Out of my comfort zone …

When I began my MA a year ago, I had no idea what to expect and that state of mind continues with my studies and the current global issues.  The phrase ‘out of one’s comfort zone’ was expressed regularly; as a 70-year-old grandma during a pandemic that seemed unlikely.  Nonetheless a devil for punishment I was prepared to be proved differently.  As I have already discussed I have been researching stop motion film making with mixed results and much discomfort.  However, with the pain there has been much delight; especially during lockdown and its recent continuation.  It would be churlish for me to give up before I had barely begun.  When my tutor saw this video and the cart made by brother; she reminded me of a play by Bertolt Brecht called Mother Courage; a chronicle play of the 30-year war. Mother Courage follows the armies with a cart selling provisions and liquor to the troops with tragic result for her and her family.  While I cannot compare my experiences during my life and the pandemic with hers; it should be noted that wars, corruption and deprivation continue, and Brecht’s message is as valid now as it was then.  Another phrase shared over the last few months ‘all in same boat’ or in my case ‘cart’ is clearly not true; we are in the same ocean, but we are all left to flounder and make sense of the confusion in an unequal society.

So, my stories and films will be linked to the cart; I won’t pretend the stories will be anti-war or damning to the present government.   It will be an opportunity to tell stories and practice stop motion filming that might not have been possible when life was so much more comfortable; until we have a vaccine and out of lockdown.