Heads up to the Sundance folk--we've moved some things around this week due to your absence (check Moodle). We've missed you, but we've had some good conversations nonetheless. I've appreciated those of you who have sent me sparks/thoughts on the readings from afar.
Last week's journal entry was about anger. (Have you read your classmates' thoughts? Click on the links to the right. You'll be glad you did.) This week, in light of readings on job prospects and future stories, is about fear. The main question has two parts: (1) How does fear affect your career/identity as an artist?; and (2) How do you deal with that fear?
I would say, first and foremost, to acknowledge and move past the tendency you may feel to dismiss, minimize, or deny your fear (e.g., I don't get afraid; I get active). Fear, like anger, is an emotion, a signal of danger to command our attention. We all feel it sometimes. Indeed, not ever feeling fear is a problem. That being said, being stuck in fear, paralyzed with it--that's no good.
The fear you talk about can be your own worries--will I make it? Am I any good? Am I really a designer/filmmaker/actor/dancer? Many of the readings we've done this week address such concerns. Are there some that resonated particularly with you? Are there other personal fears (career/vocation-related fears, not necessarily fear of spiders or zombies) that we haven't discussed yet?
But "fear" could also refer to the worries of those around you: friends, significant others, parents, siblings, children. What is she doing with her life? Why is she majoring in that? What is she going to do when she finds out that there's no money in that? It is of course beyond your power to change what another person thinks or feels all by yourself. But you can control how you respond (or don't respond) to the fears of others. Have you found any particularly useful tactics for dealing with others' fears? (Alternately, do you see yourself repeating unhelpful or exhausting patterns of managing other people's fears?)
I suppose you could even talk about fear in a grander sense: what makes society fear art? For all the scorn popular culture and materialistic common sense heaps on the arts and humanities, few things seem as capable of shocking or undermining culture and sense as art. There's an argument to be made, in other words, that Art (capital-A Art, Art in general) frightens society. Do you see that fear inflecting your own life and work?
Post by Saturday evening. 600 words or so. I look forward to reading what you have to say/write.
Thursday, January 29, 2015
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
Journal Entry 1 Prompt--Post by 5:00 PM Saturday, January 24
Here's the seed: what's your relationship with anger?
You may address this broad question in any way you like (in at least 600 words).
One possible tactic would be to split the question up to two levels:
First, what's your relationship with anger on a personal level? What were you taught about anger growing up? What models for how to be angry (or not be angry) did you grow up with? Was there a turning point or other experience that shaped how anger works for/on you? What about now? How do you handle anger or disappointment today? Is that different than you used to? Are you pleased with how you handle anger? If you could change something about your relationship with anger, what might it be?
Second, what's your relationship with anger in terms of your artistic history or process? What role has anger (or anger management, anger avoidance, anger sublimation) played in your experience of doing film and/or theatre, especially here at LSU? What lessons have you been taught about anger? What models have you seen in action? How do you handle disagreements in rehearsals or on site (recognizing that how you do handle disagreements may differ from how you should handle them)? How should anger work in artistic processes? Is there a difference between how artists relate to anger versus how non-artists relate to anger?
These more specific questions are just suggestions. You are welcome to go in a totally different direction--tell a story, write a manifesto, engage in an angry rant, compose a letter to someone who made you angry (remembering that this will be posted publicly unless you restrict readership).
Contact me if you have questions or concerns.
JF
You may address this broad question in any way you like (in at least 600 words).
One possible tactic would be to split the question up to two levels:
First, what's your relationship with anger on a personal level? What were you taught about anger growing up? What models for how to be angry (or not be angry) did you grow up with? Was there a turning point or other experience that shaped how anger works for/on you? What about now? How do you handle anger or disappointment today? Is that different than you used to? Are you pleased with how you handle anger? If you could change something about your relationship with anger, what might it be?
Second, what's your relationship with anger in terms of your artistic history or process? What role has anger (or anger management, anger avoidance, anger sublimation) played in your experience of doing film and/or theatre, especially here at LSU? What lessons have you been taught about anger? What models have you seen in action? How do you handle disagreements in rehearsals or on site (recognizing that how you do handle disagreements may differ from how you should handle them)? How should anger work in artistic processes? Is there a difference between how artists relate to anger versus how non-artists relate to anger?
These more specific questions are just suggestions. You are welcome to go in a totally different direction--tell a story, write a manifesto, engage in an angry rant, compose a letter to someone who made you angry (remembering that this will be posted publicly unless you restrict readership).
Contact me if you have questions or concerns.
JF
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
Welcome to the Blog/Journal Site for THTR 4900 Senior Capstone Spring 2015
Hi, all--
Hopefully you've found your way here from the Moodle site for THTR 4900 (Senior Capstone). As part of our class, you will keep a weekly, online journal on a Blogger.com. Each entry you make will be in response to a weekly prompt posted on this site. I (Dr. Fletcher) will make most prompts.
Before you do anything else--and definitely before next Wednesday, January 21, I want you to do the following:
Contact me if you have any questions/concerns.
Your first blog posting will be due by Friday, January 23, at 5:00 PM.
Best,
JF
Hopefully you've found your way here from the Moodle site for THTR 4900 (Senior Capstone). As part of our class, you will keep a weekly, online journal on a Blogger.com. Each entry you make will be in response to a weekly prompt posted on this site. I (Dr. Fletcher) will make most prompts.
Before you do anything else--and definitely before next Wednesday, January 21, I want you to do the following:
- Subscribe to/follow this blog by entering your e-mail address in the space provided above (just under the blog title) and/or by clicking the "subscribe to Dr. Fletcher's Blog" button to the right.
- Register with Blogger.com (this may require you to create a free Google account)
- Create a blog dedicated to this class. You may call it whatever you wish.
- Send an e-mail to drjohnfletcher@gmail.com telling me you've created your blog and letting me know what your blog's URL is. The URL is what's in the address bar of your browser when hit "view blog." It should be http://whatevernameyouchoseforyourblog.blogspot.com.
Contact me if you have any questions/concerns.
Your first blog posting will be due by Friday, January 23, at 5:00 PM.
Best,
JF
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