On Monday we analyzed Cinderella and Snow White. For this week I want you to choose a fairy tale/fable/parable to analyze in your blog. You should do the following: 1) Summarize the fairy tale, 2) List all the themes you can see, & 3) Analyze one to two of the themes and discuss how you see them effecting the larger audience and yourself.

The Lion King

Simba is the son of Mufasa, king of the Pridelands. Mufasa teaches Simba about the Pridelands and the things in them every evening and Simba is excited about one day being king. Mufasa's brother and advisor, is jealous of Mufasa's power, and is conspring to overthrow him and become king himself. By tricking Mufasa into thinking that Simba is in danger, Scar throws Mufasa into a wildebeest stampede while Simba looks on. Simba, blaming his father's death on himself, subjects himself to an exile from the Pridelands, nad passes out in the middle of a desert. He wakes up in a lush jungle oasis, with Timon, a meerkat, and Pumbaa, a warthog. The two friends teach Simba their life philosophy of Hakuna Matata, Swahili for no worries. Simba learns to enjoy life for the little things, and grows to adulthood with Timon and Pumbaa in the oasis, eventually forgetting about the Pridelands. When his childhood friend Nala, on the flee from Scar's harsh rule, finds Simba in the oasis, she tells him of Scar's regime and the poor state of the pridelands. Simba explains to Nala that he cannot return to the Pridelands, as he let down those living there when he abandoned his father. Later that night, Simba sees a vision of his father, who tells him to be brave and return to his rightful place in the Pridelands. Although Timon and Pumbaa express resentment at Simba's departure, he returns to the Pridelands to atone for his sins. After seeing Scar strike his mother, Simba reveals himself at Pride Rock, and has a duel with Scar. Simba is quickly overpowered by Scar, who tells the pride that Simba was the one who killed Scar. Simba, dangling over Pride Rock, is told by Scar, that he was not the killer, but Scar was instead. With newfound strength Simba leaps up and defeats Scar, who is then devoured by hyenas. Simba takes his place as king of the Pridelands, and raises a family with Nala.

Themes:
Destiny
Family
Betrayal
Self-Doubt
Worry

Family

The themes of family from the Lion King come straight from Shakespeare's Hamlet. Simba's exile is both begun and ended by family in some way. Timon and Pumbaa become his surrogate family, and eventually return with him to the Pridelands. He fights Scar because of what happened to his mother. This gives the characters more realistic bonds, while also making relationships between the characters more tender and believable.

Destiny

Scar's coup on Mufasa comes from his feeling that he was the one meant to rule the Pride Lands. Simba felt as though his destiny was to be king, but abandoned it after the death of his father, only coming back to it later int he film. Both did not respect the destiny of others, and were affected in different ways. Scar fell to a coup nearly as violent as his own, and Simba nearly lost his family and the Pridelands as a whole. This keeps the audience more invested in the story, by showing how each respective character nearly passed by their ultimate purpose.

They showed me a side of myself I didn’t know existed, and I had changed as a result.

They opened my eyes to a part of myself I had never recognized, and my life took an immediate turn. I was reinvented, and I was sure that it would be a definite change.

The choice for Tomorrow is pretty obvious choice. Choosing Yesterday would mean that every day good or bad, would have to be lived again, and you would know exactly what would happen, when, and what effect it would have on you. You would wake up anticipating national crisis, death and sad moments. It's true you could make fantastic money on football bets, but you'd never be able to collect your rewards. Tomorrow is easily the best choice.

...

I remember the fear more than anything else. The fear that more attacks would follow, that America would place itself into a worldwide conflict with attacks focused on our country. My mother had told me that New York had been bombed, and not to turn on the TV. I realize now why I shouldn't have. I went to a neighbors until my mother came home from work, wondering the whole time what had actually happened. It's been eight years and now our country has taken this terrible terrible event as a dividing factor. No one can agree as to whether or not we should have retaliated against those that struck our country at its very core, that threw our economy out of loop, and left us wanting retribution. Still others would argue that the attacks were planned by our own country, as an excuse to secure petroleum in the middle east, in a country that we had once supported during the cold war. It is saddening to see that our country cannot remain united as one, as we were that day eight years ago, and cope together against fear against division. For a shining moment we stood together united as one, but now it looks as though the attacks in 2001 have done nothing but further divide this country.

I think its the nose...

Looks like a Jew and smells good for cheap

Was it to melodramatic?

There was a lot that went into writing my first draft. i debated for a while whether or not I had chosen the right moment. I can't stress enough how sublime the emotions were. I hadn't even realized at the time exactly what had happened to me. It was a terribly terribly, almost gradient-like event in which my mood and thoughts changed completely. I felt I made a good choice in choosing to cover more of how we met each other and built our relationship rather than our time in New York, but it isn't an experience I choose not to recall. I would certainly add it if it augmented the paper's quality, but I feel that our relationship beforehand was a much more important quality to my metamorphasis.

They have a song called after hours, the similarites are obvious.

Dear Student body,

You may have heard that our school has found a large sum of money in its budget and would like to use it to hire a musical act for our school. I am here to tell you of a band you have probably never heard of, but already want to be playing at this school. We Are Scientists, is making a huge run on the popular music industry, and as a result can provide a more raw and exciting experience than any other band out there. They still have their youth, and as a result know what we want in live music and can deliver thusly. They have some of the catchiest melodies and most memorable lyrics of this decade, and choosing them as our musical act this spring is in every way an incredible decision. I've given you the oppurtunity, now it's your turn to act upon it.

They even have a song called textbook. The similarities are obvious

We have been reading and discussing issues of audience. Audience is crucial when deciding how to write on any given topic. This being said, let's pretend that Georgia College and State University has found a large sum of extra money in the school budget and Dr. Leland (President of GCSU) has asked students to submit letters of recommendation for a popular musician (or musical group)** to perform on the GCSU campus next Spring. I would like you to write a persuasive letter in which you are trying to convince her that your choice is the best choice for GCSU. Keep in mind your audience(Dr. Leland & other administrators). What type of information and evidence will they find most compelling? How can you clearly state why your choice is the best and how it will be a positive experience for GCSU students? What might they value?


To whom it may concern,

It has come to the attention to myself and others that a large sum of money is to be allocated towards hiring a musical group to perform at GCSU next semester. I would like to place my vote towards New York based group "We Are Scientists". The band is the perfect candidate for playing at a liberal arts college for a number of reasons. The group holds a higher popularity in Europe than they do in their native United States, providing them with experiences easily relatable to the college demographic. The group operates a website that covers much more than just their music, promoting creativity, humor and objective thinking. The band is known for their sense of humor and easygoing nature during interviews, and such a talent for thinking outside the box would surely be appreciated on a campus such as this.

Give it some thought, their music is generally free of vulgarity, and the band is currently on the rise, making their booking rates fairly cheap.

Sincerely,
Michael Rabalais

Response to Two Cheers for Materialsim

Twitchell makes an interesting point in his essay "Two Cheers for Materialism," in stating that the things we buy serve as a means to define ourselves to others. Take for instance musical tastes. My favorite band is the Beatles. If for instance I had only purchased (in a displayable form) their first two albums, I would be considered a fan of their early music. I could very well have listened to their entire catalog, but by owning only two albums I have been placed in a very specific demographic. If all I had in terms of music was Beatles albums, I would be considered a very big fan of the Beatles, but in turn if I had the discography of twenty other bands, I would be a music fan who likes the Beatles. Right now in my room I have four posters of the Beatles and and identified by this trait. I am the guy who likes the Beatles, while back home I was the guy who liked video games. I still have the same games I did at home, and talk about them just as much, but the Beatles take up more physical room in my living space, and have essentially won a battle over my personality. I have effectively bought my way into being recognized as a fan of the Beatles' music.

I wonder if we could expedite the process...

You, in all your magnificent power, have the ability to banish (to Pluto for instance) one person from the earth. Free write on who you would you banish and why. Dead or alive.

I'm going to preface this post with a video. Once you watch it you'll understand my response a little bit better.



I have a lot of problems with this video, starting from the voice over narration. If you used your "magic" to turn this girl into a woman, why is there video footage of her before the trick is done? An actual mother would hear a man that looks like you ask to try something on their little girl, and call the police. This is simply an event that doesn't happen natrually, and especially when cameras are rolling. You, Mr. Angel, then proceed to accelerate how this girl ages. In a store. Without the mother watching. If the mother was watching she wouldn't ask who the person talking to her is at the end of the video. I wouldn't care about you sir, if you were simply making low quality youtube videos only (you aren't far off) but to try and fool us into believing that this is an actualization is absolutely ridiculous. Every second of the video serves as a window into your lies, a passage into whatever realm you possess where you think someone of average intelligence would believe that you can make someone age 12 years in 20 seconds. You sir, and you alone deserve more than anyone else to be banished from this planet forever, and not dead but alive. I'd like to see you magic your way back to this plane of existence.

Response to Rethinking Normal

Take a moment to reflect on the experiences of your own life. What are the particular ideas/values/attitudes that invite us to accept certain aspects of society as normal? You can pull examples from various media outlets, literature, clubs/organizations, etc. The main focus should be on thinking about how we are approached and persuaded to buy into an idea of normal.


I think it's an acceptance of age change that constitutes an adult as normal. If a stranger were to ask me of my music tastes and I name dropped Raffi, the conversation would be considered a waste to all involved. What's funny is that comedians build stage personas around being percieved as immature, and by doing so they make much more money than I could ever imagine. I could think of the biggest number I could, and they would make more money than that by being " a little weird". It's because the media bombards us with images of American adults; well dressed and impossibly beautiful, and we feel an intense desire to follow suit. No one outside of an apple or a UPS commercial will ever appear on TV with a nondescript T-shirt and half beard. It's the corporate bigshots (who I can assure you do not act like their spokesmodels) have us believing that a half million dollar apartment filled with thousand dollar colognes is normal. We don't' see the hour long meetings at Gentleman's Quarterly over whether or not their cover model has his shirt tucked in too far. Or benchmark of normality is born in these hilariously unnecessary meetings, but the results are almost always devestatingly effective. I am here to tell you that drinking only Coca Cola products will not net you a post as king of twenty-something Americans, but instead will leave you a clammy mass of flesh illuminated by the glow of the TV. These are the examples we aren't meant to see, the charicatures of what a companies product will actually do when applied like in a commercial. If you apply a Tag brand body spray, I promise you will not be tackled by women overcome by carnal lust for your branded musk. You may instead expect a compliment on the smell, or be told to stop spraying that everywhere,because like for real its way too strong to use that on a bus.

First post

I want to write for a living. Therefore the idea of blogging for a grade, seems fairly similar to what I plan on doing later in life...

I'll call it practice. Or a portfolio. Whatever floats your boat.