Week 7: The Novel of Spiritual Education

             The Magicians is a great example of how young adults would realistically react to going to a Magical college. In this story magic colleges are difficult to get into; you have to take a long exam that determines whether you’re in or not. If not, you will be sent back home without any memory of anything that has happened. Magic in this world turns out to be extremely difficult to use/perform and according to the main character Quentin; it is also boring and tedious. There is even a magical game like Quidditch that is way more difficult to play and has nothing to do with flying on broomsticks.

Quentin is accepted into Brakebills, a college for magicians where he finds that although this is everything he’s ever wanted, he still has to deal with his own depression and anti-social issues. Eventually he witnesses a horrific scene where a strange middle aged man with a branch covering his face eats a student then vanishes just like that.  This world suddenly becomes a lot scarier for everyone in it. Quentin is then placed into a group of magicians called Physicals. He undergoes a series of difficult tasks, one of them being literally going to Antarctica and having to survive without speaking and then being turned into animals and having to adapt.

In this world there is even an equivalent to the Harry Potter books called Fillory and Further. It turns out that the world in those books also exists and after Quentin graduates, he goes to this world with his classmates. Things become even more difficult and challenging once in Fillory, it also becomes much more dangerous. Characters die left and right and in the end, Quentin can’t take anymore of it and returns to his normal average life.

What I like about this story, although it can be annoying at times, is how Quentin overall reacts to magic. You would think this would be a dream come true and the main character would be excited to be in such a world but it is the exact opposite. Unlike Harry Potter, in the Magicians world you would probably prefer to be a normal person where it is safer and technically easier to go about life. It becomes frustrating at points where you want the character to enjoy what he now has but realistically, being in a magic college may be no different than being in normal college. This book teaches you that magic or no magic, life is hard and you have to deal with it.

           

Week 6: Fantasy and The Hero’s Journey

For this week I read The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien but instead of doing another book review (I think the books and movies are amazing and there is not much to critique) I decided to talk about the fantasy genre in video games. In class, we spoke about the Hero’s Journey, a cycle that is very prominent in fantasy games. Quoting Reg Harris: “It is a pattern of life, growth, and experience. Every challenge or change we face in life is a part of our journey. Every situation which confronts us with something new or which forces us to re-evaluate our thinking, behavior or perspective.” In fantasy games, particularly RPG’s, the Hero’s Journey is rather important. As the outline depicts, you normally start out as just a regular person that is thrown into a magical world. Once there, you have to use what you know to make your way through whatever treacherous lands await. As in real life, you are normally free to have your own goals. You can choose whether or not to be good or evil, fight monsters, save the princess, and so on. Every challenge you face affects your own character whether by leveling up and getting stronger, or by achieving a new knowledge or skills.

 A simpler example of the Hero’s Journey cycle is literally present in the game called Journey. (You don’t necessarily do all the things present in the cycle but this game is a good example of how it works as a continuous circle.) You play as a robed figure that becomes stronger and stronger as the game progresses. This is displayed through the clothing of the figure where the robe becomes more decorated and your scarf grows longer. You are faced with difficult challenges that you must figure out. When you come to the end of the game you struggle your way up a mountain that pushes you back with strong winds. When you come closer and closer to your goal in the distance, you eventually fall before you reach it and collapse in the snow. You are then given a new power, turn white, and have the option to start the game all over again as a stronger player.        

        I think what makes these games and genre such a huge impact today is how engaging but easily relatable it is. You can place yourself in the shoes of an elf or a wizard. You know what sort of character you would be or would like to be. Something I think Tolkien has set up in video games of today is the fact that you can choose your own race. In the Hobbit/Lord of the Rings series, Tolkien has created a variety of races such as Elves, Dwarves, Hobbits, Wizards, Orcs, etc. that are all still be used today in fantasy games. If Tolkien’s novels had never become so popular I’m not so sure this concept would at all be used. Choosing your own class basically defines most fantasy games today. It gives you a chance to customize yourself and be the hero you want to be. It gives you the chance to be yourself but also become someone new.

Week 5: Witches

For this week I read Aunt Maria or Black Maria. In this Wynne Jones tale she focuses on the relationship between the sexes and gender relations. She brings up her own thoughts on how problematic the nature of the two sexes are where there is too much power on the women’s side as opposed to the men. This causes a huge imbalance, the women are in complete control of the town and the men are literally described as zombies.  

            It’s definitely not my favorite Wynne Jones books but I thought the story was interesting until the very end. Jones likes to build up her conclusions and wrap things up in the last few chapters but here she did it way too suddenly and random things were happening left and right. I didn’t find it as strong a novel as Howl’s Moving Castle or the Chrestomanci series but I suppose it was meant for a much younger audience anyway. There was something about her style of writing that I could easily get lost or feel as though events were happening too fast. Things weren’t described in enough detail, I had no idea how old Mig or Chris were, and the magic of this world was a little confusing. The main family seemed to cool with the fact that there was suddenly magic that I had no idea if magic was a natural thing in this world. In the end, I found Aunt Maria’s fate to be rather disappointing. Where I wanted her to suffer and pay for all the trouble she caused, I got exactly the opposite. 
         There are two types of witches: stereotypical and modern. Stereotypical witches are normally long pointy nosed, green, cackling old hags that wear pointy hats, ride on brooms, and use cauldrons to mix potions. And then there are the more modern witches that are basically normal everyday people with magical powers. When it comes to stereotypical witches I think of Hocus Pocus, the Wizard of Oz, and I think Kiki falls a little more inbetween. Kiki falls more toward the modern side but she shares the broom riding and potion-brewing trope as stereotypical witches. Modern witches I think of American Horror Story: Coven, Aunt Maria, and Harry potter that also falls into that inbetween category. Coven and Aunt Maria probably have the best example of modern day witches. When it comes to the sort of power witches have I think I can say a lot of it is manipulative. This was the main focus of Aunt Maria where she even used her innocence to get people to do what she wanted. Witches are also more powerful when united as three or more. 

Week 4: New Weird

At first I couldn’t get into King Rat, it dragged on a bit, but after it started getting into the juicier parts I was immediately drawn in. I think what defined this story as weird is the fact that it makes you question what is real and what isn’t. It blends several genres into one such as horror, fantasy, and mythological. The story takes an old fairy-tale, gives it a sick twist, and thrusts you into a modern, dark and gritty London. I think its uniqueness also adds into the fact that it is considered new weird. Cabin in the Woods did things that you would never expect to happen, as did King Rat. I think we are so interested in new weird because humans are naturally attracted to things we don’t normally see.

The characters of King Rat definitely contributed to the new weirdness. The main character Saul that seems to be just your average teen upset about the death of his father suddenly meets a rat man and is told that he is also half rat. The villain that is actually the pied piper, seems to be just some band geek that plays the flute but he turns out to be creepiest character in the whole story. He kills people and animals because he can.

Another aspect that added to the weird was the author’s choice of including a style of music that most won’t automatically write about. Being a huge fan of the EDM (electronic dance music) genre, I found it interesting for the author to throw in Dj’s and dance clubs. It was very random but in a good way. The piper uses this music to assist his own evil tune and as an avid listener to the Drum and Bass genre, I can tell you that a flute can definitely fit into this style of music. The author knows how to properly describe the music and it’s easy for me to follow.

Despite the weirdness, this story was very well-written. The language was descriptive and absolutely disgusting when it came to reading about garbage and sewers. Saul’s friends were a little hard to care for but they seemed to be there as just a plot device anyway. The book actually reminded me a lot of The Magicians by Lev Grossman where even though there are magical things in the world, there is no reason to be excited about it but to be fearful of what sort of evil exists because of it.       
One of my favorite new weird movies that happens to be on the list is Brazil which takes place in a dystopian world I have never seen before. I want to see more movies like this and Cabin in the Woods where things happen that we would never normally expect. I think I've lost most of my interest in horror films because they're all too predictable for me. I normally know whats going to happen next. I would much rather be surprised.

Week 3: J-Horror

I love Japanese folklore and folktales so I read all of Kwaidan for this week. I really enjoyed talking about the concept in class where humans and spirits live amongst each other but there is no good nor evil. Things are dangerous and sometimes you just don’t survive the encounters.  The Yokai, whether they are demons or spirits, are there to trouble or help you not destroy you. In this world we coexist with the spirit world but it seems there is more of a fault in humans.

My favorite stories were Jinkiniki, Yuki-Onna and Rokuro-Kubi. They conveyed this concept because they taught you that things can be dangerous and you have to be careful what you do or say. There were bad spirits but they weren’t technically out to get you.

This is also present in Hayoa Miyaziki’s Spirited Away and Nickelodeons’ The Legend of Korra, which are Japanese folklore inspired. Spirited away is about a young girl who finds herself trapped in the spirit world. There are several characters that seem to be evil but none of them technically are.  There is a gluttonous faceless demon, a terrifying witch, and even a dragon that all kind of present themselves as bad but they are far from it. Chihiro (the main character) runs into conflicts with the characters but they do not harm her but more or less trouble her but they all help her out in the end.

In the recent season of The Legend of Korra, a new popular American Anime, there is a conflict with spirits entering the human world. There are two spirits combined at the tails called Rava, the spirit of peace and light, and Vaatu, the spirit of darkness and chaos, that spend their entire existence combating each other where neither are able to destroy the other.

Even if one were to destroy the other, they would still be born and start the cycle all over again. When one is destroyed there is either more light or darkness in the world causing a great imbalance. I feel like that is what the Kwaidan stories are all about. They’re about keeping things in balance and continuing the cycle of light and dark.

What makes these stories different from most Western horror is not only that they are more culture based but because they are more about lessons then about a hero destroying a villain. Because Korra is an American cartoon, it has that central evil that must be defeated. Our stories always seem to have that whereas the stories from Kwaidan are more about resonance. 

Week 2: Vampires

There’s something about Vampires that I just can’t stand. I read Interview with a Vampire and there were even more reasons for me to not appreciate vampires. First of all, it seems every vampire story has to be about sex one way or another. Anne Rice turns sucking the blood out of people into sexual fetish and she repeats it throughout the story to the point that I thought I was reading a fanfiction… I think what else bothers me is how flawless vampires can sometimes be written. Lestat for example loved being a vampire and he was comparable to that of Edward from Twilight. He was too perfect. Louis on the other hand did not want to be a vampire and I think a character with flaws is easier to relate to. Although you are immortal, you are practically cursed for life and would rather be dead then have to spend the rest of your life drinking blood. The life of a vampire should be scary, depressing, and difficult as portrayed in the movie Byzantine. You just shouldn’t want to be vampire and it shouldn’t be portrayed as such a wonderful thing. That’s how I see it anyway.

            Although there was one thing that Anne Rice did in Interview with a Vampire that I thought was very interesting. She turned a young girl into a vampire. The thought of being stuck in the body of a child forever is simply terrifying. She also made Claudia a creepy character altogether. I mean come on, what’s creepier than a small child running around killing people and sucking out their blood? If the story focused more on the horror aspect of being a vampire and cut the plot to the point, I think I may have enjoyed the book a little more. I also watched the movie but that was even more ridiculous than the book.

I think what bothers me the most is how something that is originally supposed to be terrifying is turning into a joke (the same has happened to werewolves). I think Vampires have a lot of potential other then being an exciting new way to write porn. I know there are better vampire stories out there but they are being drowned in the new sparklepire genre. There’s a new movie coming out about a vampire academy…. Seriously.

Week 1: Frankenstein

After having never read Frankenstein, I was quite surprised as to how different the monster was compared to what I had expected. There are countless adaptations of the story portrayals of the monster but I’m not sure any of them come remotely close to it. Frankenstein’s monster is almost always a mindless, green, groaning monster with bolts sticking out his neck that wants for nothing but to kill people. In Marry Shelley’s Frankenstein the monster is actually smart and originally has no intention of killing and believe it or not, he just wants to fit in. But it doesn’t matter how smart the monster is or how he even saves a girl from drowning. He’s ugly, so he’s a monster.

I don’t know if it was Marry Shelley’s intention of making the reader feel for the monster or not but damn, I couldn’t help but feel terrible for the guy (although I’m always guilty of favoring the monster characters) Of course until he started killing people…. It was actually harder for me to relate to Dr. Frankenstein. He did things that seemed downright selfish and he never cared for his own creation. He spent most of the book complaining about his life and never really took any action to fix anything.

A funny spin on the concept of a monster being rejected by the world is in the animated movie, A Monster in Paris. Set in 1910 France, a harmless flea is accidentally transformed into a monster. Emile, a shy movie projectionist who also plays the role of the gothic heroin, finds that the creature isn’t so threatening and he actually has an incredible singing voice!

The movie pays homage to stories like Frankenstein and The Phantom of the Opera where the monster turns out to be what we don’t expect. Like Frankenstein’s monster, Francœur, (the flea monster) has no intention of harming anyone but because he is a hideous bug-man, he is considered evil. In the end it is the greed and selfishness of people that turn out to be the real monsters.