Post 4:MYTHS AND HEROES

  300 is a 2006 American fantasy war film based upon the 1998 comic book series of the same name  created by Frank Miller and Lynn Varley.  300 is a fictional story of the Battle of Thermopylae during the second Persian invasion of Greece.  The film is a Warner Bross Production and was directed by Zack Snydery while Miller served as executive producer and consultant. Music was composed by Tyler Bates and was released on March 6, 2007, three days before the film opened for public viewing.

The characteristic of the film is it was filmed mostly with a super imposition chroma key technique to help replicate the imagery of the original comic book.

The story related the life of the King Leonidas of Sparta (Gerald Butler) who leads 300 Spartans into battle against the Persian ‘good-king’ Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) and his invading army of more than 300,000 soldiers. As the battle rages, Queen Gorgus (Lena Headay) attempts to rally support  from Sparta for her husband.

In the whole film the story is framed by a voiceover narrative by the Spartan soldier Dilios (David Wenham). Through this narrative technique various fantastical creatures are introduced, placing 300 within the genre of this classical fantasy.

Let’s  examine now the relation between the notion Myths and Heroes.

First of all, we can say the battle of the Thermopylae is a Myth because it corresponds to the first definition of a Myth: 

-‘A traditional, typically ancient story revolving around the activities of gods and heroes which purpose is to explain a natural phenomenon or cultural practice and serves as a fundamental type in the world view a point’.

In fact, this story is not just a fictional film but it is also based on historical facts, when the Spartans stopped the advance of the Persians.  That was a real Persian historical milestone where the Spartans were in a big inferiority.

In another hand the figure of King Leonidas is a perfect example of what a hero model  is, as he has the skills of  two of the three definitions:

-A mythological or legendary figure, often of divine descent, endowed with great strength or ability, celebrated for his bold exploits, and favored by the gods.

Actually he is very courageous and strong, he is not at all fearful, and he challenged Xerxes. If we focuse on his battles he shows to be very strong and even the most feared warriors  are afraid of him. If we observe the dialogues between Xerxes and Leonidas, we can appreciate that Xerxes has more respect towards Leonidas, as it should be the contrary.

-A character with noble qualities who, in the face of danger and adversity or from a position of weakness, displays courage and the will for self sacrifice-that is, heroism-for some greater good of all humanity.

As we have seen, Leonidas is  very courageous,  strong and he has no fear, and this three qualities are noble. Thanks to this courage he stops the advance of the Persians and he becomes a real hero. Leonidas  sacrifices himself for others and even if he knows he will die he comes in the lion´s den. But he wins time for other Greece´s cities to prepare their battles.  Thanks to him Persians lost the battle to conquer Greece.

We can conclude that 300 is the perfect example to explain the notion ‘Myth and Heroes’ as it encompasses all the aspects of the notion. 

POST 6: An Art Exhibition Review

1) Today we will discover the exhibition called "Pop Art Myths", a complete contemporary artworks exhibited at the prestigious Thyssen Museum, from June 10th to July 14th, 2014.
This museum is located in Madrid,  Paseo del Prado 8.

Museum Thyssen

2) Visiting the exhibition we could contemplate a lot of Pop Art´s artworks. Paintings from the most famous and iconic artists (like Andy Warhol) were present, masterpieces like 'woman in Bath' of Roy Lichtenstein not to be missed

The exhibition is divided into six thematic parts: emblems, myths, portraits, landscapes, interoirs and still lifes,urbano eroticism and finally the history. 

Woman in Bath Roy Lichenstein

We may conclude that this exibithion gives us a new way to enjoy the history of the Pop Art in the whole world.

Andy Worhol

3) This is an exhibition filled of colors and light, with great variations among the artists. Below we can see a revolutionary painting, very representative of Pop Art.

To begin with, we will talk about  The Living Room, an art piece painted by Equipo Crónica. When contemplating it we remember the painting of Velazquez Las Meninas. That makes us very curious and push us to look for the differences with the original painting. We can appreciate more lively colors than in the original one and a lot of things are changed.

Las Meninas of Velazquez

For me this painting represents very good the Pop Art because it corresponds to the definition  "Pop art presented a challenge to traditions of fine art by including imagery from popular culture such as advertising and news."

Additionally, we have to note that contrary to the original piece the atmosphere of the two artworks are very different. We can make a distinction between the objects of the two pieces and the positions of the characters. Likewise the little girls are with the same expressions, in the left we have the painter (Velazquez) and behind in the right two men, just the two characters in the background have disappeared.  In another hand we can see a lot of modern objects are introduced (couch, plastic ball, paintings of clowns...).

It´s undeniable that this new painting changes completely the vision of the classic art and in my opinion it can just be truly appreciated by  people with an open mind who are ready to see he big change in art that reflects our society.  

We can draw a  comparison between the two artworks. In fact it narrates the same  situation with different points of view: the classic view and the the modern one.

Additionally, we have to take into account that individual points of view are very personal. In my opinion I think these artworks are very similar to the notion Myth and Heroes in the sense of the last definition of a myth:

 -A popular belief or story that has become associated with a person, institution, or occurrence, especially one considered to illustrate a cultural ideal.        

If we focuse on the painting colors, it reminds us the 50s´in the USA, when it appeared all the glamour and gave a lot of cultural power to this country in the world. A vision totally opposed to the century of the classic painting when sepia and dark colors were used and subjects represented gave a very different image of the world.  

Definitely, we can affirm the Art Pop gave a rupturist vision of the world thanks to the vibrant colors and to the prosperity of the nation it reflected.

4) To start with, let us try to understand I´m just a TL student. In my life I´ve always liked art, I´m proud to say I visited a lot of museums like the Prado or the Louvre. That gave me a good background to make my own points of view when I contemplate artworks. I have to confess that opinions expressed in this post are influenced by my personal experience.

Andy Warhol Brillo Soap Pads, 1964

This artwork called Brillo Soap Pads  is one of the most famous from Andy Warhol. It was finished in 1964.  It belongs to the movement Pop Art ("Pop art presented a challenge to traditions of fine art by including imagery from popular culture such as advertising and news"). It represents a white box with the word "Brillo" and text describing the characteristics of the soap; it is supposed to be just a Soap box. Most of the time, people don't understand the real message of the artwork.

In my view, it goes without saying that I do not agree with that because the artwork transmit clearly a message related the consumerism. We call that box "artwork" if we see it in a museum, but we don't appreciate it if we are in a shop. Andy Warhol shows the magnitude consumerism in the new society, where lots of Brillo boxes are manufactured and bought by thousands people everyday.

In the first place, we may wonder of the social importance the work tries to transmit. In my opinion is a mirror of the 60´in USA. Thanks to the Pop Art the artists asked themselves about the real art essence. The idea of the consumerism is present in other Warhol's works. 

Coca-Cola

Campbell's Soup Cans 

                                                                                                                                               

Andy Warhol shows us another concept of art. If we leave aside the idea of the consumerism and we enjoy the aesthetic of the colours we can take a real pleasure in admiring the artworks. If there is something I specially appreciate in this Pop Art works is their colours because they transport us to another world and they bring us into a big reflexion. Nobody see the same thing and the viewer ask himself  "why is like this?".

Personally Pop Art makes me dream and lead me to another epoque and to think about the history, and I think this is the best present an artwork can give us.

Others Artworks

Look Mickey, Roy Lichtenstein, 1961

Thank you, Richard Lindner, 1971

Still life # 34, Tom Wesselmann, 1963

Cleopatra, Mimmo Rotella, 1963