United States Constitution: First Amendment Rights and Iconic Realism

photo from historyonthenet.com

Amendment I of the United States Constitution

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

With humble gratitude to our insightful forefathers, we citizens of the United States of America have the right to express ourselves in a public domain. A few years ago, I was viewing an entertaining site on Youtube, and I was struck by the intensity of the father of this family, discussing his religious belief in a calm, normal speaking voice in the middle of a department store. He was simply posting his daily entry to his podcast. It was inspiring to see and an excellent example of iconic realism.

Below is the demonstration:

1. An iconic figure (the head of a nuclear family, a father), expressed his Christian beliefs to his viewers.

2. The iconic figure in the midst of a realistic setting, not usually associated with this icon. (He expressed himself in the middle of a department store, as he shopped, not the usual place for such a discussion.)

3. This placement represents a needed cultural transformation. (He was exercising his 1st Amendment right to express himself freely, as guaranteed by our Constitution.)

With so many individuals being silenced by some decision makers recently, I have to wonder if these bullies have ever read the U.S. Constitution. 

Mad Men and Iconic Realism (Click this title to view a portion of the episode.)

Photo from Google Images

A friend suggested to me that perhaps the dramatic television series, created by Matthew Weiner, entitled, Mad Men, may have iconic realism embedded within some of the episodes. I had never viewed the series, so she sent me the episode posted above.

After pondering this a while, I saw iconic realism in the writers' use of the iconic concept of a wheel, 'the original technology.' Here, the character, and forgive me, but I don't remember his name, explains the significance of a carousel, an iconic representation of childhood, as a vehicle to transport an adult to an emotional safe haven. He uses the rhetorical mode of sympathetic speech, drawing from pleasant memories to engage his audience.

What makes this iconic realism is that a group of men in the early sixties when men were trained to hide their emotions, is reacting emotionally to this speaker. The focus of the wheel, or carousel, illustrates that element of human nature found in every culture: the continuous need to feel loved. Even though the setting of this drama is in the mid-twentieth century, this cultural phenomenon is also significant in the twenty-first century. In fact, the need for love and comfort as a safe haven is a human trait that will most likely continue for centuries into the future. Round and round we go, creating those 'Kodak moments' on this carousel called life.

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie

The novella, Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie presents teenage students, who taste all that is forbidden in a 're-education' camp in the remote hills of China during the Chinese cultural revolution of the 1970's: music, literature, love, and freedom. Dai Sijie writes this beautiful tale as both a novella and a screenplay. Placing the intensive longing for education in a communist environment where knowledge was prohibited, he illustrates through the use of iconic realism that creativity and the hunger for knowledge of self and the world perseveres within the human spirit.  

Emily Dickinson and Iconic Realism

Portrait of Emily Dickinson painted by William Rock

Chinese calligraphy painted by Huang Xiang 

Click HERE to go to their site. 

(Calligraphy is from Dickinson's poems: "The Soul selects Her Own Society,"

"My Life Closed Twice Before Its Close" and "Presentiment")


Calligraphy Translations:
 

The soul selects her own society,

Then shuts the door;

On her divine majority

Obtrude no more.
Unmoved, she notes the chariot's passing

At her low gate;

Unmoved,

an emperor kneeling

Upon her mat.
I've known her from an ample nation

Choose one;

Then close the valves of her attention

Like stone.
I never saw a Moor

My life closed twice before its close;

It yet remains to see

If immortality unveil

A third event to me,
So huge, so hopeless to conceive,

As these that twice befell.

Parting is all we know of heaven,

And all we need of hell.

Presentiment

is that long shadow on the lawn

Indicative that sun goes down

The notice to the startled grass

That darkness is about to pass

By displaying the countenance of this reclusive poet in the midst of so many cultural icons, these two artists, Huang Xiang and William Rock, illustrate iconic realism of Emily Dickinson's poetry. In this painting by William Rock and the calligraphic representation by Huang Xiang, the iconic presence of Emily Dickinson's simplicity that this honorable position illustrates is iconic realism. 

The poet and her own poetry surrounding her are iconic. Yet, one would not normally see a portrait of Emily Dickinson, surrounded by Chinese calligraphy. This combination illustrates the impact on human cognizance and the importance for humanity to look inward because through Dickinson's travail, enlightenment has been revealed to many. Moreover, the use of blue and purple bring to mind the spirituality that surrounds this poet's expression: in her eyes, around the 'upper floor' of her mind, and in her heart.

'Harmony of the Spheres' and Iconic Realism

I took these photographs in Ireland.

The following is an excerpt from a paper I presented at the Mid-Atlantic Conference for Irish Studies, years ago. It was the initial introduction of my semiotic theory to a public audience. I've placed information about this same topic on my other blog, which can be reached by clicking on the photo to the right.  

Human beings have an inherent need to interact with one another. Yet, they often find themselves struggling with what appears to be the truth of their perceptions. This ambivalence leads to the categorizing of experiences as a way to manage personal reactions. Philosophers, such as Immanuel Kant and Carl Jung, as well as mathematicians, such as Pythagoras and Kepler, have clarified this management in terms of music, more specifically, the mystical music of the spheres.

This concept illustrates that human communication parallels strict mathematical components associated with harmonics. To clarify the concept of harmony (music) of the spheres, one can consider a musical tone that contains the original resonating frequency with overtones creating precise harmonic variations.

Pythagoras’s theory contained the idea that there was a distinct mathematical configuration, establishing a relationship of the harmonic distances between the planets. These harmonics were considered the substance of a planetary influence on the human psyche. Centuries later, Johannes Kepler clarified this theory with his discovery that harmonic energy emanates from the sun, and there exists an exact harmonic relationship between each planet. Philosophers of the eighteenth century, such as Immanuel Kant, connect Kepler’s theory to the concept of human consciousness.

Music of the spheres represents the harmonics of human thought whereby one idea, emanating from a human being, extends to another throughout the centuries, and overtones or nuances of thought create a new harmonic of the original conception. This new harmonic, then, resonates with another interpretation, and soon, there are many new concepts formed that connect with the original resonating thought.

Although the concept of 'music of the spheres' illustrates that human communication parallels strict mathematical components associated with harmonics, iconic realism is a literary principle whereby an artist uses an iconic, yet real figure to represent another aspect of reality within the culture. This principle clearly resonates throughout literature as a means to express truth in a way that contains meaning while maintaining elements of the mysterious. Indeed, iconic realism intones throughout Sydney Owenson’s national tale, The Wild Irish Girl, written from a feminine cultural point of view shortly after the British Act of Union 1801.

Sydney Owenson engages in the construction of iconic realism through her interface with the concept of literary harmony elicited from the initial resonance of Irish revolution. She creates characters as iconic representatives of the consciousness that exists in her historical reality, leading her audiences to a recognizable semblance of truth and a basis for future writers to harmonize with the transitioning, historical significance of human consciousness.

Such resonance, which distinguishes between intense reality and strength of the human spirit through iconic realism, occurs in Owenson’s novel, demonstrating the necessity for humankind to relate to one another on a realistic rather than a symbolic level. As she reacts to her despotic environment, Owenson’s technique of using iconic structures in allegorical representations of Irish reality resonates through such 20^th century writers as William Butler Yeats and James Joyce. (Lakatos 2007)

Tyree Guyton's 'Heidelberg Project' and Iconic Realism (Click this title to view more information)

Tyree Guyton, photo from Google Images

Soles of Detroit photo from Google Images

A while ago, I was channel surfing and happened upon a series of shows on the Green Planet channel entitled, "Detroit in Overdrive." Well, having been born and raised through my 14th year of life in the fine Metro Detroit area, I just had to watch these shows. And they brought tears to my eyes. One particular story, which focused on Tyree Guyton's Heidelberg Project, immediately struck me, for it was a perfect demonstration of iconic realism. Thank you, Tyree! 

Mr. Guyton has assembled a collection of iconic items that many people had discarded, including houses in his neighborhood. He applied his artistic talent to breathe life into the objects while simultaneously illustrated to those blessed with viewing this project with an awareness of possibility. He has turned blight into right! His juxtaposition of trash turned into art, in the midst of a forgotten and neglected neighborhood, demonstrates the cultural renaissance that is taking place in Detroit through the creative perseverance of dedicated individuals. 

Another fascinating aspect of this project centers on shoes. Mr. Guyton has collected shoes of all shapes and sizes, restored and newly painted by the members of the community. He has arranged those works of art in the middle of a street, providing his audience with an awareness of Detroit's restored soles as a visual testimony of the soulful restoration that occurs when dedication to the creativity and energy of a community transforms that community's heart and vitality. God bless you, Tyree Guyton! Onward!