Sunday, September 30, 2018

Grafic Novels and the Comicsgate Movement

Hey dudes! This week we learned about the importance of pictures in literature. Of course, I always knew this, being a huge nerd for DC comics. Hell, I know some characters from DC comics that very few people know, like a Red Lantern earth cat named Dex-Starr. 
People often scoff at these comics, even people who normally approve of graphic novels. They understand that not every picture book is for children, but they also believe that without loads of imagery, symbolism, and other literary techniques the piece is not "intellectual" enough. To them, a work without these techniques can't tell a good story. Apparently telling a damn good story nowadays is not enough for most "intellectually superior" authors, every story to them needs some "deeper meaning".

Comic books and their readers have always been under attack, and, like gaming, this hobby's stigma is slowly returning. Instead of old, white, religious hacks attacking our hobby like in the past, now their are a bunch of whiney progressive telling us that our hobby is somehow "sexist" for their depiction of female superheroes. The pushback against this newfound movement has been called "Comicsgate", as an extension of the two previous Gamergate movements. So much in the media about these "hateful" movements is biased reporting only told to push a leftist agenda. All Gamergate and Comicsgate are about is protecting our communities from being infested with politics. The last thing anyone wants to hear about when they are taking a load off after work the play some video games or read some comics is more stupid political crap shoved down their throats. 

Saturday, September 22, 2018

Hey guys!

This week in class we read the piece "This is Water", a speech given by David Wallace. Well actually, I just clicked on the link in the calendar and listened to the entire speech, which I actually found quite helpful as I felt that the information was retained better in my head. Anyway, the speech had an excellent message, and I felt it was also quite hilarious. Wallace's delivery with the fable about the fish was perfect, adding a great sense of humor which helped the audience remember the fable. His walkthrough of adult life is quite relatable, and also helps the message sound less preachy. So often nowadays people tell us that true joy comes from understanding others, but after a while that seems to become just "banal platitude". The way Wallace sets up his speech to make himself seem guilty of the same crime he's talking against, he builds ethos with the audience and doesn't lose them in some "holier than thou" dribble.

If you haven't listened to the speech already, please do. I'm aware that we all have busy schedules and would rather read a speech in five minutes rather than listen to the full 22 minute speech, however listening to the speech gives a whole other level of dimension to the experience. The jokes are set up much betters, and overall feel more humorous listening to the speech rather than reading it. The tones is much clearer, and gives a greater feel to the entire piece. Not only does listening to the speech add a lot to the piece, but it also feels to me like the anecdotes and message stick with you better.

Sunday, September 16, 2018

After reading the passage "Woman warrior" given to us to read this weekend, I made some mental ties to her ideas about people's views of women to modern views of men. People in Ancient and even modern China to some extent still see women as inferior members of society. To them it seems the concept of a female breadwinner or warrior is impossible, despite the fact that women throughout history have proven in some cases to be just as if not more valuable than men. This culture of misogyny also existed in our country, but was eliminated after women gained equity in society. Some may argue that women are still treated as second class citizens in America to this day, yet I have never seen any definitive evidence for this idea. In fact, most evidence I have seen are simply bogus claims made up to make white, western women feel like they have or are just as oppressed as women of color in other countries. White women made up this concept of a "wage gap" to keep up their victim status while eastern women are subject to atrocities like female genital mutilation and brutal cases of rape backed up by the government.

Not only do I believe that white women in the west aren't oppressed, but I also strongly believe that white women are the oppressors of every other class in society. They constantly makes their voices heard, silencing women of color and men's issues in the process. Black men are still jailed at alarming rates, utterly destroying the sense of unity and family in the black community. Men of any color and women of color all get longer prison sentences than white women, even though white men should be further down the ladder... right? No one turns their head when a white women is put in jail for raping a student but when a woman of color or a man is in her place? Yet our culture still insists that white women still live in the shadow of white men, because white women are just innocent little creatures... right?

Sunday, September 9, 2018

Hello everyone!

This week in class we learned about war memorials. We learned that for a war memorial to be constructed, many things must be taking into consideration. We learned how one must design a structure keeping in mind critics, feelings, and most importantly the message the monument conveys. We first took a look at a British monument commemorating the British soldiers in World War 1, and then we were asked to look for another memorial and note its symbolism. I wrote about the Tjeniste war monument in Bosnia, a huge abstract fractal monument on a mountain meant to symbolize the victory of the Yugoslavian forces over the Axis powers.

I didn't understand at first why we were analyzing something as mundane and uninteresting as war memorials, after all, this is English class am I right? However later i came to realize that the significance of analyzing the symbolism in structures is helpful to understanding literature. Works of literature are similar to monuments as both use abstract devices to get a message across. The Vietnam War Memorial may just look like an interesting structure, but understand the complex symbolic meaning put into it gives the onlooker a deeper sense of what really went on in that war. So much could be missed by simply looking upon the structure from the outside.

While the first two weeks have started off quite poorly in terms of my performance in class, hopefully this lesson on the war memorials has taught me something about analysis that i wouldn't have understood otherwise.

Swallowing the Red Pill: Immigration and Nationalism

Oh boy, I'm going to get a lot of hate for this, but it needs to be said. In the first chapter of "The Great Gatsby", Tom comm...