In 1970s Iran, Marjane 'Marji' Statrapi watches events through her young eyes and her idealistic family of a long dream being fulfilled of the hated Shah's defeat in the Iranian Revolution of 1979. However as Marji grows up, she witnesses first hand how the new Iran, now ruled by Islamic fundamentalists, has become a repressive tyranny on its own. When she is ten years old, her world changes overnight. Girls and boys have to use different doors to enter the school. She has to cover herself with a long dark veil. Grownups around her began to disappear. Marjane had several close encounters with the country's morality police and her teachers at school. Iraqi bombs fell on the street where she lived. With Marji dangerously refusing to remain silent at this injustice, her parents send her abroad to Vienna to study for a better life. However, this change proves an equally difficult trial with the young woman finding herself in a different culture loaded with abrasive characters and profound disappointments that deeply trouble her. Even when she returns home, Marji finds that both she and homeland have changed too much and the young woman and her loving family must decide where she truly belongs.[1]
"Nations represent themselves through their currency design, using symbols, colors, textures, portraits of leaders, typefaces, decorative embellishments, mottos and phrases."
bri⋅co⋅lage /ˌbrikəˈlɑʒ, ˌbrɪkə-/[bree-kuh-lahzh, brik-uh-] –noun, plural bri⋅co⋅la⋅ges /ˌbrikəˈlɑʒɪz, ‑ˈlɑʒ/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [bree-kuh-lah-zhiz, ‑lahzh]The part of our reading this week that stuck with me the most was the section on bricolage. Partly because I am a collage artist, a bit because I remember the punk styles during the 1980s, and mostly because I admire the creativity and innovative quality of what our text refers to as, "the art of making do".
1. a construction made of whatever materials are at hand; something created from a variety of available things. 2. (in literature) a piece created from diverse resources. 3. (in art) a piece of makeshift handiwork. 4. the use of multiple, diverse research methods.
Fashion
The fashion industry uses bricolage-like styles by incorporating items typically utilized for other purposes. For example, candy wrappers are woven together to produce a purse.
The movie Zoolander parodies this concept with Mugatu's Derelicte, a line of "high fashion" clothing made entirely from trash.
In reality, the current fall 2009 collection from Alexander McQueen makes use of items we would normally discard or recycle, including saran and bubble wrap, manhole covers, garbage bags and wheel hub covers.
MacGyver was a tv series in which the hero is the ultimate example of a bricoleur, creating solutions for the problem at hand out of immediately available found objects.
The A-Team is another example of bricoleur. When the team found themselves in a situation which required creativity for defense or escape, they put together weapons out of any objects available.
Life itself is a bricolage of bricolages, meaning you never know what you are going to get the next day. A reminder of the quote about the box of chocolates made famous in the movie, Forrest Gump. We tend to use whatever resources are available to us in order to survive, which essentially defines the idea of bricolage.
A paperclip is a common office item. Used to hold papers together, it can also be turned into a sculpture, a tool for carving/etching into things or even an elaborate light fixture.
Cooking is an example of bricolage in everyday life. Cooks often improvise new recipes when key ingredients are not at hand. A well known example of bricolage is the banana. Not only a source of nutrition, it can also calm stomach aches, or help to moisturize the face when made into a mask. A banana peel can be used to buff shoes, polish silverware, and promote the healing of warts, scratches, and minor cuts.
Everyday Life
The lime is a super example of bricolage. A common ingredient used for cooking and adding flavor, it's also used for cleaning. Lime juice can clean pots and pans, bathroom surfaces and glass. Many people use it as a substitute for hair gel and hair spray.
Most info via Wikipedia, images - various Internet sources.
