Monday, April 11, 2011
To Swallow the Sun
Today's class discussed the subject of story telling and what makes a story good. We began with jotting down, in a mind mapping way, the words that came to our mind when we thought of what makes a story interesting to us. This brought up a lot of words many of us had previously heard of. Setting, Plot, Rising Action, Climax, Theme, Moral, and many more. We were taking too long in this and Jimmy decided that we would be better off watching some videos.
Our first video had Amy Tan, a writer, speak about her creative process and how her life and culture influences it. I must admit I felt lost at certain points of her speech, unlike Gilbert's where I was able to follow along, never the less she made various interesting points and thought provoking phrases. Creating something from nothing, save a fish from drowning, and there's a reason for everything. Spare the fish, be a vegetarian! I found these points to be interesting, yet still felt as if the speech skipped around topics. In the end, it was a good speech, I liked her idea of her dog being her inspiration as he strutted off stage.
Elizabeth Gilbert's talk was my favorite of the two. She begins with mentioning that in older times, we did not just credit our selves for whatever creative work we made, we would attribute the work to muses or Daemon. I found this particularly interesting since she goes on to mention that in later times we changed this to put humans in the center and when from having a genius, to being a genius. I think that we would all be a bit less self absorbed or avoid being cocky if we still went by this idea. It can be silly though. I also enjoyed her description of a poet's inspiration and creativity as an animal that comes rushing by and you have to catch it even if it's by its tail and get it down on paper. I think this was her ultimate point. A point she made through was that when we create something that is recognized an a great piece of work, we have a fear of not being able to top that off, to create something even better. And in the end you cant let that slow you down, because you were able to at least create something at some point that is worth thanking whatever muse or inspiration one has.
I enjoyed seeing how the videos tied in with our reading homework about inspiration.
I can't wait for the third video.
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It wasn't just you- while I also enjoyed and got a lot out of Amy Tan's speech, I agree that it was harder to follow than Gilbert's was- it seemed to jump around more as opposed to just flowing. I guess this is what Jimmy was talking about when he said to pay attention to their presentation/storytelling styles as well as their stories. The way we deliver our information effects people's understanding as much as the information itself.
ReplyDeleteBoth talks were enjoyable with the quotes that were stated in it. For Amy Tan, the dog in her bag really threw me off though. Quite a surprise. As for Elizabeth Gilbert's, I really like the talk about the credibility as well about muses and creativity being a muse that comes to you. Quite funny how she talks about her song writer friend whom tells the spirit to come back another time or bug someone else though. Either way both stories were enjoyable on how things became to be on their part as writers and how it helped them.
ReplyDeleteI preferred Tan than Gilbert because Gilbert seemed like she kept jumping from one example to another. Tan was organized in her speech and got her point across with no problem. When Jimmy asked what Tan's main point for her presentation, I knew right away what it was and what she was talking about. When he asked for the same question for Gilbert, I couldn't find myself pointing out her main reason of her speech. Maybe I was dumb or something but that's how i felt. LOL
ReplyDeleteSiouxsie, I find it so funny we have the exact same thoughts, just on the opposite person lol
ReplyDeleteTo each their own I guess =]