Stroszek and me?

In class on wednesday, we watched -without the commentary- the whole film Stroszek by Werner Herzog. We, as a class, had watched this film with Werner doing a commentary the first time about his journey making the film, so watching the film a second time made it a whole different experience in observing the subtly of the narrative and space.

For instance, The part that was most intriguing to me was the very ending of Stroszek. In this scene Bruno came upon an closed down carnival in a rural area of Wisconsin. Bruno puts money in a few machines to watch chickens and a rabbit dance and play the piano, then finds a ski lift and turns it on and starts riding up and down the lift with nothing but his shot gun and a frozen turkey. The very last thing the viewer sees is shots cutting back and forth between one of the machines with a chicken dancing inside and Bruno riding the chair lift until finally you hear an explosion and it cuts to his pick up truck in flames.

This scene is so ambiguous and could have so many different connections to the inner plot line of the narrative- probably why its so interesting to me to begin with.

For instance, does the chicken dancing in the machine symbolize how eva his "sorta girlfriend/ prostitute" is caged within her own obstacles by leaving germany to have a "new life" and still ends up leaving the only family she has to go back into being a prostitute? Is there a strong connection between the frozen turkey as the last thing he holds onto and the dancing chicken? I also found the connection about the question Bruno asked in Germany to Eva about what will happen to his "friends" aka. his musical instruments when he dies, then you see him at a point where he could have killed himself and the viewer sees these caged animals playing similar instruments to what Bruno enjoys to play.

There are so many concepts that could be looked into further I just don't know which one to examine! I think this is one of Herzogs accomplishments with these films, because at a glance they just seem bizarre and about a depressing world some people live in, but taking another look one can see so many connections to the human condition in strange parts of ones life.

How does Strozek relate to my work? I'm not really sure to be honest. I think his goal of "inner landscapes" is intriguing and something I try to achieve in my work as well but I feel (from the very little films I've seen of his) that I take that goal and go 180 degrees from Herzog. I've seen him examine the inner landscapes of the human condition in a place where the character is in turmoil and struggle. When I create art I don't like to focus on that. I like trying to examine the inner landscapes of individuals in a more hopeful sense, showing their light and essence in a positive and joyous manner. I don't believe the dark and grimy parts of the human experience are suppose to be ignored by any means, but I have no motivation to project that message, instead maybe a way out of that? This might sounds extremely cheesy depending on who reads this but I feel life is way to short to not try to reach pure bliss.

As for my project I don't believe I've updated you all on my latest progress. I will be doing a two photography series on two models. In these series they will be posing with sheer fabric. This connection between the body and the sheer fabric I believe creates an visual portrayal of their unique energies. That said, I will also be shooting these models in multiple locations, looking at how though their energies are unique, they are manipulated by their surroundings as well.

Still working on figuring out all the different locations, but if anyone has ideas that seem practical with our lovely wisconsin winters- LET ME KNOW!