For this capstone, I worked on creating a stop motion animation short film. For the process I created an outline detailing the different scenes and interactions I wanted to have with each character. I wanted to create a super hero film because I always was interested in that and in stop motion. For the film I decided on using Spider-man, as he exemplifies what a true hero is and inspires me. After the outline I wrote a script in actual screenwriting format, and had it peer reviewed by several individuals. After that, I enlisted the help of my classmates to voice several different characters in my movie. Then I created all the sets and filmed each scene. The whole process took me about two months or so and was extremely difficult. But I feel as though I learned how to truly explore all my creative interests and how to be dedicated to the work I put out. Link for video down below:

https://www.canva.com/design/DAFyMrP_obk/fRAiZFX519lfXCMYtYQfPw/edit?utm_content=DAFyMrP_obk&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton

(Link is my artwork and video.)

“Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” This quote is derived from Genesis, chapter 3 verse 4. It illustrates a great evil in the form of a serpent, trying to corrupt Eve, God’s perfect creation, into eating the strictly forbidden tree. This temptation leads Eve to eat from the forsaken tree. Once Eve partook of the fruit from the tree, she gained a new understanding of the world. However this revelation led to the birth of human sin. The “Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood, uses religious symbolism to speak on a whole myriad of different topics, but in particular, the cost of knowledge. As stated multiple times in different classroom discussions, knowledge is power, however there is a cost to this newfound information. One such example is the handmaiden previous of Offred, who, after learning from the commander, died by suicide. This moment hits close to home to our main protagonist as she has ended up in her same exact predicament, and is unsure of the best course of action. But yet still she hungers to know, such as on pg.188 “Know what? He says. Whatever there is to know,” There is a power in this, seen just as when Offred is speaking about Serena Joy’s lack of awareness of her special relationship with the commander, “Also: I now I had a power over her, of a kind, although she didn’t know it. And I enjoyed that. Why pretend? I enjoyed it a lot.” This made me wonder about knowledge and its place in the society of Gilead. And so I created my art piece, in the vain of capturing the scene of Offred first getting a taste of the outside world, from the commander. In my art piece I choose to emulate Eve’s mistake and parallel that with Offered’s current path. I have the center of the art be the bright red apple. This apple represents the role knowledge plays and how it is at the center of everything. But as you can see, surrounding the apple is the fractures of the world Offred first understood but is beginning to see past. Overhead the fracture lays the “Eyes of God”. In a biblical sense this is a fracture and strain between humanity’s relationship with God. In the world of Gilead it signifies Offred’s rebellion against the higher ups, and her forging a path that is set apart from the societal rules and norms. However if you look closely there are two sets of eyes, as one. There is white eyes and black eyes. The white eyes represent the higher ups, but the black one represents the commander. Back in the Garden of Eden, the snake led Eve using temptation but he never made her do it. The choice was ultimately Eve’s. In the same vain, the commander started this by tempting her with remnants of the old world but Offred began to choose this small rebellion on her own volition. But in the end, what Eve gained she lost with the ultimate cost of life, death. It might stand to reason then that Offred’s own story ends with death, perhaps not of her life, but the sweet bliss that lies in ignorance.

-Shepherd of This Flock by JT Music

In the book, “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood we get introduced to Gilead, a very authoritative religious society. Like many authoritative societies, people are made into symbols. Those that don’t adhere to the social conditioning are executed and used as a symbol to all those who dare step out of line. This is no more apparent than on page 33, as our main character Offred stares at the bodies of the people deemed rebellious by the nation, “These men, we’ve been told, are like war criminals. It’s no excuse that what they did was legal at the time: their crimes are retroactive. They have committed atrocities and must be made into examples, for the rest. “ This idea of punishing sinners to wake up God’s children, is a main theme in the song, “Shepherd of This Flock” by JT Music. The song revolves around a cult religious group taking over a small town, and the chorus alludes to the group’s main ideology:

“The nonbelievers sowed their seeds and all they’ll reap is flames Judgment’s coming, and my God will set me free from chains Make your confessions, pay your penance, in my sweet embrace I’ll shake my people from their sleep, so they can see his grace”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRhjMcjg7vQ

-Time in a bottle by Jim Croce

As we know, living in Gilead can be oppressive to the mind. People are no longer people, but ranks and cogs in a larger machine. Offred mentions this numerous times throughout the book, on how she doesn’t feel as much as she used to, the keyword is ‘used to ‘. She keeps herself sane by living out her past life and romance with Luke in the chambers of her mind. On page 97 we see her hunger for his love, “I want Luke here so badly. I want to be held and told my name. I want to be valued, in ways that I am not;” By remembering him, she can once again feel human. Time in a bottle connects back to reminiscing past love, and wishing for life to have been different. She uses these memories as a way of escaping, thinking of something that is entirely human:

“If I could make days last forever If words could make wishes come true I’d save every day like a treasure, and then Again, I would spend them with you”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9h1davKgBYM

-Digital Silence by Peter McPoland

The news plays an important role in Gilead. It’s a glimpse into the outside world, even if fabricated or completely false, it’s a refreshing sight. Unsurprisingly, the news is used as another propaganda tool by the higher ups in the government. The news anchor tries deluding the people watching that everything is under control, on page 83, “What he’s telling us, his level smile implies, is for our own good.”- “You must go to sleep, like good children.” They are trying to delude the people into believing their brand of truth. In the song the lyrics are trying to wake the masses up to show them that the media is not their friend. That you are being tricked into believing the lies you’ve been fed.

“Why don’t you get it? Can’t you get it? Understand They’re gonna execute the mother to elevate the man They’re gonna propagate the killer, eliminate the youth”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8CYUW7HpoE

-Cherry Bomb by The Runaways

A major theme in the book is complacency in the system. Many of the women in Gilead no longer fight back on the gender roles and situations they are put into. Gilead was successful in making women too scared to even think about escaping, all except Moira. Ever since we were introduced to her at the red center, we know there’s something different about her. She wears a lot of punk rock clothes and had seemingly escaped the first round of capture. After that she continues to openly defy the Aunts. This results in beatings like on page 91 “Afterwards she could not walk for a week, her feet would not fit into her shoes, they were too swollen.” This all culminated to her escaping the society. The song Cherry Bomb, encaptures her defiance of the expectations laid out by the system. In this, she is one if not the only woman, who escapes the machine.

“Hello, daddy, hello, mom I’m your ch-ch-ch-cherry bomb Hello world I’m your wild girl I’m your ch-ch-ch-cherry bomb”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2ws6vMFF3c

-My War by Shinsei Kamattechan

This whole book is based on real life events, and thinking through the lens of ‘what if?’ We find out that Gilead is a future version of America on page 4, “and army-issue blankets, old ones that still said U.S.” In real life there’s a real fear in the religious right, and that fear is not unfounded. There are certain policies and overturnings such as Roe V Wade, that could be explained by the growing influence of Christian Conservatism in American politics. However in this book it turned over into an actual war. The rights of the public are stripped away, and children, especially poc children such as on page 83, “Resettlement of the Children of Ham is continuing on schedule,” are being taken and segregated. This relates to the song’s pre-chorus, which talks about angels or people who are supposed to be righteous subjecting the people with devilish intent. The christian conservatives see themselves as in the right but are not doing the people right. As a result the children and the future of the generation are suffering the consequences of war:

“Angels playing disguised with devil’s faces Children cling to their coins squeezing out their wisdom Angels planning disguised with devil’s faces Children cling on to their very last coins”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VK8PKIiAbrM

Mi familia es muy divertida. Yo tengo tres hermanas. Yo tengo dos tías, tres tíos y ocho primos. En mi casa, hay mis hermanas, mamá, y papá.

Mi hermana y mamá. Mi hermana (Nia) tiene el pelo negro. Ella tiene el pelo largo. Ella tiene el pelo rizado. Mi mamá ella tiene el pelo negro. Mi mamá tiene los ojos marrones. Mi mamá es alta. Mi mamá es gordita. Mi mamá es estudiosa. Mi mamá es trabajadora. Mi mamá no es paciente.

Ella tiene el pelo corto. Ella tiene el pelo liso. Mi hermana tiene los ojos marrones. Mi hermana es alta. Mi hermana es delgada. Mi hermana es organizada. Mi hermana es práctica. Mi hermana no es sociable.

Yo soy inteligente pero puedo ser de temperamento corto. Yo tengo tiene el pello negro, rizado, y corto. Yo tengo los ojos marrones. Yo soy más o menos estoy bajo. Yo estoy en el medio. Yo soy gracioso. Yo soy no bajo templado. Bastante sobre mí ahora mi papá y hermana.

Mi papá él es corto, él es rizado, y tiene el pelo negro. Tiene los ojos marrones. Él es alto. Papá es un poco gordito. Papá es gracioso. Papá no es ni silencioso.

Mi hermana ella es corto, el es rizado, y tiene el pelo negro. Tiene los ojos marrones. Él es alto. Hermana (Imani) es delgada. Ella es bondadosa. Ella no siempre está tranquila.

Yo y mi hermana (Imani) son fuertes y amables. Yo y mi hermana no somos pacientes y rápido. Yo y mi hermana como fan de anime. Es muy bueno.

Todos somos estadounidenses. Mi papá es cincuenta y uno, mama es cuarenta y ocho, mi hermana (Imani) es veinte, mi hermana (Nia) es diecisiete, yo soy quince, y mi hermana (maya) es ocho.

LINK: https://www.wevideo.com/view/2082513820

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1cq1ckddU6tLQLSM_ps0SW-pot0q6uZ_eChrwVUsFhxs/edit#slide=id.g9f7635836c_0_0