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Week 12: The Sea is History

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After looking at this weeks readings, I found the poem, “The Sea is History,” to be quite interesting. Even the name of the poem itself proves its importance as it suggests that the sea serves as an archive of history, that contains the memories, struggles, and experiences of the people who have traveled it. Rather than focusing solely on written records or official accounts, Walcott suggests that the sea itself holds valuable insights into the past, offering alternative perspectives and voices that may have been marginalized or silenced. Derek Walcott uses biblical allusions and imagery throughout the poem, drawing parallels between the experiences of the Caribbean people and stories from the Bible. The sea can represent both a source of liberation (in the Exodus) and a site of suffering and oppression (in the Middle Passage). This shows the sea as a symbol of both hope and tragedy within the Caribbean imagination.

The line, “and then each rock broke into its own nation;” really stuck out to me and I think it is because it is bringing up the significance of boundaries once again. In a response to the European colonization of the Caribbean communities, separate nations were formed on each island. The metaphor of rocks breaking into nations creates an image of upheaval and division, reflecting the violent and disruptive impact of colonialism on the region. As Europeans colonized the Caribbean islands, they enforced their own political, social, and economic structures, which led to the displacement and oppression of indigenous peoples and the forced migration of enslaved Africans. But, this line cannot be interpreted as solely negative, as it also appreciates the resilience of these communities and the formation of new ones under the destructive forces of colonization. Also, the two lines toward the end that read, “there was the sound/like a rumour without any echo,” are thought provoking, as the stories of history go deeper than the surface. By Walcott comparing history to a “rumour,” he is implying how history can be manipulated, just as a rumour can. And as the absence of an “echo,” he is suggesting that these stories have not been fully acknowledged or even heard. This reminds me of history being called “his story” because it is just so prevalent and true. There is such power dynamics inherent in historical narratives, as many primary authors and interpretators of history have been people in positions of power, who are often men. This has obviously shaped our understanding of the past and perceiving different groups of people. It makes me question the things I have learned in school and to take in to consideration who is writing these historical narratives.

Week 12: The Water Will Carry Us

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For this week blog, I found it really interesting to the idea that through mermaids cultures are able to tell stories and as well how different cultures have different perceptions of mermaids. The stop motion film, “The Water Will Carry Us Home,” unveils the ocean’s diverse cultural perceptions and uncovers the idea of the legacy of black mermaids in contemporary society. The narrative is rooted in the harrowing tale of Africans abducted and cast overboard during the Middle Passage during a period of slavery, only to be rescued by the aquatic deities of Yoruba mythology, suggesting the sea’s duality as both a menacing unknown and a source of salvation across different cultures. This depiction challenges the idea of fear associated with the ocean, instead presenting it as a realm of protection and reverence, particularly for those cultures directly touched by its saving grace. As we have often seen that many different cultures have different meanings and ideas towards the ocean and mermaids. This representation invites viewers to contemplate the personal bonds each individual can forge with the sea, this film can aid in changing the ideals of individuals and seeing the ocean as not something to be scared of but something we should be curious about; and as a source of healing that has recently been seen in society as the ocean being a place that can provide peace and tranquillity. So in the sense of the class, this film aids in having a different point of view in the face of the ongoing environmental crisis, the film provides a new idea, suggesting that a personal and communal appreciation for the ocean could bridge the gap we’ve placed between ourselves and the aquatic world, encouraging a more harmonious interaction with water and all it has to offer, and how it can be used to better our everyday life and our planet.

Week 12

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After reading the poem and watching the video for this weeks work, I found the poem to be quite interesting. Walcotts poem about “The Sea is History” have very intriguing language and imagery. I am currently taking a creative writing class, and we have just moved into our poetry unit to this sparked my interest. Not only is Walcotts poem hinting to the history of the oceans and its cultures, it seems to be discussing the changing the ocean has undergone. From natural changes and human caused changes, and how its affected the oceans history. There is a section that I believe it referring to Oil wells and men in the ocean. The poem is reflecting on the damage and harm humans have inflicted on the ocean, referring to the oil wells as well as the digging and exploration humans have done in the sea. The interactions humans have had with the oceans, are not depicted as harmless ones, but as harmful one. The poem says “Then came the men with eyes heavy as anchors, who sank without tombs,brigands who barbecued cattle, leaving their charred ribs like palm leaves on the shore,then the foaming, rabid maw..” This seems to be referring to not only the harm humans have done to the ocean but what has been dumped into it. This whole poem is about different interactions with the Ocean. Hurricanes and natural changes, oil digging, debris form humans being dumped and leaving thins behind. I believe this poem is not only describes the damage the ocean has undergone but how these changes has affected its history. The religious aspects and vocabulary mentioned gave this poem more of an ominous meaning towards the end. “that was only faith,
and then each rock broke into its own nation..” Is Walcott saying faith guided this history? Or why did faith not stop these things form happening? God? I am not religious myself, but the religious vocabulary in this poem seems as though Walcott believes that religion is important to the history of the ocean. I found this aspect interesting and also confusing, because is he saying the ocean has its own religious value or is human influence why?

week twelve… the water will carry us home

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ok professor… where did you find THIS

anyways this short film was so intriguing and sad. how the water was a vessel that took the african people away from their home but then later became something of a sanctuary to those who fell overboard…

I think this speaks a lot to how people view the ocean. Because for some people it was used like a tool, a sort of road, something that didn’t have life. Something that took life (as evidenced by the people “dying”). But to others it gives life, it provides safety, as shown by the big merwoman transforming all the people (pregnant people I may add) into merpeople and saving their lives. The way people interact with the ocean probably also impacts how they see it.

There’s something to be said about having a surface level view of the ocean- how people only seem to focus on the top of the water, where humans can survive, rather than below, which is normally hostile to humans. It probably also speaks to our fear of the unknown, which makes sense as the ocean IS pretty mysterious. But in this the ocean is comforting and secure, but there’s also respect for it as an entity, as seen in the ending portion of the short film where it cuts from stop motion to real life.

The Water Will Carry Us Home

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The stop-motion film, The Water Will Carry Us Home, showed me how the ocean is looked at and appreciated differently by different cultures. The film shows us how there is a long history of black mermaids which is not talked about often in modern culture. As mentioned in the description, the film tells the story of stolen Africans being thrown off a ship whilst sailing through the Middle Passage. They were then saved by the presence of Yoruba Orishas dwelling in the water. This shows how the ocean is not just a scary unknown place throughout history but also a saving grace for some cultures. While the stolen passengers might have been scared when they fell into the water, it was the creatures who resided in it who saved them. This led to an appreciation of the ocean for this culture that is still apparent today, as seen in the ending scene of the film. People are able to connect with the water in their own ways and have a strong appreciation for what it does. This brings me to the idea that each individual person is capable of creating their own relationship with the ocean. With the current climate crisis it is easy to take a step back and assume that “professionals” will handle healing our environment. If each individual person in this world can build a relationship and appreciation for the ocean, we can heal our environment faster as well as discover more about the unknown waters. When we as people take a step back and realize that the ocean is not so scary we can end the boundary that we have created between it.

Carry Us Home

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In watching the stop motion short film for this week’s reading, I found the video to be quite pleasant to watch, the colors in the film were very soothing and comforting. The story being told is of African Slaves traveling the middle passage via ship. On this slave ship, there is a point in which the slaves, the majority being pregnant women are thrown into the Ocean, where they are saved by Omambala and turned into mermaids. Their children are soon born of seashell clams. The title of this film, “The Water Will Carry Us Home,” stood out to me. In retrospect, everyone has their perception and definition of “home,” to some people, it is their own house, for others, it can be their hometown or where they grew up. The title using the word home led me to the question: Is the Ocean our home? For many indigenous cultures theirorigin stories begin in the water. Another indigenous origin story I can think of is Turtle Island. In indigenous North American Folklore, their origin story consists of a turtle who holds the world on its back. This being the second origin story I’ve consumed, it has led me to believe why there is a difference in origin beliefs. If so many indigenous cultures share beliefs in coming or beginning in the ocean, where and why did Christians believe in something completely different?

Going back to the language of home, it kind of was comforting to me that Home might be the Ocean. Although it can be scary for some to think about, for most people who enjoy the Ocean and the beach, it was a nice thought to have. Before this video, if I were to think of home I would probably think of a concert place, this short film allowed me to shift my terra-centric form of thinking in regards to what I consider and call my “home.”

Sirenomelia

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This week, we watched the short film “Sirenomelia” by NOWNESS. This was an extremely confusing, yet interesting short film. It was extremely haunting and eerie, and its confusion only. amplified the feelings I felt while watching this short film. Defined as “a contemporary culture piece of the ‘New East'” in the description of the video, This piece features sci-fi-esque music that is described as the white noise of a quasar over what feels like a soulless video. I found the symmetrical shots in the beginning of the video to be extremely interesting after looking up the definition of the word sirenomelia, which happens to be a rare condition where a newborn will be born with legs conjoined together. Sirenomelia is referred to as the mermaid syndrome because of this. The shots are long, and with the knowledge I have obtained from a film class I took in high school, these shots are intentional ways of creating stress and tension, as your brain is trained to wait for something to happen in a shot. The mermaid creature that is featured in the second half of the film seems almost lifeless. You cannot see its eyes and it is alone. It almost feels like it is a robotic freak of nature. The closing shot of the mermaid swimming in what looks like an infinite and empty ocean gives me a nihilistic perspective of what life would look like to these creatures. The description also states that the film is essentially about a mermaid exploring an abandoned NATO base, but because of the eerie direction, it is hard to follow (which I mean as a compliment as it truly induced a feeling of angst in me). The ending leaves me feeling empty, which I come to realize I felt that way throughout the entire short, from the long title sequence to the symmetrical shots of the antenna.

week 11? Sirenomelia

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professor where did you even find this

anyways it was really uncanny, with all of those shots from under the surface of the water. And then the mermaid(?) swimming amongst the human structures, and then later in the middle of the ocean… it felt so out of place and yet so natural..

I think it speaks to how humans are somewhat out of place in nature, just as the mermaid was out of place amongst the structures. All of the shots of the quiet stillness in the ocean and in that tundra area sort of spoke to how nature sort of coexists with itself. That mermaids are a sort of extension of nature in a way, because we see the mermaid in the water almost all the time (naturally).
the film kind of implies that mermaids are indeed the link between humans and the ocean because the mermaid interacts with bare, isolated nature and the equally empty human structures. There’s also a bit of curiosity as the mermaid explores the structures, it could be a nod to how humans are curious about the ocean and explore it slowly.

Post-human Mythologies

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Like most of my peers, the noises and sounds in the background of this short film caught my attention. While I was watching it surprised me how it felt strangely peaceful instead of the eerie or haunting feeling. It reminded me of whale sounds and how people use these to help them fall asleep. Aside from the noises, I enjoyed the scene right before the last clip of the mermaid swimming in the open ocean—the one where the mermaid creature is swimming in a sort of canal-looking thing. I think the contrast between the two scenes was fascinating, one moment the mermaid is swimming in a confined man-made space with water in between allowing the mermaid to inhabit and live in this area. This interested me because it shows the duality between “nature,” humans, and man-made objects. While it shows this balance between entities, the next clip is a lot more freeing. Comparing these two clips to each other in my perspective allowed me to appreciate both realities. The one in the canal was a reminder of the world and environment we live in today, where nature and creatures have sort of adapted to all our man-made creations. On the other hand, the last scene in the film felt captivating, because the mermaid was in a big open space, and in my eyes, it looked more natural, but also led me back to the discussions we have had in class about what is versus what is not natural.

Another thing worth pointing out, when doing some research on the director of the film, I found the description of Sirenomelia which included, “Sirenomelia links man, nature and machine and posits possible post-human mythologies.” I thought the post-human aspect was interesting since I was watching with the lens of humans and mermaids co-existing in this universe, but it seems as if it was made in the vision of a post-human environment. I related this posthumanism idea with our climate crisis and the notion that with global warming and climate change, our planet independently will survive, humans on the other hand, may not. On top of this, I thought the concept of this film being directed in a post-human reality was really interesting and I definitely would not have thought about this if I hadn’t read the description from the director.

Sirenomelia

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Wow, there is so much to unpack from this video. The first time I watched it was before I read the description and so I was mostly trying to understand what I was looking at. That first watch made me uncomfortable and anxious. I was thinking of the barrenness of the arctic as if the lack of humans is what made it scary and uncomfortable. Then to see the presence of the mermaid does little to make me comfortable because seeing them swimming in freezing temperatures still distances her from my ingrained concept of humanity. She still feels otherworldly and therefore something to be scared of. After the video ended I did read the description which helped in directing my train of thought throughout the second watch. When I understood that the mermaid is exploring this structure made by humans it occurred to me that it must be a scary experience for her too. It occurred to me that if this mermaid is present in this environment, then it negates the idea that the arctic is a barren place. I remembered that actually, plenty of wildlife is capable of surviving the conditions of the arctic including many mammals. The presence of human structures in this video further proves that even humans, under certain conditions, can live in this environment. My perspective changes and the sense of anxiety discomfort is replaced by a sense of curiosity. I start examining this creature as they examine humanity. I noted that we do not get a sense of the skin color of the mermaid. The mermaid simply blends in with their surroundings. The last shot was particularly interesting. As we see the mermaid swimming away the rippling effect and the sound gives me the sense that there are more mermaids, they are simply not visible. At the very end the mermaid turns onto their belly and reveals to us that it has been observing us just as we have been observing them.

It’s interesting to see this coming together of the human and the natural world especially when considering the narrative that we are just as much a part of the natural world as the mermaid. It challenges the thought that humans have of superiority over the natural world. I imagine that it is this cultural through ingrained in me that led me to forget that life can exist in the arctic and imagine it as something barren and devoid of life. The second watch allowed me to apply frames of thinking that we have been studying this semester and rendered me humbled.