Taking from everything we've seen today and my comprehension of it, I feel like Expressionism is all about putting yourself on display or taking all the feeling and thoughts and beliefs that you hold inside and letting it show in the most straightforward way possible with it still having meaning. With Butoh, it was spirituality and you easily could see that, but it pulled at you and the pace and movement of it all really made me personally feel connected to it. I think that the biggest thing that stood out to me from the Butoh was when the four people were surrounding the circle of what seemed to be stars and it reminded me of how science and spirituality used to be so intertwined in mainstream culture and that got me into how it really connected to me on a person level.
And then there was the Opera. Oh dear, the Opera! I loved it, and although it is harder to connect straight to the little definition I gave in the beginning... I don't know how to say this correctly, but it just is. It just is Expressionist. I mean sure, I could go into detail about how with what I saw in Wozzeck and Lulu that it isn't how Luke has explained acting to us, it's acting with your heart and not so much your mind. In 'real life', is he going to kill Marie? I imagine not. If he did he would go crazy and I guess that would be that logical thing, but the entire Opera section of expressionism didn't seem to me like it had so much to do with logic and calculation as it had to do with quick decisions (although they did take forever to do them) and speaking exactly what is on your heart or mind and that's all I really want to get into on that.
Sidenote though, I love how Horror movies are related in this because while they can be... oh what's the best word for this?... adorably ridiculous (?) (don't drink the milk!) when they are done nicely you can get attatched and even though you know it is completely irrational you are still connected to it and it brings up fears, like death, which seems to be a main focus of these movies. Death is a big thought on everyone's minds (which might just be a side effect of dying, ourselves) so to make it so forefront and accessible and still meaningful can be beautiful just to think about, just putting that out there.
What else was there? There was Mary Wigman (who I went back and watched the video of her again because it creeps me out so much and I love it) and the poetry (my goodness I am just speechless about it, because whatever I say cannot do it the justice of just reading it over and over again like I have would do) and the Scream! I had a feeling once Luke started talking about van Gogh that Munch and his 'the Scream' would fall under the category, and him saying it did was a 'Phew, I think I know what is going on then' reassurance moment for me.
