Maddy Caulfield Research Report Proposal
Working Title
Explore the Greek myth ‘Psyche and Eros’ and its influence on animation, film and literature, and how it has informed my own practice.
Aims and Objectives
In my research report I will aim to show how big an influence Greek mythology has on modern story telling techniques, and in turn animation. I want to compare interpretations of the ‘Psyche and Eros’ myth (sometimes referred to as Cupid and Eros), from modern literature such as ‘Till We Have Faces’ by C.S. Lewis to Disney animation such as ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and ‘Cinderella’. From this research I intend to explore my own interpretation of the story and create character designs and puppets that reflect this.
Method
In order to achieve these aims I will begin with researching Greek mythology in a wider context and specifically the myth I want to cover. I will use online sources, books, and films to help with this (I have added some of these to the bibliography). I will then study other interpretations of the Myth, both directly such as paintings, poetry and stories, and indirectly. For example, ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and ‘Beauty and the Beast’ whose stories resonate with the themes and structure of the original Greek myth. I will look at its effect on Psychology that is explored in ‘Love and the Soul: Psychological Interpretations of the Eros and Psyche Myth’, a book I intend to read further (Gollnick, 2016).
I will also look into how myths have influenced story structure and fairy tales, using sources such as Christopher Vogler and Joseph Campbell, and link this back to ‘Psyche and Eros’ and ‘Beauty and the Beast’.
As I am conducting this research I will be creating sketches and story ideas inspired by my findings and other animators/artists, and part of the essay will address my own creative development. I also want to develop my understanding of how books are adapted to screen and other media. I will use various materials and methods such as drawing, digital, maquettes, animation tests, storyboarding and animation to create my own interpretation of the myth and culminate in a finished, working puppet. I will record my process from initial development all the way through to the materials, techniques, final product and an evaluation of its success.
Background Research
I have long been interested in Greek mythology, as this is such a huge topic I thought it best to focus on one specific story, and chose the ‘Psyche and Eros’ myth. I used the book ‘Mythos’ by Stephen Fry as a starting point, Fry introduces the story ‘as the strongest candidate for First Ever Novel: The Golden Ass, by the Roman writer Apuleius. The story’s influenced so much Western thought, folk literature and art’ (Fry, 2017 p.160). Greek mythology is allegorical, it was used to explain the world when the world was very big and frightening. I think that part of the reason they are still popular today is because they address human nature and desire, which hasn’t really changed much in 3000 years.
I have started some preliminary research into the origins of ‘Beauty and the Beast’, and how it fits into the essay. It is a story that has been passed down through folk tales and word of mouth, first being written and recorded by Madame Gabrielle-Suzanne de Villeneuve in 1740 as ‘La Belle et La Bête’. It falls under the Aarne-Thompson type of ‘The Search for the Lost Husband’ (Multilingual Folk Tale Database 2018), and is believed to be directly influenced by Greek mythology. ‘The myth of cupid and psyche is one of the oldest tales to evidence ‘the search for the lost husband’ trope, and is considered by many scholars to be the first ever literary fairy tale. The similarities between this legend and Villeneuve’s ‘Beauty and the Beast’ are so striking, it is very likely to be a direct descendant.’ (Pook Press, 2017).
I have also started to look at a few artists and animators who inspire me, and some who have a style I would like to emulate in my own work. For example, John Kenn Mortensen (fig 1) creates creepy, unsettling illustrations with just pen and post it notes. As a place to start I think creating lots of small sketches will be a good way to explore ideas. From this, the work of puppet company ‘Stiches and Glue’ (fig 2) would be a good company to look into further, to help with the actual construction and fabrication of the puppet.
Chapter titles
Introduction– Outlining what I want to achieve in the essay, the major themes and resources I will be using, and a brief summary of what is in each chapter.
Chapter one: A brief history of Greek Mythology– I will introduce the topic and provide some background information such as why mythology exists, what is its purpose, and why will still use it today.
Chapter 2: The tale of Psyche and Eros- Here I will introduce the myth and analyze its different interpretations, looking at how history has effected how it is viewed.
Chapter 3: Disney and the Beast- This chapter will look at how Greek myths and Disney connect, as well as addressing story structure and fairy tales. I will then specifically look at the link between ‘Pschye and Eros’ and Disney’s telling of ‘Beauty and the Beast’.
Chapter 4: Good artists copy, great artists steal- Discussing how animators and artists take old stories or writers work and turn them into their own narrative.
Chapter 5: Design and fabrication- Here I will go in depth about my interpretation of the story based on my research and how I have used it to create my own work, with photos and sketches as primary evidence.
Conclusion- A summary of my findings, an evaluation of how I think my practical work has gone, and what I would do differently next time.
Conclusion
I think that the difficulties I may encounter doing this essay will be finding academic and reliable research, as I have found it somewhat difficult to find evidence. Saying this I believe it is out there and it will just be a case of reading through everything and pin pointing the sources I need. The other difficulty may be evaluating the success of the puppet at the end, as this can be subjective. In order to combat this, I will ask both professionals (such as Barry Leith) and peers of what they think of the final product, and take this into consideration. My next step will be to continue gathering research and evidence to give me a solid foundation of knowledge that I can build on.
Word count: 1097
Bibliography
Beauty and the Beast, (1991). Film, Directed by Gary Trousdale. USA, Walt Disney Feature Animation.
Cinderella, (1950). Film, directed by Clyde Geronimi. USA, Walt Disney Productions.
Elliot, A (2018). Adam Elliot Clayographies. Available at: http://www.adamelliot.com.au
Fry, S (2017) Mythos. Great Britain, Penguin Random House UK.
Gollnick, J (2006). Love and the Soul : Psychological Interpretations of the Eros and Psyche Myth. Waterloo, Wilfrid Laurier University Press.
Karas, M (2018). Greek Mythology. Available at: https://www.greekmythology.com
Kenn, J (2016). Don Kenn Gallery. Available at: http://johnkenn.blogspot.co.uk
Lewis, C S (2017) Till We Have Faces. San Francisco, Harper One.
Multilingual Folk Tale Database (2018) Available at: http://www.mftd.org/index.php?action=atu
Pook press (2017). Beauty and the Beast: A history of the tale. Available at: http://www.pookpress.co.uk/project/beauty-and-the-beast-history/
Shakespeare, W (1913) Romeo and Juliet. London, Lippincott Company. Available at: https://www.stmarys-ca.edu/sites/default/files/attachments/files/Romeo_and_Juliet.pdf
Stiches and Glue (2018). Stitches and glue. Available at: https://stitchesandglue.com
Vogler, C (2007). The Writers Jouney. Michigan, McNaughton & Gunn Inc. Available at: http://craftywriters.club/reading/christopher-vogler-the-writers-journey.pdf
WRIGHT, G.A., (2010). Ancient Greece’s Excellent Adventure: Classical Myth on Screen and Online. Literature/Film Quarterly, 38(2), pp. 163-165.
Maddy Caulfield Animation 