Beth’s post got me thinking about art again, and I’d like to explore, briefly, the connection between happiness and quality or depth of art. It was mentioned that artists rarely seem to be happy, and the more tortured they are, the greater or more intense their work is. But the more important question to ask is “Do we tend to view more serious artwork as ‘greater’ simply because it has more depth and intensity?” Are we trivializing ‘happy art’ just because we have decided that it cannot possibly be taken …

The debate in class today affected me far more than I expected it to. The discussion of ‘true love’ almost brought me to tears, something that is generally extremely rare. I felt so emotionally invested in the exchange that I simply couldn’t handle participating directly in it. Many issues were raised and discussed, some of which I agree with but most of which made me realize how much I truly dislike the characters in this book. Also how incredibly cynical I’m becoming, but that’s a separate issue. I ended up …

It’s interesting that they chose to make Jennie even more ambiguous in the film than in the book. We find ourselves doubting her existence, despite the interactions she has with Eben.
There were a few notable differences, but my favorite one was the fact that Jennie’s friend, Cecily, is “in Boston” instead of dead from scarlet fever (Who knows…maybe “moved to Boston” is a euphemism for death? Haha.)
This post is ridiculously lacking in substance, but I think I’ll have much more to say once we finish the film. I’m trying to …

I have to say that I didn’t particularly like Portrait of Jennie. The book itself wasn’t especially well-written or captivating, and certain parts were even a little dull. I’m even a little skeptical when people call this book ‘romantic’ because it’s not really about romance at all. On the simplest level, it’s about being lost (and loss itself). Every character is lost, in one way or another, and most try to recover through Eben. So it’s about being lost, it’s about Eben, and it’s certainly not about his romance with …

My apologies in advance to Dr. Campbell for the enormous tangent I’m about to embark upon.
I was going to write a post analyzing exactly what it is about eye contact in film, photography, and traditional art that captures the audience in such a unique way. However, I discovered something else along the way. Artists are always staring straight at the viewer in their own self-portraits, whether photographed or painted. In over an hour of searching, I only managed to find ONE famous self-portrait in which this was not the case. …