Grace and Felicia talk about how context affects how art is created, and how context affects how art is interpreted. Actually, it’s mostly Grace talking about Crazy Rich Asians, and how applying a Singaporean or American lens makes the film look very different. Then Felicia talks about ethnomusicology, programmatic music, concert programme booklets, and then Grace and Felicia talk about hidden messages in German sculptures and context in modern art.
- Twitter: @_anyhowly
- Grace: graceteng.ninja
Show Notes
- Wikipedia: Crazy Rich Asians (film)
- Wikipedia: Crazy Rich Asians (novel)
- Guardian: Crazy Rich Asians review
- The language discussion:
- Wikipedia: Cantonese
- Wikipedia: Mandarin Chinese
- Wikipedia: Hokkien
- Grace said “Kaki nang” at first, which is actually Teochew. In Hokkien, the expression is “Kaki lang”.
- Wikipedia: Jiaozi (dumplings)
- Vox: The symbolism of Crazy Rich Asians’ pivotal mahjong scene, explained
- Vulture: Crazy Rich Asians Is A Shiny, Affluence-Porn Rom-Com With a Big Immigrant Heart
- Wikipedia: Tyersall Park
- Asian Male Sexuality, the Money-Phallus, and Why Asian Americans Need to Stop Calling Crazy Rich Asians the Asian Black Panther
- Ethnomusicology: A Very Short Introduction by Timothy Rice, pp. 101-102
- Wikipedia: Graceland by Paul Simon (aka “a certain Simon”)
- Wall Street Journal: Cultural Borrowing Is Great; The Problem Is Disrespect by Kwame Anthony Appiah
- YouTube: If Gandhi Took A Yoga Class by CollegeHumor
- Colorlines: Performing Blackness Won’t Fill Our Asian-American Culture Deficit by Muqing M. Zhang
- Wikipedia: Symphonie fantastique by Hector Berlioz
- Wikipedia: Program music
- Wikipedia: Gesamtkunstwerk
- Wikipedia: Leitmotif or idée fixe
- YouTube: Symphonie Fantastique Mvt 4, March to the Scaffold conducted by Leonard Bernstein
- Idée fixe appears at 4:20
- Orchestral hit at 4:28
- Timpani roll at 4:30
- Major chords at 4:32
- Wikipedia: Guillotine (aka the “chop head”)
- Apple App Store: The Orchestra
- NPR Classical: Marches Madness: Off With His Head!
- Wikipedia: Mahler’s Symphony No. 2
- Orchestra of the Music Makers
- OMM’s Mahler’s 2nd programme booklet
- OMM’s video about Mahler’s 2nd
- Wikipedia: Freiburg Minster (cathedral)
- Süddeutsche Zeitung: Photo of the rear-facing gargoyle on the Freiburg Minster
- Translation of caption: At the Freiburger Minster one can find a gargoyle who drains rainwater out of his naked behind. According to legend, the stonemasons were insulting the Archbishop, whose palace lay across from it — but who only moved in long after the figure had been carved.
- Various other legends say the stonemasons were insulting the City Council or other church entities.
- The Munich monument with two lions is the Feldherrnhalle
- Okay, Grace misremembered the story of the lion sculptures. One lion faces the Residenz, the palace of the Bavarian monarchs, and that lion has its mouth open. The other lion faces the Theatine Church, and that lion has its mouth shut. The message is that the army should speak to the monarchs but listen to the church, or something like that. Who knows, maybe Grace’s tour guide was making it up. We have not been able to find a source for this anywhere.
- Wikipedia: Haydn’s Symphony No. 45 (Farewell)
- Wikipedia: Haydn’s Symphony No. 94 (Surprise)
- Anyhowly Episode 6: How Does A Canon Form? for discussion of International Klein Blue and Vantablack
- Wikipedia: Representation (arts)
- Wikipedia: Abstract art
- Wikipedia: International Klein Blue
- Wikipedia: 4’33” by John Cage
