Agoraphobia, Mysophobia, Necrophobia: An Introspective Look at Fear in less than 30 Words

Kyle dreams of traveling the world.

The first step is to make it outside of his apartment.

Artist's Statement: 

In the process of writing these tiny stories, I generally tried to stick with the characters that had already been created, and throw in twists to the existing plot. It was only in the last story that I wrote that I realized that there were greater themes to be expounded upon which were more important than the existing characters. I was surprised that this was also the case when I received my stories back from the other members of my group. I wrote my original story expecting that Kyle, my character, would end up getting over his agoraphobia, and would have a happy ending. I was also expecting him to go on a wild, around-the-world adventure. Instead, he never does overcome his fear. The stories instead took turns expounding upon the central theme of fear. Each of the stories showed this theme in a new way, which is something that I was actually not expecting, and certainly was not my original intention. Getting my stories back, and being surprised by the results definitely reminded me of the Very Short Stories on Twitter. Each of these stories was incredibly short, but had a surprising twist. This project has really been a testament to the power that few words can have, and has shown the potential of using as few words as possible. In less than thirty words, my classmates and I were able to say some pretty profound things about fear, our subjection to it, the ways that we try, and sometimes fail, to conquer it, and the ways that we second-guess ourselves when we are faced with fear. I was not expecting something this profound to come from this assignment. I was also very pleased that all of these stories had plots and characters that had the potential to be trite, overdone, silly, and of no worth or real importance. However, each author took these plots and made the most of their potential. Additionally, the characters that were portrayed are generally reserved for the cutesy or the fantastical. Instead, each of these characters dealt with real life issues that are universally applicable to all people. These stories reminded me of the Haunted Mansion ride in the Disney Parks. In the stretching room, there are several portraits that seem to be benign and sweet depictions of content people. However, as the room stretches, it is revealed that each character is the victim of a sinister and unfortunate situation. There was much more to each portrait than was initially shown to the audience. This idea is also very applicable in real life. There is always more going on in a person’s life than we are able to see. We see very few aspects of other people’s lives, and we never truly understand each other. Even when the people around us seem like they are happy and contented, there is great possibility that there is more than meets the eye. We are all complex beings that are rarely transparent with one another. I think that this concept was illustrated beautifully through this assignment.  

Musical Mosiac

Idiosyncrasies and Anonymity 

Reflections on "The Winner is" from the Little Miss Sunshine Soundtrack

Artist Statement: 

     I came across this piece on Pandora several months ago, and I immediately fell in love with this piece. To date, I have listened to this piece 353 times. As I listened to this piece for this assignment, I realized that this song tells a story of pain, suffering, and eventual triumph, but that the story that is being told is also completely anonymous. We do not know who this story is about, or what story of struggle is being told. However, the story of struggle is universal to us as humans, so we can recognize a struggle when we see one. This piece made me realize how anonymous and universal human life is. No matter how many people we meet, how much fame we achieve, or how notable and noteworthy our actions may be, there will still be many millions of people on this planet who have never heard our name before. Everyday, as we travel between our school, work, and home, we see countless people that we know nothing about. We take these people at face value, we make snap judgments about them, and rarely do we consider the burdens that they made bear, or the things that make them a unique individual. The world is so much bigger than we are and is so much more complex than we will ever realize. We are very small compared to everything that is happening around us. When we consider how small we are in comparison to the world around us, and when we also consider the anonymity factor, we realize that our accomplishments do not really matter, no matter how important they might seem to us. I began to reflect personally, and to think about my idiosyncrasies, the things that most people do not know about me, no matter how trivial they are. These things do not matter to the whole world by any stretch of the imagination, but they matter to me, so I consider them to be very important. Some of these reflections were a little silly. Some were reflections on my favorite things or pastime. Some were a reflection on where I had been, and how those places had affected me. I thought about the experiences that I have been able to have, and how they have changed my perspective. And I thought about all the things in my past, and all the stresses and worries of everyday life that I would rather not discuss in detail, but that I carry with me every day. This is not a definitive list of my idiosyncrasies. We all have a story like this. We all have silly stories. stories of our roots, and stories that we would really rather not talk about. This is a universal part of human life. Every human being is far more complex than we would ever realize from face value. I started thinking then about how different our world would be if we were to be more open about our idiosyncrasies. What would happen if we would accept that we are small, and embraced it? What if we were to stop taking people at face value, and consider their idiosyncrasies, and the challenges that they face? What would our world and society look like? 

Listen to The Winner Is (Little Miss Sunshine Soundtrack)

Thinking and Writing Assignment -Beasts of the Southern Wild and Cultural Displacement

          UNESCO defines displacement of peoples as the “forced movement of people from their locality or environment and occupational activities.” This form of social change can be caused by many factors, including “armed conflict, natural disasters, famine, development, and economic changes.” UNESCO goes on to say that when peoples are forced to leave their own region, and the lives that they have led, the “displaced populations often become impoverished.” As communities and cultures are uprooted, the bond that once held that community together is quickly dissolved. The effects of displacement on individuals and minority cultures are very significant and are often pervasive in societies over a great length of time. The 2012 film, Beasts of the Southern Wild is a wonderful example that a film can have a beautiful story, and be visually stunning while also being a commentary on issues that are being faced in our society today. This film functions as a commentary on the significant negative effects that displacement has on peoples in minority cultures.

From the opening scene, Beasts of the Southern Wild effectively immerses the viewer in the culture of the Bathtub. The social norms of the Bathtub become the social norms of the viewer. The viewer grows to love the people of the Bathtub for their sense of resourcefulness, the way that they care for one another, and their raucous manner of celebration. As a massive storm ravages the Bathtub, the audience watches helplessly as the characters that they love struggle for survival. Luckily, the system of the Bathtub, and the strong community in place, meant that they were quickly able to re-coup after such a storm. Although they have been ravaged by the storm, the culture of the Bathtub is still as healthy as ever. It is only after the residents of the Bathtub are forcefully displaced that the strong sense of community begins to dissolve. After the audience has spent so much time being indoctrinated into the culture of the Bathtub, the shelter seems very foreign, and surreal. It is too clean, too bureaucratic, and too far removed from everything that the Bathtub is. The gravity of this cultural displacement hits its zenith when we see Hushpuppy in a dress with her hair done. Our hero, the hero of the Bathtub, normally clad in nothing but orange underpants and a tank top, has been completely removed from her culture and her home. At that moment, the audience mourns for the loss of community that the Bathtub has suffered. When they finally escape from the shelter, the members of that community are worn down, mere shadows of the one raucous and joyous community that has now been lost. They must work to rebuild their community, and to reform the bond that once held their community so tight. It is on the cusp of this rebuilding effort where the story ends, but the audience knows that the road to recovery for the Bathtub will be long and arduous, and that life for that community might never really be normal again.

The type of cultural displacement that is depicted in Beasts of the Southern Wild is often performed in the real world for the supposed well-being of the minority culture. There are numerous examples of this type of displacement in the world today, but I have chosen to focus on one. This is the story of the Inuit tribe of Canada. The Inuit tribe was traditionally nomadic, trekking through snow and ice year round. Several decades ago, the Canadian government decided that the way that these people had been living for hundreds and hundreds of years was the wrong way to live. This ancient culture that had remained relatively unchanged over time was suddenly rounded up and placed in government issued housing. Today, suicide is the leading cause of death among this people. Compared to the general population of Canada, the rate of Type 2 diabetes is three to five times higher, and the rate of tuberculosis is eight to ten times higher. Additionally, unemployment and alcoholism are rampant among the population. The effects of displacement on this group means that the communities that once flourished have now been lost forever, and the communities that remain today are tragic remnants of what was once great.

In an interview with Stephen Colbert, Benh Zeitlin, the director of Beasts of the Southern Wild talks about how the places that they filmed in the south were in extreme danger. The day that this film began shooting was the exact day of the Deepwater Horizon Oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico. Zeitlin said that, while filming, there was a very real sense that everything that they were seeing, all the beauty around them, was in an incredible amount of danger because of the vast amount of oil that had been spilt. Due to this, Zeitlin knew that the situations that were being depicted onscreen would too soon be the real situations for the actual communities that live beyond the levies. This allowed the film to take even greater meaning in its discussion of the need for preserving land for the people who really live there. This film, and its depiction of the endangered lives of people is not just something that happened onscreen. It could happen, and has happened in real life as well.

 In the play Medea, it is stated “a fatherland is no small thing to lose.” This statement could not be more true. As is shown through examples from the film Beasts of the Southern Wild, as well as through the stories several real communities that the effects of forceful displacement still occur on a daily basis.  Forceful displacement, which occurs for any number of reasons, ultimately leads to a devastating loss of community and vast numbers of social problems that persist over an extensive period of time. It is only through the acceptance of all cultures, and by stopping forceful displacements, that these tragedies can stop affecting communities all over the world.

Word Count: 998

Works Cited:

Diseases and Health Conditions. N.p., 07 Dec. 2012. Web. 14 Jan. 2014.

"Displaced Person / Displacement | United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization." Displaced Person / Displacement | United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Jan. 2014.

"Native American Living Conditions on Reservations - Native American Aid." Native American Living Conditions on Reservations - Native American Aid. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Jan. 2014.