THE UNCONCIOUS: Un chien Andalou by Luis Buñuel

At the end of the video, I attached the different interpretations of my classmates with the artwork that they proposed that was related with the film.

This film is a result of the surrealist movement, and we can notice when we see that doesn’t have logical order and logical connection in terms of chronology and location of the acts. In the film we can find aggressive and confusing images, that makes me think that it seems to be like in a dream. 

The most important thing that I see was the desire and sexual and I think that in the surrealism was a claim to emancipate human desire, and I see this in the film and also in the artwork of Dalí, “The Masturbator”. 

So, when we were watching the film at class, the picture that comes to my mind was “The masturbator”, an artwork by Dalí. He used to show in his artworks an unconsciousness world, his worries or his fears. He showed this by symbols, such as ants, butterflies, decomposition of things, etc. In conclusion, I think that this artwork (“The masturbator”) is very related with this short film of Buñuel, specially in terms of sexuality and desire. 

THE UNCONCIOUS: Alice's adventures in Wonderland

A masterpiece of nonsense literature, which is enjoyed as ficton by children and contrary, is intriguing for adults as a symbolic and allegoric novel. There had been lots of interpretations of Alice's advendutres in Wonderland, from different points of view. Such as one that thinks that to analize and to understand Alice's adventures in Wonderland, the novel has to be interpreted as a satire. The history is plenty of satirical elements, such as the myriad poems that appear, and many of the characters are interested in verse. And so on.

In my opinion, the most important themes treated in the novel are the mature into adulthood, which means that during the journey in Wonderland, Alice encounters with numerous new situations in which she has to adapt to success, and in the beginning of the novel, she can't mantain her composure and she is always crying, but in the end, she is self-possessed and able to hold her own, so she has mature. Futhermore, the size change is another concept that appears, and it's related to the radical changes in size that the body have during the adolescence, and also, this big changes os size, in my opinion, are bringing to Alice a change in perspective, so she sees the world from very different points of view, so she can learn that not everybody has the same point of view of the things. Another constant topic that appears in the novel is the games, which are a constant part of life in Wonderland, every new social encounter of Aliceis as a game. This games have rules, which Alice have to learn. This topic of learning the rules to survive in Wonderland, for me it's like a metaphor of the adaptations to new social situtations that every child makes as he or she grows and gets older.

Finally, reading this book it comes to my mind...Who is crazy? We're crazy or in Wonderland are crazy?...

Remember this quote: 

"The Mad Hatter: - Have I gone mad?
Alice: -I'm afraid so. You're entirely bonkers. But I'll tell you a secret. All the best people are."

MODERN VS. POSTMODERNISM: Death in Venice

This short novel called Death in Venice was written by Thomas Mann, and was published in 1912. The story is about the protagonist Gustav von Aschenbach who is a well-known writer. The writer has the urge to travel, because he thinks that he might find artistic inspiration from a life change. So, he decided to go to Venice, and it appears in signals the beginning of his decline.

When Aschenbach arrives at his hotel, he notices an extremely beautiful fourteen year old boy called Tadzio, who is with his mother and sisters. Firstly, the interest of Aschenbach was purely aesthetic, but soon falls deeply and obsessively in love with the boy, although not having direct contact. Our protagonist, Gustav von Aschenbach, spends days watching Tadzio playing on the beach, or following his family around the Venice's streets. When the cholera infects the city, and although Aschenbach knew the facts about the lethal epidemia, he cannot leave Venice because he is in love with Tadzio. But finally, he dies of cholera, devasted and being a slave to his passions and stipped of dignity.

The main topics that I could found in this novel are related with the decadence, the death, the Platonic ideal, the exoticism and sexuality. When I talk about decadencde, I mean that in the novel, the issue of decadence appears through the protagonist Aschenbach, with his feelings for theboy Tadzio, because he is decadent in how excessively ferent his feelings are, and how his obsession leads to his downfall. Moreover, when I speak about the topic of death, I think that is the main leitmotif of the novel, and it's represented through different representations, such as the death's head (a human skull), that appears in many situations. Furthermore, one of the most important topics that I want to explain is the Platonic ideal, that relies on the beliefs of Aschenbach that the boy exemplifies perfect beauty, which is relate to the Greek ideal of beauty. This Platonic ideal indicates that sexual love can exist as a precursor to a higher spiritual love that lacks physicality, but the protagonist never speaks to Tadzio. Finally, the major theme of sexuality, that leads us to interpret that Aschenbach's affection for Tadzio as a case of homosexual attraction. But also, we can find different situations that are not homosexual, because the protagonist thinks about the beautiful presence in Tadzio, in a innocent, admiring and non-sexual way. 

WHAT IS CULTURE?

When I think about the concept of culture, what comes to my mind that culture is something about the way of thinking of the customs, the canons of beauty, manners, the cultural values, the dressing style, the way of doing things and it expresses who we are as people. Then, when I apply this concept of culture to art, and I think that means to be interested in the culture of some specific place, focusing on such things as music, architecture, paintings, literature, theatre, etc.

In my opinion, culture teaches us to tolerate and appreciate each person (regarding age, ethnic, gender, social class, etc) and is what makes us proud to be a citizen of a country. Moreover, the richest thing for me is that between cultures we have differences that can complement each other and tolerate each other.
Finally, culture makes the world interesting, it opens your eyes and makes one realise that their way is not the only way.

Rembember that culture is dynamic, so as people from different culture move into our culture they have an effect on the structure of our culture.