Week 11

This week I watched Interstellar,  and I was completely blown away by this amazing movie. Now I don't usually swear in these blog posts but HOLY SHIT THAT WAS FREAKING AMAZING. I actually had to not do anything for a good hour after watching it just to process what happened.

Anyway, Interstellar follows humanity’s last-ditch effort to find a new habitable planet – after Earth is ravaged by environmental catastrophe. Cooper, a pilot turned farmer was asked to go on a mission by NASA to find another habitable planet for humans. A lot of this movie had to do with complex physics, which the director (Christopher Nolan), probably researched extensively. I love things related to time travel, science, space-time, space travel, black holes, and supernatural beings.

The characters in the movie refer to the supernatural/extraterrestrial beings as "THEY". “THEY” are an advanced race who have unlocked the secrets of dimensional travel and, for some reason, decided to help mankind in escaping an almost uninhabitable Earth. The NASA team believes that the beings may be either unable or unwilling to communicate directly with humans (which would make things infinitely easier) because “THEY” are fifth-dimensional, having transcended humans' three-dimensional ways of understanding the universe. Brand thinks “THEY” have laid out a series of primitive (in their opinion) breadcrumbs (binary messages) and advanced technology (the wormhole) for humans to follow – in order to save ourselves from annihilation.

Week 14: Satire and Sci-Fi

This week I read the famous Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins.  I did watch the movies before, but I haven't read the books, but I'm really glad I did. The movies don't compare to the books in my opinion, just because I feel like there's something in a book that a movie can't match....yeah images are worth a thousand words but if those words are amazing I think it's worth the time it takes to read it.

I forgot where but I read somewhere that the districts are supposed to be in post apocalyptic America, and they were supposed to be in major cities, the Capital being in Washington D.C. When compared to other post apocalyptic fiction novels, the Hunger Games shows many similarities to different categories within this genre. Since nowhere in the series does it actually say what caused the apocalypse that made America into Panem, the disaster is left up to the us to imagine. But, this society definitely had the ability to create nuclear weapons. One was even used by the Capital to annihilate District 13. Nuclear war could have created mass panic and the fragmentation of the current government leading to chaos. Usually when there mass chaos and the absence of guidance for the people, one individual or group tends to rise above the rest and take control, aka Prez Snow.

One big theme is survival. Survival seems to be the most obvious one as the point of the Hunger Games is to be the last one standing. Throughout the novels, all Katniss thinks about is surviving and helping Peeta survive as well. In fact, one of the only bits of advice that Haymitch, their mentor, offers is to “Stay alive”. This applies not only to the fights in the games, but also (especially in Mockingjay), to the rebellion against The Capital.

Week 13: Literary Speculation

This week I read A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L'Engle. A Wrinkle in Time is the story of Meg Murry, a young girl who is transported through time and space with her younger brother Charles Wallace and her friend Calvin O'Keefe to save her father a scientist, from the evil forces that hold him prisoner on another planet. At the beginning of the book, Meg is a homely, awkward, but loving girl, troubled by anxiety and her concern for her father, who has been missing for over a year. The plot begins with the arrival of Mrs. Whatsit at the Murry house on a dark and stormy evening. Although she looks like a hobo, she is actually a supernatural creature with the ability to read Meg's thoughts. She startles Meg's mother by reassuring her of the existence of a tesseract--a sort of "wrinkle" in space and time. It is through the tesseract that Meg and her companions travel through the fifth dimension in search of Mr. Murry.

The concept statement of this book is basically "Love conquers all." We see this when IT possesses Charles Wallace, but Meg uses love (which she realized could help after being in the arms of Aunt Beast) to drive IT away out of Charles. 

Another theme is that sometimes complete symmetry/rhythm can be extremely creepy. Imagine walking onto a street in which all houses look EXACTLY the same, and all the kids playing on the street are doing the EXACT same thing and the EXACT same time. And if they mess up, it looks like someone just died horribly. Kinda got an image? Now imagine a whole WORLD of that. Its unbelievable and unimaginable. If you want you can also imagine that everyone on this godforsaken planet has a brain controlled by another HUGE disembodied brain which knows nothing of love. Weird.

I also really appreciated the addition of the fourth and fifth dimension in this book. I've always found that type of thing really interesting, and I love reading about theories about it. Its even more fascinating that its pretty much possible if we had the means to do it. I've also always wondered if it could somehow be done and if we could travel really far away.

Week 12:

Are there any prominent symbols in the story?

One symbol I noticed in Bloodchild was the what the Terrans actually represented. An element of this short story is the way in which humans are deprived of their humanity and reduced to a function.....a mere object. Humans themselves are a symbol of slavery/poverty. In the story Gan says, “She parceled us out... and an independent people”. Here, humans are merely bargaining point. Even more so, humans are just a vessel for  giving birth for the Tlic.  This is conveyed in the figure/symbol of Lomas. Contrasting from the other characters in the story who actually interact with each other, the narrator, T’Gatoi, Lien, and others, Lomas appears for a short amount of time as an unwilling participant in a Tlic birth. He appears as an example of horrible unfair circumstances. Throughout Lomas’ narration he is figuratively and physically dehumanized. Physically, Lomas is mutilated by the parasitic Tlic larva within his body that eat away at his flesh and by T’Gatoi, who cuts open Lomas in an effort to extract the Tlic Larva. Figuratively, Lomas is reduced by the narration that was seen in the story.

What connections did you make with the story?

I didn't relate specifically to any of the situations in the story (I'm not really a host for an alien creature) but I do understand that making hard choices and being placed difficult situations is very tough and nerve-wracking. Especially when you have to shoulder the responsibility after making those choices. When Gan had to choose between being a host and letting that his sister do it, I felt like that was a situation in which a lot of responsibility was in the choice he made. I've had very similar situations.

What changes would you make to adapt this into another medium? What medium would you use?
I would make this into a graphic novel..... I mean it certainly is very graphic. It would be easier to convey emotion through pictures and staging through words, and all the visuals of the grotesque grubs eating away at Lomas' flesh would be laid out for the audience to see. I might end the story more dramatically and grotesquely than how the author ended it tough, because I could use my design and story sense to change how the audience takes the information.

Week 10: The Fiction of Ideas

This week I read Farenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury. I know it was on the watching list, and not the reading list, but I've heard so many good things about the book, so I decided to read it instead.

I thought the book was absolutely brilliant. I thought a world without books would be absurd, but Bradbury manages to make the world seem like reality with his writing. I found several things in the book interesting.

Two of the most interesting characters in the novel are Captain Beatty and Faber. They seem to be central to the novel, but at the same time play no active role. Beatty provides the history and background to the decline of books in society and role of firemen burning in them. Faber on the other hand guides our main character, Guy Montag through his mundane existence using an ear-piece after witnessing his attempt to tear pages from the Bible. The two characters help the reader understand the theme, the damage some forms of media will have on literature.

Montag meets a girl Clarisse, who basically changes his life forever. I think Bradbury is trying to show that relationships can change a persons outlook on life very drastically. After meeting her, Montag starts noticing aspects of life he never noticed before and begins to do simple but spontaneous actions like tasting the rain and laughing. Bradbury also shows the contrast between two entirely different worlds, Montag's and Clarisse's.

Week 9: Space Opera

Well, pretty much like everyone else in the western world, when I hear the words 'space opera', I immediately think of Star Wars. And then I think about Star Trek. Mostly because they're the most popular space operas to come out to the public and were of course, widely successful.

As a child (actually even now I would read it) I read a bunch of Star Wars novels involving Anakin Skywalker's life from when he was picked up by Qui-Gonn, to when he became a Jedi Knight (Revenge of the Sith). I thought these were super interesting to read actually, especially knowing that the main character would eventually become one of the most feared villains of all time.

In addition to these, I also really loved the books that illustrated long after the Empire fell; when Han and Leia's kids had grandkids! It was very enjoyable to read and very refreshing.

I even went so far as to write my own sequel to the sixth book, involving Luke Skywalker and a lost spirit recalling technology that was found to bring back Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader as two separate beings. It also (somehow) brings back Yoda and Anakin's rival from his Padawan days (Ferus Olin), who Darth Vader killed between the fifth and sixth movie. It was a fairly complicated plot, there were a bunch of scraggly drawings at the bottom of each page(the drawings were probably worse than I remember) and I don't think it made a WHOLE lot of sense, but I thought it wasn't bad for a ten year old!

But yeah, Star Wars is my space jam. Haha get it. Space Jam. Okay I'll stop.

Week 8: Mythic Fiction and Contemporary Urban Fantasy

Today in class we watched Coraline and seeing how they translated the novel to the movie was very interesting and fun to watch. I actually didn't see the movie; this was the first time I was seeing the movie. Given that I already knew the plot, I was focusing on the cinematography and animation (mostly cause we're learning both in classes: I'm a Computer Animation major).

I think that the fact that LAIKA endeavored on this film was very surprising, but also very unsurprising. The plot is pretty perfect for an animated film: interesting, exaggerated, and suspenseful. Although some of the themes are cliche (curiosity kills the cat, be careful what you sit for), the visuals made up for whatever doubts I had about the movie. The mere fact that this movie was made with stop-motion makes it all the more creepy and hooking. The slight stiffness and surrealism of the animation totally fits the tone of the movie. I thought it was a very good balance, fluid when it had to be, yet "jagged" in some instances. The interesting thing was that I thought that the Other Mother and her world's animation was more fluid and interesting than the real world's animation.

The movie also had another key character that wasn't present in the book: Wyborn "Wybie" Lovat wasn't mentioned at all in the book, but in the movie he was seen as annoying and quirky. His other, mute self is a strong ally in the Other World, essentially sacrificing himself for her. In the end he saves her life again by crushing the Other Mother's hand.

The movie definitely succeeded in thoroughly creeping me out, and I didn't even get to the scary part yet! Definitely would watch, and I'm going to finish it soon.

Week 7: The Novel of Spiritual Education

When I saw we were watching Harry Potter during class, I got very excited. Like a lot of people, I read all the books religiously, and watched the movies so many times I pretty much have each and every line memorized. I still have a tradition of reading these books every single year without fail, and will probably do so until I die. It would be funny I just died reading these books, because that might actually happen?

In Harry Potter, the values learned and presented connected with not just me, but with almost everyone who read it. One of the values I personally connected with is that friends are extremely important. The author, J.K Rowling, stresses that interacting and being part of a community is basically the definition of humanity.

Another part of Harry Potter that is stressed, even over stressed in my opinion, is the value of sacrifice. Harry's mom, Lily, sacrifices herself for Harry in the beginning, resulting in Harry having a protective charm over himself, shielding himself from Voldemort until he turns 18. I believe that sacrifice for the greater good is important, but I think self protection is more important. The will to survive is more important than sacrifice for another.

Okay its very tempting to keep talking about Harry Potter, but believe it or not, I've also read other fantasy books! I've read The Chronicles of Narnia multiple times. I fell in love with the first book, the Magician's Nephew, because he literally brings a new world to life in a book. He establishes a world in which many more books can preside in. I went through The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, Voyage of the Dawn Treader really quickly, but I kind of struggled with the Horse and His Boy and the rest of the books, because the original characters (Peter, Edmund, Susan and Lucy Pevensie) weren't "invited" back to Narnia after the Voyage of the Dawn Treader. 

In addition to The Chronicles of Narnia, I've also read the Spiderwick Chronicles. These series successfully merge the real world and a fantasy world into a hybrid world of the characters and the readers second guessing what's real, and what's not.

Week 6: A Rich Fantasy Life

    This week I read Eragon, by Chrisopher Paolini. I actually don't particularly enjoy the setting in which there are are knights and kingdoms (because I've just seen so many that bore me), but I actually really enjoyed this book. This fantasy book fits the hero's journey pretty well, as it is about a farm boy who finds a dragon egg, which is very, very rare. This story could be summed up simply with just a few sentences:

Once upon a time, there was a farm boy named Eragon.

Then one day, he finds a dragon egg in a forest. (Inciting incident)

Because of this, Ra'zac(assassins) come and try to find the egg. They kill Eragon's uncle.

Because of this, Eragon vowes revenge (call to action) and travels with his dragon, Saphira (supernatural aid/helper), and Brom, his mentor.

Because of this, the evil shade, Durza, finds out about them. He sends the Ra'zac and other minions to kill them.

Because of this, Eragon discovers he is magical, and has more supernatural aid. (Start of transformation)

Because of this, they get hunted even more, and Brom dies.

Because of this, Brom gets replaced by Murtaugh, another helper. He also frees an elf named Arya from jail.

Because of this, she leads them to the rebellion's hideout.

Because of this, Durza the Shade comes to kill Eragon.

Because of this, Eragon kills Durza.

From then on, Eragon is no longer a farm boy, and is a dragon rider.

Everything pretty much fits into the hero's journey pretty perfectly; when he's in the village, he is in his known space. When he leaves, after the call of action, he goes into an unknown space, which becomes known after he reaches the rebellion. He has a mentor, and helpers to help him in his journey. Eragon is tempted by Durza with power when he confronts him. His transformation "finishes" during his final battle with Durza.

This book fits the important mandatory (and sometimes cliche aka Brom, his mentor, dying) storytelling points on the dot. In the final battle, it looks like the rebellion is losing and Eragon is badly hurt (ABYSS), but then has a REVELATION, which allows him to win the battle.

Week 5: Witches

In Kiki's Delivery Service, by Hayao Miyazaki, a young witch, Kiki, sets out to make her mark on the world. In the film, witches aren't portrayed as they usually are in older western media. usually they would be portrayed with the cliche of them having a hooked nose, a pointy hat, scraggly hair, warts, ugly teeth and horrible skin. On the contrary, Kiki is seen as young, pretty, innocent and pure. There are shared themes, such as brewing potions, flying using broomsticks, a black feline companion, and wearing a big black robe. But the difference is, in old western media, those things were seen as horrible and unholy, whereas in the Kiki's Delivery Service movie universe, witches are generally seen as rare but amazing people.

           Adding on to this, Aunt Maria by Diana Wynne Jones was very similar to Kiki's Delivery Service. The first half of the book could totally be a Studio Ghibli movie. It shared all the Ghibli themes: cats, children, nice houses by the sea, mysterious forests, spirits, and beautiful scenery. Just like the movie, it was thrilling, mysterious, supernatural, and quirky.   

       I also thought Aunt Maria has a lot of similarities to the writing style of Harry Potter. If we're talking about witches in Harry Potter, the tone is very normal, as if they were talking about humans. There are good witches and evil witches and its like a social norm in the story.

             Like Kiki's Delivery Service, Harry Potter is a good story in which the witches are not viewed as evil, dastardly beautiful, or anything else; they are seen as just members of society trying to fit in. Kiki seems more human than a supernatural being. Recently, media is trying to go for a witch character as one that is more normal and human (like Hermoine and Kiki).

Week 4: The New Weird

           
               Recently I read a series of books that could DEFINITELY be called weird. Darren Shan's Demonata series is extremely weird in the sense it has many, many themes going on. But it also definitely counts as horror, because its super gruesome.

               In the very first chapter of the first book, it starts off with the main character's parents' death. They were killed in an ALTERNATE universe by a DEMON who lives on human misery and CHESS, who they were fighting for a cure for LYCANTHROPY for their daughter. So many factors come into play in the very first chapter. The whole series covers demons, werewolves, magic, the origin of the universe, time travel, alternate universes, death as a physical being, and gods. Quite a bit of topics to cover in just 10 books.

               He wraps all these themes around the fact that demons, who live in the "Demonata universe" want to cross over into our world and destroy the human race. The whole series gets more gory as it goes along, even though it was very gory from the start.

There's a lot descriptive, disgusting imagery as well. For example:

Blood everywhere. Nightmarish splashes and gory pools. Wild streaks across the floor and walls.

Except the walls aren’t walls. I’m surrounded on all four sides by webs. Millions of strands, thicker than my arm, some connecting in orderly designs, others running chaotically apart. Many of the strands are stained with blood. Behind the layer of webs, more layers—banks of them stretching back as far as I can see. Infinite.

My eyes snap from the walls. I make quick, mental thumbnails of other details. Numb. Functioning like a machine.

The dripping sound—a body hanging upside down from the webby ceiling in the centre of the room. No head. Blood drops to the floor from the gaping red O of the neck. Even without the head, I recognise him.

“DAD!” I scream, and the cry almost rips my vocal chords apart.
To my left, an obscene creature spins round and snarls. It has the body of a very large dog, the head of a crocodile. Beneath it, motionless—Mum. Or what’s left of her.

A dreadful howl to my right. Gret! Sitting on the floor, staring at me, weaving sideways, her face white, except where it’s smeared with blood. I start to call to her. She half-turns and I realise that she’s been split in two. Something’s behind her, in the cavity at the back, moving her like a hand-puppet.

The ‘something’ pushes Gret away. It’s a child, but no child of this world. It has the body of a three-year-old, with a head much larger than any normal person’s. Pale green skin. No eyes—a small ball of fire flickers in each of its empty sockets. No hair—yet its head is alive with movement. As the hell-child advances, I see that the objects are cockroaches. Living. Feeding on its rotten flesh. 

               This is only the beginning of the first book. Shan doesn't waste any time setting up a backstory in the first chapter, then just tearing it apart in the beginning of the second chapter, and in the third chapter sets up a transition from the main characters original home to his next living space.

             

Week 3: Asian Horror

          Compared to Western horror,  J-Horror is a very different type of horror style. For example, Western horror focuses on jump scares and very obvious things, such as vampires, werewolves, demons and ghosts. Whereas a lot of Japanese horror is based on their own set of stories and values. Japanese horror also seems to revolve around ghosts or yokai (Japanese supernatural beings).

           I went to Japan three years ago on a study abroad program (also visited again 2 months ago), and I stayed with the same host family both times. My family had two relatively young brothers in it, and I remember my host mom always told them not to wander at night or yokais will snatch them away. This is very similar to American, or really any other culture, in which parents will use scary beings to keep their children safe. Kind of ironic in my opinion.

          This week I watched a film called Uzumaki, which means "spiral" or "vortex in Japanese. Based on a Japanese manga series (which I also read), the spirals control the lives of people of a small town, and terrorize the citizens. For example, in the beginning of the movie, a man is obsessed with drawing spirals, and calls it the most amazing form of art. As his obsession grows out of control, he forces himself in a washing machine and "becomes", a spiral. These type of things become more and more serious and grotesque. For example, a woman burns her fingertips to get rid of the spirals on them. But, she forgot about her cochlea, which a millipede decided to live in. Obviously, she goes insane. Contrary to American horror, this film doesn't have closure. In the end, theres only one person left in the town, and it doesn't say whether he lives or dies. American horror usually has a clean ending, whether everyone dies or no one dies, or just some people die. But usually a problem is resolved. In this film, and in a lot of Japanese horror theres a very open ending, with a lot of things going on around the main character, but the main character being relatively unaffected by it.

Week 2: Vampire: Love and Pain

This week I read the first 6 books of Darren Shan's "Cirque du Freak" series. The series revolves around vampire lore, in which the main character (Darren Shan) becomes a half-vampire halfway through the first book.

The author could draw from many customs of vampires when writing, and he did, as well as expanding even more upon them, and even dismissing some. For example, he totally dismissed the rule "Only a stake through the heart can kill a vampire." He made it so any injury can kill a vampire! A rule he placed was "a vampire never kills when he feeds, and is against vampire law, but when the need arises, if a vampire drinks all of a human's blood, they also keep the human's soul." This rule gets used in the ending of the second book, in which the main character fully drains all of his dying friend's remaining blood to preserve his soul.

The author also played on human and vampire conflict, especially in the main character. Being a half-vampire, and very recently so, within the first 6 books, the main character struggles between his humanity and his vampire side. In the second book, he refuses to drink any blood, which is crucial for vampire health. This weakens him until he finally gives in to his dark hunger and preserves the soul of his dying friend.

Shan also played on human and vampire relationships. In the books, vampires age one-tenth at the rate of humans. They also have super-strength, super-speed and superior senses. They even have saliva that can heal wounds faster. On the downside, they can't mate and they are vulnerable to sunlight. Because they age slower, they can't form proper human relationships. Because of their super strength they can accidentally hurt humans. Even as a half-vampire, the main character accidentally breaks a human boy's ankle while playing a seemingly harmless game of hockey. Vampires seem to go to drastic measures to not get attached to humans. The main character had to fake his own death to break away from his family.

The author also creates a culture surrounding the vampires. As well as normal vampires, there are Vampire Generals and Vampire Princes. Vampire Princes command all vampires, and there's only 3 or 4 at a time. They are also above the law. Vampire Generals command normal vampires, but answer to the Princes. Evil vampires are called "vampaneze", and they oppose vampire traditions such as not killing when they feed. They were originally vampires who broke away from the clan. Because they kill everytime they feed, they're purple skinned.

Week 1: Frankenstein/Goth

The gothic look/concept has been present in popular culture for many years, especially in the form of 'counterculture', which is defined as "a way of life opposed to the prevailing social norm". I'm certain it was thought of as weird and scary even back when it first came to be. Even now, there seems to be a negative connotation on the word.

The first thing that comes to mind when I think of goth is fashion. The "gothic look" has been around for the last 15 years or so, and has been relatively popular in the last 6 years. Whenever I see someone sporting the "gothic look", I usually see black clothes, black lipstick, heavy eyeliner/eyeshadow, big black boots, and some sort of dark jewelry. Sometimes these would be paired with something red. A lot of the time the jewelry is in the form of skulls, wings, or crosses. People will also wear the apparel of gothic bands, ripped jeans, black nail polish, black necklaces and wrist braces. If the individual really wants to commit to the culture then they would get tattoos that are usually big and show-offy. One person I saw on "America's Got Talent", even had eye contacts to show off his look. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_3jsyDW76E   

In any case, it became extremely popular, and I don't think anyone wouldn't know about the goth look.

Also, I've noticed many younger kids in middle school wearing goth clothes and sporting counterculture wear, but I feel like we think its okay when we're younger, but we become much more self aware when we become older. Even though I didn't wear gothic clothing then, I still ask myself why I wore the horrible clothing I did.

All in all, gothic fashion is very prominent, very popular, and is amazingly still barely socially acceptable.