Festival: NAF

I am off to the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown tomorrow (at the ridiculous time of 3am)! I am super excited, I haven't been in two years! And I love the drive there: along the garden route and then through the rural Eastern Cape :) What lies ahead: exciting theatre, music, visual art, shopping at the village green, cool people to meet and LOTS of drinking to survive the mid-winter valley cold. Luckily the show I'm working on has been sponsored 135 litres of Sedgwick's Old Brown Sherry *say it with me, nyahahahahahaha!*

I suck at blogging from Blackberry so until then: toodles :)

Wim Botha

I don't know what it is about white Afrikaans males and their identity crises in particular that makes their art (theatre, music, fashion design, visual art etc.) so good.

This is but one example: Leda and the Swan by Wim Botha

I got mentioned on ellamental!

I love performance artist Robin Rhode and recently wrote a paper on him. I would love to pay homage to him in my movement piece next semester and thus have been talking about him incessantly. And people notice.

Check it out:

http://all-things-ellamental.blogspot.com/2011/06/chalk-pipe.html

I feel honoured.

McQueen and the Femme Fatale

I am obsessed with Alexander McQueen. (The man is a god: his label made Kate Middleton's wedding dress post-suicide (it don't get any better). This blog, however, will not dwell on his death.

Alexander McQueen was the enfant terrible of British fashion. A rebel. A hooligan. The man who wrote "I am a cunt" in the lining of a suit made for Prince Charles when he as an apprentice at a Saville Row tailor AND who wore "we love you Kate" on the runway oo his 2006 spring/summer show at the height of Ms. Moss' cocaine scandal.

McQueen has always held a dark view of the world and his work centred around death, sexuality and commerce.

His work has been described as violent, disturbing and misogynistic. My favourite description, however, is that McQueen's fashion shows were Theatre of Cruelty. This term was famously coined by Antonin Artaud in his manifestos in The Theatre and Its Double at the turn of the 20th Century.

At the moment, I'm super interested in his take on the femme fatale archetype. A bit of background here: The term literally means 'deadly woman' and the concept has been around since ancient times (think Eve, Delilah, Cleopatra, Aphrodite, the Sphinx & Jezebel). A femme fatale is a mysterious female who ensnares the affections of men. She uses her feminine wiles such beauty and sexual allure to achieve her secret desire. She is often the victim of inescapable circumstances and must use violence and murder. She is sexualized as a form of defense. She is traditionally a villain, someone for men to fear and is thus often associated with magic, witchcraft and vampires.

The Marquis de Sade saw these features, not as evil, but as those of the ultimate woman. In his Juliette, the femme fatale finally triumphs.

 Lana Turner as Cora Smith in The Postman Always Rings Twice (1941)

The icon of the femme fatale gained popularity in film noir of the 40s and 50s. She refuses to abide by the societal norms imposed on her gender (i.e. to be the submissive housewife). She does not abide by the status quo because she controls her own sexuality outside of the traditional frame of marriage. She becomes visually dominant and unrepentant to the end. One cannot neutralise the femme fatale because her power extends beyond death. This period also saw a new take on the figure. On occasion, she is converted into a 'good woman' by the hero, she develops into an anti-heroine of sorts.

In the 90s, McQueen and others began to re-explore the femme fatale. Art and cultural theory (influenced by Freud's uncanny', Kristeva's 'abject' and Bataille's 'informe') focused on 'the body.' In shows like Dante (1996), he began to develop a 20th Century femme fatale who was no longer an object of fear, but rather a frightening subject.

The Philip Treacy stag horns and McQueen dress create a the image of a feral woman, only half human.

His femme fatale is a thing of beauty that has absorbed the energy of ugliness. He allies glamour with fear rather than allure, creating a strong woman is fabulous you don't dare to lay a hand on her. His clothing acts as a talisman to protect its bearer in an uncertain world. The femme fatale is no longer victim or villain. She is an independent, contemporary heroine.

GENIUS!

Six Feet Under

For years I have been told that I needed to watch HBO's Six Feet Under and about two months ago, ten years after the show premiered, I finally sat down to watch it. What an experience....

I must admit, I didn't understand what all the fuss was about when I started. Yes, it began with one mother of a bus accident and was set in a funeral home, but beyond it seemed like a typical American family drama. There was a control freak mother (Ruth played by Frances Conroy), a removed father (Nathaniel played by Richard Jenkins), a bratty younger daughter (Claire played by Lauren Ambrose), and the sarky, womanizing prodigal son come home (Nate played by Peter Krause). I only continued watching because of the brilliant Michael C. Hall, who I fell in love with watching Dexter. I love the subtle detail of his facial gestures, which always seem so quirky and idiosyncratic of the character. He is able to transform the cliche of the gay, repressed middle child into, in my opinion, the most lovable character on the show.

It must be said that every actor in the principle cast is impeccable. The content is melodramatic in nature, but never once did I dissociate from a character in crisis. I love Patricia Clarkson and Kathy Bates in their recurring roles.

And the closing montage of the season finale turns on the cheese for the most beautiful ending to a show I have ever seen *author blames the music*. I fell in love with the characters, the era, the life that they live. A lesson in how to act and make a great television series.

YOU MUST SEE IT! *Author realises that everyone probably already has. Sighs*

Quirks?

My fellow blogger Ellamental speaks quite openly about her obsession with the one and only Ms Angelina Jolie. Slap me and call me strange, but I think it's awesome that she is, and can be, so honest.

Cue the admission of my guilty celebrity pleasures: Alexander Skarsgard & Lady Gaga

Conveniently posing together (he was in her Paparazzi music video)

I am fascinated by the fact that we've reached a point in society where stalking through social media is considered normal. Nay, encouraged! There was a time when Facebook stalking was frowned upon *author giggles guiltily*, but with the advent of Twitter, one can now follow one's idol's every move: from posting photos of what they look like when they wake up in the morning to what their last meal was.

So, how the hell did we get here? I suppose that in The Information Age, it is a natural evolutionary step to be able to have constantly updated information about that which is important to you. There's been a lot of discussion on the topic and led to an international review of the stalking laws. With good reason. There are some scarey people out there and being stalked is a life-changing experience.

The question becomes: 'Where do we draw the line?' Does one have a responsibility to limit the amount of information one publishes about oneself. In the case of celebrities, politicians, journalists, artists: Is limitation of information good for one's career?

Oi vey...