Week 6 Discussion

From the lecture, what I understood is that Jacques Derrida’s concept of deconstruction challenges is the idea that texts have fixed, unified meanings by revealing the internal contradictions and unstable binaries. Like, for example nature versus culture. Derrida’s goal isn’t to destroy meaning, but to show how meaning is always in flux, shaped by language’s inherent instability, sortof how you deliver what you are trying to say. Derrida makes us rethink how meaning, identity, and culture are meant to be taken, like the process of things, and not as the finished product/outcome.

I think that Julia Kristeva’s work can be challenging to understand and can have you confused in some moments because it blends psychoanalysis, feminism, and structuralist theory in abstract ways. One confusing concept is her emphasis on the maternal body as a bridge between nature and culture. She describes the maternal body as “two-in-one” or “other-within,” which confused me a bit and I couldn’t visualize what she was trying to say.

The video I found most interesting was the one about Stranger Things. I like how it takes other media from sources and makes it into the character. Like Eleven is kind of like ET, the character from that movie. Stranger Things basically demonstrates how intertextuality can be deeply meaningful when used with intention and emotional clarity. Another example would be when the boys from Stranger Things’ references to Dungeons & Dragons. They aren’t just nostalgic, but they’re also functional. They use those metaphors to understand their world, build trust, and navigate danger.

We met on zoom call at 2:00pm. It was me, Carmen and Lauren on the call. Sidney did not attend.