Cabot Fox

This Is “{[‘(not)’]}” For Me / or / The Spiral of Disillusioned Masculinity - Poems and Other Texts

Working primarily in text, both physical and digital, I am working to create a series of writings that examine primarily Western and American masculinity through the analysis of popular and lesser known media, ranging from novels to television series to music. I also wish to incorporate audio recorded performances of creative works such as poetry and short stories which will be interwoven through the rest of the academic style writing. By contrasting and creating a blend of stylized and sterilised writing to comment on the rigidity of the current landscape of writing from a Western, Canadian, post-settler mindset that determines the worth of a text through its ability to deliver clear messages that do not deviate from normality set up by these mindsets that reduce the individual within the institution as unnecessary. Looking into toxicity fueled by and in support of masculine desires of power and control, the texts delve into the mindsets that have become popular due to high exposure media when crossed against low critical thinking or media literacy skills.It is important to me that in this digital age I create texts and works that are easily accessible to a large audience, but it is also important to be able to retain physicality in my projects, and so physical copies of the project shall be made alongside the main presentation of the digital text and audio. I’d like to incorporate handwritten sections as well as randomised, possibly generative text portions that follow no outline or style preset. It is important to understand the blending of the physical and the digital, as living in the 21st century often does so to things in the everyday. I start my academic writing by creating outlines and illustrating points I wish to make followed by finding supporting evidence, and for my creative writing, I often find myself in these fugue-like states wherein most if not all of my attention is given to the page and the words being typed or written onto it. I have begun reading an incredulous amount of texts, from Frank Herbert’s Dune for the third time to the Legends of King Arthur in the attempt to understand the deep rooted claws of toxicity and its prevalence in media to be able to better understand where these ideas are coming from and how they have sustained themselves through meticulous design. With in-depth analyses of various forms of media and its view of masculinity and how its toxicity permeates through the rest of westernised culture, it will be clear that its talons have dug deep into the social unconscious. Along with this clinical view of media, I will also create, upload, and distribute poetry and creative text and audio based pieces to punctuate the academic with the creative; the right brain with the left brain. I will develop and create an intriguing and thought provoking peek into the mind of masculinity and my own as I delve into the pits of the modern western canon of media that have been co-opted by those who seek power and dominion over others.

“^^^^^^^^^ Click here to see the full workHelloThank you for reading and or listeningThis is a project I’ve been thinking of for quite some time. I hope you like it. t̶h̶i̶s̶ i̶s̶ “̶{̶[̶‘̶(̶n̶o̶t̶)̶’̶]̶}̶”̶ f̶o̶r̶ m̶e̶t̴͇̦̦͑͘h̵̡͉̼̓͝i̸͖̙͇͊̿̽s̵̢̟̞̒̈́ i̸̙̺͒͌͋s̴̡̞̪͊͘ “̵͎͖͒̈́̚{̸̼͖͐͆͛[̴̟̟̝̔̒‘̴͔͇̫̽͒͐(̸̘̼̈́̓̈́n̵̝̪͓͒͝o̴͚͎̺͑̔͝t̴̼̝̓͌͜͝)̸̘̠͆͋͘’̸̪͍̦͑̿̀]̸̡̺̻͒́͠}̴̞͍͕͊̔͘”̸̢͚͍̽̀͛ f̸͚̺̽͘͜͝ó̴͉̘̔̈́͜r̴̡͕͓̓͝ m̸͇̺̻̈́͝͝ë̸̙́̐͜͝ǝɯ ɹoⅎ ﮼{[’(ʇou)‘]}﮼ sᴉ sᴉɥʇI implore you to read the pieces that speak to you in the way and order you wish. One last piece of advice:This is for anyone.”