The Making of my "Earths Artifact"

When I finished my Earths Artifact video I decided to post this and describe/ explain about how and why I made most of my choices of representation. As you probably are aware my Earths Artifact involved historical figures in certain sections, representing certain aspects.
For example, the first section is the mob portion, which represents an uprising that changed the course of history; there were two historic events/figures that were portrayed in this section: Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin (who brought communism to Russia) and The French Revolution. Both of these affected the globe and had vast circumstances concerning the whole world.
The next section is the kings, which I chose monarchs who not only had a way of disregarding their people, but their actions, yet again, influenced history itself, The monarchs were: Catherine the great, queen of Russia, Henry VIII of England and Marie Antoinette The Last queen of France.

The non- Believer section I chose a well-known cynic who lacked faith in humanity and despite his best efforts always ended up seeing the worst in people. Albert Camus to represent lost hope.

The section I skipped above: Gods/Hope. Is the one I wanted to explain since I put the most thought it to it and it has the largest time frame In the video for the viewer to come to their own conclusions. In the end, these are the figures I have selected to represent hope:

 

((From the left: Jackie and John Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe, Martin Luther king Jr, Gisella Perl the angel Of Auschwitz))

There are a lot of different aspirations of hope and that’s what all these figures stand for:

First of all the Kennedys: The politics John F. Kennedy spoke of promised a lot of change in the united states. It aimed more to helping the poor and finally trying to establish a good sense of equality in the country itself. In other words – Hope for a better tomorrow. 

Marilyn Monroe: She was an extraordinary case of a human being. Truly a story which can be best described as from rags to riches. And she was a modest human being, using her fame not only to benefit herself and her personal happiness, but helping out others. One of my favorite stories about Marilyn Monroe, which fittingly describes her personality, is when Ella Fitzgerald was not allowed to play at the popular Mocambo, in Hollywood, because of her race. Marilyn, who loved her music and supported civil rights, called the owner of the Mocambo and told him that if he booked Ella immediately, she would take a front table every night. The owner said yes, and Marilyn was there, front table, every night. After that, Ella never had to play in a small jazz club again.

"She was an unusual woman – a little ahead of her times. And she didn’t know it." - Ella Fitzgerald about Marilyn Monroe. That’s why I chose her to be the center part of the “Gods” section. 

Martin Luther king Jr: He was an extraordinary man, a person who I believe embodied the meaning of hope itself, an activist fighting for the end of racism and equality. Martin Luther King was a man history and the human race needed and in the light of recent events still desperately needs. 

And finally Gisella Perl: She was forced to work as a doctor in Auschwitz concentration camp during the holocaust. She was ordered to report ever pregnant women do the physician Dr. Josef Mengele, who would then use the women for cruel experiments before killing them. He saved hundreds of women by performing abortions on them before their pregnancy was discovered, without having access to basic medical supplies. She became known as the “Angel of Auschwitz”.

The glitch (pictures shown above) had a point and the intent of showing that not all things end up being as their expectations. In fact it’s the transition from the “Hope” section to the “Hopeless” section. And this transition more or less shows the incidents that occurred to these people and what followed to happen to their ideologies. 

Lost hope: John F. Kennedy was assassinates for his beliefs and politics taking away the hope of a better tomorrow. More or less the same result that had occurred with Martin Luther King Jr. Both of these men have been killed for what they believed in, for their ideologies that would have helped the world to develop further and more tolerant. Their goals that I do believe, would have re shaped the world we live in, were denied by a single radicle or a group of them.

Jackelyn “Jackie” Kennedy is a representation of the faith and little amounts of hope we still carry after the events that threaten to take all of it away. Since she is the one First Lady who continued working and opening charities after her husband was out of office. In a away she represents the small amount of what could have been.

Marilyn Monroe is in the center of both the hope and the hopeless images for more than the singular reason that I personally find her interesting as a historical figure, but more even so that the tragedy she lived. The whole world knew of Marilyn Monroe and they all saw her as the dumb blonde she was always portraying in movies they saw her as an object, as a sex symbol and nothing more. But no one actually saw or knew Norma Jeane Mortenson – the actual person behind the face, name and exterior of Marilyn Monroe. No one really knew about the depression that was taking control of Norma’s life, of her futile attempts and requests to portray a serious character on television so she could break out of the prison and stereotype she herself built and invented. No one knew about how much Marilyn and Norma wanted to find love, raise a family and just live a life which would be full of fulfillment and joy. This eventually led to her taking her own life. I put the distance between Marilyn and Norma intentionally, because they don’t even see, as the same person when you describe the emotional and mental strain and trauma she went through. No this is something that is very hard to associate to the happy go lucky blond sex symbol that we know. This is the reason I chose to make her the center of the hope/ hopeless section.

And finally The angel of Auschwitz - Gisella Perl. Yet again she is a person whose inner struggles work like a double edged sword. In all intents and purposes it is obvious that she saved the lives of many women and saved a lot of newborn children to be spared being born in Auschwitz where joseph Mengele would have his way with them. Despite all of this Gisella still was plagued by guilt and when rescued from the camp she tried committing suicide, but failed

This is the in depth look at why I made the choices of inserting certain historical figures and what metaphorical meaning they had in the project itself.

I tried keeping it short.