WHAT IS SHADED MUSE
Now that you know who ella is, you must wonder what shaded muse is. And I wish I could answer you in a few words but shaded muse is so much more than that. First of all, it’s my blog name ‘muse in the shade’ is literally shaded muse but make it more poetic lol. It’s also my social media username. But more importantly it’s me, ella. I chose shaded muse because I feel represented by it. It means a muse, hidden in the shadow of uncertainty, but also denying her potential, just lonely and gifted but untapped.. and that’s the paradox. Shaded muse is an antithesis because how can a muse dwell in a shadow ? Yet that’s the point, muses are usually hidden by their own insecurities, scared of their own light. Shaded muse is naked but faceless and silent. I took my inspiration from many type of art that I devided in four categories.
If Shaded Muse embodies who I am, then its soul is nourished by the art that inspires me. First, Wong kar wai, my fav filmmaker ever, inspired me so much to create shaded muse. In the mood for love, fallen angels, chungking express.. These are masterpieces that literally shifted something in me. He inspired me through his hushed and atmospheric movies where you can feel all emotions without any word. The rest is hidden, it’s still inspiring like a muse but his universe makes you look between the lines to find this muse. His movies are almost silent but share every bit of intimacy. Just shaded muse. It’s like something you think is untapped but in reality it uses every bit of its potential, just in silence. Just like shaded muse. If we take this cinematographic approach, I also get my inspiration by Princess Mononoké, my fav ghibli. It suits shaded muse perfectly, but more than anything, it helped create it with all the other elements. Mononoké (もののけ) is a japanese words that means ‘being of the unseen’. It’s the perfect personification of shaded muse. The protagonist San, is a shaded muse. Born to be a princess, forced to be being of the unseen. Even the title itself represents shaded muse : the princess is the muse and mononoké is the shade in it. I love all ghiblis but this one has a special meaning for me, and that’s why it inspired me so much.
Moreover, I get the inspiration through poetry, and especially through one poem itself : ‘Hymn to Intellectuals Beauty’ written by Percy Bysshe Shelley in 1816. (fun fact he’s the husband of Mary Shelley, the woman who wrote Frankenstein, and I discovered Percy through her) The poem itself is quite long, but the beginning hit me hard :
‘The awful shadow of some unseen Power
Floats through unseen among us, - visiting
This various world with as inconstant wing’.
Beautiful, I love all of his poems, he’s a romantic poet which obviously makes me love him, but this poem specifically is a subtle way to describe how I think of shaded muse. This awful shadow of some unseen power is definitely the shaded side, while those inconstant wing is the muse. The only thing that makes it fly, the bright side trapped and lost in its own shade. I also think shaded muse is so gothic romantic coded. Just like Mary Shelly universe.