Carmen - Return to College Recap
- Echo Caelia Goddard
- Sep 29, 2020
- 3 min read

Over the summer holidays we were tasked with watching Georges Bizet's famous opera; Carmen, a sensual and shocking performance centred around a brazen heroine.
In Monday's first lesson back the class engaged in watching various adaptations of the popular Carmen, as it is one of the most performed operas of all time. Even though it is incredibly successful now, it hadn't always been that way. Back when the opera had its debut Georges Bizet was met with many criticisms as it was highly controversial for the 1870s audience. We must understand that the context of that time means having a free-loving-Gypsy woman as the lead role was met with much dismay due to the societal norms which expected women to be submissive and obediently faithful. However today it is highly celebrated for its supposed feminist themes.
This lesson enabled us as a class to open up the discussion on how themes are portrayed in the modern interpretation versus the original intentions. Most of us like to think that Georges Bizet was conscious enough to create his main character as a femme fatale in the name of feminist representation before its time but the reality is was likely a shock tactic used to throw the audience, possibly motivated by his previously unsuccessful works. Bizet had worked hard trying to come up with a masterpiece but always fell short so I believe that in desperation he was struck by the idea of a wild Gypsy temptress who would eventually meet her tragic end as a result of not getting what she wants. Perhaps this was also foreshadowing the theory that Bizet took his own life as a direct result of his repeated failure to be accepted by his critics and audiences.
Whether you believe him to be an early feminist campaigner through his work or you saw him more as a desperate man seeking excellence there is no doubt Carmen made a huge impact on the culture of the time and still continues to do so today. Through numerous adaptations Carmen herself has reflected many different women and their positions in society in each era. A notable performance that supports this is theory Calixto Bieito’s rendition set in 1970s Franco Spain, where Carmen is able to be even more sexualised due to the contrast in clothing between the two eras as well as how women had already progressed slightly further in society.

The intention of these introductory lessons was to explore the Opera in depth, in order to gain enough knowledge to create a solid foundation for idea generation. The start of the course requires evidence of experimentation, that being in a range of ways but mainly through mood boards and iteration. Iteration is a key element of any design journey as we tend to stick with one idea and become afraid to let it go, iteration helps us to let go. We start with a simple idea then deconstruct and distort it, making it ever-changing. Mood boards are a great way to start this process because they require us to take inspiration from existing things, whether that be observations in nature or other artists work. What makes a mood board successful is a combination of colour palettes, fabric samples, primary and secondary observation photography and sketches. I will be documenting my making process in my upcoming blog post.
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