The External World from David OReilly on Vimeo.
***the above video is disabled now for some reason. It was working for about three days. Here is the video for the trailer.Irish film director based out of Berlin, Germany, David O'Reilly, created the above video called "The External World". If you guys haven't already watched it make sure you do.
In our first class we were told that our capstone project must encompass our opinion of what we think art is good for? By now most of you have shared many classes with me before this and it is not unknown that I always seem to aim on pointing out society's ignorance through the use of irony. At least I try to. Although it is sort of a tough love approach to what I feel is doctoring up a remedy to society's problems I have never been one to think it was bad to know the truth about something even if it is hurtful when you first realize it or even there after. David O' Reilly's video "The External World" beautifully articulates how the world isn't always what it seems to be. He displays themes of irony as a way to show the truths about society. Humor, sadness, anger, sexuality, and unequivocal violence is used to show this "external world" that we all live in. Although this video is harsh I imagine that O'Reilly, like me believes that it is better to understand human nature and that we at times are not meant to do "good"-- we are only human. Being human can only allow us to do so much, handle so much, or even understand so much. In other words we are at the mercy of our own external world and society. He uses animation and characters as representation of pieces of ourselves. He uses these characters to represent not only stereotypes but more importantly the innate truths of being human. If you cringed, laughed, felt uncomfortable, or even tried not to watch it, the video most likely succeeded. After all who likes to see cutesy neon and pastel colored animals seemingly having sex (one smoking a cigarette while doing it!) while other cutesy animals are watching?? I don't think he did anything too radical in a sense that kids have access to sex everyday. Yet, he framed it in such a way that forces you too see the truths of society in such a way that you should feel uncomfortable about it. These are things we ignore but happen every single day. I mean who wants to help drive a pile of crap to the hospital safely to deliver a baby when the pile of a crap stinks. But what the baby comes from is a pile of crap so it itself is a pile of crap as well...oh the things you never thought you would ever write about or watch nonetheless...
Now, if you didn't get anything I just typed, it was only an opinion of what I thought the video was trying to say. Either way it inspired me to once again use irony as a tool to understand ignorance. After all I believe art is good for this very reason. I believe art is one of the most important tools to achieve this goal. As for the exact topic I can use to show this for our capstone project, well, the list is endless....so I guess I will keep you posted.
MAKE SURE YOU WATCH THE VIDEO IT'S PRETTY AWESOME!
I think I follow ya... haha. Good to know that you feel encouraged to be yourself and express yourself in art.
ReplyDeleteOkay, very freaky trailer. I feel a bit like Mr. Spock in regards to irony and humor: "It is a difficult concept". My wife is always showing me things that are ironic but I end up taking them at face value, so that kinda sucks. However, I don't think I have ever looked at your work through a lens of ironic humor, but I will try do so.
ReplyDeleteI think irony is a great tool to use, but you have to be careful that the irony can be easily translated, because some have a difficult time interpreting it. That being said, I think it's always better to go for smart humor, cleverness, and something unexpected than anything else.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Nina. I think using irony to get your message across is a medium that many people use in all different communication forms. But the only problem with irony is that people might either not understand the 'joke' or they might take offense to it because someone might make jokes about what one could consider a serious subject matter. Either way if this is how you want to express yourself, more power to ya.
ReplyDeleteI personally love irony, and I'm excited to see what you do for the project. However, I do understand that some people don't always understand it, but I feel thats part of why I love it because its subtle and not everyone is going to get it which makes me like the joke even more.
ReplyDeleteI have to side with Nina and Sheri. Misinterpretation can be detrimental to a strong design campaign. :)
ReplyDeleteI love irony though.
While I agree with Nina and Sheri that it could be misinterpreted, but maybe that's OK! Anything can be misinterpreted, even if it is not humor or irony, so if that's what you want to do, then do it!
ReplyDeleteThat was definitely a very jarring trailer! I can definitely appreciate good irony, but the main problem that I've seen employing it is that, if you don't go far enough or if you don't expand on it somehow, you might end up (in the minds of your audience) reinforcing the very thing you want to critique. However, as always, people's mileages will vary on this, so as long as your use of irony gets people talking about the issue in question, I think that's okay.
ReplyDeleteI wish I could of seen the first video, but I think you make an interesting point. These videos are meant to wake us up from something we tend to be oblivious to or something we try to ignore such as the access to sex that you pointed out.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Sheri and Nina. I am not a big fan of irony and it probably might be because I do not understand it. However, just because not everyone agrees to it does not mean it can't be powerful, just make sure people understand it.
ReplyDeleteI once read about how in visual arts many often ignore works that use irony as a resource. Nevertheless, in the last forty years, art has exploited laughter as a very effective means of expression that has the public on its side and requires their involvement – and this participation is one of the factors that can turn humour into irony. Most art will always have misinterpretations or generate different messages or ideas. I give you credit for using irony as a tool.
ReplyDeleteI use irony in a way that hopefully gets viewers to think about a situation in a different way, in a way that helps them take a look at themselves. Like a mirror but it shows society in a different light. Maybe isn't the only way I can describe it but I'm glad some of you appreciate it.
ReplyDeleteI think when Irony is done rights its really affective otherwise it can leave the viewer confused which may be an interesting outcome in some situations.
ReplyDeleteIrony has a lot to do with target audience - if you don't mind alienating people who you don't expect to "get it," go ahead and make it confounding. Just don't be upset when it's misinterpreted by others.
ReplyDeleteI agree that irony can be used as a reality check, and this can lead to some sort of changes. I think we should all keep in mind that art and every viewer's response is very subjective, so there's really no way to tell what an outcome can be overall.
ReplyDeleteI really like this subject of our innate human nature and the idea that people ignore it in a sense because it dosen't conform with society. But, we are only human. That being said, Julie, I think that your point about irony is a great way of approaching the subject, like Carly said as a "reality check."
ReplyDeletei agree with your point of view, and i think that in some way, design exits to make aware of this ignorance and hopefully change it in some way.
ReplyDeleteThat video was very raw and for me it did succeed in pointing out human flaws. Using irony in your project is a great way to point out society's ignorances and I am curious to see how you approach it.
ReplyDeleteMy roomate, who is in animation, just showed me this video no longer than a week before this was posted. I find it rather funny in a twisted sort of way and the style of all of them amazing. It is things like this that make me want to be a master of all trades and have roughly 7 arms to do them all
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