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mmménage à trois
the definition i looked into was menage, a synonym for family, and i discovered the ménage à trois. looking into some famous ones to present on, i learnt about lenin/his wife nadezhda krupskaya/inessa armand. lenin and krupskaya had a long-standing, loving union for over a decade, working together both personally and in politics. in paris, lenin and armand both worked and lived for a number of years, and thus developed a strong bond, possibly blurring the lines of their relationship. Yegorov quotes Chernyshevsky saying, “Essentially, everything is allowed as long as it is based on mutual respect,”; in lenin/krupksaya/armand's relationship, the three seemed to get along and make each other happy while it lasted, before he decided to be fully faithful to krupskaya. the ménage à trois, then, drawing from the above anecdote and from my research, is a type of polyamory specifically including three people in a freely-flowing, amorous relationship. it seems loose in definition, the situation depending on the feelings and comfort of those involved. the setup can serve the purpose of one primary partner, two primary partners accepting a third into their relationship with some amorous sense, or three partners that are all romantically-intertwined. see for yourself
the handsies
The year is 3782. Earth is in ruins; most of humanity has opted for a more comfortable survival on Mars, where natural gas and ore are plentiful as they once were on their decimated planet. From the humans who decided to remain on Earth, who have all convened in tropical Antartica for welfare’s sake, emerge two groups: The Handsies, a group/cult/family of cisgender, gay men who believe in the exclusion of divergent identification for “efficiency and betterment of society” and The Grounded, their all-accepting counterpart, an effort spearheaded by female and nonbinary agents.
The Handsies cohabitate, somewhat codependently, relying on each other as a means of mental stability and on a giant hand statue for survival ability. They believe that they hand will provide when they ask, that it is the all-knowing, the maker of fate. Further, they believe in a society that functions without the “troublesome and unnecessary woman,” therefore eliminating the need for reproduction and the complications that come along with it, health-wise or personally for either party. Such beliefs leads them to live a relatively simple life, waking up to beg and sleeping to repent for doing so.
works cited
to make this stopmotion, i made the sculptures out of cardboard and hot glue. i juxtaposed them with items that i found around my apartment to create the full scene.
i set up the items on their background. once i was pleased with the camera setup and framing, i took ~120 photos. i moved the characters a tiny bit in between each photo.
i then put the photos into premiere and made them 00:00:00:02 seocnds long each and deleted some extras to make the movement smooth.
when i was done making the motion part, i recorded myself singing a tune straight into audition. then, i added some sounds on top of it that personified the characters, kind of making them talk. i also added a celebratory sound for when the characters found the ball. from there, i exported the soundtrack back into premiere and edited and layered the tracks a bit more.
