Assignment 1, CCC32111, S2, 2020: Exegesis: WASTEMAN aka Cinderella WASTEMAN

aka Cinderella

Assignment 1, CCC3211, S2, 2020 Student 100438098. Susanne Lorraine Johnston 961 words

In the 1950s, any Anglo-Celt child might be introduced to a repertoire of narrative elements in ancient fairy tales such as Cinderella, as generally described by Lutz, (1999). WASTEMAN is a fantasy Cinderella of sorts, created for today’s viewers, contorted by requirements for visual storytelling with minimal text, and preparatory to film making. These task stipulations forced me into continuous, substantial adaptations and to discard or replace many initial, nuanced, abstract and atmospheric strands.

Important pedagogic life lessons are presented in Cinderella, via character!

“#$ life-adventure (Lutz, 1999) and in WASTEMAN, three are main themes and

three others deliberately omitted. My narrative is well- aided by Amelia, a child who provided an early critique and several key graphics which appear in my presentation. The great powers of colour, semiotics, and particularly onomatopoeia (Guynes, nd) are essential elements, and strategic sound, music and lyrics placement. This made me made obvious how ageing has reduced my visual narrative skills and how it takes me to fully think through any set university task.

As a young Anglo-Celt Australian child of the 1950s I was introduced to a then current Cinderella., via hearing, and exposure to a sparsely-illustrated text, with

Tutor: Dr. A. Dadswell. Student 10043898. Susanne Lorraine Johnston. 5 pages. 1

Assignment 1, CCC32111, S2, 2020: Exegesis: WASTEMAN aka Cinderella
occasional ‘fancy dress’ opportunities. Carey et al, (2007) made me perceive that

fairytale as one link in an always evolving chain descending down the ages from an ancient, original oral, teaching tale (Lutz, 1999). While possibly a part of that ancient chain, WASTEMAN, has been disassembled over and over in efforts to fit the assignment terms and conditions Here, an omniscient storyteller makes stellar observations of varying levels of isolation, dislocation and loneliness experienced by the protagonist. The de-humanised electronic music video by Raja The Resident Alien (2020) “All Distortion is Intended” its speed and disorienting rotation signifies WASTEMAN’S harrowing, lonely journey from someplace far away in the universe. As the journey nears the earth, that dislocation is compounded by the use of erratic, quick long shots, zooms and jumps and changes of pace between backgrounds and locations, all with associated speech, in some cases “cheating” bubbles as described by Guynes,(nd). This also creates an allegory of Cinderella’s rocky life journey where the expectation is she will accept and travel alone through a strictly ordered and demanding social class structure, where even her creature-helpers must adopt mannered and socially appropriate costumes.

Conversely, a child’s drawing of a suited astronaut and ship next defines the character WASTEMAN. His wave, a simple gesture, conveys his warmth of character, confirmed by his arrival where there is a short slowdown of film pace. There WASTEMAN makes his first, astounded and delighted acquaintance with nature and its creatures. Thereafter the film speeds up again, into the climax of the disastrous helmet-removal, disposal notice and subsequent jettison actions, where WASTEMAN’s placid acceptance through these scenes represent

Tutor: Dr. A. Dadswell. Student 10043898. Susanne Lorraine Johnston. 5 pages. 2

Assignment 1, CCC32111, S2, 2020: Exegesis: WASTEMAN aka Cinderella Cinderella’s quiet acceptance of the loss of slipper, dissolution of coach and

elegant gown. The story arc closes at the denouement, when slower action returns after the bird-friend creature saves the protagonist, brings him to safety where offers of companionship and a new way of life synced within the earth’s natural cycles.

An important key factor in the Cinderella tale is the concept of an uncomplaining acceptance of the vagaries of life, sweetened by a great love of all of nature and its creatures, and accompanied by the desire of the characters to find true love (Lutz, 1999). Studying different text forms derived from “Enduring Love” (McEwan, 2006) helped me spatially and emotionally distance characters and roles, alternate being apart and moving in close, to create story flow with extreme close-ups of eyes, faces, other body parts human, and of the key bird creature. I also rely upon specific colours to convey emotions and freely use semiotics, particularly onomatopoeia (Guynes, nd.).

The recent re-exposure to WATCHMAN (Moore et al, 2014) and my introduction to BEFORE WATCHMEN (Straczynski et al, 2014) assisted me, particularly in how to represent character in alternative ways. Analysing comic formats, Guynes’ paper (nd) and reading Flood’s 2020 article about the delightful picture stories of Sam McBratney somewhat compensate for my inability to keep up with ever-changing electronic tools. After realising the astounding communication values of line, form, colour aligned with semiotics and onomatopoeia I constructed long shots of dwelling, close-ups of tools, waste collection, use inserts shots from WASTEMAN’s POV, alternate longer shots again in scene

Tutor: Dr. A. Dadswell. Student 10043898. Susanne Lorraine Johnston. 5 pages. 3

Assignment 1, CCC32111, S2, 2020: Exegesis: WASTEMAN aka Cinderella
where helmet comes off, play occurs with condor, hero eats pretty, yummy fruit.

Then, when he suddenly looks around and up, the camera goes in and out of focus as he realizes the young woman ‘watcher’. Camera switches to her POV seeing how he registers: her, love, panic, grabs helmet, runs to ship, departs. WASTEMAN’S POV again then, with reverses, flashbacks as he flies away. Alone again.

Reading, reflection shows me my WASTEMAN narrative sits squarely upon the foundations of that ancient Anglo-Celt story (Carey et al, 2007), and throughout I try to companion rhythmic, temporal, spatial and graphic of my plot form. To support the action with earlier-era popular romantic songs, lyrics and other sounds and thus present a sense of the characters’ enduring wonder at their diverse, yet finally same, world. Three principal characteristics I rejected as a child are still alive and vital within other Cinderella versions circulating in today’s world I deliberately omit; strict adherence to gender roles; importance of class order; steady development of an inequality between characters.

WASTEMAN grew out of Cinderella, a key Anglo-Celt pedagogic fairytale introduced to me at an early age, when I rejected great parts, and adopted, for life, some vital components. To create WASTEMAN I crash through an uncertain trial and error struggle trying to create an understandable visual text. Substantial changes occurred constantly for I want to deliver forms decipherable today. In this assignment and through personal preference, I vary film speed, camera shots, and angles, use distance, colour, semiotics and incorporate a number of

popular, now dated songs, lyrics, sounds and images to echo the visual and oral

Tutor: Dr. A. Dadswell. Student 10043898. Susanne Lorraine Johnston. 5 pages. 4

Assignment 1, CCC32111, S2, 2020: Exegesis: WASTEMAN aka Cinderella narratives of my youth. WASTEMAN, a modern Anglo-Celt pedagogic tool

echoes Cinderella in its acceptance of, wonder and yearning for life, nature, and love.

Reference

BFI. (2020). Teaching Literacy Through Film. Future Learn. (Now Retired). From:https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/teaching-literacy-through-film/0/steps/11363

 

Carey, J., Ellinghaus, K., Bourcher, L. (Eds.). (2007). ‘Historicising Whiteness:

Towards a New Research Agenda’, In Historicising Whiteness: Transnational

Perspectives on the Construction of an Identity, Melbourne: RMIT Publishing, 2007:

vi-xxiii.

Flood, A. (2020). Guess How Much I Love You author Sam McBratney dies aged 77.

Book Review. The Guardian.

From: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/sep/21/guess-how-much-i-love-

you-author-sam-mcbratney-dies-aged-

77?fbclid=IwAR0RBF2asRxoqiGXKGDO9XkCLrK4XvOrmoMdnGMwHVyk2_HQ3n

5F7eit8ug

Guynes, S. A. (nd) Four-Colour Sound: A Piercean Semiotocs of Comic Book Onomatopoeia. Public Journal of Semiotics 6 (1).

Johnston, S. (2020). WASTEMAN. Storyboard proposal for short film.

Lutz, R. (1999). Cinderella’s Social Transformations (1999). USFSP Honors
Program Theses (Undergraduate). 101. http://digital.usfsp.edu/honorstheses/101

McEwan, I. (2006). Enduring love. UK: Vintage.
Moore, A., Gibbons, D. (2014). Watchmen International Edition.

Burbank, CA, USA: HBO series DC Comics.

RajaTheResidentAlien. (2020). All Distortion Is Intended. Music Video. From: https://vimeo.com/448031743?fbclid=IwAR2BYc2W2- vq83FE_l8o3SQa4SVkCNDueEyUaWFMczDhEvnZoAP1V2G0xbw

Straczynski, J. M., Hughes, A., Kubert, A., Kubert, J., Sienkiewicz, B., Risso, E. (2014). Before Watchmen. Burbank, CA, USA: DC Comics.

Tutor: Dr. A. Dadswell. Student 10043898. Susanne Lorraine Johnston. 5 pages. 5