Week 10 Ideas

I read the short story, the Drowned Giant. This story talked about a massive corpse of a Giant being washed up on the shore near a city and the local population’s reactions to it. Although the main character was a scientific researcher, he didn’t make too many notes of where the Giant may have come from. Instead, it was more of a study of humans. Sci-Fi is a great format to study humans, because like how the author mentions in the end, who’s to say we are the normal ones. Maybe there is a giant looking down at us tiny people. So the genre allows us to step outside of our world and view it more objectively.

At first people's reactions are full of awe, they don’t dare approach the washed-up mass. Then they become curious and start to explore. When they get really comfortable they start to be rough with it. Then the people who want to make money come and cart it away piece by piece. Something that once was beautiful became reprehensible and eventually forgotten. Connections can be drawn to many natural wonders that when left to people, were destroyed. What’s interesting about this “natural wonder”, is that it would have eventually decomposed and faced a similar fate even without the humans. We consider ourselves protectors of beauty and science, so it’s surprising that no one in the story tried to preserve the giant. Ultimately, this story shows that we need to work hard and organize if we want to save natural wonders or the planet even. Otherwise, as individuals, we will eventually abuse it.

Week 09 Space Opera

I read Vintage Season for the Space Opera week. It was interesting to see how the genre could be interpreted into a short story. This story was set in “modern” times in the 1940’s with an Average Joe main character, Oliver. In doing this, the author kept the preliminary descriptions quite short and left more time to explain the intruding characters.

While being a Sci-Fi story it also included elements of a drama or mystery. Much of the novel focused on the relationship Oliver and Kleph and the mystery of the newcomers. As a mystery story, I enjoyed the range of possibilities and did not predict who they were until the very end. Because I knew it was a Sci-Fi story, the possibilities were way wider that if it had been set in regular 1940’s America. Were they humans? Where they aliens in disguise? Where did they come from and what did they want? These are common questions in invasion stories but made more interesting with the smaller scope of the narrative. The relationship between Oliver and Kleph was interesting enough, but I mostly appreciated how it gave us a window into another culture. Although it carried enough character conflict to be a drama, it was mostly a Sci-Fi mystery.

Week 08 Urban Fantasy

I read Anansi Boys this week. I wasn’t familiar with the mythological character that was interpreted, Anansi, but it was a very engaging read and made me want to know more about West African mythology. Since Anasi is the God of Stories, it was fun for him, in particular, to be brought into modern times. We love entertainment and we love stories. Even our news and real-life events are told like dramatic stories.

One of Anasi’s powers was to bend reality and convince anyone of anything. This power blends in well with modern times because we see amazing new technologies all the time and have gotten used to quickly accepting them into our lives. Even though he has these powers, Spider learns that there is beauty in the truth and in reality. This is a wonderful reminder that no matter what flashy advancements are made in the world, what’s more important are the people. On the other side of the coin, Charlie, who thought he didn’t have any power, learned that he had charm and could tell stories of his own. The “powers” of Anansi helped him loosen up and actually enjoy his life.

Overall, a great interpretation of the myth and study of how stories affect our lives. Would definitely recommend this book.

Week 07 Spiritual Educatioin

In the Sorcerer's Stone, and in many of the Harry Potter books, the characters must decide whether or not to break the rules. Rowling appropriately placed the first of the series in middle school, because that is when we develop critical thinking. We begin to question our place in the world and our relationship to rules. In this world of magic, we have an outsider, Harry, who is the perfect vehicle for these questions. To him, everything is new and a curiosity to be explored.

Many rules in the story seem at first to be for the student’s protection. They describe the off-limits areas as dangerous. But the characters realize that they also seem to hide the truth. When they decide to break the rules, it is because the danger is seeping outside of the zones and the truth needs to be found out. In the end, it seemed that many of the rules were set up by a malicious authority who was undermining the whole system. This concept can translate well to the readers, because it asks us to question why we have rules. It does not say that rules are intrinsically bad. Instead, it encourages us to look into the reason for the rule and question the “truth” that is presented to us.

Week 06 The Heroic Journey

The Hobbit is a classic journey of the hero. An epic quest. Crossing a threshold. What I especially liked about it is Bilbo and his position as the unlikely hero. In the typical hero’s journey, the protagonist, although he might desire to grow, at first declines to call to action. Bilbo fits this especially well because he is very comfortable at the Shire. As a small, untrained character he is very unlikely to be effective on his mission. Even though this a common aspect of the hero’s journey formula, I think Tolkien really pushes it to an extreme. He uses the genre of high fantasy to explain his idea. Bilbo doesn’t just feel ill-equipped for his quest, his very species is ill-equipped for quests. This makes his journey especially compelling. In the end, he overcomes his nature and becomes a hero. By using High fantasy and the hero’s journey Tolkien skillfully describes how we can overcome and be more than we thought possible. After all, If Bilbo can rival a Dragon, then maybe I can get through my day too.

Week 05 Witches

I read Black Maria for this week. There are several prominent female characters even though not all of them poses powers they all paint a different picture of women with power. First, there is Mig. As the young protagonist represents possibility. She can handle magic but is not overcome with the with a desire to use it. She consistently voices her wish for equality and has no baggage of the past. The other women and men are constantly fighting with the traditions of the past and struggling to either hold on to them or let go.

There is also her mother, who has no powers. She is known for being morally strong. She always desired to do the right thing. Her good intentions were manipulated and she was probably the most oppressed character. It was an interesting twist that she was being oppressed by another woman to uphold cultural standards of woman.

Then lastly there is Black Maria herself. She had lots of power with magic and she used it to gain power socially. She knit lies and guilt to get everyone under her thumb. Even tho this woman in power isn’t seen as a good person, she doesn’t show power by flying around on a broom or eating people. Instead, she represents a woman of power who manipulated the existing cultural models. The author used traditionally female things that are normally seen as weak or submissive and used it to show how even that could be forced into a bit of power. She had everyone take care of her, and acted helpless to maintain control. She also used gossip, a traditionally frivolous and “womanly” thing and used it to great advantage. The other women, Mig and her mom, have to fight those traditions to be free of Black Maria’s power.

Because it was set in the 90’s, a lot of the traditionally female things like wearing skirts or baking seemed outdated then and ridiculously so now. It was fun to have a story that showed how women fighting other women for their freedom. It is like an external exploration of the conflict of the past and future cultures that many women have to explore for themselves.

Week 03 J Horror

For my study into J-Horror I read the Wild Sheep Chase. This was a fun and interesting read that I would definitely recommend. It also afforded a unique look into eastern horror fiction. Most of the occurrences in the story weren’t scary as much as unsettling. All the characters who had the sheep inside of them were not possessed in a scary way. The scariest part to me was probably the aftermath once the sheep left them like the sheep Professor’s degrading state. Although this was more “horrific” it also seemed more rooted in reality, like someone suffering from withdrawal. In this book, the main force of the supernatural was the sheep. Even the characters in the book admit that they don’t know it’s agenda. It feels malicious in some ways because it seeks power and has the ability to manipulate whatever it pleases. But when we consider what it’s done, there isn’t much that can be declared as evil intention. It is just that absolute power is scary. That perhaps is why the sheep needed to be destroyed at the end more than for any hard evil deeds.

This contrasts with western horror which tends to be rooted in evil. Witches, vampires and most fantasy creatures have a link to evil or good. This is probably a reflection of the West's religious heritage. Especially as the Christian culture vilified native mythology. In Japan and the rest of the East, their religious roots in Buddhism and Confucianism might be why the supernatural is an extension of nature and therefore, like nature, neither good nor bad. It is simply a force.

Although is eastern horror the supernatural is not distinctly good or evil, it rarely fares well for whoever messes with them. In the Kwaidan, the characters aren’t usually rewarded for interacting with the supernatural even if they were doing something good or noble. The particular story I read told of a blind musician who accidentally played for a host of ghosts every night. When his caretaker the monk found out he “saved” him by writing all over his body. The monk missed the ears, so when the ghosts came they took them. The poor musician had no way of knowing to do any better, so it seems odd that he was punished. This perhaps links back to Wild Sheep Chase, in that the forces aren’t necessarily bad but interacting with so much power takes more than it gives.