The Outsiders

Ah yes. Yet again another blog post.

The driving question for this project is, “How can the outsiders teach us about worldview?”. At the beginning of this project, we got introduced to the topic of worldview. We learnt the 7 aspects of worldview which are, geography, time, beliefs, society, values, economy, and knowledge. We also got introduced to what we would be doing during this project!

Worldview are like the goggles through which people see the world. The seven aspects of worldview, influence how we view the world. If you want to learn more about the wonderful topic of worldview, click here. One thing I noticed while doing this project is that each person that I would work with had a different view of the book (whether it’s characters or location) and that this made them think differently of it. For example some people believed that it was wrong for someone as young as Darry to take care of his brothers, and others thought it was completely fine.

First off, before we could start to question what the outsiders can teach us about worldview, we should probably read the book. We spent the first few weeks actually reading the book. We had to come prepared to each class with two sometimes three chapters from the book! I set a goal of reading two chapters each night unless the teacher assigned more. At the start of each class we got to discus the chapters with our assigned groups. We got to ask questions, and interact with the book, and I found that really helped me recall and learn more about the Outsiders. One thing I learnt while doing that is discussing and reflecting is a really good way to expand your thoughts and ideas, especially while working with other people. I made sure to take notes and highlight along the way while reading the book. I also summarized each chapter at the end so I would always have something to look back too. 

 

As I stared to learn more about these characters, I got to fill in a character deck. As soon as I found out and learned about a character, I wrote about them in the character deck. Therefore, when I was finished the book, I had something to look back too just in case I forgot. Here is what mine looked like. 

Outsiders Character Deck

After we got a look into the book and a first glance at the characters, we got to try out the ‘You vs. Who Character Analysis’. We got to pick a character from the book. We started to identify the different traits that these characters had and than retrieve evidence from the text to support these identified traits. After we knew these specific traits, we got to evaluate how these traits help shape the characters worldview. Here is how mine turned out! I found it really helpful doing this, because it made me look deeper into the characters traits, and I learned a lot more about Sodapop. It was also a good way to view worldview differently.

Around this time we got to dig deep into the plot of the book. For example, where each individual scene fell into each category; Exposition, introduction, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution. We got to draw out something that looked kinda like a triangle, and we labeled each part of the story. We also used this for the layout of where the tableau scenes where gonna go, but you will find more about that later.

The hardest part of this whole project is wrapping your head around the whole worldview idea. It’s a pretty big topic that I don’t 100% understand yet. Our next task was to brainstorm a bit about worldview. We got to use the app MindNode to make a brainstorm chart. We made 7 branches; for each section of worldview. 

The next step on uncovering what the outsiders can teach us about worldview is to find out how we can act as an “outsider”. The main idea is to have a tableau of a specific scene by the winter exhibition for PLP. I first learnt what a tableau even was and here is what I found out. 

What is a Tableau?

In a tableau, participants make still images with their bodies to represent a scene.

Tableau Checklist

• Different levels (high, medium, low)
• Different body shapes (open or closed)
• Effective use of physical space (balance + visibility)
• Strong poses that communicate a story
• Strong facial expressions that convey emotion
• Focus is appropriate and in character

We started to experiment with our acting skills by playing a bunch of games. At each class we got to play some acting activities like Frog in the Pond, Freeze, Body Parts etc. 

Before we got to start our tableau’s, we finally got to watch the movie. 

Finally. We are almost done. JUST KIDDING WE STILL HAVE TONS OF WORK TO DO!  

We got assigned our groups and scenes for the tableau. Our group luckily got the rumble! We started brainstorming our ideas for the final tableau by filling in our scene pitch form. We got to sketch out our Ideas separately, than put them all together.

Now its time to practise. We got the layout of how we will be preforming, along with the opportunity too run our lines and practice the tableau scene. We spent a lot of time building props, backgrounds, final ideas and costumes. Now. Now its time for the exhibition. 

Yay! Yesterday was the exhibition. I wrote the beginning of this blog post the day before the exhibition, now its a day after. At 3:00, we got to start the set up. We spent quite a bit of time reviewing our ideas. When we were setting up for the final tableau’s, we hung sheets over the bookshelves, because we were in the library. We took a couple time lapses, of us setting up the curtains, sheets, and trees! 

We were able to go through our tableau’s a couple times, and got into our costumes. Since we needed to have dinner, we got to eat pizza with our class! It was really good. Once we were no longer hangry, it was time to let the parents in. We preformed our tableau’s around 20-30 times. Our group was really, really nervous tho. We were missing two people from our tableau’s, so we did some meditative breathing before we started and hoped that all went well. This is a picture of our group at our performance place!

Around our 20th tableau, in our first scene, we had a little.. mishap. One group member couldn’t find her place and she was behind us, and it was really funny. Our group was trying so hard not to laugh, but I had to call scene early because we were all giggling a bit. It was Evangeline and I’s turn to speak and we just couldn’t do it. Evangeline couldn’t get any words out, we were laughing so hard. I had to face the other way because I just could not stop laughing! I managed to get my script out, but it was really hard. 

Im really really proud of how our group did, and I really had a nice time while at the exhibition. Thank you for reading!!