Feeling Stuck…
Intro
This part contains scattered research where I had not managed to define my research question.
My topic changed drastically from education to fantasy&magic tricks to fanfiction.
I have changed my research question several times.
-“How can I use antagonists from fantasy fiction to empower disempowered individuals?”(I thought I could specify my stakeholders by adding the word ’antagonist’)
-“How can we measure the impact of fantasy fiction?”
-“How can mythology, fantasy and magic tricks be combined to form a performance for a modern audience?”(I went to magic workshops(where magicians teach simple magic tricks to non-magicians for fun) as a hobby, without initially intending to add that to my project)
6.16~6.21 Pre-Intervention
I have contacted an expert on worldbuilding and have told them 2 of the fictional stories I created. Their reaction was to immediately come up with 2 storylines to broaden the story further.
I want to emphasize that, if we view this interaction as an intervention, sharing my comic to a worldbuilder does “create change”, because they came up with brand new ideas because they saw my work. The evidence is shown in the pictures.
Story Link:
7.4~7.8
I’m currently having trouble defining the change in my project.
I’m uncertain how fantasy and magic tricks can create new change in both areas because performances such as this already exist, and they already create excellent change in this world.
I have tried to pick out a specific group of stakeholders to specify the change, such as Chinese high school students(which is the group of stakeholders for the intervention on May 13th, where I created a dystopian world based on current reality in the Chinese education system). But it detoured my project to education rather than fiction, which caused huge confusion in my audience.
I am trying to plan for interventions but finding it hard to take action because the research question hasn’t been completely defined. I’m currently planning out interventions on fantasy and magic tricks separately, and try to piece them together like jigsaw puzzles in order to create something new.
Jordan Peterson once said, “You’ll have to sacrifice the pluri-potentiality of childhood for the actuality of a frame.” I think it is similar with projects. When starting a project, I really enjoy the endless potential and as time went on, have spent too much time mourning the fact that I could only choose one area to work on. It will happen whether we want to or not, and the main difference is whether I choose this limitation in time, or let it get take me unaware.
But I’ve already chosen my limitation. I’ve identified as a writer of fiction and comic artist, specifically on the area of fantasy. What stumped me was that, I don’t know how fantasy can create change, new change, to this world. And that was why I kept adding elements to it that was inside my comfort zone, like result-based education, because I was a student in the majority of my life.
I’ve had a paralysing fear because I was unable to define the change of my project and therefore since the start of independent study, I was hesitant, even unable, to create interventions. However I needed to undertake one soon to get the project out of a stalemate.
4.19/4.27/5.10/7.3 Detouring to magic workshops
I have also been in touch with several magicians based in London via a magician’s workshop. According to them, magic isn’t as entertaining if you perform magic alone, you have to weave a story or a narrative into it to actually attract an audience. Requoting Derren Brown: “Magic is a great analogy of editing reality and forming a story and mistaking that story for the truth.” It is quite a valid way of storytelling.
Case Study: The Power of Placebos
This process is to demonstrate the power of placebo and show that even when people know they’re taking a placebo, it can still have physical effects on the body.
After receiving a “fear erasure tablet”, participants are put into scary situations like being locked in a dark room or a coffin, and their physical reactions are monitored. Remarkably, even though the participants verbally acknowledged taking a placebo, their body’s stress responses are lowered after taking the pill compared to before.
This shows the mind’s ability to override our autonomic fight or flight responses and biologically reduce fear through expectation and suggestion alone.
Derren Brown discusses how placebos have been clinically proven to reduce pain and change hormonal secretions through psychological factors.The video is an entertaining demonstration of just how powerful the placebo effect and mind-body connection can be.
Case Study: Hadestown
Hadestown is a beloved show of mine that I had rewatched thrice. It combines Greek Mythology with current problems in modern society like famine and poverty, using Hell(Hadestown) as an analogy for cheap labor in factories.
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/hadestown-tragedy-trying/
Hermes, as the narrator of this story, enters in and out of the narrative of Hadestown. Orpheus also plays the role as narrator when he sang the ancient tale of Hades and Persephone. We, as the audience, see three layers of reality onstage. Hermes’s narrative, Orpheus’ narrative(in one scene), and Hades and Persephone’s narrative.
The picture above is a paragraph from the pamphlet of Hadestown.
7.12
Atomic Priesthood: The Role of Stories
Similar to the curse of the Pyramids of Egypt, a myth/belief of ray-cats was developed in the 1980s to keep people away from nuclear waste repositories. If people in the future(10 thousand years later) see a glowing cat, they’ll know to back off from that place, therefore backing away from the nuclear repository and avoiding radioactivity.
By instilling a sense of fear or reverence around the waste site through superstition or religious beliefs, the priesthood aims to deter future populations from approaching the danger.
By telling a story, by instilling a belief in its audience, experts of this project managed to keep people away from possible danger.
https://www.theatomicpriesthoodproject.org/