Simpsons Annoted

Summary:

The article talks about the show the Simpsons.  The show is geared to lower and upper middle class people.  The how is focused around normal events that its audience might encounter.  The show makes fun, mocks, and sheds light on certain topics that are in out society.  Such as education, politics, capitalism, and employment.  The reading discusses each character and explains how and why they are a functioning part of the show and how each is a member of society.  Each character allows the audience to relate to them.  The characters are not fully developed because the audience knows that they aren’t real actors.  The reading explains some of the underlying messages that the Simpsons send out to the public.  The reading explains some specific episodes where the theme and main points are addressed to the audience.  When Lisa convinces Mr. Burns to recycle, she is trying to preach to the audience that recycling is good for the environment.  Homer tells the audience about the stress of holding a job, and working at a job that one does not like, as many American’s are doing today.  The show tries to shed light on the issues in our society by poking fun and discussing the issues in a humorous manner. 

 

Reaction: I have never ever watched the Simpsons I had no idea that it addressed so many issues in our world, and that it played a large roll in the way society functions.  I don’t think the Simpsons are a version of our world, but I think the topics they discuss we can learn from.  I also thought the Simpsons was a dumb, pointless, and fully of nonsense type of show.  After reading the article I feel as though maybe the show actually does have some substance.

 

Reflection:

I am not all that sure what the Simpsons compare to. I can’t really think of any of the readings that we have read and how they fit in with the Simpsons.  I guess most of the stories we have read have an underlying or hidden message, which is what the Simpsons are all about.  The point of the show is to mock the United States and show the audience the many problems that arise in out society.  By poking fun at the problems many people find them to be less significant.  

Knowledge Nugget

1. Shows how woman can also control a situation, that men aren't always in charge-Esther seducing Irwin.
Example: http://z.hubpages.com/u/87106_f520.jpg

2. Examines men and women relationships, healthy or unhealthy.
Example: The Sopranos

3. Shows the mind and how Esther wants to plan giving her virginity up to a ransom person, how she envisioned it, why she doesn't want it to be special, men and women mentality about sex.
Example: Thelma and Louise-man not listening to woman about sex, Thelma and Louise's thoughts about men and sex.

The Second Sex

Summary: The reading focuses on how men are the “one” and subconsciously women are the “other”.  It is believed that woman cannot think for themselves or without men.  Therefore man refers to woman as “the sex”, meaning that the woman appears essentially to the male as a sexual being.  For him she is sex-absolute sex no less.  She is defined and differentiated with reference to man and not he with reference to her, she is incidental, the inessential as opposed to the essential.  He is the subject, the absolute she is the other.  The man being the subject can only be a subject if the other counterbalances him, which is the woman.  The man makes himself the essential causing the woman to be the other the inessential.  Women have always been inferior to men and always will be until women are able to bond together will other women, all types of women and fight women against men.  The reason that history has not been changed is because a white women’s bond is not to the other women of the world but to the white men of the world.  There is no change because the women fail to bring about change.  When women can bond together they will be able to make a historical change.  History was made by men, because women where told to follow rules that were set in place by men, allowing women no room to act together as their own beings.  The rules that the men set in place also cause the women to be the men’s dependent.  The male and female sexes have never co-inhabited the world equally, the men where also looked at as the superior being.

Reaction: I am not sure why or how but even though I am a woman for a strange reason I agree that in some way men are superior to women only in some aspects of life.  At the same time I believe that women are superior to men in some aspects. I think women are not seen as superior because as a whole, women don’t believe they are.  Woman have been put down and told that men were superior for centuries, and I feel that some women have come to terms with that and accept that.  Also women are forced to live in a world that is predominately ruled by men, men create the laws that women live by.  One part of the reading that got me was that women need men to create life.  I think that is one part of life that is hard to understand.  With out one of the sexes a life cannot be made.  But I feel as though the woman is more important than the men in that aspect of life. Without a woman there is no possible way that a life can be created. 

Reflection:  I am not sure how to reflect on this I kept thinking about the video of the 1940’s that we watched in class.  The fact that the women had the strength to cut their hair, wear short dresses, and smoke.  That was a time when a large group of women bonded together to help the women of the world, however there were still thousands of women who were against the flappers.  I also noticed in writing this like the reading said I never reference the sex of women as “WE” as a solid unit.  I reference the sex of women as women, separating women in to different types of women, each loyal to a man and what that man believes in is what the women stand for.  In the story Indian Camp if we were right in assuming that the mother giving birth had an affair then it shows that she had the power over her husband and she is responsible for his death, she caused him to die because of her actions.  I think the strength of women is dependent upon how that strength is used.  WE need to stop fighting each other and fight back against the ONE as a whole.  

Annoted 6

Summary:
            In this reading by Vogler, he discusses the crossing of the threshold by the hero.  The hero crosses the threshold in the second act when he is fully commited to the adventure.  Once the hero has crossed the threshold there is no turning back.  Vogler gives the analogy that crossing the threshold is like jumping out of a plane, once you jump there is no going back.  Once the hero makes the leap over the threshold, he is then thrown into the special world.  In order for the hero to cross the threshold he must first get passed the threshold guardian.  The guardian is a powerful and useful archetype.  They pop up to block the way and test the hero at any point in the story, but they tend to cluster around doorways, gates, and narrow passages of threshold crossings.  Vogler also tells us that sometimes threshold guardians and turn into allies for the hero.  Sometimes it is easy to point out where the threshold crossing is because in Westerns the threshold is clearly marked by a river or border crossing.  In addition once the hero has crossed the threshold, the screen on a movie or curtain in a theater will become dark or close signifying the plot and scenery is changing.  Once the hero enters what Campbell calls “A dream landscape of curiously fluid, ambiguous forms where he mush survive a succession of trials,” or the special word, he becomes a beginner.  The hero no matter how powerful in the ordinary world is now the lowest in the special world.  The most important part of the special world is testing.  Either the mentor or the villain will set up the test for the hero.   While in the special world the hero can also gain a sidekick or a comical sidekick.  The sidekick’s job is to help the hero on his adventure.  The hero also encounters a rival who is the hero’s competition in spots, love, business or some other enterprise.  The hardest part for the hero to adjust to in the special world is the new rules that are in place that he must learn and follow.  The hero also must determine where the good local bars are in order to pick up gossip that he will need to help him complete his adventure. 

 

Reflection:  In the metamorphosis I still have a hard time identifying who is what archetype.  If Gregor is the hero his threshold to cross is being able to be comfortable in his new body, around his family, and finding out how to get around and make himself happy.  In Offshore Pirate Ardita’s threshold is when she must decide weather to go with the “pirates” and if she should fall in love with him, and also if she should run away with him.  The ally that Ardita gains is her uncle, had he not interfered, Ardita would never have fallen in love with a good man.  In Indian Camp the doctor doesn’t have to learn or become familiar with new rules. 

 

Reaction: In these chapters I found it really hard to relate them to some of the stories we read.  I still have a hard time deciding where A Good Man is Hard to Find, fits into any of the archetypes.  I found it strange that the threshold guardian can also be an ally to the hero.  I would have thought that anyone that was going to hold the hero back would not end up helping him.  I also found it strange that the hero will receive most of his information to help him along his adventure from people in a bar.  I guess I understand that since there are a lot of town’s people there that they will be informative but a just thought a bar was a silly place.  

Annoted 5

Summary:  
            In Vogler’s text we read about the refusal of the call and meeting with the mentor.  The refusal of the call is the halt on the road before the journey has really started and serves an important dramatic function of signaling the audience that the adventure is risky.  The text talks about how the hero usually takes the time to think about all his choices and weigh the consequences and either refuses the call or is willing to stake his life against the possibility of winning the goal.  Vogluer also talked about how more heroes hesitate to accept the call because of past experience, but that the hero eventually become ready to accept the call once a family member is kidnapped or dies.  Vogler talks about how the excuses the hero uses to refuse the call are temporary roadblocks usually over come by the urgency of the quest.  Vogler also talks about if a hero is persistent and constantly refuses the call to adventure by looking back and dwelling on the past and denying reality they that hero leads himself into be a tragic hero.  Sometimes the refusal of the call to adventure is good when the call is trying to lure the hero onto the evil side, and when the hero refuses the evil call it allows him to accept the right call to adventure.  There are also willing heroes who accept or even south out the call to adventure, Propp calls the m seekers rather than victimized heroes.  Sometimes the supporting characters are the ones who give insight to the audience about how the dangerous the adventure will be since the hero is willing and doesn’t thing about the consequences, the supporting character is killed or ties to convince the hero to abandon the adventure because it is too dangerous. If not a supporting character then the mentor will try to persuade the hero to not go on the adventure, while other mentor help guide their heroes to the adventure.  Some of the mentors help the heroes but warn them not to cross the boundaries they set for the hero, which is known as the secret door.  The hero can have help and magical powers from the mentor as long as they follow the rules but the hero inevitably always will open the secret door.  The mentor can also be known as the provider or donor according to Propp, he says that the mentor is responsible for protecting, guiding, teaching, testing, training, and providing magical gifts to the hero.  In addition to the mentor there is also a centaur Chiron, which is a prototype for all wise old men and women.  It is a strange mix of man and horse, which guides many of the Greek heroes to the adventures. 

 

Reflection:
I think that the way that Propp named the hero as either a seeker or a victimized hero is a good way of working it.  I think in the metamorphosis that Gregor, is definitely the victimized hero, he didn’t choose or seek out to be turned into a bug he was in a way victimized when he was turned into a bug without his knowledge and work up having to find himself transformed.  However, I think that Carlyle from the offshore pirate was a seeker, hero, he sought out his own adventure to make Ardita fall in love with him.  I don’t really see in either Indian Camp, or The Offshore Pirate’s heroes trying to make excuses as to why they cant make the journey or adventure.  Also in the store Indian camp, who what the mentor to the father, as the hero, and what special tools, guidance, or powers did they give him in order to help the woman give birth?  In the story A Good Man is Hard to Find I think that the grandmother would be the hero and that she does remember her past experiences which are what holds her back from wanted to go on the adventure into a city where there might be a murderer, and she happens to be right and her whole family is killed. 

 

Reaction:
I agree with the fact that there are willing, unwilling and tragic heroes.  When I think of a tragic hero, I don’t exactly think of a hero if the character never wants to go on the adventure and is always making excuses and is afraid and turns into a tragic hero, I don’t exactly understand what he did that was heroic.  I understand that the unwilling heroes need a little push or self-motivation in order to want to take on the adventure, and I am still confused as to why the motivation always has to be the death or kidnapping of a family member.  If the common ground for refusal of the call is past experience why cant past experience also be the reason that the hero accepts the call?  I think that the past experience would help motivate the hero to not want the same thing to happen again to himself or to anyone else, giving them the reason to accept the call to adventure. 

 

Questions:
1. When the hero breaks the secret door law, is the outcome always negative?
2. Shouldn’t the hero be well versed and not afraid to accept the call to adventure if he has been on adventures in the past?
3. Does a tragic hero ever actually accept the call to adventure and if so do they usually finish the task at hand?

Comments from Peer Review

I learned a lot from what my peer editor gave me for advice.  It is hard to edit your own papers in certain areas of the rubric because I personally know the whole story, I know what I want the reader to get so when I read my own paper I have a bias because I think oh I learned this from my experience because of this event.  I might understand but my peer editor showed me that sometimes it is hard for a total outsider to understand what the theme or point of the story is.  I also know that I need to work more on my transitions between paragraphs to make the story flow better, leaving no room for the reader to have to make leaps to comprehend my story.  I also benefited from my editors comment that I should use a better choice of words, to open up my vocabulary to let the reader feel more emotion by using certain words, also to make the story more interesting and exciting to read, you never know you might teach someone a new word.  All together I really like the peer review process and I think it really helped me develop my paper better.  

Vogler, Annoted 4

Summary:
In the Volger reading he went through and explained the meaning and importance of the ordinary world.  He also explained each section in a story, and its purpose.  Some stories have a prologue which is a section in the beginning of the story that gives the audience background information about the hero’s ordinary world, life before he/she is called to adventure.  Not all stories have a prologue, some stories the title or the opening image tells the audience all they need to know about the story, and the hero’s background.  Volger also talks about the importance of the contrast between the ordinary world and the special world.  The example given is about the Wizard of Oz, how the Dorothy’s ordinary world is in black and white where the special world is in bright vibrant colors.  Vogler also states that it is important for the hero to have an inner and outer problem, the purpose of the problems are to give the character some way to relate to the audience, that the audience has been in the characters same position. If there is only an outer problem it makes it harder for the audience to connect with the hero.  Vogler states that every character no matter what role they play in the story must have an exciting entrance, one that speaks to the characters personality.  Once the audience has connected with the hero either through the opening scene and identification then the story gets started.  The hero is usually called to adventure when he loses something important in his life such as a family member or some type of subtraction from his/ her family.  This is called the hero’s lack.  Another way in which Volger says that the audience can connect with the hero is by wounding the hero.  To humanize the hero or any character give him or her a wound, a visible, physical, injury or a deep emotional wound.  The wound allows the audience to understand the pain the hero is going through and shows the audience that heroes can get hurt and not everything is perfect for them.  Another important development in a story is establishing what is at stake for the hero if he succeeds, or fails in his mission and what his success or failure means to himself and the hero’s society.  Vogler also talked about the use of the herald in the story and how they are responsible for getting the story rolling. 

 

Reflection:
I am having a hard time determining what is the ordinary world and what is the special world in the story A Good Man is Hard to Find.  I think that the special world is while the family is driving in the car and meet the convicts.  I also feel as though the videos we watch in class on Fridays are like a special world, with the way the society and women were treated and what was expected of them compared to today’s world as the ordinary.  The way the women didn’t have to work, and how life almost seemed like a dating show, where everyday men were looking to court women into marriage, and the women looked pretty and were educated.  It is obviously that in the story The Offshore Pirate, that the ordinary world was New York, and the special world was on the boat. However insisde the special world I felt that there was almost an ordinary world, which was on the boat with Ardita’s uncle and the second special world was when Ardita was on the boat with Carlyle. 

Reaction:
I understand the ordinary and special world but I also feel like these worlds are not only seen in movies, fairy tales, novels, and myths but also in real life.  I think that in every movies, novel, myth, and fairy tale there is a special and ordinary world, I think what if such a work had an absence of the special world then the audience would have nothing to compare the ordinary world to.  The special world and the ordinary world are what show the audience that the hero is going through a change.  One can tell this by comparing the way the hero is portrayed in the ordinary world before he enters the special world and then comparing the way the hero is portrayed after he enters the special world and returns to the ordinary.  I personally think that the prologue makes sense and I understand why it is in a book, or movie but as a reader I personally hate reading them.  I am so interested in the story that I want to just read the story, and I am no one for reading so having to read the extra prologue, aggravates me sometimes, but it does help me understand what is going on while I am reading a book or watching a movie.  I feel like the title is the hook, of the story of the movie before one has read or watched the work.  If the title is good one is going to be interested and intrigued and want to watch or read the work. 

 

Questions:
1. Why does a hero need to have an inner and outer problem in order for the audience to connect well with them? 
2. What other problems can initiate the hero’s call to adventure other then the death or kidnapping of a family member?
3. What is the difference between an action question and a dramatic question?