Kim Lantz

the following Soviet punk-rock music video is the epitome of 80's angst and anti-consumerism, and it gives some political/global context for This is Our Youth:

Onto the blog...

HOLY SHIT!

That basically sums up the awe and fascination that ensued this past week whenever while doing research on Jessica or Warren or the 1980’s. Everything these characters say or do is connected to some larger meaning. This reminds me of something my high school film as lit teacher told me, that every detail in a film is planned and has a purpose, from the script to the clothing to the color of the character’s car. I did research last week on Jessica’s Jewish heritage and how that relates to her studies at the Fashion Institute of Technology, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that GOODNESS ABOVE there’s a strong history that ties together Judaism and tailoring in the United States. I now understand why Jessica seems “automated” to Warren (Jewish pride in tailoring, a trait absent from the up-and-coming fast fashion of 1980’s US) and why she dislikes her “Jappy” schoolmates (“Jappy” means preppy Jewish women. Preppy is a fashion movement that originated with sportswear fashions in the 20th century and clearly divides fashion into the older tradition of tailoring and the new fad of poorly-made, mass-produced clothing which threatens Jessica’s Jewish tailoring heritage).

I’ve been trying to piece together some absent minutiae by fantasizing about Jessica’s life. Her favorite color is yellow. She likes holidays, but tends to be off to the side and enjoying the festivities from afar. She likes Tang because she has a fascination with the US space program, though she doesn’t get to talk about space or science much since she’s too busy trying to make friends and science is likely not on the minds of young 80’s adults at F.I.T. Jessica hates Devo and Blondie, but is a fan of Queen and will always deeply love Elvis' dimples. Liam also did some excavating, research on young adulthood in the 1980’s and some theoretical research into Warren’s life (favorite food: pot brownies and pizza).

After seeing Much Ado About Nothing on Thursday, I started to get a lot of ideas for creative methods to tap into the characters’ minds, such as rehearsing in a whisper while maintaining the drama and stakes. Or trying to do everyday tasks like Jessica would (so far I’ve tried walking like Jessica, singing like Jessica (she sucks at it), and sitting on a bus like Jessica).

When Liam and I rehearsed last Thursday, we tried doing the scene as dramatically as possible, which was not only fun, but also really increased the stakes and made the characters much more compelling. We also switched characters once, and we both got a really great sense of our characters' relationship and the ways in which we both could change our interpretations of our characters. Liam and I didn’t have much time since Thursday to rehearse together since I was out of town, but I think I’ve done a good job at thinking about the text critically and trying to challenge myself to take risks with my interpretation and portrayal.