Texts and Human Experiences
Textual mechanisms are utilised by composers in attempt to mimic the social conformities which not only impede the individual’s strive for happiness but also the quintessential behaviourisms of that person through the manifestation of their own personal experiences, as a reflection of not only their contexts, but the inconsistencies, paradoxes and anomalies of individuals or the collectives they pertain to. The person is stripped of their individuality and thus is merely a representation of the societal expectations which are inflicted onto them. The textual integrity of the text delineates the effect in which it exhibits onto the corresponding audience of various ages and circumscribes the semblance of the person as a reflection of the sentiments of the human race as a whole. Hence, the role of texts in the exhibition of human qualities and emotions is imperative in not only justifying the motivations and behaviors of individuals but in the exertion of influence on the responder’s personal motivations and behaviours, which in turn affect their physical, emotional and metacognitive psychological experiences. In this tutorial, the dual texts, “The Flowers” from Alice Walker’s “In love and Trouble: Stories of Black Women” and Steve Cutts’ short film, “Happiness” will be the central focal points of how composers use textual mechanisms to not only illuminate the impact of their own experiences on those of their respective audiences but also explore the effects of refusal of racial conformity in the consolidation of the universal collective experience of the galvanization of the loss of childhood innocence, as well as the strive for happiness and fulfillment and purpose while conforming to an industrialised society in battling with ideas of existentialism.
Human Experiences
So, you may be wondering, what is a human experience?
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Well, an experience is defined as a notion, event or episode which has an influential impact. So a human experience is any one that affects the person.
Experience= impact + effect
Human experiences, whether minor or more influential, are relative to the human nature as they have an impact on the nature of the person. However, human experiences may be collective or individual. When an experience is shaped by the collective an individual pertains to, they are simultaneously unified with their collective through that experience. Collective experiences, in the case of the proposed texts, are mandated by institutions or ideologies. The legal system in “The Flowers”, which forces society to adhere to segregation and discriminatory laws, inflicts on the way citizens view their African American counterparts. In “Happiness”, the workplace environment and the stigma surrounding it also exhibits this. However, when an experience is individualised, it is unique for every person, and is oftentimes shaped by past episodes or particular circumstances. This allows the person to seek autonomy and control their decisions without the influence of the collectives they belong to. In the case of “Happiness”, both the collective and individual experiences of the character are merged and therefore portray a paradox in the scene 1:39, through the use of a metaphor to represent materials as the concept of happiness. The rats depict the nature of the person through the gruesome fighting fot objects, delving into the idea that wishing for universal happiness is ideal, but only when it doesn’t compromise your own.
Human experiences are notions which are unequivocally present in all people, disregarding age or race. “The Flowers” by Alice Walker exhibits the extent to which the human experience of racial prejudice resonates to the preservation of childhood innocence of the most vulnerable. Through the intricate characterisation of the central character Myop, who is portrayed as a lively, carefree, African American girl born to a simple farm life, the audience gains insight into the context of the composer. Alice Walker, a woman who is known for her passion in raising awareness to the complexities African American women face in a modern day westernized society, bases most of her pieces on 19th century slave narratives and black folklore. Walker uses author surrogacy to reflect on her own experiences of facing prejudice, prior to the American Civil Rights movement, as a young girl. She too, was as carefree, until at the age of 8, when she was shot in the eye by her brother. This personal experience links directly to the naming of the main character. “Myop” derives from the root word, “myopic” which is defined as the inability to see far ahead, only seeing things that are short at hand. This not only contextually alludes to the experiences of the composer, but also gives insight into the naivety of most African American children at the time, who saw their alike being predisposed but did not truly understand why, as a result of their elder’s aims of preserving their innocence. We, as the audience, sympathise for the predisposed as they enocounter such tribulations, which allows us to reflect on the privileges we have in not having to face discrimination as such. In addition, the composer reflects on her own experiences through the fact that the protagonist is born to poor sharecroppers in rural Georgia in the 1840s. The audience is able to recognize the historical allusions of the text, leading to a more knowledgeable reading experience. The recurring motif of awareness of adversities facing African Americans predominantly shapes her style and metalanguage, protruding as mostly realistic genre of writing with aspects of utopia, or romanticism, to masque the gruesomeness of the horrific reality which is experienced. The use of non-linear storytelling opposes westernized ideals, alluding to the human experience of refusal of societal conformity, vivaciously intertwining elements of African forms of storytelling into the texts to represent cultural means of expression, evoking an emotional form the audience.
Foremostly, idyllic imagery is used to portray aspects of childhood innocence through the following:
“It seemed to Myop as she skipped lightly from hen house to pigeon to smokehouse that. The days had ever been as beautiful as these…each day a golden surprise”
The audience envisages the character is at a state of complete tranquility and dictates that the life she leads is that of pure innocence and naivety. Myop steers off the path her mother set out for her, to gather the flowers she never got to pick, “keeping an eye out for snakes”, an archetype used to indicate foreshadowing of events. The character we know as delicate and innocent is exhibiting the inevitable human experiences which are universally prevalent: rebellion and disobedience, symbolizing a change in the temperament of the child. The flowers she longs to pick symbolize not only her innocence, a recurring theme and experience in the text, but also the human experiences of the search for happiness and freedom.
However, the tone of the poem tarnishes as the audience is able to prognosticate an abominable turn of events when the girl decides to look for that happiness and freedom, which is transliterated into the idea that she is refusing to conform, despite unknowingly doing the opposite her entire life. As Myop proceeds outside the familiarity of the part of the woods she had “explored many times”, the skies begin to appear “gloomy” and the air thickens and becomes “damp”, the character, as a result of her choice to rebel, feels uneasy, and the audience is able to foretell adversity. This alleviates the emotional response of the audience, who are inquisitive of the preceding events. At the turn of evidence, upon the uncovering of the lynched man in the bushes, Myop experiences a sudden fall of innocence. The sudden confrontation of racial injustice to a young child gives insight into the lingering effects in which the discrimination inflicted by adults, who shape the world for children, has on forthcoming generations. The lynching of a black man portrays the consequential repercussions of the refusal to conform to societal norms in relation to the context of the time in which the text was composed.
This also links into the idea of being a warning sign to the younger generations who have this encounter with the lynched man, as a mechanism to deter the younger generations from refusing to conform to racial prejudice after seeing the consequences, hence, limiting their innocence to that of fear and anxiety. Despite the hostile encounter with the outside world, Myop grips on her flowers, that is, clinging onto her innocence which is no more. The notion of preservation of innocence is transformed into that of the corruption of the child. This illuminates a paradoxical notion where Myop, who was once at peace with the world, finds that it is a place far from serenity.
“And the summer was over…. Laid down her flowers” expresses the inevitable human experience of adulthood, which is prematurely exhibited in a young child, through the laying down of the flowers, a recurring motif throughout the text, as a symbol of the irreversible loss of innocence. Myop is melancholy as she now grieves for the death of her childhood, and paradoxically, returning to the same home which brought her happiness- but this time with inconsolable grief at the exposure of the real world, and the newfound unaccustomed idea of racism which stripped her of her innocence.
Happiness is allegorical
The comprehensive understanding of what constitutes a human is a question that will almost inexplicably never be answered. The human is affected by the world without even realizing it at times.. However, it is redundantly argued that not only do our past experiences shape our behaviours concurrently, but social conformities do as well. The text, “Happiness” by Steve Cutts is an eye-catching short film which aims to depict the behaviours of the human race in relation to those of rats. This analogical linguistic expression represents the human experiences of the pursuit of happiness, sense of purpose and self-fulfillment, through the depiction of what is most commonly known as “the rat race”, which is defined as a pointless pursuit in aims of achieving financial benefit in vain.
This is represented through the inability to achieve a work-life balance, whereby the work-oriented nature of modern society is satirically elucidated by the composer through the characterisation of the rat as one who is constantly disoriented. The main character, who is constantly chasing what he thinks will be a source of self-fulfillment, stumbles upon money which is the cause of an innumerable amount, of individuals being trapped within the confinements of a cycle of never-ending work. The globalization of work as a reflection of self-fulfillment mirrors issues which are deeply rooted into aspects of society. Cutts is commonly known for portraying aspects of society such as this in a satirical manner in all of his major works, critically judging controversial issues faced by individuals of the modern day.
Portrayed by various messages on billboard such as the Nike ad “get to work faster”, the audience is reminded of the irony associated with the paradoxical expression which is portrayed in relation to the delay of trains due to overpopulation, thus affecting the speed of transportation to work. However, the intent of the composer is not to represent overpopulation, but the impeccable effect of work on the modem day individual as a reflection of conformity to an industrialised society which is driven by materialism, and the strenuous effects it exhibits. The pursuit to happiness, sense of purpose and personal fulfillment is confined to the restrictions of a money driven society whereby one may experience an existential crisis in a never-ending cycle of achieving nothing.
The composer reiterates the main focal point of the person through the exoneration of the recurring motif of happiness, which is not only the name of the film itself but is displayed on billboards throughout the entirety of the short film. However, this refers to the materialization of the term for commercial purposes, as a reflection of the modernized societal views. How does the composer exhibit this? Cutts illustrates the overwhelmingly populated subway whereby all passengers are striving to go to the same destination, which, as portrayed by the train in 0:31 as “nowhere”. Tying to the motif of happiness, the idea that happiness is never to be acquired is transliterated on to the responder as a foreshadow of the purpose of the film. This is further displayed in 1:07, as happiness is said to be “sold out”.
Despite the attempt to create a lively atmosphere through intricate detailing of the recurring motif, as well as vivid imagery, the facial expressions of the rats indicate otherwise. However, the composer uses humour, as exhibited in the billboards in 1:12 to ease the overwhelming emotions of sensory overload experienced by the audience as a result of the excessive detailing. The human experience of happiness, however, is portrayed to be only confined to commercialism. Through the shift in tone and colour from 1:30 to 1:32, the rats are depicted as dull and lifeless until they are provided with materialistic sources of happiness, which causes them to regain their colour. Later on, they are portrayed as vivacious creates who fight each other for materialistic possessions, thus inferring to the audience of the idea to which lengths individuals may go to in order to achieve such fulfillment and happiness. In addition, the allusion to the profoundly common experiences of addiction, through the reference of alcohol and drug addiction in particular, also depict the lengths to which humans may go, to acquire happiness. The artificial sources of happiness are used as euphemisms to hide the fact through these humans will never be completely happy. The rat does not stop at one bottle of alcohol, nor one “happy” pill, but rather consumes so much that he is in a state of lack of self - control and depression.
This is inconsistent with the common experience of the text. The short film ends with the rat, alongside his collective, as being trapped which finally establishes the toxicity of conformity as a motivation behind the never-ending entrapment of work, which is ironically the cause of unhappiness for the individual. Through this, the responder is able to reflect on their own personal lives, and whether conformity of industrialised social norms is impeding their pursuit of happiness and fulfillment of a sense of purpose. As a result, they gain insight into the perspective of the author in regards to existentialism as being confined to conformities.
Composers, using textual mechanisms depict the impact of conformity as notions of control of individuals in the restriction of pursuing happiness and thus inflicting on the individuality of their persona. Through the exploration of the texts, Happiness by Steve Cutts and The Flowers by Alice Walker, the responder is able to gain insight into differing aspects of the same form of subjugation inflicted on the person by societal pressures.
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