Sunday, September 17, 2023
Tuesday, August 29, 2023
Tuesday, May 18, 2021
Myth, formalism and semiotics
Myths are a universal and interesting cultural phenomenon. They have existed since the dawn of civilizations, and probably have the greatest perseverance, similar to the important of religions. Every culture has created mythical images, which suggests that myth is a fundamental component of human expression. Although Western culture is generally defined as scientific and secular, it also includes many active mythical contents. There are many archetypal symbols, which believers believe to have a divine origin. For example, a bird may be the "forerunner", a high place may be the "place of revelation", and a giant tree "the tree of life".
Mythological origins are central to semiotics, which is the professional field of sign language practice - the basis for brand design. In mythological legends anything is possible. This is also the feeling that a marketer of almost any product tries to instill. Marketing is a mix of products, services and ideas. The marketer seeks measurable results, as an answer to every consumer's search for meaning in modern life.
For the semiotician, any simple object may have a symbolic meaning. Such symbols are, for example, Sigmund Freud's cigar, Charlie Chaplin's walking stick, and Michael Jackson's glove. The symbols can be exchanged in the free market. Despite this, they are endowed with a multiplicity of meaning, and what for one person is in the nature of "reality", for the other is in the nature of "imagination". Barter is conducted according to clear rules of the game. The domain of symbols is never higher than the domain of products, and there is always a product attached to the symbol, otherwise the symbol is not valid. The airplane became by the propaganda artists an object of symbolic significance of the highest degree.
Humans live by the stories they hear and experience throughout their lives. These stories are steeped in common symbols and myths, and involve riddles and answers. They showcase the human ethos, and so do the commercials. The cinematic plot is an expression of this. The cinematic or advertising story is multidimensional, and is integrated into a system of matching symbols, resulting from behavior, myth, tradition, and the like, in the lives of viewers and consumers. The purpose is of creating an integrated narrative in all popular culture.
Because the myths express central cultural values, they appear in all media and cultural channels, both mass and elitist. Myths exist in the world of advertising, propaganda and also in the world of films. Cinema is a place where the use of myths is gaining ground, and incorporating myths into feature films is a major phenomenon. The Hollywood studio film is a product that many people share in the production process. Hence, similar to the myth, it turns to as broad a common denominator as possible.
In the twentieth century, as human society became more modern, technological, and complex, so did the need to use myths in popular culture to define the role of each person in the masses. Cinema is a connection between reality and imagination, and offers a space for transition between them. It is a total art, combining many fields of art, and many movie stars have also become role models. Movie heroes belong to the "superhero" category, which is one of the most important archetypes in human culture. They are at the top along with the archetype of the "family" in its extended definition, as a group of people with close ties.
The seismic change in the political structures of post-World War I Europe spawned the fascist movements and regimes, built on the principles of mythical modernity. Mythical modernity was based on an aspiration for advanced technology, using belief and archetypal conditioning for its application, rather than the enlightened mind. The desire for a mythical fascist order developed during the war. The events of the war, the fall of the dynasties and the political upheavals were the most visible result of a rupture in the old order, and gave rise to fascism.
An influential German thinker was Ernest Junger. Junger, the decorated combat soldier who became an influential philosopher of the Nazi movement, clearly recognized the shocks around him, and preached a new civilian reality, taking an example from the war. Junger described the war in hygienic terms: war is an end in itself, it is the ideal existential situation. The war created a new kind of human being, a new race of warriors who adopted an ethos of military masculinity, discipline, power and heroism, and a fusion of man and machine. Civilian life is a continuation of the war in other ways. Technological and political warfare continues in them and with it human forging intensifies.
The clear symbol of mythical totalitarian modernism in Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy was the airplane. The linguistic symbols and metaphors associated with aviation discourse, its perception and interpretation, are many, and the sources that can be relied on in this context are very numerous. They include important cultural events, artwork, books, magazines, propaganda products and more. It was not the aviation itself, but its connections, not the pilot himself, but the concepts involved, that were the focus of attention. They served as a means of revolutionary liberation from the burden of the past.
The social agenda, which has been the focus of attention in fascist regimes, is clarified through the narrative of aviation heroes, and through the vision of the new man that fascism has tried to make a reality through an anthropological revolution. The protagonists were models and prototypes that citizens were required to use in order to shape their lives. The norms and values that the media published as embodied in those heroes permeated the social reality and the world was understood according to their register.
The airplane and the pilot were totems, in the fullest sense of the word of icons with archetypal characteristics. They reflected the desire for order, and they were the epitome of modernity. The spiritual reciprocity between fascism and aviation was unequivocal. It has created mythical modernity, as opposed to liberal modernity.
This worldview fits into the formalist film style, in which directors are interested in expressive and subjective re-creation of their experiences of reality, rather than the way others perceive it. In formalist films one can find a high degree of manipulation, a re-design of reality. Formalist cinema tends to emphasize form, technique, and style of expression.
There is a parallel between marketing characters with the goal of becoming celebrities and states marketing, with the goal of making them more attractive in the international community. Specifically, the image of political leaders is the result of intense professional investment, measured by the field of consumer product marketing as brands. Hitler was an icon in the international community, as was Nazi Germany, which became a brand. The state as a brand exists for the purposes of domestic and foreign policy.
Roland Barth, one of the forefathers of semiotics, examined images through the analysis of the messages they contain, in order to know to what extent visual images create an ideological worldview. Key concepts in the analysis are the "signifier" and the "marked". The "signifier" is what we see, hear, feel. "Marked" is the meaning we derive from the signifier. For example, photography is perceived by us as a reality, but it has an ideological and cultural construction. A photograph of a polished soldier of local descent, against the backdrop of the flag of his country's colonial power, reflects his loyalty and identity which may not actually exist.
Friday, December 18, 2020
Paris Domes - Essay on the Binaric Space in the Parisian Sphere
Paris Domes
We were born and raised in cities
in them we breathe and travel
there is nothing inhuman in the city
except for the two of us sometimes
In the heart of the city flows the river Seine
like a silver snake twist and plain
It is a pair in cities everywhere
the full circle and the line of fair
Dialectics takes place
between station and road as circle and line
the square or dome are for peace of mind
and a plot unfold in the alley and boulevard
This design is a key
for everything that exists in the city
a circle or line dominate the space
as in the letters of the alphabet
A central urban circle is the dome
built on top public and state buildings
an important question for the tourist is
which dome to first visit
By the river you can see glass domes
of a huge structure in metal frame
it host important exhibitions
of art, fashion, cars and fairs
The dome most striking of them all
is the cathedral in white color
at the top of Montmartre the mount of arts
where people for their portraits drawing lust
This dome seems to float in the sky
hovering over the greater city sphere
inside there is a huge fresco of Jesus
spreading his arms as an airplane
The decorated dome is reminiscent
of invention older then two centuries
which gave Paris premiere
and the hot air balloon is its name
The dome express a view
of the sky is a core
an inspiration for all mankind
regardless of religion or roots
Another magnificent and large dome
is that of the Opera Hall
decorated with soul paintings
of people for compassion longing
In Lafayette Gallery department store
there is a huge and colorful dome
it is like in a palace or church
and give inspiration to the place
Napoleon’s tomb dome
tower on top of all with pride
It became a symbol
for France in the first class
On the left bank of the River Seine
is the impressive Pantheon Hall
with abstract dome and decorations
a shrine for French spiritual giants
Chatelet is a huge metro station
with a transparent glass ceiling
the amount of people passing through
is enormous inconceivably
Paris like any metropolis
grow on major traffic arteries
the museums are designed the same
for tours along long hallways
The avenues are long and wide
the whole metropolis they glorify
champs Elysees sing in chord
between the Victory Gate and Concord
Near the historic Bastille Square
there is a long and ancient aqueduct
which has become a green promenade
symbol of how modern France revitalize
Arriving to Paris is through endless tunnel
starting at the airport
it includes many parts
of terminals and transportation passages
The building which symbolize this tunnel
is the municipal library with the tubes
in them you ascend in escalators
to the reading halls on all floors
Once you exit the tunnel
Paris unfold in all its glory
with occupants of coffee shops
all along every vacant sidewalk
The square is like macaroon cookie
complicated and difficult to prepare
the bread baguette is like the street
popular and simple to treat and eat
Many Africans live in Paris
who are looking for original content
a reality of a futuristic experiment
based on their digital orientation
Paris is in need for urban renewal
which will contain its suburban sprawl
without it its center is decaying
and the suburbs become negative
Like photography the modern city does not
reflect human reality correctly
visual appearance is a cheap attitude
insulting the magnitude of history
The colorful Pride Parade is an example
of how human spirit in the city prevail
a world of people participate in it
enriching presence of Paris
Paris preserve its uniqueness
with punctuation in every corner
people are striving to reach it
and it will stay in the peak
The art of local street paintings
is an excellent demonstration of creation
original expressions on the walls
are imaginary treasure maps for all
From its start the city has been personified
as expression of planning and medicine
created for a healthy environment
to embody sights and mind
Chief destination for the tourists
are the great museums
in which many walls are decorated
with Impressionist masterpieces
The modern city is a broad subject
foundation of society and creativity
but it is experienced as an image
and is hooked to its bright lights
Man lives in his spatial world
far more than in his time
and In-Out are like Yes-No
to define all that is alive
Saturday, December 22, 2018
Anthropomorphic maps of the Middle Ages
.Merovingian map of the 7th century T-O primitive map, with the Mediterranean shaped as a fetus |
Schematic T-O map from the Encyclopedia
of Isidore of Seville
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An elegant T-O map, from Isidore of Seville of the 7th century |
A typical Arab T-O map of the Middle Ages, by Ibn al-Wardi,
with curved lines. Indian Subcontinent is at the bottom right.
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T-O maps of the 13th century from Atlas of Beatus,
which tries to combine abstract world view with reality
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Ebstorf map, a huge and detailed T-O map
from the 13th century
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Thursday, December 20, 2018
Anthropomorphic maps in ancient times
The invention of the wheel has greatly helped mankind create the abstract world view. The long times required to cross long distances were greatly reduced, and heavy loads could be carried on carts. Reality has become time dependent instead of space dependent. The world's image had turned upside down. The geographical world has turned from a subject to an object. There was a need to give it new marks. The most natural was to map it according to human connections.
"The Great Wagon" is a famous constellation system. It direct toward the North Star, which guided the ancient seafarers. The name was given to the system because of its shape.
With all its precision, the mathematical and geometric globe form of the earth is, to a certain extent, a return to the ancient Mesopotamian world view.
They discovered, after doing geographical measurements and geometric calculations, that the world is in the shape of a round ball, and even calculated its dimensions.
They realized also that the entire earth which they knew is just a small part of the entire globe.
The image of the ball is also very close to the image of the wheel, a transport invention that changed the face of the world in ancient times, and created an anthropomorphic pattern of its own.
The Great Wagon constellation system |
The Zodiac |
Human body organs can be identified with the Zodiac's symbols. |
'The hunter from Orion' - a painting by Flamstead, 1729 |
map of the world in the shape of a cauldron according to ancient Mesopotamian cultures |
World map in the form of a skull according to Herodotus, 5th century BC |
Statue of Atlas who carries the earth |