The Star by Arthur C. Clarke is a short story that I read for this week's space opera lesson. While only four pages this introspective story offers up enough information for me to confidently agree with its space opera classification. The first and fore most criteria in this science fiction sub genre would be the fact that it is located in or pertaining to space. In this story a group of human explorers proceed to investigate a small nebula slowly expanding from a supernova star. The story doesn't shy away from exploring the more technical aspects of space and space travel associated with science fiction but also contains the melodrama necessary to be an Opera.
This operatic drama is provided in a rather unique way, using ideas like alien civilizations to examine and age old and forever relevant quandary of how can God allow bad things to happen if he exists. This story is told by a Father who finds himself questioning his own faith and unable to keep up that of the crew after discovering the last remnants of a beautiful civilization, much like humanity, which had been slowly preparing for their mass extinction due to the degradation of their star. Whether fiction or reality, mass deaths like these always invoke the feeling of divine abandonment and leave humans wondering 'why?'.
Sunday, May 7, 2017
Thursday, April 20, 2017
Week 8: Contemporary Urban Fantasy
Prompt: How was myth reinvented within the context of the story you read for this wee? In what ways were the myth made relevant to the contemporary world?
Response:
For this week, while we did have recommended reading, the general rule of thumb was anything by Neil Gaiman's was a prime example for Contemporary Urban Fantasy. Keeping that in mind the book I chose to read for this week was one of Neil Gaiman's children's fantasy novels called The Graveyard Book. This contemporary urban fantasy about a lost boy on the run being adopted by creatures can be hailed all the way back to Romulus and Remus though maybe a bit of a better fit is The Jungle Book. Bod is hunted by Jack just like Mowgli is hunted by Shere Khan, both boys are raise and protected by various ghosts or animals until a the end fight and victory. But sadly both Bod and Mowgli have to leave the graveyard and jungle and return home in the end.
For this week, while we did have recommended reading, the general rule of thumb was anything by Neil Gaiman's was a prime example for Contemporary Urban Fantasy. Keeping that in mind the book I chose to read for this week was one of Neil Gaiman's children's fantasy novels called The Graveyard Book. This contemporary urban fantasy about a lost boy on the run being adopted by creatures can be hailed all the way back to Romulus and Remus though maybe a bit of a better fit is The Jungle Book. Bod is hunted by Jack just like Mowgli is hunted by Shere Khan, both boys are raise and protected by various ghosts or animals until a the end fight and victory. But sadly both Bod and Mowgli have to leave the graveyard and jungle and return home in the end.
In Class Assignment: How do you see your future
1. How do you see your future in 2027
I see my future 10 years from now working in an urban center, married to my partner with 2 cats, and living in a multi room apartment. Optimistically we will be running on clean energy and reducing our carbon emissions but realistically due to capitalist monopolies the science for going green will be hidden and undermined by oil companies and climate change will cause the water level to rise enough that anywhere I actually want to live on the coast will probably be gone.
2. How do you see your future in 2050
At this point I don't know if my career choice will still be valid given how easily crippled the economy is. Honestly I don't expect the world to still be functioning in any sort of way and a lot of us will probably die pre mature deaths.
3. How do you see your future in 3000
I will definitely be dead. The world is burning.
I see my future 10 years from now working in an urban center, married to my partner with 2 cats, and living in a multi room apartment. Optimistically we will be running on clean energy and reducing our carbon emissions but realistically due to capitalist monopolies the science for going green will be hidden and undermined by oil companies and climate change will cause the water level to rise enough that anywhere I actually want to live on the coast will probably be gone.
2. How do you see your future in 2050
At this point I don't know if my career choice will still be valid given how easily crippled the economy is. Honestly I don't expect the world to still be functioning in any sort of way and a lot of us will probably die pre mature deaths.
3. How do you see your future in 3000
I will definitely be dead. The world is burning.
Tuesday, March 21, 2017
Week 7: The Novel of Spiritual Education
Prompt:Fantasy of this type is pointed at young adults to help instruct them in the complexities of navigating the world. In what way were complex moral issues and spiritual challenges presented in the work you read for this week?
Response:
For this week, instead of reading Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, I went way back and revisited the first Harry Potter book by J.K Rowling. It had been so long ago since I had read that book that I am fairly certain I was young enough my parents actually read it for me. So, after having grown up and read the rest of the series by myself, I decided it was time to go back and revisit The Sorcerers Stone with a fresh eye. The first thing I noticed was that the book was a lot more whimsical than I remembered, and the characters so young. This really drove home the concept of growing up with the series, the characters plot and writing matured as I matured creating such an sort of uncanny bond with my generation that will probably never go away.
Putting aside the heavy dose of nostalgia for a second, looking back as a more mature and analytical reader it becomes apparent that The Sorcerers Stone, as well as the rest of the Harry Potter series, is just chalk full of moral lessons. It's practically a how to guide for our young and half formed moral barometers as children and this comes as no surprise seeing as the entire series is essentially an amalgamation of various folklore and myths across the globe used to teach lessons. At the very heart of the series is the message "love trumps evil" repeated over and over again, as seen through the power embedded in the sacrifices Harry's family and friends make for him, most notably his mother's love saving him from the death curse. The importance of family and friends are emphasized as well as the innate value in all people, regardless of bloodline or financial status, and that courage comes in all forms (Thank you Neville). All together the messages paint a pretty wholesome picture and are a great way to drive home love and acceptance in all who read the books.
Response:
For this week, instead of reading Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, I went way back and revisited the first Harry Potter book by J.K Rowling. It had been so long ago since I had read that book that I am fairly certain I was young enough my parents actually read it for me. So, after having grown up and read the rest of the series by myself, I decided it was time to go back and revisit The Sorcerers Stone with a fresh eye. The first thing I noticed was that the book was a lot more whimsical than I remembered, and the characters so young. This really drove home the concept of growing up with the series, the characters plot and writing matured as I matured creating such an sort of uncanny bond with my generation that will probably never go away.
Putting aside the heavy dose of nostalgia for a second, looking back as a more mature and analytical reader it becomes apparent that The Sorcerers Stone, as well as the rest of the Harry Potter series, is just chalk full of moral lessons. It's practically a how to guide for our young and half formed moral barometers as children and this comes as no surprise seeing as the entire series is essentially an amalgamation of various folklore and myths across the globe used to teach lessons. At the very heart of the series is the message "love trumps evil" repeated over and over again, as seen through the power embedded in the sacrifices Harry's family and friends make for him, most notably his mother's love saving him from the death curse. The importance of family and friends are emphasized as well as the innate value in all people, regardless of bloodline or financial status, and that courage comes in all forms (Thank you Neville). All together the messages paint a pretty wholesome picture and are a great way to drive home love and acceptance in all who read the books.
Saturday, February 18, 2017
Week 6: Heroic Journey
Prompt: Discuss how the work you read for this week reflects or doesn't reflect elements of the classic journey of the hero.
Response:
The book we read for this week was The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien which, unsurprisingly, reflects the classic hero's journey to a "T." This heavy reliance on the Heroic Journey, in addition to blending tried and true mythos from across the ages, is a large part of why this classic story has become so wildly successful. The story starts off in the "ordinary world" segment of the journey, in this case it is a quite shire where hobbits live peacefully. Bilbo Baggins meets a wizard named Gandolf who calls him to adventure with 13 dwarves, however, the small hobbit is so overwhelmed by the rambunctious dwarves that he initially refused his call to adventure, as dictated by the hero's journey set up. At the last moment Gandolf, Bilbo's mentor, changes his mind and Bilbo crosses the first threshold of the hero's journey by desperately running out of the shire to catch up with the dwarves on their mission.
The bulk of the story covers the "test/allies/enemies" portion of the hero's journey testing Bilbo with three trolls, the giant spiders and Gollum while introducing allies such as the Elves, Eagles, Beorn, and Lake town humans and enemies like the the goblins, the wargs, and the wood elves. This is all along the way to the "approach" of the Lonely mountain accumulating into the final ordeal which is a massive five army battle and defeat of the Smaug. Bilbo then receives a small amount of treasure from the dwarves as payment and takes the long way back home. After recovering from his wound in Rivendell, Bilbo finally returns to the Shire with gold and a new perspective on life and adventures. This then completes the Heroic Journey perfectly and finishes the epic tale of The Hobbit.
Notes:
Ordinary World, Call to Adventure, Refusal of the Class, Meeting the mentor, Crossing the Threshold, Tests/Allies/Enemies, Approach, Ordeal/Death&Rebirth, Reward/ Seizing the Sword, The Road Back, Resurrection, Return with Elixir
Hobbit Bilbo Baggins lives quietly in the shire, Gandalf asks Bilbo on an adventure, Overwhelmed by the 13 dwarves Bilbo refuses, Mentor Gandalf convinces him (the hobbit I once knew), Leaves the shire to catch up with the dwarves, Allies=( Elves, Eagles, Beorn, Lake town humans) Enemies= (the goblins, the wargs, and the wood elves) Trials= (3 trolls, the giant spiders and gollum) Tokens= (elvish dagger and magical ring), Approach the lonely mountain cave, Battle of 5 armies, Receives a bit of treasure, Take the long way back, recovers from wound and weariness in Rivendell, Comes back to shire with gold
Response:
The book we read for this week was The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien which, unsurprisingly, reflects the classic hero's journey to a "T." This heavy reliance on the Heroic Journey, in addition to blending tried and true mythos from across the ages, is a large part of why this classic story has become so wildly successful. The story starts off in the "ordinary world" segment of the journey, in this case it is a quite shire where hobbits live peacefully. Bilbo Baggins meets a wizard named Gandolf who calls him to adventure with 13 dwarves, however, the small hobbit is so overwhelmed by the rambunctious dwarves that he initially refused his call to adventure, as dictated by the hero's journey set up. At the last moment Gandolf, Bilbo's mentor, changes his mind and Bilbo crosses the first threshold of the hero's journey by desperately running out of the shire to catch up with the dwarves on their mission.
The bulk of the story covers the "test/allies/enemies" portion of the hero's journey testing Bilbo with three trolls, the giant spiders and Gollum while introducing allies such as the Elves, Eagles, Beorn, and Lake town humans and enemies like the the goblins, the wargs, and the wood elves. This is all along the way to the "approach" of the Lonely mountain accumulating into the final ordeal which is a massive five army battle and defeat of the Smaug. Bilbo then receives a small amount of treasure from the dwarves as payment and takes the long way back home. After recovering from his wound in Rivendell, Bilbo finally returns to the Shire with gold and a new perspective on life and adventures. This then completes the Heroic Journey perfectly and finishes the epic tale of The Hobbit.
Notes:
Ordinary World, Call to Adventure, Refusal of the Class, Meeting the mentor, Crossing the Threshold, Tests/Allies/Enemies, Approach, Ordeal/Death&Rebirth, Reward/ Seizing the Sword, The Road Back, Resurrection, Return with Elixir
Hobbit Bilbo Baggins lives quietly in the shire, Gandalf asks Bilbo on an adventure, Overwhelmed by the 13 dwarves Bilbo refuses, Mentor Gandalf convinces him (the hobbit I once knew), Leaves the shire to catch up with the dwarves, Allies=( Elves, Eagles, Beorn, Lake town humans) Enemies= (the goblins, the wargs, and the wood elves) Trials= (3 trolls, the giant spiders and gollum) Tokens= (elvish dagger and magical ring), Approach the lonely mountain cave, Battle of 5 armies, Receives a bit of treasure, Take the long way back, recovers from wound and weariness in Rivendell, Comes back to shire with gold
Friday, February 10, 2017
Week 5: Witches and Women in Genre
Prompt: Discuss the witches in Aunt Maria. Are they stereotypes or archetypes? What do the characters say about the way our culture models women with power?
Response:
Aunt Maria in the book Aunt Maria by Diana Wynne Jones certainly embodies many of the classic stereotypes of a witch, a strong iron willed female who manipulates those around her to do her bidding and "zombifies" men. While these views of witches are in fact widely held in the collective unconscious they paint too one sided a character to truly be an archetype and thus remain relegated to stereotypes. This vilification of strong woman is not limited to witches, in fact if you think back to even the most benign movies you will see this fear perpetuated. Classic Disney Princess movies are a fantastic example of this particular portrayal of women; Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and even The Little Mermaid all feed into the idea that that strong assertive women are evil while feminine and gentle woman are inherently good. (Snow white vrs Evil Queen, Aurora vrs Maleficent, Cinderella vrs Lady Tremaine, and Ariel vrs Ursula) This relegation of strong alpha women to evil or "bitch" roles demonstrates our current patriarchal culture's fear of female power and as gender equality progresses you can see a direct correlation in the media of more positively portrayed strong women (Rey from The Force Awakens). This progress, however, does not erase the years long bias our culture has created.
The cool thing about the book Aunt Maria is that even the vilification of Maria the overall message of the book does preach gender equality and balance between the masculine and feminine within one person as seen metaphorically through the sister and brother, Mig and Chris, ultimately needing to work together to become successful.
Response:
Aunt Maria in the book Aunt Maria by Diana Wynne Jones certainly embodies many of the classic stereotypes of a witch, a strong iron willed female who manipulates those around her to do her bidding and "zombifies" men. While these views of witches are in fact widely held in the collective unconscious they paint too one sided a character to truly be an archetype and thus remain relegated to stereotypes. This vilification of strong woman is not limited to witches, in fact if you think back to even the most benign movies you will see this fear perpetuated. Classic Disney Princess movies are a fantastic example of this particular portrayal of women; Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and even The Little Mermaid all feed into the idea that that strong assertive women are evil while feminine and gentle woman are inherently good. (Snow white vrs Evil Queen, Aurora vrs Maleficent, Cinderella vrs Lady Tremaine, and Ariel vrs Ursula) This relegation of strong alpha women to evil or "bitch" roles demonstrates our current patriarchal culture's fear of female power and as gender equality progresses you can see a direct correlation in the media of more positively portrayed strong women (Rey from The Force Awakens). This progress, however, does not erase the years long bias our culture has created.
(case in point, thank you Fox)
Week 4: The New Weird
Prompt: Discuss what is "weird". Use specific examples from what you read this week. What do you think it is so compelling about the "weird?"
Response:
For this week I read Clive Barker's novella "Cabal". Interestingly enough this story can almost be divided into two separate plots and two separate genres. The story starts out with the main character, Boone, being gas lighted by his own therapist into believing that he was a serial killer. This part of the story goes on to reveal that Decker, the therapist, was the true serial killer and was using his patients as scapegoats. While certainly macabre (and more than a little messed up) this part of the novel lacks a lot of key supernatural and spectacular characteristics that weird fiction generally possesses. In fact, its gritty realism seems to be more fitting of the crime and psychological thriller genres.
This being said, the rest of the book after getting into secret city of Midian and meeting the nightbreed is certainly a prime example of weird fiction. When examining the nightbreed it is difficult to put a finger on what exactly they are, the physical and supernatural attributes are just an amalgamation of legends all blended into a nondescript entity that the reader can never truly know as well as an iconic vampire or zombie. In true weird fiction fashion, this sense of unknown, that defies the laws of nature without any sort of explanation, uses the reader's curiosity to compel them to read more.
(Key Take away: Boone's lover Lori was like the original 'ride or die' girl in the beginning there...)
Response:
For this week I read Clive Barker's novella "Cabal". Interestingly enough this story can almost be divided into two separate plots and two separate genres. The story starts out with the main character, Boone, being gas lighted by his own therapist into believing that he was a serial killer. This part of the story goes on to reveal that Decker, the therapist, was the true serial killer and was using his patients as scapegoats. While certainly macabre (and more than a little messed up) this part of the novel lacks a lot of key supernatural and spectacular characteristics that weird fiction generally possesses. In fact, its gritty realism seems to be more fitting of the crime and psychological thriller genres.
This being said, the rest of the book after getting into secret city of Midian and meeting the nightbreed is certainly a prime example of weird fiction. When examining the nightbreed it is difficult to put a finger on what exactly they are, the physical and supernatural attributes are just an amalgamation of legends all blended into a nondescript entity that the reader can never truly know as well as an iconic vampire or zombie. In true weird fiction fashion, this sense of unknown, that defies the laws of nature without any sort of explanation, uses the reader's curiosity to compel them to read more.
(Key Take away: Boone's lover Lori was like the original 'ride or die' girl in the beginning there...)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)