Blog Entry 4.1 - Progress

Thus far, I have broken down the movie Shutter Island, by monomyth.  I now need to format my PowerPoint presentation of the hero's quest and write my research paper based on my analysis of the movie.  I was debating on whether or not I should interpret the movie's symbols, but I highly doubt that I will have enough time to do that.

Before next class, I hope that I will have the PowerPoint presentation partially or completely finished and just have to work on my analysis in class.

Blog Entry 3.5 - Coraline

Coraline is a story about a young girl who moves into a new three-family home with her parents.  In her new abode, she finds adventure and learns a valuable lesson about life and unconditional love.  Her archetype in the beginning of the story is that of an orphan; however, as the story unfolds we find that she becomes all of the archetypes; wanderer, altruist, innocent, magician, and warrior.  As she converts to each archetype, she acquires all of their gifts, such as, resilience, independence, compassion, faith, power, and courage.  As Coraline is read, the traits of my warrior archetype is very active as is seen by her related characteristics.  The relationship that I have with Coraline helps me and others to understand the story.

There are negative and positive traits that combine to create the warrior archetype.  The positive traits that I possess are that I am realistic, a survivor, strong, individualistic, assertive, disciplined, generous, willing to sacrifice, caring, morally good, and trustworthy.  We detect Coraline’s generosity, will to sacrifice, and caring nature beginning on page eighty-four.  Page eighty-four shows us that she is a caring individual when she asks the children’s souls, “How long have you been here?” Her assertiveness and strength begins to come to light on page eighty-five when one the of the souls instruct Coraline to “Flee!”, but she rejects the thought and refuses to leave without her parents.  Strength and the warrior gift of courage is also seen when she says, “I’m not running away. She has my parents.  I came to get them back.” (page eighty-five)  Coraline’s first sign of her lack of desire to love and obey her other mother is asserted on pages seventy-seven to seventy-eight when she says to her other mother, “I don’t want to play with you. I have no plans to love you.  No matter what.  You can’t make me love you.  You aren’t my mother.”  These words represent the beginning of her journey to defeat her other mother and essentially win back her parents, which is where the negative warrior traits appear.

The negative traits that I possess are that I am suspicious, negative, a loner, a rebel, stubborn, and controlling.  As seen in Coraline, these traits have good and bad qualities.  Coraline’s stubbornness is seen on page eighty-five when she does not listen to the closeted soul to “flee” and stands up to her other mother for the first time on pages seventy-seven to seventy-eight.  Her suspicions that her parents were trapped in the snow-globe on the mantelpiece on page one hundred eighteen helped her to complete the last task of their game; otherwise, Coraline would have been the other mother’s property and forced to pretend to be happy for the remainder of her challenge-less life.  Coraline’s rebellious nature was helpful and meaningful in the story because without it, she never would have known about the three abandoned souls that were trapped in the closet; and therefore, they never would have been freed.  The fact that Coraline is a loner significantly effected the moral of the story.  If Coraline were not a loner or had siblings, the level of impact she felt when she truly became an orphan would not have been as highlighted.  The loss of her parents and the realization that her other mother “loved Coraline as a miser loves money, or a dragon loves it gold” (page one hundred six), made Coraline realize how much she treasured her parents and her real life.

    My archetype helps me to understand Coraline by being able to comprehend first-hand that all of the warrior traits tend have great potential to lead to survival and accomplishment of a battle.    I found that I was able to relate greatly to Coraline’s need and desire to fight for a second chance at what she once took for granted.  When others know and understand my archetype they can better understand the story because they would be able to identify and predict how Coraline will fight her battles.  When the warrior archetype is understood, one can become more involved in the story by hoping that Coraline will use particular warrior characteristics to prevail.  One would also be more capable of entering Coraline’s mind-frame and understand the reasons why she behaved and reacted in certain ways.  The relationship that I share with Coraline reminded me to appreciate every detail in life and love because one day I may lose it forever.

Blog Entry 3.4

Description of what product will be:
I will be interpreting and relating the monomyth of the movie Shutter Island.  I will write a research paper on this and possibly create a fan site for Shutter Island, hopefully with images. As of current, it seems that I will only be able to write a research paper on the film and create a PowerPoint presentation, because Wikipedia does not allow analyzed work.
What I have done already:
So far, I have watched and analyzed the movie.  I took great notes on what I saw in the film.

Steps I will take to complete & Schedule:
November 18th, I will search for images of the movie and research some historical key points of the movie.
Over the weekend, I will break the movie down by monomyth structure.
By November 24th, I will begin the development of a PowerPoint presentation.
By November 29th, I will begin writing my research paper.  I will copy and paste accordingly to PowerPoint.
On December 2nd, I will have at least half of my presentation completed.
By December 6th, everything will be completed with images posted to the presentation.
December 9th, project due.

Anticipated problems:
I have very limited access to a computer so I may not be able to do a whole lot outside of class, when it comes to creating the presentation.
I have two babies at home to care for and other classes to study for, etc; therefore, I KNOW time will be an issue for me.  I may not be able to follow the schedule that I set and may be limited to just writing a research paper of the movie.

Blog Entry 3.3 - Project Ideas

My project ideas are as follows:

• Interpret Shutter Island
• Research magical #3
• Interpret the impact of the serpent tempting Adam & Eve
• Coming of age
• Learning differences between right and wrong

Either complete as a research paper on Wikipedia and do PowerPoint slides for evidence of my interpretations, create a fan-site, or produce a mini-video to demonstrate my interpretations.

Blog Entry 3.2 - Macbeth Video

I particularly liked this video because it was well presented. I didn't so much like that everyone just stood in a line, I feel that just because they were witches, doesn't mean that they literally have to be "light as a feather, stiff as a board" as quoted in the movie The Craft. More movement could have given the scene more excitement. I did enjoy seeing the differences in expression between Macbeth and Banquo when the witches announced their futures. It definitely proved that Macbeth did have thoughts of becoming king prior to hearing the witches' prophecy when he appeared shocked by the revelation and Banquo remained nonchalant.

The witches' costumes could have been better constructed, but I did like its seaweed-like appearance because it showed that they were very peculiar. The red-headed witch's hair color depicted the passionately evil thoughts of her mind. Her central location in the group and lack of head covering represents the protection she receives from the other two witches and her authority. This perception was proven in the scene because she spoke the most lines and was the last witch to speak.

The lack of lighting on the stage tells the viewer that the setting is dark, lurking, dangerous, and suspicious. Macbeth's red shirt that is worn beneath his jacket indicates his heart's desire and ill-passion to become king. Banquo's neutral colors correlate to his neutral mind frame.

As the witches formed a circle around Macbeth and Banquo, Macbeth moved in unison with the witches to the opposite side of Banquo, which was the furthest point from the witches. This movement reflected his connection to the witches as he seemed to complete the circle, which made it appear that Banquo was the ultimate victim. This blending creates ambivalence among Macbeth as he seems to attempt to move the focus away from himself and on to Banquo.

Blog Entry 3.1 - Macbeth Image

In this image, Lady Macbeth is seen holding a knife with both of her hands.  Behind her are three women dressed in black garb and white gauze over their eyes coated with red around the eye portion.  I chose this image because of its impact on me.  When I saw the witches' bloody eyes lots of symbolisms ran through my mind. 

The bloody eyes connote the witches’ perspective.  Their eyes see death, blood, evil, and warning.  This part of the image suggests that either the witches cried bloody tears because of what they could foresee or the warning that their eyes could tell.  Their heads are covered with a black hood, which I interpreted as their minds’ evil nature and the inability for other factors to influence their perspectives or futuristic sightings.   The witches are the devils in this story because they caused Macbeth to become overly greedy for power, which in turn influenced his wife’s behavior, possibly to fulfill her fantasy of becoming a queen.

Lady Macbeth has red hair and is dressed in yellow with half-sleeves with a curved knife in hand.  Yellow symbolizes innocence, friendship, and sympathy.  This color garb is worn over her chest and connotes her heart's initial condition.  She was friendly, non-menacing, and innocent; however, with the witches' influences governing her and behind and above her head, she was encouraged to become wicked using the knife that she holds preciously.  The fact that she holds the knife tenderly and cupped in both hands represents its preciousness and strength.  Her red hair symbolizes her innate desire to be passionate and iniquitous.  Lady Macbeth is the temptress in this story because she encouraged Macbeth to fulfill the prophecy and quickly become king by any means necessary.

Warriors Way: 2.1

Warriors Way: 2.1: " My archetype is a Warrior and Altruist. My positive side is altruist and my negative side is a warrior. As a altruist I’m a giver..I have ..."