Monday, 14 October 2013

FIRST INTRODUCTION TO LA MER: 14TH OCTOBER

Initial responses to the stimulus material....

My initial response to the La Mer was curiosity. It is so different and more diverse than Song Lyric, and it requires a more in depth knowledge and deep interpretations.

It makes me feel enlightened; it is something completely different to what i've done before, and it is quite naturalistic which is the area of acting I really enjoy. So I am happy and excited with this assignment. It is quite a mature stimulus too as it is more than what meets the eye which I am happy about too. Overall I am intrigued with this assignment and am looking forward to our devised pieces and how we interpret each other's ideas and how they will all turn out.

The stimulus 'La Mer' makes me think of a range of emotions, when I was listening to the song and looking at the photograph in my mind I was thinking of freedom, love, mystery, fear of the unknown and death. All these emotions connected in my mind from what I was listening to and looking at. The song ' La Mer' by Charles Trenet was written in 1943 whilst Trenet was on a train! Even though the song was performed in french, I could still understand and hear the emotions being portrayed, I felt he had a sense of nostalgia in his voice, he sounded like he was reminiscing about a memory which made him happy once. It is also about love, he mentions a love song ' Chanson D'amour' and his heart 'Coeur pour la vie' at the end of the song which portrays he is singing about someone, possibly using the sea as a metaphor for someone or something he loves or has loved before.
The ideas the stimulus produces for me are to do with mystery and fear of the unknown. As the sea is a completely separate world from the land, it has tides, currents, animals live in the sea and have their own way of life and the sea itself has its own way of life and chooses its own paths, land just works its way around the Sea.
It also produces the idea of someone who is lost, who does not know what path to choose or which way to go in life, the picture we looked at in class today just made me think of people who get lost out at sea, people who have been 'claimed' by the sea. It has bought up a lot of different emotions and idea's in my head as it is such a deep stimulus which produces different routes to go down.
I want to know more about....


  • The different emotions people link to ' La Mer'
  • Why the sea is so powerful and meaningful
  • The different personalities of the sea; i.e Some people say the sea is cruel and angry because of its choppy waves and tsunamis and other ideas are that the sea is peaceful and a tranquil place to be when the tides are calm and the water glistens with the sun. 
  • How personality traits can be linked with the way the sea is
  • Symbolic meaning and beliefs to do with the sea




The sea,
We see dancing along the shores of clear bays,
Shimmers with silver
The sea
Changing shimmers
Under the rain
The sea
With the summer sky
Mix up her white horses
With the angels so pure
The infinite azure shepherdess
Sea
Sea
By the ponds
Those big wet reeds
See
Those white birds
And those rusty houses
The sea
Has cradled them
Along the shores of clear bays
And with a love song
The sea
Has rocked my heart for life
English lyrics to ' La Mer'

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