I’ve been feeling a bit shy about writing on here of late. Its because I know that I’m struggling a bit with my emotions at the moment and although this is supposed to be a blog where its okay for me to talk about the above, I really don’t want to constantly post big chunks of text featuring my melancholic self analysis. Its not that interesting! I guess I have to find a balance between honestly presenting myself as what I am (a depressive, introspective, obsessive) and also knowing that I have plenty more exciting, enlightening and rewarding things to write about!
ON THAT NOTE: next week Rachel and I are hosting Brian Catling http://www.briancatling.com/Site/INTRO.html at the Bluecoat. He’s doing a three day durational performance come installation for the opening of Liverpool Biennial. There is going to be so much going on in the city next week it’s mind blowing to think of. I’m actually really excited! I need to make sure that I don’t spend the whole time sat in my office and that I get out and see things across the city. I’m particularly looking forward to the Biennial conference which I hope will have some relevance to a few of my earlier posts on issues around trauma and embodiment http://www.biennial.com/articles/event/Touched%20C…
Also, after some encouraging words from Emily and Andrew who commented on my post from the 5th September I’ve managed to full my finger out this morning and piece together (another) MRes draft proposal. I’ve sent it off to Sid V for some stern critique. I’ve also sent it to my old dissertation tutor Ross Birrell who hopefully will see the connections with my undergrad work.
And just to prove that it really does exist and that I really am going to actually submit it this time….. I’ll post the synopsis as a sneaky preview….
Frankenstein’s Monster: Masculinities, mental health and new technologies
Synopsis
Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein pioneered a literary archetype: a dangerous creature created as a result of reckless experimentation with new technology. Authored at the dawn of the industrial revolution, it warned against the dangers of replacing human workers with machines.
I propose to survey contemporary art and culture to identify 21st century Frankenstein’s monsters: archetypes that embody undercurrent fearfulness toward new technology. I expect that while some of these examples will be literary; most will not. The focus will be on the specter of Frankenstein haunting the popular imagination.
With Frankenstein as a model, my thesis will interrogate the present state of contemporary masculine archetypes and their relationship to new technologies. Within this I give particular attention to recent thinking on mental health of the male population and speculation that the overuse of technology may be changing human bodies and brains.
