Gotta Love Poe (Blog9)

The Raven

Edgar Allen Poe

The emotions that I believe Poe is trying to convey in "The Raven" are fear and a level of hysteria towards the raven that was sitting above his chamber door. It's almost as if he's being haunted by it and there's a level of psychotic-ness, for lack of a better term, being pushed through multiple different lines. 

"'Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!' I shrieked, upstarting-

'Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore!

Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!

Leave my loneliness unbroken!-quit the bust above my door!

Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!'

                                                                  Quoth the Raven, 'Nevermore.'"

This quote especially, he's basically talking to a bird and imagining the bird is up there taunting him, refusing to leave him in peace, reminding him of everything he's trying to forget, or more specifically a certain woman he's trying to forget. Usually when someone doesn't want to be reminded, there's a level of angst and pain, as well as an undertone of regret.

"'Respite-respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore!

Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore!'

                                                                  Quoth the Raven, 'Nevermore.'"

It's obvious by the punctuation alone that he's pleading, begging, crying out, for this bird to leave him alone but the bird, calm and nonchalant is just like, "Nah, I think I'll stay here awhile."

 Maybe he did something to Lenore, and the raven represents his conscience coming back to haunt him?

Annabel Lee

Edgar Allen Poe

The overall tone of this poem I would say is sadness, loss. It's all about losing a great love to one of the worst fates, death. There was no undertone, it was all spelled out pretty nicely. 

"For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams

     Of the beautiful ANNABEL LEE;

And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes

     Of the beautiful ANNABEL LEE;

And so, all the night tide, I lie down by the side

Of my darling--my darling--my life and my bride,

    In the sepulchre there by the sea,

    In her tomb by the sounding sea."

The rhythm of the poem definitely helped make this piece not just a beautiful love letter to a lost loved one, but also a beautifully sounding piece of literature. The flow of the piece and the repetition helps deliver more emotion and have a bigger impact on the reader.

Happily Ever After's Are Overrated (Viewing Blog 3)

Ever After

Viewing Blog 3

121 minutes

The Cinderella fairy tale touches on a lot of different fears and expectations. Alike all other fairy tales, there is this expectant "happily ever after" ending.

That is why fairy tales are so well-known and liked, because they represent something that human beings crave, eternal happiness. If a fairy tale showed a true ending, the prince dies of cancer and the princess grows old alone and eventually gains a large sense of dementia and is no longer the person she used to be, it wouldn't be as well liked. No one wants to be hit with the harsh slap of reality of how life really ends for the majority of us. No one lives forever, and fairy tales are a symbol of eternal love and happiness.

Cinderella stories, especially, cover a lot female reliance for a man to come and "rescue her". That's the one thing I really liked about this version of the Cinderella tale, on at least two different occasions, Danielle (Cinderella), proves that she can pull her own weight, or better yet, even the prince's.

Love Knows No Gender (Blog8)

"Day Million"

Frederik Pohl

(1966)

There is something to be said about a love that doesn't need touch, or physical contact of any sort to be pure and true. What greater love could there be than connecting at the mind? Men and women get so caught up in physical looks, they forget when all is said and done you're left with who a person is, not what they look like. This story greatly advertised this aspect of any relationship.

"Adrift on a sponson city a few hundred yards over her head and orbiting Arcturus, fifty light-years away, Don has only to command his own symbol-manipulator to rescue Dora from the ferrite files and bring her to life for him, and there she is; and rapturously, tirelessly they ball all night. Not in the flesh, of course; but then his flesh has been extensively altered and it wouldn't really be much fun. He doesn't need the flesh for pleasure. Genital organs feel nothing. Neither do hands, nor breasts, nor lips; they are only receptors, accepting and transmitting impulses. It is the brain that feels, it is the interpretation of those impulses that makes agony or orgasm; and Don's symbol-manipulator gives him the analogue of cuddling, the analogue of kissing, the analogue of wildest, most ardent hours with the eternal, exquisite, and incorruptible analogue of Dora."-p.384

"When It Changed"

Joanna Russ

(1972)

This story reflects on the inequality that women face, the message is loud, clear, and bold. Although, I also think that even though there will be men coming into their world that the only way they (the women) would feel belittled is if they let men make them feel that way. Though having men around in general is likely to have some impact on the younger generations.

Just like now, in the human race today, if you want your daughters to grow up strong and independent and never feeling less than a man, you, as her parent, must instill those thoughts and ambitions. No matter what there will always be someone in life who will try to make you feel less than what you are, who will try to take what you've worked for. It doesn't make you the weak one, it makes them the weak one.

"This too shall pass. All good things must come to an end. Take my life but don't take away the meaning of my life."-p.515

Breaking A Nasty Habit (Viewing Blog2)

Once Upon A Time Season 3 Episode 4

"Nasty Habits"
(43 minutes)

Much like the title the central theme to this episode of Once Upon A Time is all about breaking nasty habits to become better, to do good.

                In this adaptation of the original fairy tales, not everyone is who they’re depicted as in the classic Disney movies. For example, Peter Pan has always been this symbol of freedom for children, Neverland being the home every kid dreams of. No parents to tell them what to do, how to dress, how to act. Just pure freedom and ever-lasting youth. Though, in this version, Pan is anything but a symbol of freedom. He resembles treachery, evil and entrapment. He lies and takes little boys against their freewill. Then, tells them lies to make them actually want to stay. He plays mind games and uses people as if they’re pawns in a game of chess. His face is that of a child but his heart is as black as night. His intentions are evil and I believe this represents an idea that although someone can have a good reputation and can even play the part that not everyone is as they seem and there is nothing like the love of a parent for a child. Seeing as how Henry, the boy that he’s taken, has a whole army(family) hunting for him in Neverland, they represent that the bond of family is an unconditional love.

              Although, there are some contradictions to this unconditional love in real life. An example is Henry’s grandfather, Rumpelstiltskin. He knows of a prophecy that Henry will be his undoing, so when Rumple believes that his son (Henry’s father), Neal, is dead, he’s willing to break his cowardice, selfish habits and sacrifice his own life for the better good of saving Henry from Pan. A twist is enacted when Neal shows up in Neverland to save Henry, thus giving Rumple a reason to live again and giving incentive to kill Henry before the prophecy could be enacted. Once Neal finds this out it reminds him that he can never trust his father, Rumple, and he shows this distrust by leaving him binded and behind. When Neal does this he tries to escape with Henry and gets caught by Pan, having burnt the bridge with his father Neal is left powerless and again Henry gets recaptured by Pan.

If Neal had given Rumple a chance to prove himself and left his anger and loathing for his father behind for Henry’s well-being(the better good) than maybe it could’ve saved both Neal and Henry from the fate of Pan. Now, Neal has no choice but to wait and trust that his father will come after them and, hopefully, break the habit and do the right thing.

False Memories Bring Out The Crazies (Blog7)

The main question alone reminds me of this show I’m overly obsessed with, Once Upon A Time.

Only instead of using technology to change all the fairy tale character’s memories, she uses magic.

Besides that, the short story “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale” by Phillip K. Dick portrays a character who is seemingly normal at first, aside from the futuristic world he lives in, with hovercars and buttons on stovetops that can make coffee for you. Everything seems mundane until the main character Douglas Quail visits someone who can infuse a memory sequence of him going to Mars in his brain. When the sequence doesn’t take due to the fact that he had already been to Mars on a secret mission for the government things spiral out of control. The idea of memory implantation and creation seems a little too far out, but then again, I’m sure fifty years ago the idea that a woman could get fake breasts, or face-lifts, seemed far out as well. So it’s hard to tell which direction science will veer towards. I do not think that it will be a positive impact, though. Memories make us human. The things we’ve experienced and learned in life create who we are, which clearly the main character has shown us. One minute he was a desk-jockey who knew little to nothing about action and adventure, or how to handle assailants with weapons. Once his memory returned to him he became one dangerous SOB, capable of taking down the most dangerous of opponents.

Did I think Arnold Schwarzenegger was a good fit for the role of Doug Quail? Well, not really. I’ve never been one of his biggest fans, I think his accent is a little annoying and his acting is B-rated, in my opinion. Douglas Quail is supposedly a regular looking man, Arnold is anything but ordinary. His broad shoulders and tall frame make him intimidating and make you, as a viewer, question how someone so jacked could live a mundane life. I think Bruce Willis would’ve been a better fit for that role, much like his role in The Fifth Element.

The adaptation from short story to a film impacted the story in a lot of different ways. For example, in the short story there was a lot less violence than depicted in the movie. Also, the movie went into a lot of detail about Douglas’ mission on Mars. The writers and directors had opportunities to expand the storyline and turn it into another different story entirely. It seems as though the director’s did everything they could to turn it into a “feature film”, something to grasp the audience and attract viewers. Anything for the ratings, it seemed.

Techno-Futures (Blog6)

“Burning Chrome”

By William Gibson(1982)

Oh, boy. This story was strange. I have a small grasp at what the concept was but I’m not entirely sure I understood it.

Please, correct me if I’m wrong, but Jack and Bobby are some kind of Robin Hood hackers, not affiliated with the “heat” as they called law enforcement, but also not affiliated with Chrome and her mob. In fact, they set out to take down Chrome, take away all of her money so in a sense, stripping her of her power. I believe Chrome is a person but she’s had hormonal procedures that make her look young? I had a really hard time comprehending this story, but it seems as though the life that “Burning Chrome” depicted is one where plastic surgery is exploited to the maximum. You hear about people getting not just different eye colors but completely different eyes? And I’m guessing the “The House of Blue Lights” is some kind of whore house? It makes me wonder, is this going to be what our future holds for us? People getting so much surgery to look “perfect” they end up stripping the meaning of the word beauty? I can definitely see similarities, in that aspect, to present day’s issues with body image. Women, men, getting face-lifts to look younger, along with many other surgeries just to look like photoshopped pictures of plastic Barbie dolls. When the main character was describing Chrome I couldn’t help but think about the “Uncanny Valley” that we discussed in class. I feel like that was definitely portrayed in a couple of different instances,

“Chrome: I’d seen her maybe half a dozen times in the Gentleman Loser. Maybe she was slumming, or checking out the human condition, a condition she didn’t exactly aspire to. A sweet little heart-shaped face framing the nastiest pair of eyes you ever saw. She’d looked fourteen as long as anyone could remember, hyped out of anything like a normal metabolism on some massive program of serums and hormones.”-p.557

“He had the kind of uniform good looks you get after your seventh trip to the surgical boutique; he’d probably spend the rest of his life looking vaguely like each new season’s media front-runner; not too obvious a copy, but nothing too original, either.”-p.559

*********

“Computer Friendly”

By Eeileen Gunn(1989)

I think the author chose a child’s point of view because just like the child, the reader is learning all about this new world as well. So a lot of the same questions the child was asking, I found myself asking as well. At first, I didn’t see much sci-fi in the text. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, when will there be an alien dropping out of the sky or some kind of cataclysmic event? It seemed as though it was a regular girl who was getting dropped off at a school and when they kept talking about how smart she was and how she had to take tests to prove it I thought, “Oh, well this girl must be trying to get into some private school?”

 As I started reading more and more, I picked up little hints here and there of something off about this world the author threw us into.

“The monitor watched as they wiped the wall, then took their thumbprints.”p.640

Took their thumbprints? I couldn’t help but think, what kind of school is this? Are they keeping track of how many times she gets in trouble? As the story goes on it reveals more and more how strange the world is, like how her father’s memory gets wiped clean after being at work all day and his daughter has to guide him home. Also, her brother, he seems to already be at work. And he doesn’t come home every night for dinner. In fact, his parents don’t even talk about him much at all.

“Her parents didn’t talk much about her brother Bobby. He had done well on his tests, too. Now he was a milintel cyborg with go-nogo authority. He never called home, and her parents didn’t call him, either.”-p.644

The Culling

The Culling

By Steven Dos Santos (2013)

I’m a big fan of a good twist ending, but I can’t say that was something I enjoyed reading. Not that the story isn’t good, or that it bored me, but the raw emotion of betrayal stung. The emotions that are conveyed almost all too well through simple text in a book are almost too much to handle. Being that Lucky and his little brother Cole are living in a fantasy world doesn’t mean their world is anything fairy-tale like. A world of poverty, starvation, filth, disease and then only to be put through rings of mental and physical torture, on top of the mind games people, that are supposedly close to you, play. I’m excited to read more, and hopefully read about Lucky taking down that S.O.B. Cassius. I almost feel like in a way I saw it coming, because it was just too good to be true.

 I can see how this relates to humanity in the sense that there are actual countries living like this. Third-world, dictatorial countries that live in these conditions meanwhile, just like Cassius, the rulers of the country live lavishly.

 This story reminds me of two movies I’ve seen recently that are pretty good, the first is a comedy called “The Interview”, how lavish the leader of North Korea is living meanwhile his people are starving, how manipulative he was, compared to how manipulative Cassius was to Lucky.

Another movie, “Machine Gun Preacher” which is sadly based on true events about one man trying to make a difference against the Rebels in Africa. In a sense I can see a similarity in the situations of the book and situations that kids in other parts of the world unfortunately face today.