This week began with a presentation that continued on from last week, where we wrote and drew our responses to the video clips shown to us.
Compared to the last session, I found it easier to understand the message behind the art. Overall, I found myself more intrigued by the clips with a definitive storyline, both in this session and the previous one.
The piece I most enjoyed watching was “A Trip to The Moon.” I liked that it involved anti imperialist themes but with a satirical approach, and the cartoonish style of the film also exacerbated the element of fantasy. I thought that the bold colourisation mixed with the sepia hue also added to the surreal feel of the world they land in with the tall mushrooms.
Exploring ideas surrounding the project.
This week I took photos and videos of the ocean on a particularly windy day where the waves produced a lot of sea-foam and the water and sky were a murky grey.
The stormy waters inspired me to write a sea shanty – or rather, a sea song in the style of a shanty – about something sinister lurking in the water.
When the skies are darkening and the waters roil,
You’ll know the end is near when the sea reaches a boil.
All you sorry scumbags, soon the deck will roll,
Pray that He forgives your wretched soul.
Down, down, down, down and deep below,
There lives a beast more terrible than anything we know.
Down down down, we all will send it home,
Down we will not go!
Have you heard of the interrupted crossings in the North?
The sailors on those vessels never again did see the shore.
A thousand legs each with a thousand clawed hands,
To snatch men up and make sure that their bones rot in the sand.
Down, down, down, down and deep below,
There lives a beast more terrible than anything we know.
Down down down, we all will send it home,
Down we will not go!
Larger than a mountain, larger than life,
One look upon the thing drives a man out of his mind.
Sleeping in a city upon the ocean floor,
Should it rise, you’ll be quick to throw yourself overboard.
Down, down, down, down and deep below,
There lives a beast more terrible than anything we know.
Down down down, we all will send it home,
Down we will not go!
There are three legendary sea monsters referred to in this song. The first verse is based on the Leviathan, a malevolent biblical creature sometimes depicted as a giant whale or a sea snake, which hunts by boiling the sea. The second verse is based on the Kraken, a giant squid from Norse mythology, which is said to destroy ships and devour sailors. The third is based on Cthulhu, H.P. Lovecraft’s fictional creation who is a giant humanoid alien, sleeping in the sunken city of R’lyeh until the moment he is destined to rise and take back control of the universe. He is a symbol of primordial chaos and causes anyone who looks at it to fall into insanity.
The repeated chorus is intended to be sung by the crew as a whole, and optimistically combats the darker verses. Perhaps this would be sung in a storm, as a way of making light of a scary situation, or to playfully spook sailors like a ghost story would, or maybe it serves as a cautionary tale.