Saturday, December 3, 2016

Week Fourteen: Satire and Sci-fi

     For the final week, i enjoyed listening to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I found the story to be quite interesting and comedic to sit through. Arthur Dent is a reasonable character to feel sympathy for in the beginning, albeit a silly chuckle once Ford Prefect gets involved. He appears to be a serious yet lighter-hearted character, similar to the doctor from the famous British series Doctor Who. It follows some similar lines of thought as well, exploring the galaxy and running into interesting yet questionable characters and aliens.

     The comedic portrayal of events undermined the seriousness of the situation and spurred some interesting thought. We have a tendency to use humor to cover up and undermine the gravity of a situation. This is continued with the movie seen in class, Idiocracy. It is a hilarious portrayal of the future that seems, in a way, to be experiencing some fruition. These stories for this week delve into the self denial of futures we feel are more impossible. For instance, a majority of science fiction sees humanity exploring space and the cosmos, acquiring knowledge and making a mark on the stars. With Hitchhikers guide of the galaxy as well as Idiocracy, we see a very different depiction. We see main characters full of self questioning and denial over the loss of the world and events they know. However, these stories are told through a satire in order to make them more enjoyable and palpable for most audiences. This ties into recent events, particularly the latest election. A seemingly serious event such as an election to determine the future of an entire country was seen as a joke, as people laughed at the election until its specific end. During its time, a great amount of memes and other internet satire was created to instill laughter over the events and a few times saw the candidates come under fire from it, such as the Presidential elect and his "itty-bitty" hands. It has even been claimed that as many as 11,000 voters voted for a dead ape known as Harambe. It wasn't until the presidential elect was finished that many understood the effects of these consequences. Similar to the presidency of Idiocracy, the people in charge are not entirely the most qualified people to run a country. It is more of miscommunication and blind faith that govern. The use of Brawndo's electrolytes on the crops that lead to the crop issues in the movie, misinformation can become seen as true fact and the misinformation begins to snowball. Arthur is in the same boat, because of his birthplace being on earth he is believed to possess a greater knowledge and the meaning to the answer of life. 42 May be a legitimate answer, but people feel it is easier to hide the truth and lash back at others than to understand the truth of the situation.  On a lighter note, physiologically we try to find optimism in any unfortunate situation.
 

Week Thirteen: Literary Speculation

     For this week, I read Oryx and Crake. I found this read to (living up to the title for this week) quite speculative. Snowman/Jimmy has a incredibly strong battle of what it means to be human and struggles to keep it alive. Are we made human through our interactions with other humans? our Memories? Or doing whats right and protecting ones wishes? The story ends with snowman in a tough predicament: Save the colony of created he's sworn to protect, or join these three of his own kind? Being human in my eyes is doing what you feel is right, if its a mistake you learn from it and add to your experience. The human experience is living, making mistakes, standing your ground on the issues you truly believe in. I enjoyed the book for it had this deep speculation with Snowman's retrieval of the memories that lead to the plague and the end of human civilization. Is the purpose of creating a being or an Artificial intelligence our way of ensuring we have a legacy that will outlive the human race when nature takes its course with us? The speculation asks more questions than it answers.

     The same question can be asked about writing in genre. Genre and writing are talked about in different circumstances but they go hand in hand. Everything is classified and divided into genres as well as sub-genre. A new piece of writing does not stay free of a genre, it is simply reclassified or receives a basis from an already established genre. It would be as if a company in the United States decided to create a new automobile. The Genre of American cars would already exist, it would simply be a unique facet of that specific genre. It could be a standard mass produced car, or  super car, muscle car or hyper car, but it would still be designated under the American Auto Genre. It is all relative and there are pieces that cross multiple genres, but they simply share these different genres. The text ties into this in the way that it depends on ones perspective. It may be a certain auto, or in the case of the uncle in The Aquatic Uncle, each character has a different perspective of what it means to be an evolving creature in the world. One is not wrong, they just see the world through a different perspective based on their strengths and weaknesses. The same can be said for genre, and it can lead to speculative thought into its definitive position.

Week Twelve: Diverse Positions of science Fiction

For this week, i had begun to read the short story Bloodchild. I found it to be quite odd but also fascinating. We as humans are so used to being the top of the food chain that it is a peculiar thought to be second to a more predatory species; used as hosts for their young. It is a piece that does not follow Majoritarian culture. It is one where we are not the dominant predators, but a group of animals used as hosts for our predatory "masters". It is a different concept that from the psychological standpoint is incredibly uncomfortable, that creatures with the ability to reach the top of our own food chain could be used in these ways. History is told through the triumphant, but in this case its told through the victims of the loss. Humans hate the thought of being caged up like animals, and this story breaks this perception and creates uncomfortable tension while reading the story. It is very different from that of Majoritarian culture in its ways of taking typical human stereotypes and making us the victims.

Absent for this class.

Update:

1. What is you're reaction to the text we just read?
My initial reaction is a feeling of uncomfortableness. It is a perspective i have not been exposed to before and it takes some time to process this story.

2. What connections did you make with the story? Discuss the elements of the story with which you were able to connect.
I made connections with the humans in the story, the human element is family and makes for just common connections in the story. Also, i connect with the main character Gan as i would not want to assist in the flaying of one of my own. The blood and parasites hatching would have been too much for any person, let alone a child/ adolescent.

3. What changes would you make to adapt this story into another medium? What medium would you use? What changes would you make?
I would not alter the story too much if i were to convert it to another medium, it is informative and descriptive. That being said, i would put it into comic format. Since it is a short story it would logically fit into the size and scope that a comic possess, as well as the structure of a comic could provide artistic leeway to reduce the grotesqueness of some of the scenes. It would provide enough space to tell the story while keeping it simple yet informative with the storytelling of the piece.

Week Eleven: Cyberpunk and Steampunk

For this week, I read the novel Snow Crash. I enjoyed the virtual reality aspects of the story with its quirks of important questions, such as what happens to the mob when people move their business into virtual reality? The answer, they deliver some amazing pizza. It differs from the traditional in this genre with its use of drugs that alter the reality of people not only in the real world, but those in the augmented reality as well. Its a less touched upon subject as the augmented reality is often seen as the escape from reality, but it does offer the important questions of what a drug could appear like in this augmented world. The use of this drug as a form of mind control was mind bending as well, it created the psychological fear that one isn't safe in the real world or the created world.

This effects the reader in the sense that the reality we create for ourselves to shield ourselves from the horror of actual reality may be just as bad. It makes the reader contemplate if the created reality is worth the risks that standard reality comes with on a daily basis. If the end goal was just to escape reality, are you just substituting it for an equally bad one? It is believed that the created reality would somehow take us away from our own fleeting existence, possibly even establishing ourselves a legacy. The internet is an excellent example of this through its many forums and dormant sites. Anything that is put out on the internet will remain on the internet: It cannot be removed once it is put out there somewhere, even if it is deleted. For this week, it was the altered realities of a computer domain that had a lot of the same aspects in life that we come to see, nightclubs, fake-appearances, and drugs. However, it takes the level of drugs to a new directions as the drug Snow Crash will harm a user in the real world. Its implications won't just effect one in the augmented reality, but kill them in the real reality as well. In a way, the augmented reality creates a sense of arrogance as people would do things on there they wouldn't do in normal life. However, isn't that a reason why augmented reality was created? So we could accomplish the feats and desires we would never be able to achieve in our own lives? Real reality can be bleak, as in the case of Protagonist as he is a a courier pizza driver for the mob in real life, a nobody if you will. But in the augmented reality he is an untouchable swordsman. Reality is what one perceives as real, it can vary from person to person. Only thing is, what happens when reality for some becomes the real reality?

Week Ten: The fiction of ideas.

For this week, I read Bable 17. I enjoy the linguistics and this book delved into the effects of speech/communication. I found it interesting that learning the Language of Bable 17 caused people to become traitors of the state. I deviated a bit from the main conversation of this post due to a little bit of research I had conducted out of curiosity. Although something like brainwashing is impossible on this, we do see a similar psychological effect in people. For instance, those that speak multiple languages change the pitch of their voice and alter their personality slightly depending on the language that they are speaking. It is being studied currently and there are a variety of articles on the matter, one is here if anyone reading this is more curious: Bi-cultural Bilinguals. In essence people's personalities change depending on their security in their language skills and cultural situation. In essence, it is not traitorous behavior but it is inherent personality change based on the language that is spoken. I digress, In Fahrenheit 451 written word is technically forbidden in the form of books. Like a drug, it is chastised by normal society and anyone in possession of books is deemed unfit for society. The books are burned, and they are thrown in jail. It ties into the "Mob" mentality: you are either with us, or against us. At times, the majority can be wrong but the few are out-weighed by the many, thus fall to the judgement of the majority. The consequences of this are that the truth often times can be hidden from plain sight and forgotten.

Week Nine: Space Opera

For this week, I read The Martian. I managed to be one of the few people living under a rock who neither read the book before this point nor saw the movie. I was fond of the survivalist approach to the book. It was a work of Science Fiction, fitting clearly within the science fiction genre but with elements of slight satire (His constant cursing and sidetones) and thriller. Unlike many works of science fiction, this piece was written as a tragedy versus a high-adventure through the cosmos. We have a man whom is trapped in a broken habitat on an alien world, struggling to survive until help arrives. Even though the events themselves are fictional, they feel real in their chronological order. It even is told in the form of a documentary through emails between the characters. It had the high emotional impacts of a thriller through the various snippets of news from earth as he would reach milestones. Unlike the movie for this week, Forbidden Planet, the book itself at times is narrated like a documentary, and features triumphic emotional highs and devastating lows. A good example of a bad low was when the habitat popped and damaged his helmet. Not only is he knocked out and helmet busted, but his habitat is damaged and the spuds are now damaged goods. A similar progression is witnessed in the film Apollo 13, which features the use of a Central control to help troubleshoot ways to survive.

Week Eight: Mythic Fiction and Contemporary Urban Fantasy

For this week, i selected Ocean at the End of the Lane to read. I am very fond of this book now, and I plan on rereading it once the semester ends to understand the content of it more. It was an interesting read; characters fairy related tend to be fun and whimsical and at times a bit hard to follow. In this story, it reinvented a few old myths and tales, a few of which being "witches", mischievous spirits, and spell casting to ward off evil spirits. The largest reinvent in this story i believe is to be the mischievous spirit/ demon Ursula Monkton. She has traits similar to a demon such as possession, she latches onto our main characters foot and uses him as a connection point to our world.  This possession is in part transformed into a parasitic insect, which embeds itself into his foot and requires magic in order to expel. She is not technically possessing him, however she is using him as a gateway into this world. It also delves into parallel worlds, the witch-like characters appear immortal like the gods of ancient mythology. However, they are not immortal. As it is pointed out in the text, the witches live in a different realm of time that occurs much slower than our own, giving them the appearance of immortality due to their lack of aging. Even their "death" isn't truly death, more a hibernation to rebuild until they can function in the world again. Lessie return to her ocean is a sort of means to it, they are immortal in the sense that they do not die but they can be injured, and injured seriously.
Like any mythology, it begins with a character coming from an ordinary background and facing challenges that seem beyond their abilities. In this tale, it follows an interesting twist because the character in question ends the story just as ordinary as he had in the beginning. His memory is stitched together to forget the events of his childhood, however, returning to gran's makes his memory return temporarily. He has no recollection of the events that had occurred nor has he retained enough memory outside of the house to allow him to experience any moral development because of it. It is only Lettie who receives any moral development in the story, she sacrifices herself in order to save him from the Varmints. She is the tragic hero, who lays her life down in order to save another. It would have been interesting to have an alternative version of this story written from her perspective with the tragic hero in mind. The myths were made relevant to the contemporary world due to them hiding in plain sight. They had been on that property for years, and no one seemed to notice anything out of the ordinary there. The myths made in the story explained the psychologically bent behavior of some of the characters, such as the narrator's father. Had this not had the context of a demonic entity it would have been assumed the father had an affair, as well as a total psychotic break that lead to him nearly strangling the narrator. It uses mythically created characters to explain the more quirky psychotic tendencies of unstable people.
Notes: 10/10/2016
genre- expectation around genre for it to be it for it. ex. scoff has scoff, can be narrative wise.
set of loosely set expectations
think like a pizza
Neil, NEIL.
Genre vs literature:
some works that are not genre- creating taxonomies for these creates more genres
everything has a genre
Neil-scientology
mythological expressions to explain their meaning
mythology- much bigger than yourself and finding yourself within it

Week Seven: The novel of spiritual education

     For this week, I read the night circus. I found it an interesting twist on the teenage coming of age tale.  I enjoyed how this tale deviated from the standard boy meets a girl and falls in love. Instead it pitted two rival students against each other and somehow they found companionship and love through the competition: however, one of them would eventually have to die. However, a large lesson taught in this story is that one's ego is not as important as the safety of others. Mr. A.h and Prospero put their own egos and self interest in front of the safety of the others in the circus. Similar to Harry Potter's Dumbledore, they exploit the children in the tale for their doing as if they were pawns on a board of chess. Unlike Dumbledore, Mr.A.H. and Prospero survive while Marco and Celia are killed off and bound to the circus fire in spirit form. It does show though that love can prevail through anything, even competition that is fought to the death. In a way, the lesson here is that fate does not predetermine how things will end, only if one allows it to end that way. Following this train of thought, it is a coming of age tale. The two magical lovers  learn that you can find passion in love as far as someone you view as an enemy, thus you should never turn someone down or judge them based on where they came from.

Notes:
Harry potter: appeals to kids and teachers. Kids grow up with him (over 7 years).
Fate: Pheonix feather in the wand.
Humble roots- harry raised with miserable relatives- makes him more humble and nicer once he moves to the wizard world.
Malfoy- returns later as a tragic hero
philosopher's stone: magic symbol in alchemy
Sorcerers stone in us, philosophers stone around the world
Speak no evil: cannot say voldemort's name
saying his name is how he finds you
Free-will
Morality: morality is muddied, its grey versus black and white
Parents have flaws
Harry has great affections for parental figures.
dumbledore plays harry as a pawn against voldemort
prophesy
harry and voldemorts fates completely interwoven- one has to die ( Classic myth)
The ending- 19 years later
-The story doesnt end with conclusion of voldemort, he finds his family in hermoine and the wesley's.
malfoy- forgiveness. History but they've moved passed. another family sending off the kids.
school in 4 directions- each is an aspect of the whole. cannot have one without the others.
slytherin is about power, but its good and bad. much more than that, it is very sophisticated
it is more inclusive. Not good vs evil- twist of fates
malfoy- product of hierarchal (class-based) racist feeling
hes an idea of the four houses.
flying brooms, flying cars! Mystical objects
Completely immerses people into it
Participation and the values- moral teaching through the spiritual values. Not too didactic, or taught, your experiencing. strong sophistication of outlook, brings you into complexity.
story is not as simple as it seems.
Snape- dynamic character. Not good or bad, understand the reasonings now.
snakes resentment towards father-
dumbledore- abandons harry due to emotional baggage of it.
trying to balance equation.
unsavory dumbledore
epic story- very large canvas to work with. not into miniature the whole time
Rowling- personal events, best of class, university,
portugal- meets and marries there. abusive husband, flees with baby.
he pursues her, she fends him off and divorces
single mom, teaching english at night
idea for book on a train, train breaks down.
difference between poor and rich: she wrote the idea down when she got it
if you don't write it when it happens, you will lose it!
get the concept unfolded, worry about details as you flesh it out
this becomes harry potter
her friends support her with this, friend cashes in retirement plan so she can write the book
how first draft is written^
now she has a manuscript- twenty years ago
publishers-still operated as unsolicited work
manuscript finds an advocate and it gets in in publishing house.
editors did an unusual thing- before its published in englad, they take it to international book fares and thats where all of the book deals are made. david levine- scholastic- read the book and believed in it and bought it (intro into us market). she got 250,000 for it in advance. gaureentee against proceeds. different illustrators for the different classes
from single poor mom to rich women in england
appeal: something in it for everyone, something to learn.
rowling ages harry appropriately
harry didn't get laid!
snogging- kissing
J.K. Rowling- use of initials hid gender
Religious sects are insane
cs louis- friend  of tolkien
polman- attacks cs louis's narnia
Golden compass trilogy- reasonable development of people. god is there in a wheelchair, there, but not really.
belief that souls could be eternalized. everyone has companion they are born with, different patronus
Cursed child- bad fan fiction of harry potter. adaption of harry potter into a playwright form
Harry potter- ton of autobiographical work in book.
The magicians- character going to magic college (boo yeah)
growing edge of fantasy- success of harry potter followed by the conversion of the lord of the rings into movies- made it a contemporary genre through film, tv.
an effort to bring classic fantasies to the big screen
gormangest- written by an illustrator who was shellshocked from WWI, complex political fantasy.
politcal manipuation, real power struggle. game of thrones in darker sense
fantasy- morals are putt in context. suggest morals to find through suggested paths
stephen king- dark tower series. moving towards fantasy ideals.



Monday, October 3, 2016

Week Six: The Heroic Journey

For this week I read the hobbit. I am not new to Tolkien's work but i have never sat down and read the hobbit. I was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed the more upbeat tone it offered for the reader. The story of the hobbit reflects the hero's story to the T, following a set formula. Following the discussion had in class, the hobbit follows this formula so well because of the experience tolkien himself had. He had experienced the events of the First World war, one of the largest conflicts in history. In order to write true to the formula, one must experience life itself. The Hobbit follows the classic journey down to its major parts. The journey begins in the shire, where Bilbo Baggins smokes his pipe in peace. The shire is the point of home, the beginning step of the hero's journey. It is the comfort zone that bilbo refuses to leave once Gandalf offers him a chance to return to his adventurous ways he possessed as a child. This is an autobiographical fool to Tolkien's experience as a child in the country as well. Once he rejects this call, and this is where it differs, he is given the chance twice to join the party. He decided again to reject the call, only to fall asleep and realize he will take it. He decides to join the party once they leave and he accepts this call of action. It features the traditional trek of the hero, he experiences several events that influence him as a hobbit, and as a dynamic character. He is very much a traditional hero in unexpected ways, as he is a novice in fighting and in surviving outside of the shire. He however has a lineage that ties him back to great warriors, similar to the demigods of the ancient greeks. He might be far down the lineage, but his great Uncle on his mothers side was a hobbit said to be great in battle, big enough to ride a normal horse, a far-cry from the traditional hobbit. An interesting difference in this story versus the typical hero is actually the stature of Bilbo. He is a small Halfling character. This creates the point of conversation for several characters as they question his abilities, instead of his ignorance of the world its what he is thats questioned. The challenges he faces are chosen in a way to show his size, such as the capture of the dwarves to the hands of the giant, his assistance in the battle of Smaug, and the occurrence of the five armies. He reaches the point of returning home once the the battles are finished, and he is in a sense glad to return home, but reluctant. He discovered  himself as a character and that a hobbit can do more than one thinks, but there is one item that hinders his moral development until the lord of the rings trilogy: the events with smeagol and the One Ring. It grants him invisibility but also the taint of the ring- a slice of the insanity that is the manipulative force the ring carries. He is given the chance to discard the ring, one chance in particular with gandalf, and he refuses to. This leads to the events of the Lord of the Rings, and bilbo's journey doesn't truly end until the ring is removed from his grasp. It is the momento he takes back with him from his journey, the development and change that he experiences as a character. He does not return as the same hobbit he had left as.

Week Five: Witches and Women

For this week I read the book Black Maria. The women portrayed in this story are Archetypes versus stereotypes. This is for a few reasons. A stereotypical witch (at least for american culture) is a woman with extraordinary powers of the supernatural. This sounds like foil to the witches in the story, but this isn't the case. A typical stereotyped witch is one that wears the infamous black cloak, aged face, and overall dark appearance. Tied in with this is the vile personality of a witch, they are mean and vile in nature. Aunt Maria herself doesn't follow this same formula, entirely. She is the wolf in sheep's clothing, she gives off the appearance of a different archetype: the grandmother. She appears sweet and innocent at first, but once the story unfolds she begins to show her true nature. She isn't an outright devious character at first, she doesn't have the appearance or mindset of the wicked witch of the west, but her choices and control through the book show where her true powers are. She gains control of people through manipulation, in doing so she takes control of the town she lives in. The parties themselves are a good example of this, as these women meet at the same time on the same day for the same event. They talk and gossip and all seems normal on the outside. It would appear everyone on the inside is ignorant to her powers, as if she has moved in slowly without any attention noticed to it. It isn't until Meg and her brother move in that someone notices that there is something amok in this small town. She is a new form of archetypal witch, one in which she possesses the familiar qualities of supernatural elements but with the appearance of an innocent old woman.

Sunday, September 25, 2016

Week Four: Old and New Weird


For this week, I read a few of the short stories from China Medville's Three moments of the explosion. I'm familiar with the new weird, as I have been exposed to this genre for quite some time now. The short story The Buzzard's Egg stuck out to me as both weird and very intriguing. Its told through the eyes of a prison guard for prisoner of war gods. The tone is dark and melancholy as the prison guard describes the various gods that he watches over and had previously encountered. He is a peculiar man whom talks with a slight sense of insanity. It is the oddness that pulls us in further. I watched both the Troll Hunter and Cabin in the Woods and the appeal becomes evident pretty quickly. Its the unusual turns that make the weird intriguing, not wanting to see how truly odd something is but continuing to watch it anyway.  Psychologically we like to fit in or follow what is considered the normal way of things, whether its staying up to date with fashions, or technology, or reading and watching programs that are accepted by society as a whole. With the Buzzard’s egg it is the weirdness of insanity and implausible events that make it an interesting read. In a movie such as Sinister or Insidious, its that weirdness of events beyond our understanding that brings us in. Both feature Supernatural beings that try to come in to our world and take souls back to them. Events like this do not occur in regular life to our knowledge and it appears very odd. With the troll hunter, what makes it weird is that Trolls exist, and that there is an individual who hunts them down with UV Cameras and lights to kill them. It is the break from what is expected that pulls us so deeply in to this new weird, as well as the old weird.

Week Three: Japanese Horror

I found A Wild Sheep Chase to be quite fascinating and very peculiar. I am new to the Japanese horror genre and it took some time to transition into this new story. The amount of symbolic meaning and life meaning in this story sets it apart from the gothic, which appeared more of personal iterations of the authors that wrote them. I had assumed the Japanese horror would be written in that same sense where the characters are foils to people from their life, or character personalities are based off of those of the author. It is not either of these, but the embodiment of a metaphorical meaning. The story is based around the hunt for a supernatural sheep, but also in the supernatural itself. It has the feeling of a traditional Japanese tale, the lesson behind the story is more important than the story itself. It is not a western horror, but it does have some western feel in it with the plot development of this story feeling similar to an American movie plot of the same time frame. The lack of names for the characters was also odd, but it works well for the story. This is another difference between the gothic as well, as the characters are typically named and stand out to the reader. But in this case, it works to the advantage of the story. As is the same with the gaming industry, an unnamed protagonist often pulls the reader/gamer deeper into the story because they can include themselves in the story. By doing this, the meaning of the story is more connected with the reader. It is less of a matter of connecting with a character, but more of a matter of becoming the character. It puts oneself into the story and makes them experience it first hand, the fear of becoming ruined, the frustration of searching for a sheep from a single photo taken. However, it is interesting to look at the karmic balance of the story. There isn’t a definitive good and evil, but a mix of forces that are natural, neutral. The story doesn’t favor good versus evil like its counterpart of the gothic, but favors neutral forces based on the actions of the character. There is small character development, but more so to say that your actions can have dire consequences, not that you are a Hero or Villain for the ones you chose to make.

Week Two: Vampires

For this week I read Interview with a vampire. It raises some unthought-of questions about immortals:  When you live forever, do you still crave the love of another? Especially when you crave blood as your primary source of food. This book features several relationships on varying levels, with those of friends, and of lovers. It seems as if mortality and the the repeated heartbreak that occurs over hundreds of years cause the heart to become cold (no pun intended), and unfeeling. This is an interesting aspect that might also explain why vampires are cold and unfeeling in general. The passions and feelings that we have through the mortal sense have to do with the impulses we have to continue on. We feel the need to establish relationships and continue ourselves through our children. We do this through the common means but if one reaches immortality, the meaning behind these actions disappears. The pressures of finding a mate diminish but it leads to another aspect of immortality: loneliness. The perfect example of this is Louis and Armand. They both are vampire males and seek to establish a relationship with only emotion as the kicker. They do have a relationship that lasts until Louis visits Lestat and sees what he becomes. He appears to care less for his emotions and thus his feelings of love and anger. Armand brings up the fact that he had killed Claudia in an attempt to stir feelings of love and or anger, but it effects him in no way whatsoever. When the feelings of passion disappear, what would be left for an immortal? He becomes more secluded and hates his nature. However, he is one example in the text. Lester provides another example, what happens when an immortal falls in love but cannot move past the feelings. He pursues Louis repeatedly and also kills for him, while Louis repeatedly tries to kill him. He is the lover scorned. With immortality, one unable to get past feelings can experience several lifetimes of thinking, and drive themselves into madness over getting that lover back. Immortality changes the game in the way that living forever can allow for extreme love, and extreme hatred. This leads to some truths about relationships, the first being passion. A relationship without passion is as eventful as a limp vegetable. Passion is what keeps a relationship lively and healthy, and once it disappears a relationship becomes distant and slowly fades.

Week One: The gothic


For the introduction to this class I read Marry Shelly's classic Frankenstein. I found the psychological aspects of the story to be quite intriguing. It is a story of with strong character development. Dr. Frankenstein's Abomination is the greatest example of this character development. It is a creature created from an experiment to reanimate dead tissue. Once it is given life it begins as any new creature, in its infancy. The creature may be fully formed and large in stature, but its mind is in the young stages of a newborn child. It does not understand what it is and like any child, it does not see itself different from any other person. Once it finds societal members that teach it to speak, read, and write, it believes itself to be a member of society. This creature doesn't understand why people run away from it, and it becomes dejected from society. It becomes frustrated and hurt by this, and begins to act as if it is in its adolescent years. It seeks revenge on its parent, and curses its existence due to this man. He finds ways to get at Frankenstein, in this case by killing off his family. It only reaches adolescence though, once the creature finds its creator after the long trek through the arctic, it begins to realize what it had done. It had not thought of the future until he had finally achieved what he had aimed to do. This psychologically is similar to one in their teens, where they act on emotion and impulse without the forethought of the consequences of their actions. Like any teen, it has an emotional response to this. It begs the question of what he creature was maturing to. The quick development of it could have seen a truly bright and prosperous individual. This ties into the theme of society, it is incredibly vain. We want people whom are pretty or seem to fit in over truly brilliant and less attractive individuals. We seem to value the youthfulness of a face over the intellectual person.