First post of Third Year!!

I have been so busy with the first new brief of third year, that I have neglected my blog! The brief we were given focused on the short story named 'The Emperor's New Clothes' and since I had never heard of this story before, it enabled me to interpret it from a completely fresh viewpoint.

With this in mind, I firstly began by printing off the story and highlighting certain quotes which appeared to have a deeper meaning. I then began to analyse the quotes which enabled me to establish the repetition of particular words as well as linking connotations.

I then moved forward by establishing my initial ideas by reflecting on the analysis of the tale and uncovering the moral stories which I felt could be seen within it. My intitial ideas consisted of:

• Failure to say what we really think
• Ignorance
• Deceit of others
• Only the uncorrupted speak the truth
• Innocence provails
• Reliance on others opinions
• Exploitation
• Emphasis on hierarchy
• Taboo subjects
• Expectations and Assumptions
• Emphasis on form rather than substance
• Imposed/Social Conformity
• Power of Suggestion
• Vulnerability
• Fear of being judged
• Hesitance

As we can see, there are many points to consider in the story but I undoubtably needed to narrow my ideas down to ensure my project didn't go in too many directions. From this, I instinctively felt that Imposed/Social conformity had the most potential due to the strong affiliation within the story.

 

Imposed/Social Conformity

 

This is a shared attitude in today's society as many follow what they believe to be the norm and again, this is evidently shown in the story by creating a core emphasis on the word 'stupid' and the constant private questioning towards the substance of the suit. Although every character in the story displayed great hesitance illustrating a lack of intuition when viewing something that never existed, due to suggestion and the fear of being classed as 'stupid', people chose to follow the majority influence. Majority influence plays a massive factor from others and therefore sacrifice their own opinions. This attitude can be evidenced when the Emperor believes everyone else to be able to see the suit and pretends to have the ability also. This demonstrates that this powerful character is easily persuaded and this is subsequently counteracted by the innocent child who is seen to be free of expectations, and therefore unafraid of speaking the truth and having his opinions heard. The innocent child could be seen as portraying those who chose not to participate in conformity and value individuality, shunned before his remarks are accepted as being the truth.