Week 1 - Une Semaine de Bonte (1 point)

 

Vive les Poulets

Once upon a time, a woman created a whole new race of chicken people. Eventually she passed away and her chicken spawn mourned her. There was a beautiful funeral where human and chicken spawn alike payed their respects. Some humans, wracked with grief from the loss of chicken mother, killed themselves. Their rooster husbands were the first to find them. Lost in their sadness, the chicken husbands sought new wives, but the maiden folk did not understand these chicken men or their advances, and viewed them as monsters. Some women were not as dramatic as others though, and only ranted their frustrations about their unwanted suitors to their hen friends. Yet the roosters persisted, and their public perception grew ever more monstrous and paranoid. Eventually the human men caught on to their courtings and figured a woman would surely die if she fell into the hands of these rooster monsters! So, the shunning of the roosters continued… Until they grew so frustrated in their loneliness that they violently stole women from their homes to take them as wives.

The chicken people were sick of these humans. Why should they get to run the world? Many chicken people performed inhumane experiments on the humans. Some even tried to bring back their own loved ones by sacrificing human women. Some simply tortured the human women.

But then the women struck back! A vicious conflict erupted between the humans and chickens. Some humans even sided with chickens, believing in their rights to be recognized as equals. However, many ideals were lost in the battle. Chickens strung up humans from nooses and the humans did likewise to the chickens.

Until finally, the chicken revolutionaries prevailed. The resisting humans were destroyed. Long live Chicken France!

 

 

“Easter Island”

This one follows similar themes but I believe it is less linear and more like depictions of different moments in no particular order. All the images depict a man with an Easter Island statue head and his interaction with different women. Sometimes the women seek him out, but other times he forces himself on her. Sometimes the women want to be with the Easter Island men, but a human man denies their relationship. Sometimes she rejects him and he goes to the bar to drink away his sorrows. The last image of the “Easter Island” series is difficult to interpret, but an Easter Island-headed man appears to have caused the death of an individual and is consumed by guilt. Others will soon discover his transgressions, as shown by the woman entering the frame.

 

  

Both of these stories focus on conveying the complex humanity of beings that may not look entirely human. Most of their humanity is recognized by the uniquely human experience of romantic relationships. The rest is through familiar scenes of violence.