the World Tool-humansof Experimental film and further thinking Wen Chai
the World Tool-humansof Experimental film and further thinking Wen Chai
As a tool for the objectifier’s purposes … as lacking in autonomy and self-determination, as lacking in agency, as interchangeable with other objects, as lacking in boundary-integrity, as something that is owned by another (can be bought or sold) … [and] as something whose experiences and feelings (if any) need not be taken into account(Stanford, 2010; 2011). Nussbaum
---Martha
ABSTRACT " "
I find that no matter what period in history, women are always objectified by some people for satisfying their needs. In the middle ages, women who are locked by people became kinds of toys or livestock that are laughed at. Even up to now, women are traded as commodities in exchange for money, desire, and labor. So I questioned: Are only women objectified? By researching and observing the relationships between people around me, I find objectification does happen in everyone's relationships. I envision a new world in which the majority of mankind is to be used as tools, and they will not be treated like humans anymore. By shooting a video about this world that will present the objectification relationship between people exaggeratedly, I hope the audience can not only be shocked by this video but think a lot about the relationship between people now. the world of tool-humans
5 ABSTRACT
According to Martha Nussbaum and Rae Langton, a person is objectified if one or more of the following properties are applied to them: of autonomy
Concept
ABSTRACT
In social philosophy, objectification is the act of treating a person, or sometimes an animal, as an object or a thing. It is part of dehumanization, the act of disavowing the humanity of others.
In the process of the development of human society, objectification takes place in slavery. Slaves are used as tools and sold as commodities, and they have no human rights or independent consciousness Within a capitalist economic system, commodification is the transformation of goods, services, ideas and people into commodities or objects of trade. Similarly, people are used as tools in the capitalist economic system.
In other words, human's of existence is to function of such objects, like tools. So, what if there in which the majority is to be used as will not be anymore...treatedWhat
1. Instrumentality 2. Denial
3. Inertness 4. Fungibility 5. Violability 6. Ownership 7. Denial of subjectivity 8. Reduction to body 9. Reduction to appearance 10. Silencing
Tool-humans, objectified by rulers, would have the following characteristics.
7
People will be divided into two classes.
n needs foodneeds cognitionneeds
Some people would be used as tools for satisfying the rulers needs. human'sfunctionsignificanceasthe use theretools.will be a society majority of mankind as a tool, and they treated like humans What would it be? ruler emotio
One class is the "ruler" which is the minority of humans, while the rest will be used as tools.
dogs&plants-humanmeat-humanbook-human ...
CONTENTS INTRODUCTIONABSTRACT 1 EXPERIMENT FILM: the world of tool-humans SCENE 1: front door SCENE 3: dining room SCENE 2: living room SCENE 4: on the road FINAL SCENE: theater CAST 12126 534137212715
9 INTRODUCTION 2 BEHINDEPILOGUESCENES: through the eyes of objects BACK TO REALITY: Do these tool-humans really exist in our daily life?70648262 Through the eyes of tool-humans to observe the objectification world Interviews with performers7771
What if there will be a which the majority of mankind be used as tools, and be treated like humans What would it be? INTRODUCTION
11 a world mankindin is to and they will not humans anymore...
EXPERIMENT FILM
After I came up with this theme, I have been struggling with how to construct and express the world.
I have researched perfomance art and urban dance, and I figure out that both of them intend to express different concept by strong body language, it therefore can include action or spoken word as a communication between the artist and audience In this way, audience can experience the situation and understand the feelings that the performer want to show easily, also, they can understand the intention of the performance easily.
EXPERIMENT FILM: the world of tool-humans DIRECTOR:
I removed the color from the video and turned it into black and white in order to make the content of the performance more clear, get rid of the interference of color, and pass the most intuitive information to the audience. At the same time, it also presents a sense of terror ruled by the unconscious. Wen Chai CUTTER: Wen Chai Chen Wenxin Chen Xiangrui Chen Ximing Wang Aiqi Xiao Jirong Yang Jiahao Yin world of tool-humans
the
13
SPECIAL THANKS TO : Ruofei
In my work, performers used different postures to show the roles and functions of tools in particular scenes, 5-7 people made up scenes of daily life, and one of them was the "ruler" in different color deciding who else was going to do what. By using different postures in different situations to show a new world that uses people as tools for rulers' needs.
16:30 p.m. at the front door of my "house" with 5 tool-humans : 4/5 columns & roof 1/5 front door & doorknob 5/5 survive... "Hi, I'm White. Now it's 16:30 in the Today,afternoon.asusual, I have all my daily work done and I am walking home right now. Oh, I think I see my front door..." SCENE 1: front door EXPERIMENT FILM
15Front DoorSCENE 1
EXPERIMENT FILM
17SCENE 1 Front Door
DOORKNOB FRONT DOOR MCOLUN2MCOLUN1
NMUOCL4 NMUOCL3 RO OF
17:00 p.m. in the living room with 4 tool-humans : 2/42/4sofatelevision & programs 4/4 survive... "Hi, I'm White. Now it's 17:00. After a long day working, I think I really need some entertainments to chil. So I go into my living room to watch TV..." SCENE 2: living room EXPERIMENT FILM
21Living RoomSCENE 2
EXPERIMENT FILM
23Living RoomSCENE 2
EXPERIMENT FILM
25Living RoomSCENE 2
19:00 p.m. in the dining room with 4 tool-humans : 1/42/4stooldining table 1/4 dinner food 3/4 survive... "Hi, I'm White. Now it's 19:00. It is time for me to have dinner, I have already chosen the dishes for dinner tonignt. I am the ruler who owns these 4 tools, and I know, one of them won't be used anymore... SCENE 3: dining room EXPERIMENT FILM
27Dining RoomSCENE 3
EXPERIMENT FILM
29Dining RoomSCENE 3
EXPERIMENT FILM
31Dining RoomSCENE 3
TABLE1
CHAIRDINNER
RFOOD TABLE2
TABLE1 CHAIR
TABLE2
20:00 p.m. on the road with 2 tool-humans : 2/2 car & seat 2/2 survive... "Hi, I'm White. Now it's 20:00 at night. My boss Miss Red suddenly gave me a phone call just now, and she told me to work overtime now. So I'm rushing to my office now..." SCENE 4: on the road EXPERIMENT FILM
37On the RoadSCENE 4
EXPERIMENT FILM
39On the RoadSCENE 4
21:00 p.m. in the theater with 5 tool-humans : 4/5 piano keyboard 1/5 piano stool 5/5 survive... "Hi, I'm White. Now it's 21:00. Finally I get to my office on time. Yes! It is a theater, I bet you have no idea who I am and what I am going to do. Okay, it is my turn to show up..." FINAL theaterSCENE: EXPERIMENT FILM
41TheaterFINAL SCENE
EXPERIMENT FILM
43TheaterFINAL SCENE
EXPERIMENT FILM
45TheaterFINAL SCENE
DO RE MI
PIANO STOOL SOL
EXPERIMENT FILM
49TheaterFINAL SCENE
EXPERIMENT FILM
51TheaterFINAL SCENE
Let me introduce every performer in every scene.Special thanks for my classmates for helping me to complete every action together and the Museum of Renmin University of China for providing us with shooting place. CAST EXPERIMENT FILM DIRECTOR: Wen Chai CUTTER: Wen Chai CAST : Ruofei Chen Wenxin Chen Xiangrui Chen Ximing Wang Jirong Yang Jiahao Yin Wen Chai
53CAST
EXPERIMENT FILM TOOL-HUMAN 1 Ruofei Chen SCENE 1 SCENE 4 FINAL SCENE SCENE 3 SCENE 2
55CAST SCENE 1 SCENEFINAL4SCENE SCENE 3 SCENE 2 TOOL-HUMAN 2 Jiahao Yin
EXPERIMENT FILM TOOL-HUMAN 3 Ximing Wang SCENE 1 SCENE 4 SCENE 3 SCENE 2 FINAL SCENE
57CAST SCENE 1 SCENE 4 SCENE 3 SCENE 2 TOOL-HUMAN 4 Jirong Yang FINAL SCENE
EXPERIMENT FILM TOOL-HUMAN 5 Xiangrui Chen SCENE 1 SCENE 3 SCENE 2
59CAST SCENE 1 SCENE 4 SCENE 3 SCENE 2 TOOL-HUMAN 6 Wen Chai FINAL SCENE
SCENE ?... 60EXPERIMENT FILM SCENE 1 SCENE 4 SCENE 3 SCENE 2 WenxinRED-HUMANChen FINAL SCENE
Do these tool-humans in our daily life? The answer is YES... INTRODUCTION
62 tool-humans really exsit
BACK TO REALITY Maybe not that serious, but YES, objectification does happen in everyone's life...
When we return to real life after watching the film, I ask you a question: Do these tool-humans really exist in our daily life?You may think that the situation presented in the film is too exaggerated, but when you think about it carefully, it seems that the relationship between people around you is objectified too. Such as the relationship between you and your boss, between you and your friends, even between you and your favorite movie star, and so on.Iinterviewed people of different ages and occupations at random and asked them what tools they thought they were. You can also rethink your interpersonal relationships. I left two pages for you to supplement your interpersonal relationship diagram at the end of this chapter. TO REALITY: Do these tool-humans really exist in our daily life? Are these tool-humans really exist in our daily life?
BACK
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BACK TO REALITY senior,Ruofei22majors in Landscape & Architecture teacherMengci25 senior,Wency21majors in Landscape & Architecture
“Aladdin's lamp and so on [cover his face] because some students always put all their hopes on me and don't work hard...”
“I'm a copier. I repeat the same thing, but I'm not creative...”
"A checker.I feel that I am easily affected by the environment, and close to the state of being manipulated by people. With the trend and network changes, this situation is often beyond my control or difficult to control. Checkers are camps that seem to have all sides, but how to arrange and how to end is not self-control. Each piece has no specific function like chess, so it is random."
IllustratorJirong23
"Although it's not valued, it still has some value, but this value can only be realized through a very troublesome process. Just like garbage is collected and then buried in a centralized way, people may have to work hard to grow and realize their ideas."
"Dumbbell. I sometimes work as a part-time fitness coach and shout 'come on!' to my students every day. 'You can do that!'
“I'm like a train. I can't get out of the track, and always bound by something.”
Are these tool-humans really exist in our daily life?
senior,Paul23majors in Philosophy
junior,Shawn20majors in Physical Education
'Keep tearing your muscles!' I think I'm like a dumbbell in the shape of a human. It helps them to keep fit but also puts pressure on them."
BACK TO REALITY
MIng security56Liustaff
Yunxiang Chai engineer48
Zhentao Jiao professor47
“An intelligent robot, because I always think the robot will be more suitable for this society, and I also tend to robot state more and more.”
"I am a compass in my wife's eyes. I have a good sense of direction and I like outdoor sports very much, so when my wife and I go climbing, she never needs to check the map or the direction. She said it's like taking a compass with her."
"A surveillance camera. My eyes should be as sharp as a surveillance camera and can be detected when something unusual happens."
“ “ “ Are these tool-humans really exist in our daily life? 68 ? ? ?
BEHIND SCENES
I performed the role of a ruler most of the shooting, so I am curious about how others feel when they are controlled by another person. For example, are they open to being controlled? Do they want to resist? Have they ever thought about the reason why tool-humans exist? Also, I want audiences to feel the same way as a tool and rethink their identity in society...
I will present some images from the sight of the actors performing the objects to show the perspective of the objects in SCENE 3: Dining Room. The purpose is to let the audience have the experience of being an object, to arouse their thinking: are they in such a reality like this? In the interview with the actors who perform the objects, I put forward my questions to lead the audience to understand the view of the objectification world as the objects and how to adapt to the world.
70
BEHIND SCENES: through the eyes of objects through the eyes of objects
As an audience, after watching my films, most of them can only feel a sense of control over others as a ruler, but not the feeling of being a tool-human. I think the audience is just as curious as I am about how objects think when they go through such situations without self-consciousness, how they consider being controlled, and whether they want to resist the rules of the world.
BEHIND SCENES
The images show the sight from ruler White about how she arrange the “dining table”.
We can experience the feelings of a ruler from the sight of this ruler about how to set up and enjoy her dinner.
The images show the sight from ruler White about how she took the performer who played the role of dinner to the dining table.
72through the eyes of tool-humans to observe the objectification world
BEHIND SCENES In different views of sight from different people, we can experience different feelings like how to be a ruler or how to welcome death... The images show how the ruler White enjoyed her dinner by stander.
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The images show how the ruler White enjoyed her dinner from the sight of "dinner". through the eyes of tool-humans to observe the objectification world
BEHIND SCENES
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When they are assembled they become table and stool. They are not tool-humans before assembled.
The performers in our sight are still human but do not have the use function. Until they have a relationship with the ruler, the function of the tool-humans shows up. Therefore, the tool-humans themselves are meaningless, and their value can only be embodied when helping the ruler complete her instructions. They are not completely self-conscious people, and the meaning of living seems to be meeting the needs of rulers. through the eyes of tool-humans to observe the objectification world
The images presented from the sight of performers who play the roles of table and stool at the same point in time before they are assembled, in other words, before they become table and stool.
After shooting, I invited several performers who played the role of tools to figure out their understanding of the film and their feelings after experiencing the tool-human's daily life. I performed the role of a ruler most of the shooting, so I am curious about how others feel when they are controlled by another person. For example, are they open to being controlled? Do they want to resist? Have they ever thought about the reason why tool-humans exist? I think the interview will be very interesting and impressive. with performers
BEHIND SCENES
BEHIND SCENES: interviews
I feel as if every object gives themself a reason to be controlled by the ruler, which makes themselves psychologically
TOOL-HUMAN 1 Ruofei Chen
"Although I know it's acting, there's a real feeling of being bullied. There seems to be hierarchy between different tools. For example, when I play the role of sofa, I think the TV is superior to me when I play the role of table, and I think I'm superior to the chair..."
78INTERVIEWS WITH PERFORMERS
Whatreasonable.impressed me most is the scene where I play the role sofa. When the ruler turned on the TV, I could watch TV "secretly" together with her as the role of a sofa. Sometimes, being a tool can do some I'veinteresting.neverbeen a ruler, but imagine if I were a ruler, I'd be more upset. If I were in a society like this, I could do anything with tools, but they're real people. Maybe the concept of human rights is still too deep-rooted. But even if it's a restaurant waiter or somebody doing something gratuitously, I'm a little embarrassed.
As a performer who has participated in every scene, which scene impressed you You'vemost? never been a ruler. How would you feel if you were a scene ruler?
I'm just thinking that even when an object is under control, it get some benefits, like watching TV.
RuofeiRuofeiRuofeiWenWen Wen
If it's me, I can't escape anyway. To make my mind more comfortable, I'll treat myself as a giver and treat the eater mercifully, but I can't understand that people's strong desire for life cause I have never been closed to death.
"I played the role of food brought to the table, which is very meaningful. In this process, I constantly instill in myself the idea that I am not an individual, empty my feelings, and compare my higher class with a tragic sense of mission..." WenWen
You also played the role of house and TV. Why do you only remember that you played food, not something Soelse?ifyou're really that food, you're really going to be eaten by me. What do you think before I take you to the table?
That's right. That's the only way to think as food.
Wen
BEHIND SCENES
TOOL-HUMAN 5 Xiangrui Chen XiangruiXiangruiXiangrui
Wow, you've changed your mind in a very interesting way. In this way, being eaten as food become a sacrifice with something sacred... Perhaps because the feeling that can't control yourself is too impressive for me in that scene. However, I like to be the role of food, you know, it's really easy! I do not need to remind myself how to move like other roles. Playing food is very easy, ummm... it is very easy, and there is a sense of noble sacrifice.
I'm very immersed in it. Think about it! I can sit on your back and press their heads. I haven't manipulated other people's experiences before, but it's cool.
WenWenWen
INTERVIEWS WITH PERFORMERS
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How do you feel when you are a red person though you didn't participate in the previous Well,scenes?what if you were one of the piano keys?
WenxinRED-HUMANChen Wenxin
Hahaha, besides music score, will there be pressure? Because when I am a white ruler, I will have pressure. After all, I have no experience in controlling others. So many people have to listen to your command. Will you immerse yourself in this performance process and enjoy it? There's a sense of superiority and some fluster because I can't remember how to play the piano. Maybe I'm not as happy as the red one. That's my daily role actually, I'm more passive and need guidance from others in reality. What's more, what I think will be different. If I were one of the keys, I might always worry about my reaction ability, whether I've done it right or not, and whether I've kept up with it.
"My appearance makes this comedy form a circle. People are no longer human beings, but divided into senior people and object people. They are also relative. In the first system, they are senior people, and in the second system, they are indeed a server. In the last scene, the red dress women seem to be senior people in the system, and they may also be servers in the other system...." Wenxin Wenxin
EPILOGUE Men have become the tools of their -Henrytools.Thoreau" "
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When I envisioned the world, I thought it was just a fictional world that would not exist, but when I actually film it, and I did the analysis and collation, I found that in fact, there was a miniature landscape of this tool-human world around us.In fact, we live in a world full of tool-humans, but the relationships among us are not so straightforward, not so crazy like what I have shown in the film. The scenes of the world that I showed in the film may be a little exaggerated. When we return to real life, you will find that all kinds of people around us are also being used as tools, and the essential relationship between people is just like that between rulers and tools in the film. Furthermore, in the interview behind the scenes, we found that people who are objected by rulers always have reasons for themselves to accept the world that they are used as tools, rather than to fight against the rules of this nonsense world. Maybe people will become numb after being used as a tool for a long time, and forget to resist, which makes me think of the movie plot of the Hunger Games. If the the world of tool-humans heroine didn't resist the rules that the world used the killing among people as games to entertain their "rulers", the world would always be unequal. We should rethink the relationship between ourselves and other people. The relationship between people should be caring and equal, rather than using others like tools or being used as tools. If not, the world will be so cold. Everyone has the right to be treated equally. Respect everyone, only when people have love will the world become more interesting.
EPILOGUE
