When the show True Blood first aired, I watched the first few episodes, and really liked the series, but I ended up being too busy to follow it regularly. I was so excited when I found out that one of the books we had to read for this class was what True Blood was based on. I loved reading Dead Until Dark and decided to catch up on True Blood (which is now on season 3).
Sookie is the average young female from a Southern small town in America, making her easily relatable. She is innocent and naive and thinks of her mind-reading gift as a disability. She is a much stronger character than Bella Swan, she is able to stand up for her opinions and fights to save Bill from the Rats. Instead of running away from the killer that she knew was coming after, as Bella did with James, she tries to find out who the killer is before he can get to her. Some things that I didn't like about Sookie was that she cries a lot. I didn't like how she mourned for her Grandma (I wouldn't even call what she did mourning). Also, I didn't like how passive she would get with Bill.
I didn't dislike Bill as much as I had hated Edward. He was much more mysterious, and was also a gentleman. But he was also overly protective of Sookie. I hated how he referred to Sookie as "mine" (even though it was for her protection). I didn't think he had any right to kill her uncle (even though he had raped her). He tried to rule her life and put her in a protective bubble even though she was her own person (although, she would often put up a good fight).
I was really upset when I watched the series and then read the book because I loved Tara's character. And I like how True Blood goes a lit bit further with Jason's character than the book did.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Anita Blake...
I have to admit, I had somewhat of a difficult time reading the two books. I have never been much of a comic book reader, and I often had a hard time following the text on the pages--was I supposed to go left first or down first? I eventually got into the swing of it, but I'd much rather read a novel with text that plainly goes left to right and then down to the next line.
One of my favorite things about reading, is picturing the story happening in my mind. And when I would read the text on the pages of this graphic novel, the images that came into my mind were very different than the ones drawn on the page. I pictured Anita as a buff, more rough around the edges looking girl, and yet she is drawn to be muscular with big hips, big boobs, luscious red lips and perfectly messy, curly black hair. I thought that the vampire bites on the characters bodies didn't look right, they looked more like random scratches than bite marks. Most of the pictures were in some way provocative (except for the actions scenes, and when Anita was in her penguin pjs). I was really annoyed with how most of the characters looked like models--the men with their chiseled abs (the female and male gaze)--and the women with the almost porn-star-like bodies--big boobs, hips, lips, long flowy hair (male gaze). The pictures of her with her pouty lips honestly took away from her strong persona.
I thought that Anita's obsession with penguins was a funny/weird coincidence. My old roommate is obsessed with penguins and had tons of stuffed animal penguins in her room.
While I enjoyed the storyline, I was just really thrown off by the graphics. As was pointed out in class, the graphics didn't often mesh up so well with the texts, and I often felt like some information was missing, some of the text in the actual novel was taken out in the graphic novel. I think if I had read the actual novel first, I would have been even more upset when I read the graphic novel.
One of my favorite things about reading, is picturing the story happening in my mind. And when I would read the text on the pages of this graphic novel, the images that came into my mind were very different than the ones drawn on the page. I pictured Anita as a buff, more rough around the edges looking girl, and yet she is drawn to be muscular with big hips, big boobs, luscious red lips and perfectly messy, curly black hair. I thought that the vampire bites on the characters bodies didn't look right, they looked more like random scratches than bite marks. Most of the pictures were in some way provocative (except for the actions scenes, and when Anita was in her penguin pjs). I was really annoyed with how most of the characters looked like models--the men with their chiseled abs (the female and male gaze)--and the women with the almost porn-star-like bodies--big boobs, hips, lips, long flowy hair (male gaze). The pictures of her with her pouty lips honestly took away from her strong persona.
I thought that Anita's obsession with penguins was a funny/weird coincidence. My old roommate is obsessed with penguins and had tons of stuffed animal penguins in her room.
While I enjoyed the storyline, I was just really thrown off by the graphics. As was pointed out in class, the graphics didn't often mesh up so well with the texts, and I often felt like some information was missing, some of the text in the actual novel was taken out in the graphic novel. I think if I had read the actual novel first, I would have been even more upset when I read the graphic novel.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Response to Fledgling
I'm still not exactly sure about my feelings on Fledgling. When I first started reading the book, I had a difficult time stomaching Shori's feeding and her sexual engagement with Wright and then the other "Syms." While I think it is important for girls to explore their sexuality, I feel that's something to explore when going through puberty. Shori's body was that of a 10 or 11 year old prepubescent girl and even though we find out later that she is actually 53 years old, I still found it disturbing.
I liked that Shori's character was so strong and was able to grow throughout the book, and that we were also able to see her weak and what her weaknesses were. I would definitely consider her to be a dynamic character. She was able to overcome her memory loss and not let it her deter her. She's a girl with the ability to kick butt in order to protect the one's she loves, and herself. She knew what was right and fought to show that to the council members.
I found it really cool that the Ina society was so matriarchal, but on the other hand, the author made me really hate the elders like Milo Silk that were so prejudiced, set in their ways, and weren't open to the new and the different, especially since what they were so against was something that could help protect them. Octavia Butler's voice was definitely came through her text.
Fledgling was definitely a completely different story from Twilight and the rest of the modern vampire novels I have read. I always have liked to learn about different people and their cultures so I really liked how Butler introduced us to the Ina, even though they are a fictional culture. The storyline was very intricate in details.
I liked that Shori's character was so strong and was able to grow throughout the book, and that we were also able to see her weak and what her weaknesses were. I would definitely consider her to be a dynamic character. She was able to overcome her memory loss and not let it her deter her. She's a girl with the ability to kick butt in order to protect the one's she loves, and herself. She knew what was right and fought to show that to the council members.
I found it really cool that the Ina society was so matriarchal, but on the other hand, the author made me really hate the elders like Milo Silk that were so prejudiced, set in their ways, and weren't open to the new and the different, especially since what they were so against was something that could help protect them. Octavia Butler's voice was definitely came through her text.
Fledgling was definitely a completely different story from Twilight and the rest of the modern vampire novels I have read. I always have liked to learn about different people and their cultures so I really liked how Butler introduced us to the Ina, even though they are a fictional culture. The storyline was very intricate in details.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
"Loss of Innocence" Responses
“I never felt any great loss of innocence, only great rushes of the kind of power that comes with self-knowledge and shared intimacy.”
“Loss of innocence.” This is what most people think happens to a young girl when she first loses her virginity. I know that this was something I felt, and I personally had wanted to keep proving, to everyone who put me down, that I was no longer a little innocent girl. I feel like sex is something that was thought of as risky and disgusting as a teenager. My parents, peers and certain media made it feel that way. But it isn’t, and the author does such a great job attending to this idea in her essay.
“I had mastered the art of transforming myself into what I thought each man would fall in love with. Not at all in control of each affair, but very much in control of the mask I put on for each man, I tried on a dozen personas, played out a dozen roles, decided not to be a dozen people.”
I found this to be quote very interesting. As an actress and performer, I have learned to come out of my self and become a different character. I’ve always considered the act of taking on a different persona to be that of a performer, but Rebecca Walker use this action to discover her sexuality, preferences and about her self. At first I found that kind of odd because I thought why would someone want to change who they are in their own life, but then I reconsidered and realized that that is her own way to find out things about herself and that she wasn’t truly changing who she was.
“Pried away from our parents and other authority figures, we look for answers about ourselves and how the world relates to us. We search for proper boundaries and create our very own slippery moral codes. We can begin to take control of this process and show responsibility only if we are encouraged to own our right to have a safe and self-created sexuality.”
I have always believed in hands on learning. If I child is only ever to be handed the answers and told everything, than how can the child learn to think on their own, to form their own ideas and find their own answer. Young adults need to be let to figure out who they are without their parents and peers defining that for them. If sex is consistently thought of as a taboo, it can never truly be special, or safe.
“We deserve to have our self-esteem nurtured and our personal agency encouraged.”
How is it possible to build up your self-esteem if everybody is always judging you? A girl who wants to explore who she is and her sexuality is typically considered a whore or a slut. So then any girl who is curious about sexuality or sex feels the needs to hide her thoughts and push away her curiosity so she won’t be called names. Girls need to feel free to explore and not be judged for curiosity and self-exploration.
Response on relation of essay to Fledgling:
As I have been reading Fledging, I have often found myself feeling awkward or disturbed. Reading about a girl who looks like she is 10 years old have sex with a man in his twenties wasn’t so easy to stomach, even though we later find out, she is actual 53 years old. On the other hand, I wasn’t disturbed at all when I read Rebecca Walker’s essay where she tells how she first had sex at age 11 with an older boy. Why am I having such different reactions when both the story and the essay talk of young girls engaging in sexual activity? I think that maybe I felt better knowing that the narrator of the essay was having sex as means of self and sexual exploration. And that the rest of the essay discusses how girls and young women need to be able to explore themselves and their bodies without any inhibitions from parents or peer, without anyone judging them. But then again, one can consider that Shori is doing the exact same thing. She is having to relearn how her body works and is basically exploring all of her new feeling and bodily cravings. Reading Rebecca Walkers’ essay left me empowered as a young woman who had to grow up feeling guilty about sexual curiosity and the act of engaging in sex. Though the idea of young girls having sex or wanting to explore sexuality threw me off at first, I realized that girls and women of all ages should feel that they have that right to do so safely and without judgment.
“Loss of innocence.” This is what most people think happens to a young girl when she first loses her virginity. I know that this was something I felt, and I personally had wanted to keep proving, to everyone who put me down, that I was no longer a little innocent girl. I feel like sex is something that was thought of as risky and disgusting as a teenager. My parents, peers and certain media made it feel that way. But it isn’t, and the author does such a great job attending to this idea in her essay.
“I had mastered the art of transforming myself into what I thought each man would fall in love with. Not at all in control of each affair, but very much in control of the mask I put on for each man, I tried on a dozen personas, played out a dozen roles, decided not to be a dozen people.”
I found this to be quote very interesting. As an actress and performer, I have learned to come out of my self and become a different character. I’ve always considered the act of taking on a different persona to be that of a performer, but Rebecca Walker use this action to discover her sexuality, preferences and about her self. At first I found that kind of odd because I thought why would someone want to change who they are in their own life, but then I reconsidered and realized that that is her own way to find out things about herself and that she wasn’t truly changing who she was.
“Pried away from our parents and other authority figures, we look for answers about ourselves and how the world relates to us. We search for proper boundaries and create our very own slippery moral codes. We can begin to take control of this process and show responsibility only if we are encouraged to own our right to have a safe and self-created sexuality.”
I have always believed in hands on learning. If I child is only ever to be handed the answers and told everything, than how can the child learn to think on their own, to form their own ideas and find their own answer. Young adults need to be let to figure out who they are without their parents and peers defining that for them. If sex is consistently thought of as a taboo, it can never truly be special, or safe.
“We deserve to have our self-esteem nurtured and our personal agency encouraged.”
How is it possible to build up your self-esteem if everybody is always judging you? A girl who wants to explore who she is and her sexuality is typically considered a whore or a slut. So then any girl who is curious about sexuality or sex feels the needs to hide her thoughts and push away her curiosity so she won’t be called names. Girls need to feel free to explore and not be judged for curiosity and self-exploration.
Response on relation of essay to Fledgling:
As I have been reading Fledging, I have often found myself feeling awkward or disturbed. Reading about a girl who looks like she is 10 years old have sex with a man in his twenties wasn’t so easy to stomach, even though we later find out, she is actual 53 years old. On the other hand, I wasn’t disturbed at all when I read Rebecca Walker’s essay where she tells how she first had sex at age 11 with an older boy. Why am I having such different reactions when both the story and the essay talk of young girls engaging in sexual activity? I think that maybe I felt better knowing that the narrator of the essay was having sex as means of self and sexual exploration. And that the rest of the essay discusses how girls and young women need to be able to explore themselves and their bodies without any inhibitions from parents or peer, without anyone judging them. But then again, one can consider that Shori is doing the exact same thing. She is having to relearn how her body works and is basically exploring all of her new feeling and bodily cravings. Reading Rebecca Walkers’ essay left me empowered as a young woman who had to grow up feeling guilty about sexual curiosity and the act of engaging in sex. Though the idea of young girls having sex or wanting to explore sexuality threw me off at first, I realized that girls and women of all ages should feel that they have that right to do so safely and without judgment.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Twilight...
So, I must admit, I read Twilight three years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. At that time, it still hadn't become the phenomenon that it is today, but it had started to gain popularity among my 13 year-old campers and my younger sister. But, as I reread the book for this class, I really did not enjoy it. I felt that it often drudged on and on. I never really liked Bella or Edward the first time I read the book, I just thought it was a different, good story-line. But, again, as I reread the book, I hated both of them. I found Bella to just be a pathetic female character who was bland and had almost nothing to her teenage self.
As I stated in class on Friday, I found it odd that Stephenie Meyer never once mentioned anything about Bella's friends back in Phoenix (if she even had any!) and she never really established Bella as a character in means of her likes and dislikes in activities and hobbies, besides her being terrible in sports, not athletic, and that she liked to read. Instead of making Bella a unique, distinguished character, she made her bland and easy to relate to as a young teenager. I think that Stephenie Meyer used the word "dazzled" way too often, and I got sick of hearing how much Edward seemed like an angel.
I found it really annoying that Bella was so passive and just did anything that Edward told her to without thinking it through. I often just thought of her as a puppy that would do anything her master (Edward) commanded of her. And she always just automatically apologized to Edward if she ever did anything to anger him or strain his "will power."
The part of the book that I truly despised was when Bella believed James on the phone and decided to obey his commands and not tell anyone. How would James actually know if she told Alice, Jasper, or Edward that he had captured her mom? There could have been many ways that Bella could have avoided that painful meeting if she had only opened up her mind to other options.
As I stated in class on Friday, I found it odd that Stephenie Meyer never once mentioned anything about Bella's friends back in Phoenix (if she even had any!) and she never really established Bella as a character in means of her likes and dislikes in activities and hobbies, besides her being terrible in sports, not athletic, and that she liked to read. Instead of making Bella a unique, distinguished character, she made her bland and easy to relate to as a young teenager. I think that Stephenie Meyer used the word "dazzled" way too often, and I got sick of hearing how much Edward seemed like an angel.
I found it really annoying that Bella was so passive and just did anything that Edward told her to without thinking it through. I often just thought of her as a puppy that would do anything her master (Edward) commanded of her. And she always just automatically apologized to Edward if she ever did anything to anger him or strain his "will power."
The part of the book that I truly despised was when Bella believed James on the phone and decided to obey his commands and not tell anyone. How would James actually know if she told Alice, Jasper, or Edward that he had captured her mom? There could have been many ways that Bella could have avoided that painful meeting if she had only opened up her mind to other options.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)