Popular Media Presentations—Updated

 

February 7

Emma Illian and Melina Kopischke> The Blair Witch Project

Meredith Goldberg and Sheridan O’Coyne> Practical Magic

 

February 14

Quinn Duggan and Lexie Woodall> Hocus Pocus

 

February 21

Colleen Wyrick and Kyla Kachmarik> The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe

Maddie Droguett and Lanie Parker> The Wizard of Oz

 

February 28

Ella Wilkinson and Alyssa Doyle> The Love Witch

 

March 6

Brianna Ross and Allison Vilas> Jennifer’s Body

Meredith Goldberg and Sheridan O’Coyne> Beautiful Creatures

 

March 20

Colleen Wyrick and Kyla Kachmarik> Into the Woods

 

March 27

Ella Wilkinson and Alyssa Doyle> Sabrina

Emma Illian and Melina Kopischke> Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

 

April 3

Lanie Parker and Maddie Droguett> The Witches of Eastwick

 

April 10

Quinn Duggan and Lexie Woodall> Wicked

 

April 17

Brianna Ross and Allison Vilas> The Witcher

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reason or Romanticism

 

As a literary and artistic term, Romanticism is used to describe the profound shift in Western attitudes to human thought and creativity that dominated much of European culture during the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries—and which has somehow shaped or influenced all subsequent developments in literature and art ever since.  As a movement, romanticism revolted against the Enlightenment’s heavy reliance on reason and focused attention on the more mysterious emotional and psychological experiences of human existence.  Similarly, in rebelling against the Enlightenment’s preference for social (and generally formal) activity, romanticism emphasized the freedom of individual expression, and thus spontaneity, sincerity, and originality became new standards in literary and artistic productions (replacing decorum, convention, and the imitation of classical models favored by Enlightenment writers).  Believing that the Enlightenment concept of creation was mechanical, impersonal, and artificial, romantic writers and artists conceived of a universe more mysterious and less knowable.  They celebrated the significance of the individual and the boundlessness of the human imagination, and in so doing they placed their trust in intuition and emotion.  The restrained balance valued in 18^th century culture was abandoned in favor of emotional intensity, often taken to extremes of rapture, nostalgia (for childhood or the historical past), horror, melancholy, or sentimentality.  Some romantic writers and artists cultivated the appeal of the exotic, the bizarre, or the macabre; almost all showed an interest in the non-rational realms of dream and delirium, folk superstition, myth, and legend.  Rather than by following rules and external structures and forms (social orientation), they created art by following their imaginative inspiration (individual orientation) and preferred to develop more organic principles of form, thus embracing innovation rather than tradition.

              One of the most characteristic aspects of romanticism is the trust in nature and natural goodness (including the natural goodness of the individual).  Individuals are born into a “state of nature” and are slowly corrupted by civilization, especially by urban life.  To cleanse themselves, individuals must return to nature or a more natural state.  As a result, romantic writers and artists hold great admiration for primitive states (“the noble savage”) and all forms of innocence, especially that of children. 

 

Reason                                                                        Emotion

Decorum, Rules, and Convention                               Originality, Spontaneity

External Forms and Structures                                   Organic Structure

Imitation                                                                       Inspiration

Tradition (traditional meters)                                        Innovation (free verse)

Society and Social Activity                                          The Self and Individual Activity

The Formal Garden                                                     The Forest or Wilderness

The Experts                                                                 Intuition and Self-Reliance

Interest in the Here-and-Now                                       Interest in the Distant and the Exotic

The Civilized                                                                The Primitive

The Artist as Student                                                  The Artist as Outcast