Texts to discuss in class on Thursday

In class tomorrow, we will be discussing two texts: Frida Kahlo, “Love Embrace of the Universe, The Earth (Mexico), Diego, Me, and Señor Xolotl” 1949, and Margaret Atwood, “There Was Once” 1992 (sign in to JSTOR using your library barcode number, which starts with 22477). To get our conversation started, reply to this post with a comment about the Frida Kahlo painting, considering any of the following questions or one of your own. Feel free also to ask a question for clarification or to further our discussion.

  • What do you notice in Kahlo’s depiction?
  • What is present/what is missing?
  • When did Kahlo paint this?  Does that affect your interpretation of the image?
  • Who are the characters depicted in the painting?
  • What depictions of women do you see, and how do you interpret them?
  • What do you think Kahlo’s message is?
  • How does the type of medium an artist uses affect the resulting piece of art?

We will read the Margaret Atwood text aloud in class, so be prepared to act it out! You should begin to consider what the characters sound like, how you would depict them in your performance, and how that conveys meaning to the audience.

3 thoughts on “Texts to discuss in class on Thursday

  1. split into two: grey area with half a face; the other side a moon, like nighttime
    hands holding on the everything in the middle
    flowers and trees
    contrasting things: light and dark, man and woman, good and bad?: juxtaposition
    needs to be interpreted
    woman holding the man, how hard it is to hold him. He’s like a child
    white at the breast=milk=nurturing
    one in the red=Frida (Kahlo)
    Frida is dressed, man is naked, has a third eye=spiritual energy, all-seeing eye
    men and women are connected but they both have a strong connection, women as bond
    spiritual: the world in one picture, darkness and light, a story about Adam and Eve started out naked, dark and light hand

    Women:
    have the love, take care of a lot
    women are the root of everything
    nurturing: embrace of the man, breast with milk
    strength, bearer of life

    how we interpret this comes from our own culture, our own views. Does it matter what Frida Kahlo intended?

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