead them to view us differently, I believe this could also be about our self ego, in retelling personal memories could bruise one self's ego in front of other people.
    We than had to recite back each other stories, this was very interesting as we felt quite annoyed when the other person did not fully get our stories right. This of course being a sign of how significant our stories are to us, also it was quite nice to hear our stories back as it was humorous, and made me see my story from another point of view, what I mean by this is that personal memories are not as valuable to other people as they are to us, which when they are retold by other people they become amusing, and are not as heavy when they are told by the person who experienced it.
  • Improvising a story as a class, Finally we than made a circle and began to improvise a story with Molly starting the story with 'Once upon a time there were 12 Princesses' the next person had to carry on the story by improvising a continuation to the story. I found this exercise quite funny and enjoyable. At times people did not really respect from the previous continuation, some people simply disregarded their implication, which made me feel quite angry as they sort of restarted another plot of their own which personally made feel quite frustrated. At one point someone decided not to take part, this made me feel as some part of the story was not told, and even though the person would have said at least one word it would simply add to the narrative, but because they choose not too I felt a part of the story was lost. Overall I really enjoyed and learned a lot about the significance of narrative.

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