Judith and Holofernes

The story of Judith and Holofernes is a somewhat messed up story about justice, and revenge. Nebbacanezzar wants to take over the world, some people disagree with him, he plans his revenge. Holofernes is put in charge of taking this revenge, and runs into the Israelites who he wasnt instructed to destroy, but they slighted him by taking up an army against him, so he plans his revenge. Judith, an Israelite woman, knows that their days are numbered if they do not act, and takes it upon herself to get revenge for her town. The majority of this story is the mess that is created from 1 person expecting to be able to take over the world without any problems from anyone. All the rest of the problems derive from that. If I were to be directing this as a movie I would shoot it in deep rich colors, especially red, to represent the passion of all these people either taking revenge or fearing it. Judith would be set in bright white, and deep red, representing the pure light of her religion, and the deepness of her passion. Holofernes I would set in reds and blacks. The people of Judith's town in the mountains, i would dress in neutral color representing their piety and humility, except for perhaps Archior. Lastly the charcter of Judith's maid I would dress in very grey colors, but perhaps a slight touch of a dark rich color, since she too was part of Judith's plans, and she was the one who carried the head of Holofernes in a basket. I feel like her character would be interesting to develop further. Whether or not she was upset at the murder she had been a part of, or if she was glad to be getting revenge for the Israelites. It seems to me that she would be somewhat of a dark character, perhaps something worth basing a book or movie around.

My favorite depiction

of this story is done by Gentileschi entitled Judith Slaying Holofernes. This work seems to agree with me in terms of the deep reds in both the blanket covering Holofernes and as a part of Judith's outfit, (which also includes rich golds which seem to be a sign of her wealth.) This work also includes Judith's maid taking part in the murder of Holofernes, holding him down while he grasps at her rather than at Judith. The maid is dressed in lots of muted white, but also has a pinkish red color on her outfit. The dark black of the background brings all the focus on the lightest part of the picture, which seems to be Judith's maid. The maid also seems to have a look of sadness on her face, besides the look of struggle in holding down the massive Holofernes. This seems to me to be in synch with my idea that Judith's maid is an interesting and central part of the story, despite not actually being mentioned as such. Another interesting aspect of this art work is the fact that Judith's maid is depicted as being so young, and also rather beautiful. In fact Judith appears to be older than her maid in this depiction while in others such as Caravaggio's painting Judith's maid appears far older than the very young Judith, and is not taking part in the activity, but rather watching with a look of smug disgust on her face. As well as in Andrea Mantegna's 1495 depiction and Baglione's 1608 depiction.

In relationship to the book, this image is very striking, in that Judith's maid, who in the book was commanded to wait outside, is taking part in the murder.

Approaches to Adam and Eve

Having grown up going to catholic school, I have heard the story of Adam and Eve (many, many times.) I have heard the story of the creation of the world in classes almost every year. However, I had not enjoyed listening to the story as much as I have with while listening to Goldstein's interpretation. His gets deeper into these characters and examine motives and undertones, and feelings (that in all honesty they may have had.) This personification was supposedly to have been done by the reader in prayer and heavy thought, but as someone who is not deeply religious, it is nice to have a somewhat modern style explaining these characters and the story itself. It is thought by some Theologists and some Catholics in general, that this story is just a metaphorical explanation of the development of the earth and the human being. (such as "let there be light" being an explanation of the big bang" the creation of the "firmaments" being the creation of the planets in the "water" or the galaxy etc.) It is also thought that Adam and Eve might just be symbolic of the early humans in their lack of understanding of good and evil (such as a human who had just evolved from animal) and that something happened to show them this concept of evil, such as evolving higher throughout generations until they are able to think of the idea of selfishness. Which would mean that Adam and Eve were not individuals but generations of humanoid creatures. Either way, it helps the metaphorical aspect of the story, that Goldstein has personified them in a deeper way, so that we can relate easier to the characters and therefor understand the meaning of the story without deep thought or prayer.

Goldstein's interpretation reminded me of a book I have read called "Lamb: The gospel according to Biff, Christ's childhood friend" by Christopher Moore, which explores the 30 missing years in the gospels while joking about experiences of Jesus. For instance, was Jesus ever romantically in love, did he ever let his human temperament overwhelm his godly "forgiveness." These interpretations which incorporate biblical stories, a modern style of story telling and language, deeper personification of a well known (or thought to be well known) person, and a little bit of humor, to create a truely interesting experience.

Scott McCloud's talk on TED

Mr. McCloud's talk on TED was an interesting and informative talk on where he believes comics are headed in this new digital age, and where comics originated from. My personal favorite part of his lecture was when he introduced and showed, partially, a work by Daniel Merlin Goodbry, which really caught my attention. His "hyper comic" drew me in and kept me in for a good 45 minutes before I realized it had been more than a minute. With a sprawling narrative, and a dozen or so side narratives it is what, in my mind, I would see as a really good comic.

The hyper comic reminded m

e of my childhood and those choose your own ending "Goosebumps" books. However, it did so while seeming fresh and inventive. Mr. McCloud's lecture ended with the idea of using a computer and the web, to create an "infinite canvas" for comics, so as not to disrupt the natural flow of time and sequence of a visual story, which is the case with print comics.

Mr. McCloud's lecture was delivered in a multi-media presentation, which made it easier to understand the quick pace, and large amount of matter within his speech. His lecture was like his comics, or his idea of comics, unbroken and linear. It was not hindered by thesis, supporting ideas, and antithesis. Instead he went from subject matter to subject matter with concrete connections in between, which allowed him to cover a much larger amount of information, while in the end still relating to the beginning.

Our keywork for the day, the Bayeux tapestry is a wonderful tapestry which covers the events leading up to and including the Norman Invasion. It is 231 feet, and covers the story in a linear fashion, granting, like McCloud suggests, space in relation to time. The Bayeux tapestry shows this story without disruption, or break for page. The Bayeux tapestry is a great example of the orgin of comics, as well as a great example of what McCloud and other comic enthusiasts would like to see be taken into the computer generation.