Tuesday 20 September 2016

@Phil Minor Project: The Anxiety Bird Creative writing task

I've continued to imagine a personification of  anxiety as a bird and have built on this visual image. 

The anxiety bird starts off smaller in size and can sit on your shoulder, it’s lighter in colour and assigns itself to protect you. It doesn’t want you to feel anxious to hurt you but instead to protect you from danger. It does not stay this size however, it grows to an unbearable weight and slowly becomes a much larger bird. As it grows it loses its baby feathers and grows a darker set of feathers which make it seem disorderly. Its beak is generally larger and is situated on a head with a somewhat longer than average bird neck. It uses these features and its beak to peck away at you and become a nuisance.  Its claws are long and are used to be able to perch in advantageous positions, from these positions it can observe and prey on you. It can use your own voice against you and can mimic your negative thoughts, trying to validate these as the truth. It’s wing span is large, roughly around the 2m region, and can easily swoop to your presence. Though it cannot pick you up in your entirety, it can use the power behind its wings to elevate you towards a different direction, changing how you want to be. 
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2 comments:

  1. The bird idea reminds me of the metaphor having an "albatross around one's neck = heavy burden of guilt that becomes an obstacle to success".

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  2. Okay - 2 more jobs then: I'd like you to draw the various life-stages of the anxiety bird as you'd describe here: think of it as a zoological illustration job, as in here: http://public.media.smithsonianmag.com/legacy_blog/Mexican-funnel-eared-bat.jpg
    http://66.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lqr6jw9N9y1qgzqeto1_500.jpg
    I want you to treat this illustrated guide as if the anxiety bird is a real creature and you're recording it in a semi-scientific way. This will mean looking at actual bird anatomy and structures to inform your design. Obviously, your anxiety bird can be exaggerated etc - but you should seek to treat it as a matter of scientific fact - check out these fun examples:

    https://onthatpage.wordpress.com/2011/06/30/anatomy-of-cartoon-characters/
    http://www.amusingplanet.com/2010/09/anatomical-cartoon-characters-by-jason.html

    You'll also want to look at actual birds that you think share the characteristics of your anxiety bird.

    The second thing I'd like you to do is think about writing a wild-life style documentary-style script that describes the behaviour of the anxiety bird - so something like this:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndMKTnSRsKM

    also see:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enu-qR0H_uk
    http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WildlifeCommentarySpoof

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