Pop, Zoom, Soul, Vandal, Sculpture
King Arthur's 1400 Year Reign Over Pop Culture
The Writer's Bloc | YouTube | 14th November 2020
Arthurian legend looms large over modern culture – Star Wars, The Avengers, The Legend of Zelda, Game of Thrones. The myth itself is a "weird mulch of history and fiction," but has still informed generations of storytellers: "like a family tree, we can trace back up the branch from Rick and Morty, to Doctor Who, to The Once and Future King, all the way back to a hushed tale in a mud hut" (13m 04s)
The Lion King – Animating A Dolly Zoom
Jesse Tribble | YouTube | 5th December 2020
In a dolly zoom, the camera tracks forward while zooming out, or vice versa, creating the disorienting effect that space itself is being condensed and expanded. Recreating it in an animated film is hard, because animation is naturally 2D, i.e. flat. The Lion King hits it out of the park, though, with one particular dolly zoom of astounding emotional impact (16m 12s)
Make It Soul
Kazak Productions | Vimeo | 1st December 2020
Animated short – two titans of soul, Solomon Burke and James Brown, perform at Chicago's Regal Theater in the winter of 1965. Brown and Burke clash for control of the set but, even in the face of this professional rivalry (and an openly racist industry), the vibrant Matisse-like visuals match Brown's infectious joie de vivre (14m 36s)
Who’s Afraid Of Modern Art: Vandalism, Video Games, And Fascism
Jacob Geller | YouTube | 19th May 2019
"Who's Afraid of Red, Yellow, and Blue," a famous set of modernist paintings by Barnett Newman, has been repeatedly vandalized. Is it merely the stark, simple style that provokes people to label it "degenerate" – or is there a more troubling political implication? "They're enforcing a hierarchy, attempting to define a cultural narrative, and above all else, they're not talking about art" (29m 15s)
Unreal Video Of The Week
"Digital sculptures" walk the London streets as part of an augmented reality art exhibition
The Viewer is brought to you by The Browser, the curated newsletter of writing worth reading. The Browser is to writing what The Viewer is to video.
Comments? Suggestions? Write to us at editors@theviewer.is
Editor: Abe Callard
Publisher: Jacob Silkstone [jacob@theviewer.is]