Creating a Tragedy

For the upcoming tragedy project, wherein we must create a piece of media that we believe embodies tragedy, I chose to create a song. I chose music because I believe the progression of sound through major and minor is a great and beautiful representation of tragedy. As a song moves from calm to sad and minor, creating a sound of dissonance, then moves into a happy major lift inspiring catharsis, and then slowly moves back into mellow and slightly minor, it creates a story of emotion following that of tragedy. I believe music is a great medium to represent tragedy, especially when instrumental. This is because it sets the stage with the emotional rollercoaster, and allows the person listening to connect to it personally, letting whatever tragic experience(s) they've had be projected onto the emotional flow of the music. It is this connection makes music so deep and impacting, which is why I believe it is the perfect medium, whereas others may tell a great tragic story, but if a person is unable to relate to it, it will not be as profoundly appreciated. So, I am choosing to write instrumental song on the guitar that follows the 'rollercoaster' pattern I described earlier, to depict tragedy as best I can.

Tragedy & Empathy

Just the other day we finished Oedipus Rex, which is praised as the perfect tragedy. It's interesting to me how the perfect tragedy thousands of years ago was presented in such an elegant form of media (a play), and today we consume and crave tragic stories portrayed in so many other forms of media. We watch and enjoy empathetically struggling with characters from the most poignant of stories, whether we see the stories played out in movies, books, plays, TV, or anything else. We as people can connect to emotionally moving stories no matter what the context. When I see people tearing up over tragic stories portrayed in such simple forms of media such as TV shows, it makes me wonder why they still carry such weight, no matter what the medium. If I had to make a guess, I would say it is because the brain functions off of recognition of various patterns, which is what defines our ability to be intelligent and think. Because of this, it seems to me that no matter what the artistic medium used to portray tragedy, be it photography, literature, cinematography, or any other, people will react very strongly on an emotional level if they are able to relate the to the tragedy in the story.

Atlas Shrugged Motif & Commentary on Greek (Theatrical) Tragedy

As I've continued reading Ayn Rand's novel 'Atlas Shrugged', her motif has become increasingly apparent, that being that capitalism is the best way to structure an economy and that socialism comes absolutely nowhere near. It is represented blatantly, almost agressively through the continued socialist style laws being passed by the 'looters' and by all the successful businessmen and entrepreneurs leaving the country mysteriously save for a few. She makes good arguments through her representations of the decline of businesses and the economy at the hands of the socialist laws being passed rapidly.

After beginning to study Greek Tragedy I find it interesting how far our perfomering arts stories of tragedy are in purpose and design from that of which they used to be in ancient Greece. By this I mean that stories of tragedy used to be designed so as to teach the audience something through the folley of the main character, this way, they learned about life and morality without having to actually make the error (experienced by the protagonist) themselves. In the modern day, stories of tragedy and suffering often teach nothing to the viewer, rather they are in place to take the viewer on an emotional rollercoaster. Often times it is a rollercoaster the average viewer would never normally experience, or one that the average viewer can relate to.

Entry 1: Thoughts on the tone and characters of Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged"

So far in the novel there's been this strange stone of inescapable apathy. It seems to be directed towards the society and the lives the characters read, but as of yet I am without a clear understanding as to why. Also, whenever the mindset of the characters seems to accelerate, the thought proccess is played out, and it usually ends in confusion and asking "Who is John Galt?" Then the tone fades back to apathy.  I found this interesting and am excited to see how the tone and characters continue to develop.