Presentation thoughts

The presentations so far have been great. It is obvious that every group put a lot of time and thought into each one, and I’ve really enjoyed watching them. It’s apparent, at this point in the semester, that we are all understanding the themes of this class; what once daunted us has become familiar and we can now have some fun with it. After all, truly laughing at something is only possible if you understand the joke.

That being said, something I noticed in all the presentations was the inclusion of multiple, if not all, outlined themes of the class. The groups were originally assigned to focus on one specific theme, and form a presentation around that. But if you ask me, I think that would be absolutely impossible to follow that plan (which is obviously why no one has).

The materials have blended together just as much as the themes. Again, as we become more familiar with the topics of this class, we start recognizing them in everything. Characters like those in Beckett, or Prospero and Ariel, or Herman Mussert (this list is kind of silly, I might as well name them all) abound in relevance to life as fiction, life as myth, dolce domum (again this list is futile, you are well aware of the themes). They can be molded to fit any serious or comedic purpose, and it is tempting to try and squeeze them all in.

The outstanding part of all this theme melding and character jamming, is that no two presentations have come out remotely alike. I think this not only attests to the creativity of our classmates, but to the notion that these themes are so expansive and “high-brow” and therefore difficult to interpret in the same manner. I can imagine it would take six times as many groups presenting before we started going in the same direction.

On that note, I will say how excited I am to see Monday’s presenters, and get into individual presentations as well. The fun really never ends.

By the way, props to Doug for all the editing and voice-overs on group 3’s video. We all appreciate the time spent there.

Also, double props to Professor Sexson for his magnificent appearances in the presentations. A greater character was never born.