Thursday, December 12, 2013

Blog Entry 11


Jasmine Anderson
12|12|13
Blog Entry 11 (Final)
            The supernatural theme plays a very important role in literature. It can also play a very important role in the “real world” of everyday life. We are constantly trying to escape reality and the problems that we face in the real world. Adding magical creatures, gods, demands, vampires, spirits, and superpowers to a story can make it exciting and take us away from the bland actions that we witness every day in the real world. The super natural world can help us to activate our imagination and explore things that we could never really experience. Super natural stories and films are very entertaining because it can be unpredictable and far more exciting than everyday life. But the best thing about these type of stories is that they can have the same lesson and morals of an adventure in the “real world”.
            Super natural themed stories can exist to teach lessons, motivate people and encourage people, just in a more exciting way. If we look beyond all the superpower and mystical creatures we can find a lesson or something that can motive us to be a better human being. If you think about it we can almost always relate to these stories. A writer just uses supernatural themes to hook an audience. In reality if you take out all the imaginary things the lesson is not much different than a journey in the real world. Many of these stories follow the same pattern as a task in the “real world”. For example the call to adventure can be anything like a phone call or invitation. The refusals of call can any excuses you make. Crossing the threshold can be anywhere for entering an unfamiliar place, leaving known limits, or venturing into danger where the rules change. Matting with a god can simply be meeting with anyone that can give you knowledge that can help you reach your goals.
            The book “Coraline” is a very exciting story that easily hooks an audience. The author Neil Gaiman Uses a lot of Supernatural characters and adds many twists and turns to the story to keep it interesting. Coraline wants a more adventures life and more attention from her parent. But when she gets what she wishes for she wants everything back to normal. Overall we can all relate to the story and apply the true lesson to our very own life. The true lesson was to appreciate what you have because the grass isn’t always greener on the otherside.
We can be hooked to theses fictional stories they can bring lots of significant to our everyday life. Many of these fictional supernatural themed stories Can help us overcome our fairs and help us to transform into the person that we a distant to be. For Example in the film “Stardust” directed by Mathew Vaugh the main character Tristan Thorn can highly motivate us to take steps closer to our goals and to overcome our fairs. Watching Thorn complete his goals of finding true love and transforming into his true sense of self really helped me have more faith in myself. Although it was a supernatural film that had many unrealistically events I was able to relate to it. The many archetypes and magical creatures really helped me better understand my self and other people from the real world.
In conclusion, the super natural world plays a huge role in the real world. It gives us excitement and a chance to except from reality. Most importantly it gives us a lesson and helps us to understand our own life. The author adds magical creatures, gods, demands, vampires, spirits, and superpowers for the audience to better understand his or her feelings on thing. The supernatural world can teach us many lessons that we can apply to our everyday life. It can also motivate us to be  better people ,look beyond all our obstacles and overcome our fairs.  
 Work cited "Coraline"  Author Neil Gaiman, "Stardust" Mathew Vaugh 

Blog Entry 11


Jasmine Anderson
12|12|13
Blog Entry 11 (Final)
 
            The supernatural theme plays a very important role in literature. It can also play a very important role in the “real world” of everyday life. We are constantly trying to escape reality and the problems that we face in the real world. Adding magical creatures, gods, demands, vampires, spirits, and superpowers to a story can make it exciting and take us away from the bland actions that we witness every day in the real world. The super natural world can help us to activate our imagination and explore things that we could never really experience. Super natural stories and films are very entertaining because it can be unpredictable and far more exciting than everyday life. But the best thing about these type of stories is that they can have the same lesson and morals of an adventure in the “real world”.
 
            Super natural themed stories can exist to teach lessons, motivate people and encourage people, just in a more exciting way. If we look beyond all the superpower and mystical creatures we can find a lesson or something that can motive us to be a better human being. If you think about it we can almost always relate to these stories. A writer just uses supernatural themes to hook an audience. In reality if you take out all the imaginary things the lesson is not much different than a journey in the real world. Many of these stories follow the same pattern as a task in the “real world”. For example the call to adventure can be anything like a phone call or invitation. The refusals of call can any excuses you make. Crossing the threshold can be anywhere for entering an unfamiliar place, leaving known limits, or venturing into danger where the rules change. Matting with a god can simply be meeting with anyone that can give you knowledge that can help you reach your goals.
            The book “Coraline” is a very exciting story that easily hooks an audience. The author Neil Gaiman Uses a lot of Supernatural characters and adds many twists and turns to the story to keep it interesting. Coraline wants a more adventures life and more attention from her parent. But when she gets what she wishes for she wants everything back to normal. Overall we can all relate to the story and apply the true lesson to our very own life. The true lesson was to appreciate what you have because the grass isn’t always greener on the otherside.
We can be hooked to theses fictional stories they can bring lots of significant to our everyday life. Many of these fictional supernatural themed stories Can help us overcome our fairs and help us to transform into the person that we a distant to be. For Example in the film “Stardust” directed by Mathew Vaugh the main character Tristan Thorn can highly motivate us to take steps closer to our goals and to overcome our fairs. Watching Thorn complete his goals of finding true love and transforming into his true sense of self really helped me have more faith in myself. Although it was a supernatural film that had many unrealistically events I was able to relate to it. The many archetypes and magical creatures really helped me better understand my self and other people from the real world.
 
In conclusion, the super natural world plays a huge role in the real world. It gives us excitement and a chance to except from reality. Most importantly it gives us a lesson and helps us to understand our own life. The author adds magical creatures, gods, demands, vampires, spirits, and superpowers for the audience to better understand his or her feelings on thing. The supernatural world can teach us many lessons that we can apply to our everyday life. It can also motivate us to be  better people ,look beyond all our obstacles and overcome our fairs.  
 
 

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Blog Entry 10



 

           

Jasmine Anderson

12|1|13

Blog Entry 10

Literature and film can be very important to us; it can bring a lot of significance to our everyday lives. Literature and film can help us find our sense of self and can also inspire us to take steps closer to our goals. It can motivate us to overcome our fairs and get us through tough situations. Sometimes we can even use it as an escape from everyday life and the problems that we face. Most importantly film and literature “can help people better understand ourselves and others, and sometimes contradictory, themes that shape their lives”(Pearson pmai) For example a film such as “Stardust” directed Mathew Vaugh can help us understand what kind of archetype we are or can help us transform into one that we are meant to be.

According to the text “What Story Are You Living?” By Carol S Pearson and Hugh K Marr “Archetypes are psychological structures reflected in symbols, images and themes common to all culture and all time.”(Pearson 14). There are twelve archetypes that can help us find ourselves and transform our world. (Innocent, orphan, Warrior, caregiver, seeker, lover destroyer, creator, ruler, magician, sage, and jester.) Although the potential characters within us are universal, each of us express them differently, endowing them with somewhat different styles, traits, and mannerisms. “The expression of an archetype will be influenced by a person’s culture, setting, and time of history, but it will also be a manifestation of his or her individuality.” (Pearson14). Knowing  your archetype can help you reveal your most important desires and goals. Literature and film can help can help you gain access to unrealizable potential, grasp the logic and importance of your life, and have greater empathy for others live.

In the film “Stardust” the main character Tristan Thorn was a character that we can all relate to. In the beginning of the film Thorn showed signs that he was a lover and  innocent archetypal character but as the film proceeded we witnessed his transformation. Early in the film Thorn is convinced that he is in love with Victoria who shows no interest in him.  At this period in time he is showing so many characteristics of the lover archetype. According to Pearson the lover archetype is loving toward others, romantic, intimate, and makes commitments. Thorn is so much of a lover that he makes a commitment to Victoria that he would retrieve a star and return it to her for her hand in marriage

 According to Pearson an innocent archetypal character is someone who develops trust, confidence, and takes on optimistic journeys. We began to see his innocent archetype characteristic’s when he attempts to follow through with the journey. Even getting out the English village of the wall was challenging. A guard was posted at the break of the wall preventing him from crossing. Even though the first step toward his goal was challenging he had very high confidence in his self and refused to give up. We began to see his orphan archetype character when we find out that he has never met his mother. His father reveals to him that his mother is from the other side of the wall and gives him a Babylon candle that she had left for him. “The archetypal character of the orphan can be a child lacking the support of those who should help.”(Pearson 16). Although we see him transforming he is still a lover. We see this when he lights the Babylon candle to get to his mother and instead gets transported to a fallen star named Yvaine because he could not get Victoria and the promise he had made to her off his mind.

Later on in the film Thorn becomes a seeker. The seeker archetype is someone who is willing to be different, and having courage to try new things. He transforms into a seeker when he is on his journey to bring Yvaine back To Victoria. When he leaves Yvaine chained to a tree promising to return with food and water he comes back to a surprise. Yvaine was gone, and Thorn had nowhere to turn he was lost and had no answers. But he still wasn’t willing to give up. Magically a star (magician) whispered to his warning him of Yvaines danger and begging him to save her. We see Tristan’s courage when he saves Yvaine from a destroyer archetypal character name Lima. Lima was an evil old witch of Stormhold along with her two sisters. She set a trap for Yvaine because she wanted her heart so that her and her sister will be able to restore their youth.

 

            After he saves her he becomes aware of the fact that the fallen star is not only useful to him and the evil witch, but also to Septum’s who needed her to become king. With this knowledge Tristan has to protect his self and Yvaine. This is where we see him transform into a warrior. A warrior is someone who learns to compete, set goals, and defend them self when necessary.  Thorn meets a ship captain named captain Shakespeare who was also a caregiver, who teaches him how to sword fight.  The sword fighting came in handy along the journey when he had to compete with Lima and septum to save Yvaine once again. The warrior archetype was the most dominate  of them all because he was truly a warrior all along even if he didn’t see it.

             In the end he finally meets his mother who was actually Septum’s long lost sister.  Since Septum was killed Tristan became king. Thorn also found his true love. Can you guess who she might be? None other than Yvaine. Going into the adventure he had no idea that he would transform into his true archetype and find his true love.

            In conclusion, this kind of story can matter to you because it can bring lots of significance to your everyday life. A story such as “Stardust” can help you find your true sense of self. The many archetypes demonstrated in this film can help you to better understand yourself and others. It can highly motivate you to overcome your fairs and take steps closer to your own goals. A film like this can easily remind you never to give up no matter what obstacles are in your way.   
                                              Work Cited
                              Carol S. Pearson and Hugh K. Marr
                                    "What Story are You Living?"

 

Blog entry 8 rewrite


Jasmine Anderson

After  reading the  poem “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good  Night “ by Dylan  Thomas”  for  the  first  time  I  was  very  confused  and had  no  idea  what  the  author  was  trying  to  say.  After  rereading  the  poem  four  times  and  identifying  the  symbols  and  symbolic  action,  I  began  to  understand  exactly  what  Thomas  was  trying  to  say.  After  analyzing  this  poem  I  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  Thomas  is  addressing  death  and  how  we  should  go  out  with  a  fight rather  than  excepting  it  and  dying  quietly.

            The  title  really  helped  me  bring  significance  to  this  poem.  The  title  uses  symbols  such  as  night.  As  soon  as  I  saw  the  word  night  I came  up  with  the  connotation  of  darkness,  sleep,  and  death.  The  title  showed  me that the poem  was  going  to  be  about  death  and  how  something  should  be  fought.

            In  the  second  line  of  the  first  stanza  the  speaker  say’s  “old  age  should  rave  at  close  of  day” .  To  me  Thomas  was expressing  his  personal  feeling  toward  death.  I think  that Thomas  was  implying  that  as  we  become  older  instead  of  looking  toward  death  we  should  be  using  our  energy  to  fight  death,  addressing  it  with  anger.  When  he  uses  the  symbol  burn  I  automatically  think of energy, something  that  isn’t  painful.

            In  the  second  stanza  the  speaker  says  “through  wise  man  at  their  end  know  dark  is  right,  because  their  words  have  forked  no  lighting  they  do  not  go  gentle  into  the  good night.”  To me this  means  that  a  wise  mad  can  tell  when  death is  near and  they  will not go  out  without  a fight.  Thomas  also says  Rang,  Rang,  in  the  last  line  of  the  first  stanza.  This  shows  me  that it  is  very  important  to him.  To  me this  means  that  we  should  have  uncontrollable  anger  toward  death.

            In  conclusion  I think  the  overall  message  of  the  poem  was  to  address  his  dying  father.   

Blog Entry 7


After  reading  the  section one  archetype  that  I  have  found  to  be  Problematic  is  Destroyer. The  basic  characteristics  of  a  destroyer  is  letting  go  and  starting  over,  taking  action  to  end  a  bad  situation,  doing  harm  to  themselves  or  others,  out  of  control  anger,  and  aggressive  tactics.  One  example  of  destroyer  that  I  can  think  of  in  real  life  is  a  bully  that  I  knew  in  elementary  school.  She  use  to  bully every  one  making  everyone  in  our  class a  victim  of  her  harassment.  We found  out  the  reason  for  this  unacceptable  behavior.  She  was  also  a  victim  she  was  being  badly  abused  at  home.  According  to  the  text “The  destroyer  character  can  be  seen  as  a  victim  who  experiences  tragedy  or  loss  and  then  has  to rebuild  his  or  her  life”(Pearson 120).  The  point  where  the  destroyer  archetype  becomes  confusing  is  when  a  destroyer  such  as  bully  begins  to  inflicted  the  same  pain  that  they  have  endured  on  other  people.  If  you  experienced  it  before  why  would  you  want  to  make  someone  else  a  victim  of  the  same  actions ?  

Blog Entry 6


            After  reading  the  section  in  the  text  “What  Story  Are  You  Living?”  by  Carol S. Pearson  and  Hugh  K. Marr the  archetype that  really  stands  out  to  me  is  Caregiver .  The  reason  that  I  have  chosen  this  archetype  is  because  I  have  many  characteristics  of  a  caregiver.  According  to  the  text  The  basic  characteristics  of  a   caregiver  is  a  person  that  shows  care,  Concern.  Compassion  for  others  and  helps  when  help  is  needed.  “Caregivers  are  typically  kind  people,  who  gain  satisfaction  from  caring  for  others. “(Pearson 102).   Many  caregivers  believe  in the golden  rule,  which  is  due  unto  others  as  you  would  want  done  unto  yourself.  A  caregiver  has  many  good  characteristics  but  they  can  also  have  some  bad  ones.  “ At  worst,  they  can  become  codependent ,  diverting  themselves  from  their  own  issues  by  being  overly  involved  with  trying  to  save  others. “ (Pearson 102).  There  are  many  examples  of  a  caregivers. In  real  life  many  people  can  play  the  role  of  caregiver,  such  as   a  parent,   teacher,  nurse,   or  homemaker. In  my  life  my  mother  has  played  the  role  of  caregiver  ever since  I  can  remember.  She has  not  only  been  a  caregiver  to  me  but  also  to  my  sick  grandfather. She  has  every  characteristic  of  a  caregiver.  She  has  so  much  compassion  for  others  that  she  will be  willing  to  give  her  last  just  to  help  someone  out.  She  always  shows  a  great  deal  of  concern  for  other  people , she  is  constantly  making  sure  that  the  people  around  her  is  okay.

Blog entry 9

Jasmine anderson
Archetype in "Stardust"




      
The  film  “Stardust”  directed  by  Matthew  Vaughn  was  a  romantic  fantasy  from  Paramount  Pictures.  Throughout  the film  we  witness  the  transformation  of  the  main  character  Tristan Thorn.  During  that  transformation  we  see  expressing’s  of  many  archetypes.  One  archetype  that  stands  out to me  the most  is  warrior.  According  to  the  text  “What  story  are  you  living?”  by Carol  S.  Pearson  and  Hugh  k.  Marr a  warrior  is  someone  who  learns  to  compete,  set  goals,  and  when  necessary  defends  their self.  To  me  Thorn  was  showing  these  characteristics  all along.  This  archetype  was  active  during  the  beginning  of  the  film  when  thorn  set  the  goal  of  finding  a  star  and  bringing  it  back  to  Victoria   to  win  over  her heart.  Even  though  Thorn  Knew  that  this  wouldn’t  be  an  easy  journey  he  is  determine  to  accomplish  his  goal.  This  archetype  is  also  active  when  Thorn  meets  Captain  Shakespeare  who  teaches  him  to  fence  fight.  At  this  time thorn  is  learning  to compete  which  is  also  one  of  the  characteristics  of  a  warrior.  Again  we  see  characteristics  of  a  warrior  when  Thorn  gets  into  a  sword  fight  with    the evil  witch  Lamia.  At  this  time  we  see  the  negative  form  of  this  archetype,  well  it  depends  on  how   we  look  at  it.  It  can  be  portrayed  as  negative  because  the  sward  fighting  is  violence  which  is  negative  but  it  can  also  be  positive  because  Thorn  is  only  acting  in  such  a  negative  manner  to  save  Yvaine. In  conclusion,  out  of  the  twelve  archetypes  I  choose  warrior  because  Thorn  was  a  warrior  all  along  even  if  he  didn’t  know  it.  In  the  film  there  is  many  incidents  where  we  see  the  warrior  archetype  active.