Slayerfan714

Hey guys.

Just thought this would be a fun thread to discuss the paintings and the symbolism behind the paintings and how you thought they may have related to the episodes themselves.



Hope to get some good discussions going!

ollibear

Cool idea for a thread, Alyssa! I will give it some thought.

One of my favorites was (and is) Starry Night. I love that episode.

cassias

Fabulous episode. Decent painting too

looking at the stars

that is a really great idea!

Slayerfan714

Yay!

Glad people like the idea!

I think Starry Starry Night is very beautiful as well.

ollibear

I like the etching for The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters, too.

Maybe it is because I went to see some of Edgar Allan Poe's work performed live on stage today, but that drawing speaks to me. I like it.

I also love that episode. I like how Emmett's guilt is a monster in its own right.

ollibear

What are everyone's favorite episode titles (and corresponding art work) from each season?

There's been some amazing art over the last few years.

I research and read about every single piece. I feel like I am getting an education in art history, in addition to ASL lessons, every time I watch Switched at Birth.

I LOVE THAT.

I'll go through soon and post links to some of my favorite works of art. Some of the pieces have been quite thought-provoking, just like the episodes that go with them.

coffee&tv

Would anybody be up for digging up this topic?

The very first episode was titled "This is not a pipe" which is not a title of the painting per se, but a translation of a sentence painted under the image of a pipe.

The Treachery of Images

Bay explaines it pretty well to Tay in their first conversation, comparing herself to an aubergine It corresponds pretty well with the idea of switched girls, living under somebody else's label, being "me in the other life".

What I found interesting now is how it relates now to Bay's current art, her image vs text ideas.

Fancier description of Magritte's art can be found here.

Slayerfan714

I am a freelance court reporter, so I go to all different law firms, etc. Last week, I was in one that had these freaky deaky paintings and I totally forgot about it. After looking at this thread, I remembered. And they were totally Magritte paintings! It was the one with the apple.

I was weirdly proud of myself for thinking it was Magritte in the room too. I wasn't 100% sure until I confirmed it, but I was

ollibear

See, you go and pull up an old thread like this one and share some super cool ideas, and suddenly, I can't hate the writers as much as I want to right now.

You remind me how much I love them.

This quote (from the description of Magritte's art) jumps off the page:

This masterpiece of Surrealism creates a three-way paradox out of the conventional notion that objects correspond to words and images.

That quote does remind me of Bay's art this season. She is playing with words and images. Bay is asking, "What is reality?"

Is that what the writers of Switched at Birth are doing, too? The question not only applies to Bay's artwork, to any artwork, but it seems to apply to the show itself.

That quote also makes me realize that one of the things that has me so negative about the writing of Switched at Birth is that I feel fooled. I feel duped. I feel betrayed.

As a fan, I try hard not to feel or act as though I am entitled to something from the writers of Switched at Birth. I make a conscious effort. I try to be thoughtful and patient. I do my best to wait for the resolution, for the long view. I understand that just because I may not like the direction a story goes, that does not mean the writing is poor.

But I want that same thoughtfulness from the writers. I need to see evidence of reflection, evidence that the writers have given careful consideration to their story.

Also, I need explanations, for times when the writers diverge from what they themselves have created.

It is okay for writers to go in new and different directions, but fans deserve to see a rationale for their decisions. Writers owe fans an explanation.

Interviews and tweets are not sufficient. I do not want to be told. I do not need to agree with the writers' rationale, but they need to have one. Their rationale needs to be evident in the story itself.

I also believe the writers owe fans an honest effort. Viewers can see when the writers are phoning it in over time. I understand life is hectic. I understand people make mistakes. But when a writer has created a particular storyline to be a vital part of the overall theme, it's inexcusable to neglect it.

Lastly, and this one goes hand in hand with effort, writers owe fans an internal truthfulness. Some seasons, especially Seasons 1A, 1B, and 2A, the voice of the writers is so crystalline clear that I get goosebumps, and other times, like the Season 4B Finale, their voice feels trite or cliche.

Those moments, especially in a season finale, disappoint.

I was expecting growth in the voice of the writers, and I didn't see it. Have the writers been learning and growing these last four years, too? Have they reached a deeper understanding of what it means to be different? If so, it should be evident in their writing. They should not fall into a rut.

Will the writers explore the same concepts that they already have covered with Daphne, now with Baby Carlton? Will they explore the same concepts that they already have covered with Emmett, now with Travis?

I would have rather dug deeper with Daphne, than start over with Baby Carlton.

I would have rather dug deeper with Emmett, than start over with Travis.

Here's one sign that the writers might be telling the same story over and over again. When TV Line interviewed Lizzy Weiss after the Season 4B Finale, she said:

"You’re right that Emmett set her free for now. And what was really important for that moment, for me, was that Emmett basically apologizes for not standing by her with the Tank episode. He’s just a kid himself, and he had his own set of issues and feelings when that happened with Tank. With some distance, he now realizes how Bay felt about him not standing by her."

And when Celebrity Yahoo interviewed Lizzy Weiss after the Season 1B Finale, she said:

"A lot of fans held him up as this perfect guy, but he's just a kid! He was in a terrible place emotionally and he did something stupid, which people of all ages do, especially 16-year-old boys. [We want] to take time and really be honest about what would happen, [but] of course there's hope! That was a true love and true love never goes away."

So Emmett was a "just a kid" at 16, when he cheated on Bay with Simone, and Emmett was "just a kid" at 19, when he abandoned Bay, after she got into a messy situation with Tank.

What is the difference in Emmett's story? Where is his growth? I guess the difference is that this time he tells Bay their relationship was over, before he has sex with Skye?

Is that supposed to be progress? Or regression?

After Emmett's first mistake, he immediately regretted it. He worked two solid years to heal what he had damaged with Bay. Emmett seemed to appreciate their new relationship with a deeper understanding of the value of Bay's love.

And then, Emmett dumps Bay at her lowest point and goes on to happily have a year-long relationship with someone new, involving domesticity, like sharing a new puppy and completely forgets about Bay?

That's surreal alright.

I guess it happens in real life, but it flies in the face of everything I thought I knew about Emmett. He was the young man who declared he doesn't give up. He was the young man who proclaimed Bay his perfect girl. He is the young man who promised Bay, "I will always find you."

I had Emmett pegged as loyal, and I guess that is the one thing he is missing.

But he is not missing it, too. Emmett is loyal.

And like I said, Switched at Birth is the most surreal show I have ever watched on TV.

Surrealistic art is supposed to be disconcerting. It is supposed to make us uncomfortable. Perhaps the writers purposefully mean for Switched at Birth to be a surreal TV series.

Often, I have seen Lizzy Weiss tweet that she enjoys reversing things, switching them, so to speak. For instance, these are just a small handful of literally dozens of tweets that express her affinity for doing this in her writing:

Last premiere, Toby yelled at Daphne about letting Bay take the fall, and again, we've reversed it. #SwitchedatBirth #SwitchedatBirthchat

Daphne gives it to Emmett. I really wanted the flip on last season. Deep friendships go like this. #SwitchedatBirth #SwitchedatBirthChat

#bemmett fans will notice the 'I don't want you' reference is a flip on the original 'I want you' -'I choose you' from Season 1.

I was watching a moment of Season 1 Episode 11 "Starry Night" the other day. At the end, Bay tells Emmett, "I wish we didn't need Daphne."

He replies, "Someday, we won't." Bay was jealous of Daphne.

And yet, here we are nearly four years later, and Bay is wild about Daphne. Bay threw away her opportunity to accompany Emmett to LA, in order to help Daphne. And Bay didn't regret it.

Now, Bay is off for an adventure to China with Daphne. Bay is all about Daphne. I'm not sure when she got over her jealousy (or how or why). I'm not sure why Bay is so head over heels in love with Daphne, as her sister.

What inspired that kind of loyalty and dedication, when Daphne has shown nothing like that towards Bay?

Daphne wasn't even friendly with Bay, until after she took the fall for her. I'm not sure what it is all supposed to mean.

And why was Bay so loyal to Tank, even more so than to Emmett? Was it only because Bay felt guilty for cheating on Tank? Was it also because Emmett had cheated on her? Was that trust between them gone forever? And if it was not, is it now that Emmett abandoned Bay in an hour of great need?

In an interview, after the sexual consent story, Lizzy Weiss said:

We want to continue the story past the political fall out from campus and move on from that. We wanted to deal with it on the personal level with her and her boyfriend,” Weiss explains. “There was a lot more to do with that. We really wanted to do the story about this and chose Bay thinking, ‘That will be so interesting to examine through Emmett’s point of view.'"

'Switched at Birth' creator weighs in on Bay and Emmett's post-rape future | Zap2It

But did the writers examine ANYTHING through Emmett's point of view?

Emmett told Bay that he wasn't okay with what happened. He ended their relationship, when she arrived in LA. And then, Emmett returned home to say that he was proud of Bay for still standing, after all of the horrible things that happened to her in the last year (especially her idiot boyfriend dumping her, when she thought he would stand by her forever). Interestingly enough, Emmett left off Angelo's death (from his list), which I feel was the biggest loss Bay suffered all year, and it came after her rejection from Pratt.

I know Emmett's world blossomed in LA, but I wish he had taken inventory of his losses, as well. I needed to see that. The writers owed me that.

In another interview, this month, Lizzy Weiss said that in another 20 years, Emmett might think differently about his decision to abandon Bay on the beach.

Great. I guess we will never see that story, since it will take 20 years. It reminds me of when my first love's father told me that had spoken to his son, and if we ever ended up together, his son felt it would be after we had both married and had children with other people.

Oddly enough, though, my first love married someone else the next year, divorced her a few months later, and was coming over to my apartment for dinner several times a week, immediately after that.

Life does have a lot of twists and turns. It is surreal. Maybe the writers are right where they need to be, but the discomfort of surrealism is magnified exponentially when watching a TV series.

It is different than simply looking at a work of art.

I love this quote that I found in an essay on surrealism:

Somewhat counter-intuitively, a research team led by psychologist Verena Graupmann of DePaul University reports surrealistic art can serve this same purpose. It argues that the disconcerting quality of such works allows viewers to liberate their thinking "from mundane limitations and fears" and forge "a connection with a more holistic level of meaning."

http://www.psmag.com/books-and-cultu...stic-art-98559

It gives me hope that Switched at Birth will liberate my "thinking 'from mundane limitations and fears' and forge 'a connection with a more holistic level of meaning' for me, too. Maybe that's why I am so drawn to and fascinated by this show, even when it is so disconcerting. And painful to my soul.

coffee&tv

Well, is there anything more surrealistic than finding out you were switched at birth? All those questions, what ifs, every single doubt we have about our "normal" life and decisions doubled? It's the most visible in the last look Daphne gives Bay at the end of the episode. That gives an extra layer of meaning for writers choice of name for girls.

Just read about the second episode, "American Gothic" - one of the most parodied paintings in American art. The artists reason to paint this was "to show the house and people that may live in it". The first scene in the episode? A shot of Kennishes mansion. And the whole episode revolves around showing differences between Kennishes and Vasquezes, parenting styles, family traditions, inside jokes. Religion vs lack of, pro and anti gun choices, wallpaper vs eggplant walls. From then, layer by layer we make our own minds about them and we find out if the people we see are the people fitting into this house and guest house.

~AnastasiaGrey~

Great post I agree

coffee&tv

I've read a bit about a painting from the third episode (Portrait of My Father) and I'm just left wondering if Lizzy Weiss really things about all the meanings behind her choices.

The story behind the original painting (you can see it here is extraordinary, and so different from the story behind Bay's canvas. It took seven years for Stephen Kaltenbach to finish this piece, it's huge, magical, so detailed and a perfect way to celebrate the memory of his father. In comparison Bay's portrait was small and simple- just as her knowledge of her father was. She didn't know him, none of her questions were answered, and although she felt a need to express all those feelings inside, she didn't have any references or tools but some paint and tape.

ollibear

I wonder that, too. It feels as though she does, but then, I've seen tweets where she states that certain details are mere coincidence, so I don't know.

It's sad, isn't it? So much pain for Bay surrounding Angelo and his death. I don't feel as though she has processed any of it yet. Emmett was there to help Bay find Angelo, and he was there to help Bay say goodbye to Angelo. I wonder if Emmett could help Bay with this last piece to the puzzle? I would like to believe Emmett will.

If I had more time, I would love to analyze more of the art work and compare/contrast it to the episodes. I am particularly intrigued by the artwork surrounding the episodes with Bay & Tank.

I'll write more soon about that, if we can keep our board open through this warning period.

~AnastasiaGrey~

I think maybe she did. I always got the expression that she did.