Being a Comic Book Superhero=Awesome

This is my last blog and I have no idea what to write about. I was thinking about Persepolis, but that's what the rest of you lovely people already wrote about. Then I thought about it being a graphic novel, and then I thought about comic books, and then I thought about summer. Last summer I was in a musical called Starmites and it was pretty much the greatest thing ever.

It was about a huge comic book nerd who wishes she lived in her comic book world. She dreamed of being a Starmite and saving Innerspace. Eventually she gets sucked into this world and they are trying to kill her. She thinks that she can't do it, but in the end she defeats the bad guy Shak Graa.

This actually has a connection to Pan's Labyrinth. When Eleanor gets transferred to Innerspace, she is called Milady. Milady is the object of the Starmites' quest, and what Shak-Graa needs to destroy in order to rule all. In Pan's Labyrinth Ofelia has a quest to find a key and go through a labyrinth under the name Princess Moanna. It's really not that similiar, but I noticed it when watching the film.

The play was a ton of fun to be in. Playing a comic book superhero really has no limits. The costumes and makeup were insanely colorful, and we wore these light up stars on our costumes that were sound activated. It was pretty sweet. The best thing about playing a comic book character is that you can act completely insane and no one can tell you you're overacting. Superhero comic books are often written to be insane and unrealistic and it was just a lot of fun to play that.

Just Dance, It'll Be Okay.

We've focused a lot on motifs in this class. Catcher in the Rye and Jane Eyre were crawling with them. After reading Feed, I noticed there was a motif of dancing.

The main character Titus would malfunction (make himself high by overflowing his feed), and he connected that to rain. He said he and his girlfriend danced in it like rain. Later in the book, Titus's girlfriend makes a bucket list, and number one is dancing. Number three is dancing in a nightclub.

When I tried to figure out what this meant, I immediately thought of Just Dance by Lady Gaga. The whole song is basically about getting wasted and dancing.

Violet understands that the Earth is dying and there are all these problems going on. Dancing for her is just kind of a release for all these issues. It is the only thing that's left in the world that isn't controlled by the feed. Violet is starting to lose her ability to move though because of the feed. Dancing was the only way she was able to relieve stress and be carefree.

In the words of Gaga, "Just dance, it'll be okay."

Literature on Drugs

Everyone has seen Alice in Wonderland. All the colors and strange characters, and not to mention a catapillar smoking a hookah. When you're a kid you just find it interesting. It's a disney movie so it has to be innocent right? Well, that's false.
There are so many different theories out there about if the author Lewis Carroll was on acid while he wrote Alice in Wonderland. I researched it and found out that it's not true that he was on acid, because acid wasn't even discovered until many years later. But, through my research I did come across that Carroll had many migranes and was on the drug Opium. Opium is known to cause vivid dreams. There are some sites that refute this, but I believe it. Lewis Carroll was a mathematician. He either just had creative explosion one day, or he took something.
A couple weeks ago I saw a play called "Still Life With Iris." It starts out with a girl living in a very colorful world, where people make storms and flowers and catch the moon. Everyone wears coats that keep hold of all their memories. Once they take their coats off, they don't know who they are anymore. Iris gets kidnapped and taken to a black and white world to live with the Goode family. The Goode family insists on having the best of everything. They only wear one shoe, the best shoe. Iris hates this world and runs away to a beach, where she meets a pirate gypsy woman and Mozart. Maybe it's just me, but I definately felt like I was tripping while I was watching it.

This blog really has nothing to do with anything we're doing in class right now, but I just wanted to write it for funsies. It's literature, and this is a literature class after all.

I do have one connection. If the Goode family found something that was not the best, they would send it to the cave. In one part of the play, they show all the people that have been sent to the dungeon. They all look hot damn messes. The cave was crawling with Bertha Masons.

Wrongs of Passage: Sixteen Candles.

I believe what she was saying is true for the most part. I don't really understand what she was saying with the age part though. I relate my "sweet sixteen" to the movie Sixteen Candles. I was at a swim meet that weekend and like maybe three people said happy birthday to me. I wasn't with any of my family or any of my real friends. It was probably the worst birthday ever. I did crash a redneck wedding though, that was fun... until we almost got arrested. That wasn't too fun. It all turned up from there though. A month later I got my driver's license and the same day I got a 2009 Chevy Cobalt. I was feeling pretty optimistic that day, expecially because the car was yellow.
Anyways, I think that the age thing is a fine example, but still it's not 100% accurate. Once you turn a certain age, that doesn't mean you're going to grow up any faster.

I guess my rite of passage will be when I go off to college. I'm shy and dependent, and I'm going to have to change that before I go off to live on my own without parents telling me to do things. This is a positive rite because I will be independent and I will be alot more outgoing. That's something I want to do now, I just have no motivation. College will push me to be what I want to be.

Final Reflection of Jane Eyre

Plain Jane has had a pretty rough life. She had no parents, no money, and hardly any happiness. She had to deal with her evil aunt and cousins, being judged for being a governess, and her low self esteem. She comes across Mr. Rochester, who is still less than kind to her. Finally, she comes to terms with Mr. Rochester and they fall in love. I feel like she became very happy for the first time in her life. Then it comes out that he is already married to crazy lady Bertha. Poor Jane.

If I were Jane, I would stay with Rochester. He was just too ashamed to tell Jane that he was already married. He obviously didn't love Bertha, he loved Jane. He didn't really do anything wrong towards Jane, and so if I were her, I would still stay with him.

I liked the book for the most part. Sometimes it got quite slow, but other times it was very interesting. I really liked Jane as a character and I was glad that the book was written in first person so that I knew exactly what she was thinking. I did not like how Adele spoke in French. I know that she evidently didn't say anything important, but it was still distracting. I wish that the book was a bit shorter for the most part.

I guess this is a good book to be taught. It is one of the most famous pieces of literature, and this is a literature class. It was a perfect demonstration of motifs as well. However, it was quite long. It was hard to get caught up if you were behind. I also wish that it had more of an interesting plot. I got bored after a while because she would just be talking to Mrs. Fairfax for like 10 pages. I would pick a shorter book.

Rochester=Holden

In Chapter 14, Jane and Rochester had an indepth conversation. Rochester tells Jane that she is "not pretty any more than I am handsome." Then he calls her dumb. Jane just kind brushes it off like it's no big deal, even though it was kind of rude.  Rochester then tells Jane that he is superior to her, and that his thoughts are "cankering as a rusty nail." Rochester envies Jane's "peace of mind", "clean conscience", and "unpolluted memory". Rochester is 20 years older than Jane and has indeed experienced more. This part of the story may explain why Rochester hasn't been the warmest guy.
My theory to why he is acting this way is because of Adele's mother. He tells Jane about Celine, who abandoned her daughter, Adele. Rochester doesn't want Adele to be an orphan so he takes her in, come to find out that there is possibility that Adele is his daughter. He is mean to Jane because he is jealous of her innocence. I feel like Rochester wishes he could just be young forever. Holden thought the same way.

Inspiration for Other Classics

Jane Eyre was written in 1847. It is one of the most famous pieces of literature in history. As you read you may pick up on some similarities to other stories. Was this coincidence or were they inspired by this story.

When Jane is a little orphan girl, she lives with her aunt and cousins, her "evil" aunt and cousins. Cinderella similarily is an orphan who lives with her stepmom and stepsisters, "evil" stepmom and stepsisters.

As Jane grows older, she gets a job as a governess. At first she hates Adele's father (or so they say), but then she grows to fall in love with him, even though he is planning on marrying Blanche Ingram. In the Sound of Music, Maria gets a job as a governess, and really doesn't like the Captain very much. As time goes on, Maria and the Captain fall in love, even though he was planning on marrying the baroness.

These stories have a lot of similarities with eachother. Often authors derive their ideas from other stories and archetypes.