Manuel Mariano Rodríguez. Galería Neoclásica. 1801.

REALLY  LONG CHARACTER SURVEY. RULES. repost, don’t reblog ! tag 10 ! good  luck ! TAGGED. @themisfitmouse​ TAGGING.  Uh... @pxmpkinprincess, @sallowscripts (any muse), @snake-eyes-11 (any muse), @thesundowncrew (any muse. Please. Don’t do all three), @outlandishboogiegirl (any muse), @supernatural-sister, uh... Clover already tagged a bunch of people I would have picked... And anyone who has a free hour and wants amazing character development!

(Sorry about the length. I’ve put it under a read-more after a point)

BASICS. FULL  NAME : Jack Skellington NICKNAME : Alright, here we go: Jacky Boy, Skellington, Bone Man, Bone Daddy, Taibhse (Tabby), Mister Unlucky, Pumpkin King, Skeleton Jack, ‘Get out of My House’ AGE : I have no idea. He doesn’t either. Over a thousand, at least. He acts like a 6 year old, a 10 year old and a 40 year old depending on the situation. :| BIRTHDAY : Funny you should ask this. We actually don’t know. I’ve been here for over three years and we’ve never decided on a birthday. At this rate we might just have to pick a day. ETHNIC  GROUP : Skeleton/Ghoul/Spirit NATIONALITY :  Hallowe’en Town LANGUAGE / S : English, Irish. Dabbles in a few other languages including French, German and Spanish. SEXUAL  ORIENTATION : Asexual.     ROMANTIC  ORIENTATION : Hetero demi-romantic RELATIONSHIP  STATUS : Married happily to @pumpkinqueensally​  CLASS : Technically, higher-class. HOME  TOWN / AREA : Hallowe’en Town CURRENT  HOME : Skellington Manor, Hallowe’en Town. PROFESSION : Pumpkin King, Master Scarer, Hallowe’en Organiser, Spirit Guardian

PHYSICAL. HAIR : .... Skull. But in the human form, it’s dark brown and mostly short. There are some longer strands that can fall over his eyes. For the most part, these are all combed back neatly. EYES : .... Eyesockets. Sometimes there’s an orange flame at the back of them. In the human form, they are a dark brown. They shine with curiosity. NOSE : .... Nose cavities. But in the human form, it is long with a little curve. FACE : .... Skull. But in the human form, his face is long with defined cheekbones and a rounded jaw. LIPS : Surprisingly, he has lips. They are marked with vertical ‘etches’. In the human form, they are narrow, a shade darker than his normal skin tone. COMPLEXION : .... A skeleton has a complexion? In the human form, he is pale. BLEMISHES : Nothing comes to mind? SCARS : An indent on one of his neck bones from having the rope around his neck in his scarecrow form. He also has a scar on the top of his right femur, which is where the bone healed after a crack. TATTOOS : None~ HEIGHT : 6′10″ WEIGHT : Uh.... According to Google, the average weight of a skeleton is roughly 30 pounds?? BUILD : S-K-E-L-E-T-O-N. Human disguise, on the other hand, is tall and lithe. He looks like an individual who is very active, but not intensely so. FEATURES : His height makes him stick out like a sore thumb in Hallowe’en Town. His mouth (and skull in general) is unusually animated for a skull, and can stretch nearly the width of his skull. ALLERGIES : Pink and cute. Nothing comes to mind off-hand. USUAL  HAIR  STYLE : The human form usually has the hair combed back in three parts. However, if he isn’t paying attention, some longer strands can fall forward onto his face. USUAL  FACE  LOOK : The skull, as mentioned before, is lively and animated. A lack of eyes makes it difficult to determine his mood. However, rest assured that he is observing with interest.  USUAL  CLOTHING : A well-fitted pinstripe suit. It is black with narrow white stripes. Compared to the traditional pinstripe suit, the stripes look slightly haphazard. In place of a tie, a bowtie sits at the bottom of his neck. It is in the shape of a bat, with the wings mirroring the stripes on the suit to create the illusion of veins.

PSYCHOLOGY. FEAR / S : Due to being the Master of Fright, Jack does not have fears. Even so, he is keenly aware of the passage of time. As a practically immortal being, he will have to watch those he cares about grow old and die. He knows it isn’t a comforting thing. ASPIRATION / S : Simply put, he wants to help Hallowe’en become better and better every year! But personally? He wants to do what’s best. He has always believed in redemption, using violence as a last resort. So in a way, he strives to help others see beyond ‘reputations’ and past experiences. POSITIVE  TRAITS : Honest, Loyal, Dedicated, Child-like, Love of learning, Energetic,  NEGATIVE  TRAITS : Impulsive, Obsessive, Stubborn, Prone to being self-centered, Chatterbox MBTI : PROTAGONIST (ENFJ-A) ZODIAC : See the ‘birthday’ question TEMPERAMENT : Jolly SOUL  TYPE / S : Leader/Spiritualist ANIMALS : Prairie Dog! VICE  HABIT / S : He talks with his hands sometimes, using them to make gestures (often dramatically). When by himself, more of these vices emerge. He cracks his bones, and he will drop everything to focus on a new thought FAITH : While Jack’s origins are based in Celtic times, Jack himself has no religious faith. However, he is fully supportive of everyone else’s beliefs (or lack of) and will try to learn more about them if the opportunity arises. GHOSTS ? : His dog is a ghost. Enough said? AFTERLIFE ? : Hallowe’en Town is considered an ‘afterlife’ to some species. REINCARNATION ? : Jack will neither confirm nor deny if he has met someone who has been reincarnated. ALIENS ? : VERY HOPEFUL. POLITICAL  ALIGNMENT : He himself is the Pumpkin King, but this is a title rather than his position. Politics aren’t really a thing, though. ECONOMIC  PREFERENCE : He would be considered ‘wealthy’, but it’s not something that’s isn’t required to survive. SOCIOPOLITICAL  POSITION : As the Pumpkin King, he’s held in high regard. His word is considered law. EDUCATION  LEVEL : He has a high level of education, and has furthered this through acquiring new books and self-learning.

FAMILY. (Personal note. Due to different relations with different characters, I easily confuse myself between the ‘main’ verse and side-steps of this. Consider the family information the basics, but bear in mind these will change depending on who he’s interacting with. @.@ ) FATHER : None, technically. MOTHER : None, technically. SIBLINGS : None, technically.  EXTENDED  FAMILY : His wife, Sally, and Doctor Finklestein (a father-in-law). NAME  MEANING / S : ‘Jack’ was chosen due to his turnip head being linked to the jack-o-lantern. ‘Skellington’ is a pun. HISTORICAL  CONNECTION ? : I... Don’t think this applies to Jack.

FAVOURITES. BOOK : Too many to list! At the moment, he’s fascinated with historical books. MOVIE : He hasn’t seen many movies, if any. 5  SONGS : Very flexible in music genres. But his only proper interaction with music is with the Hallowe’en Town band.  DEITY : He will always have a soft spot for Celtic deities. HOLIDAY : Hallowe’en! Followed closely by Christmas! MONTH : September! (surprise!) SEASON : Autumn! PLACE : Spiral Hill! WEATHER : Crisp autumn mornings. SOUND : Autumn leaves crunching on the ground, the wind blowing through the trees, the chatter of the local ghouls, Sally’s singing, fire crackling. SCENT / S : Wood fires, new books, cinnamon TASTE / S : Hot chocolate, jellybeans. (He’s a skeleton, he doesn’t need to eat, so his experiences in taste are rather limited) FEEL / S : Sally’s arms around his shoulders, snow, the warmth of a fire, the attack hug of someone close to him. ANIMAL / S : Dogs NUMBER : Thirteen COLOUR : Orange

EXTRA. TALENTS : Scaring, pumpkin carving, fire creation and manipulation, acrobatics, dancing, public speaking. BAD  AT : Using technology, Detecting sarcasm, understanding when he should stop and think about what he’s doing, maintaining a proper sleep pattern TURN  ONS : TURN  OFFS : HOBBIES : Reading, Exploring, pumpkin carving, violin playing TROPES : Here. :P AESTHETIC  TAGS : ........  I don’t have any. GPOY  QUOTES : ... A what now?

FC INFO. MAIN  FC / S : Himself. ALT  FC / S : M.att Smith OLDER  FC / S : None, but I was jokingly considering C.hris Sarandon or B.ill Nye YOUNGER  FC / S : Hm... None. VOICE  CLAIM / S : His own voice, so.. D.anny Elfman/ C.hris Sarandon. GENDERBENT  FC / S : Nah.

MUN QUESTIONS. Q1 : if  you  could  write  your  character  your  way  in  their  own  movie ,   what  would  it  be  called ,  what  style  would  it  be  filmed  in ,  and  what  would  it  be  about ?           A1 : I hate to inform you, but that’s already a thing. My portrayal of Jack is based on the movie, so his personality and whatnot are more or less the same. Q2 : what  would  their  soundtrack / score  sound  like ?           A2 : See A1. Q3 : why  did  you  start  writing  this  character ?           A3 : Okay, so basically, Jack arrived at my house January 2013 and was like ‘HEY DID YOU HAVE A GOOD CHRISTMAS??’ and hasn’t left since. Q4 : what  first  attracted  you  to  this  character ?           A4 : It actually started when I was 12. I actually completely missed the online fandom since the extent of my internet knowledge was y.outube. I knew of Jack, and three songs. But I didn’t see the movie for about... I wanna say 6 months after I discovered the songs. I dunno though. I’m not entirely sure why I liked him though. Probably because he could sing. Who knows?

Q5 : describe  the  biggest  thing  you  dislike  about  your  muse.           A5 : Regarding him himself? I think the fact that despite his love of research and learning, he’s impulsive and can make decisions too fast without considering the implications.

In general? I think everyone knows how I hate him being a mascot of the ‘g.oth and e.mo culture when he’s so bubbly. Q6 : what  do  you  have  in  common  with  your  muse ?           A6 : ....... The mun/muse line blurs dangerously sometimes. It might be dangerous for me to keep writing him in the long-term. Q7 : how  does  your  muse  feel  about  you ?           A7 : Honestly I’m too nervous to ask him because I hate asking people things like this aaaa

Ash is a charming human. Honestly, I fell she is a little too lazy for her own good sometimes, but what she is interested in she will pursue it with such vigour! Honestly, have you heard her talking about those electronic games? Mind-boggling.

I must admit, I am proud of what she has achieved. For someone who claims to not work well on long-term projects, she has managed to perform excellently.

~Jack (who hijacked this questionnaire because Ash didn’t want to ‘cause a fuss) Q8 : what  characters  does  your  muse  have  interesting  interactions  with ?         A8 : .... Why do you ask such hard questions? I can’t possibly start singling out individuals but... Jack has had some amazing interactions over the years. Befriending villains, being a father to his children, adopting others as his own, meeting strangers because he was hopelessly lost... It’s honestly been amazing. Q9 : what  gives  you  inspiration  to  write  your  muse ?         A9 : It comes really easy to me, actually. I’m at the stage where I can see something and go ‘yep. Jack would do that’. In fact, as I was skimming the questions earlier I was mentally answering them. Those personality quizzes were completed faster than I could probably do them for myself! Q10 : how  long  did  this  take  you  to  complete ?         A10 : I started at 10.20pm. It’s now... 11.50pm. :D

Identity in Late Capitalism. Following reading on ‘Intersectional, Transnational Fashion Subjects’.

23/11/18

Links- positives and negatives of globalisation.

 Overall positives are more interconnectedness between people around the world, greater developments in technology and fashion shared globally, ability to move more freely between countries.

 Negatives: a more homogenous world, certain countries acquiring stronger political power than others, generally the western countries and Japan, US. Erosion of unique national identities, greater disparity between rich and poor, not everyone receiving the benefits of globalisation.

 Cultural imperialism- Colonialism.

Colonialism definition: policy or a practice of acquiring political control over another country, ‘occupying it with settlers and exploiting it economically’.

‘Cultural imperialism refers to the enforcement of one group of people’s cultural ideas on another group’.

 One culture may dominate other culture through their ideas and cultural/religious beliefs.

 An example of cultural imperialism; During the British imperial rule in India, various policies were established, thus impacting the culture of the nation and creating cultural imperialism. One example of this is the language. British recognized English as a unified language, this altered the way in which Indian people communicated.

 ‘To be sure, there are now twenty- one national editions of Vogue… However, the content of these magazines fits a pretty, consistent pattern of a focus on local designers, shops and events, mixed with constant reference back to the established centres of fashion’s world order’.

-        Gilbert 2013.

 ‘To appreciate a culture, one must step back and actively learn about it and how to support it without thinking about how they can benefit from the beautiful characteristics of it’. I took this statement from Teen Vogue, I strongly agree with the message they are trying to convey. Cultural awareness is essential, if people do not understand the culture and its traditions, rituals associated with that culture they begin to exploit it, they can appropriate it. Kim Kardashian has largely been inspired by black women, she has been wearing cornrows in her hair. This is most problematic because she has been awarded for her appropriation, whilst black women are often demonized or misjudged for those same styles. Cultural appropriation is harmful because it ‘glorifies or degrades cultural aesthetics based on skin colour, as if the value changes when something is expressed on one race as opposed to another’.

  In one of Katy Perry’s performances she decided to dress in a kimono style dress, have her make up done to look similar to that of an Asian, wearing oriental flowers in her hair and the typical Japanese umbrella in her hand. ‘Katy’s performance reinforced the notion that it’s convenient to tap into Asian aesthetics for magical, sensual and mystical purposes, while disregarding the complexity and diversity of Asian identity.

 Whiteness:

‘Whiteness as a racial position tends to be rendered invisible’.  This marks out all of the other ethnicities as ‘Other’. Dyer therefore argues for the importance of making ‘whiteness strange’. Whiteness is not uniform as a category. I think that if white was portrayed as a strange it would help to reduce the amount of racism (self- assurance).

 Flows and Fashion

‘If we apply this concept of disjunctive flows to dress, one might call this mixture of style a form of creolisation or hybridity where nothing is dominant entirely traditional, or fully modern’. Maynard 2004.

 ‘It is clear that diasporic cultures do not adopt western dress without consideration. They draw selectively and unevenly on the clothes of dual cultural systems and for a variety of reasons.

 Diaspora refers to groups of migrants or refugees who have moved away from their country of origin to live in a new country. ‘Scattered population of a specific country or geographic place of origin’.

 Tartan through the African Diaspora. Hidden cultural ties.

Tartan as a fabric is closely linked to Scotland but it also has strong ties to Africa as well. The Maasai is a semi- nomadic group of people from East Africa who are known for their unique way of life, as well as their traditions, customs. The Maasai identity is defined by its colourful beaded necklaces and the red shuka cloth. The Maasai wear these blue, striped and checkered cloths to wrap around their bodies. It is known to be quite durable and thick therefore protecting the Maasai tribe from harsh weather conditions and terrain of the savannah.

 Intersectionality

Race, class, education, sexuality, ability, age, gender, ethnicity, culture, language. All of these words could be used to help understand someone’s identity.

Theory of the Leisure class- 1899.

‘conspicuous consumption is necessary to communicate the status of the leisure class’.

‘A cheap coat makes a cheap man’.

Victorian binaries-

Male characteristics; public sphere, art, mind, active, adult.

Female characteristics included: private sphere, nature, body, passive, childlike.

The gender binary, is the classification of sex and gender into two distinct, opposite and disconnected forms of masculine and feminine. 

 Binaries are the ‘simplest way of making difference’, however the issue with binaries is that they are extremely reductive and they are stereotypical. Binaries help us to establish meaning. However, binaries are not usually an equal categorisation. There exists the dominant binary, which results in there being negative connotations associated with the ‘other’ binary. For example, high and low, if someone has a high income that is the dominant binary whereas low income would be associated with negative connotations, same pattern follows with able- bodied people and disabled people. It is certainly not the best form of understanding identity.

 Identity is intersectional- this idea suggests that threads of our identity overlap and intersect.

‘opens up imagination beyond binaries, allowing for more complex ways of thinking about identity and the self’.

 ‘My identity has been constructed from my own sense of otherness, whether cultural, racial or sexual. The three aspects are not separate within me.  Photography is the tool by which I feel most confident in expressing myself’. It is photography therefore- Black, African, homosexual photography which I must use not just as an instrument but as a weapon if I am to resist attacks on my integrity and, indeed, my existence on my own terms’.

Rotimi Fani- Kayode.

 I really enjoyed this lecture I think that it covered so many interesting topics. I found the reference to the Dolce and Gabbana campaign particularly interesting, I remember first seeing this advert and I didn’t think much of it, I thought it was taking a different approach but I didn’t think that it could be racist in any way. Watching it over again and looking at comments I could see how it would be insulting to the Chinese population. I have always found fashion journalism really fascinating, talking about different issues associated with the media which have impacted on the industry.