Portfolio Summative
This photo shows several skulls, colored mainly in bright, warm hues with different patterns. Some of them even used shiny dye inside the eye and nose to illustrate a warm environment. All of them, together with the flower decoration behind, combine to tell that death is not a harsh or threatening consequence but something general beyond life and continues. In general, it tells that death is not the opposite of life, but an integrated part to make life a complete story. In this festival, people paint colorful skulls to commemorate their family members who passed away, and they think people still live a life after they die. More specifically, the flowers behind play an essential role in reducing fear of death, as their colors are mostly golden or rose red, which convey a sense of satisfaction. The flowers themselves show that death is worth celebrating as well, just like other activities in life. In addition, it made a huge contrast with the skulls, except for the color and patterns on them, but not in conflict with them. It precisely presented the information that, because life is short, death gives life meaning since there are so many unfinished or unreached targets in life. From another perspective, the different patterns on the skulls probably reflect stories that dead people experienced when they were alive. Beyond the commemoration, it suggests the idea that forgetting might be something more serious and threatening than death, because after a person dies, there’s still someone who is alive who remembers him, and this kind of remembrance makes the “life” after death meaningful.
The song “See You Again,” composed by Wiz Khalifa, is a standard pop song about remembrance. This song shares a very similar perspective with the previous artwork or festival, both of which mainly describe the commemoration of a person. It basically expresses the sadness and reluctance after a kind person passed away, and the spiritual connection gets lost. The song suggests that death itself has no meaning, but every single moment that a person experiences before death accomplishes the meaning of life. Firstly, from the lyrics, the composer mentioned the phrase “I see you again” tons of times; this doesn’t mean he will actually see the dead person once in the future, but he had a huge connection based on their meaningful experience before the death. In addition, this song argues that death is not the end of any other thing except for life. In other words, death is a continuation of the story and experience, and it won’t cut off the connection between friends. Above all, another precise idea that the composer gives is that death is sudden; people might be aware of death, but people should not care too much about it. The pacing of the song suggested that there are several choruses and some rapping parts as well. The rapping parts give a sense that they are spending time together as friends, and the rest of the song is all peaceful and retrospective. The transition is sudden, which might illustrate the sudden end of one’s life, but the story and other meaningful things continue.
When comparing the 2 works, they have literally the same idea that death is neither threatening nor harsh; it is a general event in one’s life. Although they perform in different media, they both show a sense and feeling of beauty. The artwork used vivid color to paint the skull, and the music used a peaceful melody to create such an environment. The reason why they mark the death as beautiful is because of the meaningful connections made before the life or after the death. In addition, they both have a commemoration of the experience to emphasize the importance of life. Beyond that, their approaches are slightly different. That artwork includes a feeling of Spanish culture, and it is sort of grand. But the song is more about daily stuff and more about friendship instead of macro events. Nevertheless, they both contribute to the fact that death is not an ultimate or threatening ending but something less important, and the meaning comes from other experiences.