Blog #2

Our assignment is to relate one thing from the reading to our everyday world. Well all I had to do was read the first page and I had found my inspiration. On page 585 when the book discusses the tableaux vivants is where I found my muse. The tableaux vivants, or "living pictures" were people that got dressed up in costumes and as the book says 'stood "absolutely frozen, like statues" to re-create scenes from their own town's most celebrated work or art'. This was how some townspeople welcomed Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy, to Ghent in 1458. The townspeople completely reminded me of the street performers that I've seen in Las Vegas and in San Francisco. The most vivid one is the man that is dressed from head to toe in silver, even with silver face paint, that looks exactly like a life-like robot. He just stands completely still like a statue until someone drops money into his cup and then he acts like a robot. But even today we have tableaux vivants. They are townspeople that dress up, entertain, and welcome tourists and out-of-towners.