Snow White and Medea

In the movie, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the Evil Queen is jealous of Snow White’s beauty. The Evil Queen wants to be known as the “fairest in the land” but Snow White’s beauty surpasses her own. Clouded by hatred and jealousy of Snow White’s beauty, the Evil Queen pretended to be an old lady and gave Snow White a poisoned apple which causes her to die. However she was eventually saved by a prince.

The contemporary social issue that the movie, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, shows is jealousy and hatred. In the movie, the Evil Queen is shown to be extremely jealous of Snow White’s beauty and acts upon it by trying to get rid of her. Jealousy and hatred is a contemporary social issue that is common in modern day life because people are always compared to one another. Children are an example of people always being compared to each other. Children compete against each other at school to see who is smarter and better. While the ones who do better aren’t jealous, the ones who do poorly may become jealous of the smarter kids and begin to hate them.

The movie, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and the issue of jealousy and hatred can also be connected back to the play, Medea. In the play Medea, Medea also acted upon her hatred on her ex-husband, Jason, and the princess he was going to marry. Medea poisoned a crown and dress to give the princess as a present in order to kill her and anybody who touches her similar to how the Evil Queen poisoned the apple to get rid of Snow White. Medea is jealous of the princess because Jason left her for the princess. Not only that, Medea became a fugitive and left her country in order to be with Jason while Medea is considered a fugitive, Jason gets to live handsomely.

-Alvin Zhao, Team Venus

David: A Reinterpretation of Greatness

David and Goliath: Art1010 Unit 3

1 Samuel 17 tells the story of Goliath of Gath the biblical warrior defeated by the young David in the Book of Samuel. David, a young man, who never fought in a war in his life, defeats not only a champion, but also a giant who everyone fears. It’s a true show of mental and spiritual strength. The biblical story of David closely relates to Donatello’s David in the Bargello, Florence and Michelangelo’s David in Galleria dell’Accademia, Florence that we both covered in class.

Donatello’s bronze statue of David (late 1420s – 1460s) showed him sword in hand, with one foot on Goliath’s head, while Michelangelo’s David (1501 – 04) a marble more heroic nude stand-alone sculpture showed him as victorious and mighty leader and warrior. Michelangelo’s David was a depiction of the biblical hero was unlike that of earlier Renaissance depictions of David, however Donatello’s depiction of his David best represented that of the David in biblical terms. Donatello’s statue was bare and so much more intimate. It was simple and told the true biblical story of David, the young shepherd.

Both of these sculptures were similar. Both Michelangelo and Donatello’s David’s represented war victories: the victory of the Israelites. Both sculptures were made to highlight an accomplishment in history. They are both nude and contrapposto statues. In Donatello and Michelangelo’s artwork, both David’s represents Florence however there is a difference in each Goliath, In Donatello’s, Goliath represents Milan. Michelangelo’s represents Rome during Medici power.

Michelangelo’s David was High Renaissance whereas Donatello David was Early Renaissance. Both statues differed in height: Donatello’s David stands at 5 ‘ 2 and Michelangelo’s stands more than three times that at 17’. The material used by Donatello: bronze differed from the marble Michelangelo used for his. Donatello’s David’s shows humility whereas Michelangelo’s does not.

 

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David and Goliath: Old Stories Made New – Classics Unit 2

The story of David and Goliath can be related to our Classics class in that it’s a story of many retellings. An old story made new with relatively similar social and/or economic issues. In the article that I read “David and Goliath, A Modern Retelling” by Bryan Allain, the writer was able to capture the story in such an interesting way – Football: American that is. He took the story to a more analytical perspective with the use of a sportscaster. He managed to tell the story using todays understanding. He used football terms that weren’t known then (I doubt “American” football was even known then) such as “David sprinting towards the 50-yard line to meet Goliath, … looks like, umm, an iPhone case?” He incorporated objects and narrative that weren’t used then with ones used now and made the story flow nonetheless. It connected with the original biblical story and brought a new perspective on the social issue.

In the play, Medea the main protagonist of the story has many social issues: passion and rage: revenge and pride. Her husband is leaving her and marrying King Creon’s daughter. She is in misery and doesn’t know what to do. Her social issue is that she shall now be alone and further cast out as a barbarian (foreigner) of the land. – Her social conflict.

The story of David and Goliath speaks of different social issues but social issues nonetheless. Faced with the charge of the Philistines in the Valley of Elah, Saul and the Israelites faced the issue of regaining their land. In the biblical story, “Goliath, the champion of the Philistines comes out between the lines and challenges the Israelites to send out a champion of their own to decide the outcome in single combat, however Saul and his people are afraid of him – their social conflict.

This story of David “Old Made New” comments on the social issues of religion and the capacity at to what it can do. Although the social issues in “David and Goliath” and “Medea” are different, they’re both social issues in everyday lives. King Saul has to deal with burden of Goliath and the Philistines. Medea has to deal with the conflict of being an outcast and being shunned from her community and husband. The search and overcome for solitude best reflects the similarities both pieces have in modern day society.

Seeing Clearly

Lex Luthor is a well known villain in the comics published by D.C comics Inc. Lex Luthor is a billionaire scientist in constant battle with Superman. Many don’t know what has caused Lex Luthor to grown to hate superman with such a passion, him being a man coming from power and wealth what drives his hatred for superman. A common characteristic displayed by Luthor is his arrogance and unwilling to acknowledge Superman as the hero he is. There is many variations of what has caused this intense hatred for one another whether it be from the comics or film series but, one similarity between all of them is that Lex Luthor main goal is to eliminate superman to achieve his goal of world dominance. But in one specific animated film it goes deeper than that. Lex explains how Superman, who is not even a man because he is not human and was born on a distant far planet. This is almost similar to present day society where many people lack of respect for others from different origins around the world. Lex Luthor later claims that he should be called Superman for his intellect and vast superior mind. But as the film continues and Superman’s impending death , from the cancer he was diagnosed with, Luthor soon realizes why Superman deserves that title. During an interview with Superman’s alter ego Clark Kent ,Luthor was told if he and Superman were to put their differences aside how much they could’ve accomplished and how many they could have helped, but seeing nothing to gain from that Luthor would never join forces with his archenemy. Luthor’s is similar to that of Oedipus, Both being metaphorically blind to realize they are the destruction of their respective societies. Not until it is all too late to realize they are at fault do they realize what they have done. In Luthor’s case being blind by hatred has caused him to stir away from benefiting society. Oedipus being the cause for all the suffering in Thebes and neglecting the words said by the blind prophet Tiresias that Oedipus himself is the murderer of the former king himself and the cause of the plague. Luthor however did not realize until he gained Superman’s powers including Superman’s advanced sight that he sees all beings are connected and as he states “we are we’ve got”. He realizes how superman sees the world and why he is called superman and why he always follows the greater good. But as soon as he realizes his faults and loses his powers ,he demands superman return the serum to gain his powers back but as superman claimed Luthor could have helped even before gaining his powers to which Luthor agrees and sees the error of his ways. Oedipus after realizing he has succumbed to his destiny of murdering his father and being with his mother blinds himself out of despair and begs for his own exile as punishment. Both at one point being powerful men reduced to nothing.

-Al-Bishr Askar, Team Hephaestus

Batman: Now and Beyond

Batman is a character that is very prominent in our culture. The costume alone symbolizes the vigilante who didn’t necessarily follow all the laws in order to do what he found to be right. Throughout the years, many depictions of him had been made in order to adjust to the times. One version him was a teenager that Bruce Wayne had mentored in series to take his place. It was a refreshing change because since he was high school age, the issues this Batman had were relevant to the experiences of a high schooler of the times. The episode, “The Winning Edge” is a good example of this. In the episode, there was drug called venom circling Gotham and it had reached the three students on the . If compared to drugs prevalent at the time, the drugs they were taking were like an exaggerated version of steroids. Steroids were especially a common issue amongst athletes in the nineties, when the the show was made. The episode showcased their aggressive behavior and their need to keep taking more in order to gain more strength. It’s an episode that would offset anyone from taking performance enhancers.

This is comparable to the play, “Antigone,” it was relevant to the people of the time because it was very wrong to fight against your city. Since, Creon’s nephew did that and died, he refused to bury him, preventing his soul from traveling down to the underworld. It creates a sort of battle of conscience in the audience being that it’s easy to see how it’s wrong that he wouldn’t bury his nephew although his nephew did defy the state. Overall, the rules of the gods mattered more than Creon’s rules of state and his disobedience caused him a great deal of loss. It related to the audience by furthering the idea that the will of the gods is more powerful than anything else.

Discrimination: A universal flaw in society

While issues related to racism and discrimination are increasingly evident in modern society, individuals aiming to educate the public about the harmful effects of hate are working towards a more ideal, equal living space. In “Troq”, an episode of the popular mid-2000s animated series “Teen Titans”, the Titans assist an alien named Val-Yor on his quest to defeat robot aliens known as the Locrix. Throughout the episode, Val-Yor is seen engaging in friendly interactions with each of the Titans, with the exception of Starfire. Upon their initial meeting, Val-Yor seemed welcoming (and borderline cocky) with the team but hardly acknowledged Starfire, opting to question why the team had “A Tamaranian”. Later in the episode, he repeatedly referred to her by a slew of derogatory names such as “Troq” and “Troqie”, which we later find is equivalent to “Nothing”, or a lack of value of a Tamaranian.

This can easily be compared to the use of racial slurs and derogatory terms today that are used not just to demean individuals, but to group them together and portray them as “other” or people worthy of separation and inferiority, which is not the case. Just this past year alone, we have had hundreds of racially or hate-motivated conflicts ranging from the murders of innocent black people by cops to white supremacist and neo-nazi riots, targeting of LGBTQ+ individuals to revenge reporting of individuals to ICE based solely on appearance rather than legal status, along with other increasingly violent or inappropriate actions that have led to rising tensions between Americans.  People may witness racism, like Starfire’s friends in the episode, and not see or know anything was wrong, which is okay as long as you take the proper steps to educate yourself on the issue and prevent further incidents to the best of your ability. As shown in the clip attached below (follow the link), Cyborg used what he thought was a term of endearment for Starfire, “Troqie”,  but quickly realized his fault and the weight of the word once she explained it had negative connotations and was offensive to her and all Tamaranians.

In Euripides’ Medea, both Jason and Medea fled from Colchis to Corinth to seek refuge after attempting to disconnect themselves from the trouble and bloodshed they left behind in their old city. The nurse speaks of Medea’s travels and wishing she “would not have come to live here on Corinthian soil with her husband and children, winning over the citizens of the country she had come to as a refugee, and obliging Jason in every way.” Unlike Medea, whose travel was seemingly surrounded by death, Starfire brought good to planet Earth and remained a useful member of society. However, both sought refuge from their past, Medea for selfish reasons and interest in wealth and fame, and Starfire after escaping her captors known as the Gordanians after being traded away as a slave by her sister Blackfire. While both were accepted by the people of their new homes, they faced times when foreigners were seen as inferior or less than human, a recurring topic of debate between clans all throughout time.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rc-Jh3Oe0Gc

– Natalie, Team Vesta

Freedom is Power

Freedom is a fundamental concept in the United States; but what if the desire for power triumphed over this basic human right? We get the dystopian world described by George Orwell in his novel 1984. The protagonist, Winston Smith, lives in a society constantly under government surveillance. “Telescreens” are installed in every citizen’s home to observe everything they do and say. Citizens can’t do anything which might allude to having individuality and free thought- crimes against the government punishable by death. In the book, Winston must sneak a diary into his home and write in it without the telescreen catching him. When entering his apartment, Winston drops the diary, sliding it past the telescreen to his chair which is out of the telescreen’s range. This complete control over the freedom of speech resembles the North Korean regime. The North Korean government is thought to listen to people’s conversations through their phones and monitor them thought cameras and microphones hidden in public places. George Orwell wrote his book to warn people of an oppressive future. He knew that if people didn’t stand boldly for their freedom, it could be easily taken away by a totalitarian government.
Power is also a central theme in Oedipus the King. Oedipus seeks power for the protection of his people but doesn’t heed other’s warnings because he thinks that they want to steal his power, ultimately leading Oedipus to his demise. Of course, we see different parties struggle for power in our government. Sometimes it seems that they don’t even take their constituents into account when making decisions. Power corrupts- that is the true message of Oedipus. Both 1984 and Oedipus warn us of the future and urge us to contemplate it through the stories they tell.

Elene T., Team Mars

The Relevance of the Past and Future’s Contemporary Issues are Sympathetically Similar

 

Contemporary society issues are numerous in number and they continue to grow by the year. Many varying outlets in media tend to state their own opinions on certain issues via T.V. shows, movies, books and articles. One such example of a modern T.V. show having its take on contemporary society issues is Arrow. Specifically, it talks upon the issues of gun control and gun violence. Gun violence has been a constant issue over the past years in our country and no there seems to be no resolution in sight. While both opposing proponents of gun violence have valid reasons, it’s a difficult problem to find common ground on. In season 5 episode 13 of the Arrow, a tragedy occurs in which a gunman invades City Hall and injures 24 people along with killing 5. The video below shows a brief snippet of the argument that some of the main characters have following that tragedy. Shootings are becoming more and more common in our country and the sudden tragedy it unfolds is something that the show captures perfectly. Even though the way it’s presented certainly has varied likeability, the fact that gun control is a shown issue is incontrovertible.

On another note, the play of Antigone tackles its instance of contemporary societal issue in a darker and compassionate tone. Its primary issue of women’s place in society and their treatment when compared to men comes to a resolution of sorts at the cost of a heart wrenching sacrifice at the end. Now, while the issues brought up in Arrow and Antigone are different, they both tackle their problems somewhat similarly. In both show and play, the gravity of loss is needed in order to fully understand and comprehend the meaning behind their respective dilemmas. Antigone opened Creon’s eyes at the end when she took her own life and the blatant loss of life in Arrow makes Oliver Queen immediately take action as mayor of Star City. However, due to the difference in time periods and written perspectives, Antigone’s outcome comes off as much more tragic due to the emotional attachment the reader develops towards her. Though women’s place in society didn’t really alter at that time, the play still sent its message of whether or not women deserve to be ‘secondary’ in most of life’s primary respects.

Bailey Seemangal, Team 5, Hephaestus

 

 

Defying Justice: Lapis lazuli

The story of Antigone was written as a tragedy, about a woman who had two brothers that were cursed to kill each other to become the King of Thebes. This resulted in several things of which one her uncle, Creon became the King of Thebes, he decided that Eteocles would be given a proper burial but denied the other brother, Polyneices a burial. On lines 35-36, Creon ruled that “for anyone who does one of these things, murder by public stoning in the city is ordained.” And with that in mind Antigone decided to bury her brother consequences be damned, as a result, she was imprisoned.

Lapis lazuli made her first appearance in the animated series, Steven Universe as a gem trapped in a magic mirror. After she convinced Steven, a half human, half gem to free her she attempted to destroy her captors, the Crystal Gems, who were also Steven’s guardians. After being subdued by Steven, a tentative bond grew between the two even as she kept her distrust of the Crystal Gems because she believed that they betrayed their home world, by protecting Earth and choosing to fuse. While investigating some of the technologies left on Earth by the gems of home world, the Crystal Gems found out that home world gems were heading for Earth. These gems included; Jasper and Peridot, who were sent by their leader to capture the Crystal Gems and along with them Lapis lazuli.  While on board the ship, heading for home world to be prosecuted Lapis accepted her fate while her other companions chose to fight. It was during the final battle between Jasper and the Crystal Gems that Lapis was freed but was shortly captured by Jasper, who then gave her the opportunity to exact revenge on the Crystal Gems for imprisoning her for thousands of years by fusing with her. While fused with Jasper, Lapis took the opportunity to capture her by imprisoning them both under the deepest depth of the ocean.

This reminds me of the story of Antigone because just like Antigone Lapis was caught in the middle of a war between two people she cared about, and if they had followed the wishes of their superiors, they would have been saved but instead they followed their judgement and as a result were imprisoned.

Death of Tadashi (BigHero6)

 

In the movie, Big hero 6, Hiro just lost his own brother and doesn’t know how to face it. The pain of losing someone important is just terrible to feel, especially since Hiro is just a child. The scene i’m picking is the aftermath of Tadashi’s death(Hiro’s brother). Hiro started to close in and the movie shows him shutting out everything. The movie’s color scheme really showed the great sorrow that Hiro was going through too. The mood was dark, gray and dull making the scene, just so overly emotional and depressing. The audience watching this would feel the same and even cry a little for Hiro. In this society, when people die, it’s normal to feel sad because they were important. So like the norms in society, when people watch this part of the scene, they will either feel sad or pity for Hiro. 

 

In contrast to Oedipus, he saw his mother/wife die and he had a total meltdown. He was extremely sad that he was so foolish and ignorant. The same with Hiro, he went into a total meltdown mode and couldn’t stand up until he met Baymax. When compared to social contemporary, both are sad and tragic. The tragedy of losing someone precious is something no one wants to feel. However in their case, Oedipus realize he can’t run away from fate and Hiro have to face his problem. Everyday in this world there is tragedies and sadness, it will never disappear because if there is light then there is darkness too. It’s the whole yin and yang factor of the world that makes it balance. I believe that there is no such thing as a perfect world because this is reality. Reality can be very cruel and people have to accept reality. Just like Oedipus, he accept his fate at the end and Hiro too. By blinding himself, it symbolize his foolishness and inability to escape fate. Therefore, both Oedipus and Hiro was hurt because of the death of their love ones. Since Tadashi died in a fire, which was caused by somebody and Oedipus’ wife done taboo. Both are issues and they are related to the modern world because people have different opinion on taboo relationship especially with family. Also criminality can be justified as evil for a lot of people. So in perspective both are evil and hurtful. 

Sons of Anarchy

Charlie Hunnam goes by the name Jax Teller in Sons of Anarchy. He plays a very important role as the vice president, eventually becoming the president of his motorcycle club. Single father Jax Teller finds his loyalty to his outlaw motorcycle club tested by his growing unease concerning the group’s lawlessness. While the club protects and patrols the town of Charming, Calif., keeping danger away. However, the club earns their money through an illegal arms business.

A social issue is a problem that influences a considerable number of the individuals within a society. It is often the consequence of factors extending beyond an individual’s social issue is the source of a conflicting opinion on the grounds of what is perceived as a morally just personal life or societal order. There are many social issues in the show sons of anarchy, particularly kidnapping. Kidnap is to take (someone) away illegally by force, typically to obtain a ransom; kidnapping is one of the felonies that have a larger social impact in a population. Jaxs son Abel, was kidnapped by the Irish gangster and IRA traitor Jimmy O. Jimmy killed Abel’s adopted family and abducted Abel because he thought Jax killed Jimmy’s son. Eventually, Jax retrieves Abel and takes him to a safe place.

In the play, a woman named Medea has many social issues, they’re anger and violence. Her husband is leaving her and marrying King Creon’s daughter. She is in misery and doesn’t know what to do. Medea was furious, she decided to take action. Medea said “best the straight route in which I am most skilled — to take them off with poisons” line 385. This quote foreshadowed Jason’s two daughters and wife death. Medea left Jason alive to keep him in misery.

Although the social issues in Sons of Anarchy and Medea are different, they’re both social issues in everyday lives. Jax had to deal with Abel being kidnapped. However, he overcome the obstacles and obtained his son. Medea was in rage with anger because of her Jason leaving her. Her actions were incorrect and could have been a better solution.

Mohammed team Vulcan

I want to suck your blood!!

I want to suck your blood!! That’s right I’m a vampire. No, I’m the one and only Druuuuuulaaaaa. That’s a dramatic entrance right? Well imagine that same statement said over and over and over again since the REAL Dracula existed?

The story of Dracula originates from a Romanian King, Vlad. The name literally means “Son of the Devil” which was no laughing matter. In order to defeat the Ottomans and scare them off, Vlad’s war tactic was to kill his own people by way of impairment. Innocent citizens were oiled and impaled alive so that their screams of pain and agony would scare about the larger army of the Ottoman’s. The story of Dracula is so gory the only way to understand it was by making Dracula a monster later called a vampire- demon who sucks blood to survive. What is true is that Romania exists from the bloodshed of their own citizens.

We see examples of Dracula in movie series like Twilight, The Count Dracula in Sesame street or my favorite Count Chocula.

Dracula, like Medea are vengeful and scary characters. Both make hasty decisions for the list of their family and and up killing their own blood. Medea enters the play having killed her father while Dracula, taken as a child for a rival army, kills his brother. Similarly, the United States is at war with itself struggling to determine which part of history to acknowledge. Recently there was the murder of a college student in Charlottesville who was at a protest to the removal of a statue of General Robert E. Lee. Today, without second thought we harm and even kill our fellow human beings (citizens of the USA or not) because we have different scales in which we determine what is right or wrong. Medea thought killing her child was good to save them from humiliation in being abandoned. Dracula sought vengeance in killing his family for not protecting his parents and protesters are killed because of hasty and emotional decisions. 

The Sphinx’s Riddle

The Sphinx, according to Greek mythology, was considered to be a woman with a lioness’ body, eagle’s wing, and a serpent’s tale. She was known to be a mystical creature who brought about terror and destruction. The Sphinx is a popular character who was also used by J.K. Rowling in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the fourth of the seven-book series. (Excerpt from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.)

In Oedipus the King, the Sphinx was known to terrorize the people of Thebes. She was sent by the god Hera as punishment for the unresolved crimes of King Laius. The Sphinx sat between the city of Thebes and its people, refusing to let anyone in or out unless they successfully answered her riddle. Those who failed to were either eaten of flung off a cliff.

Similarly, in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the Sphinx was used to guard treasures and was known to become violent when anything threatened the treasure. In the Third Task of the Triwizard Tournament (a large contest held between three wizarding schools), the Sphinx guards Harry’s closest route to the Triwizard Cup, which Harry must get to before the other contestants to win the tournament.

Both in Oedipus and The Goblet of Fire, the Sphinx represents terror, violence, and eventually, the protagonists’ confrontation with their destiny.

Oedipus left Corinth, his hometown after he received a prophecy that he would kill his father and marry his mother. As he’s passing by Thebes, he comes across the Sphinx and her riddle.“What is it that has a voice and walks on four legs in the morning, on two at noon, and on three in the evening?” “A man”, Oedipus answers. With the riddle being solved the Sphinx plunges off the cliff, and Oedipus is welcomed into Thebes as a hero, is married to its queen, and becomes the new king. Unknown to him, however, is that the moment he solves the Sphinx’s riddle, he falls into the trap of the gods, and comes face to face with the fate he’s been running from. Not much later, the city of Thebes faces a plague, also a form of punishment for an unresolved crime; the murder of King Lauis. Oedipus’ pursuit of truth leads him to realize that it was he who murdered King Lauis, his father (when he was traveling from Corinth to Thebes) and that he had married his own mother, the Queen.

In the Goblet of Fire, after Harry solves the Sphinx’s riddle and crosses by her, he too, like Oedipus, has to confront fate. He faces a duel with Voldemort (the main antagonist). In the first three books of the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter thrice avoids a dangerous, fatal duel with Voldemort, the darkest wizard the entire magical world has seen. However, once Harry gets past the Sphinx and gets to the Triwizard Cup, he falls into Voldemort’s trap, and upon contact with the cup (a portkey, which is an enchanted object that can transport someone to a specific location), faces the fate he and everyone that loved him was trying to save him from. Harry finds himself fighting Voldemort in a duel.

In both stories, after defeating the Sphinx, the protagonists find themselves facing the fate they originally are running from. The Sphinx in both stories represents fear, violence, and an arrival to the true fate. 

 

Wonder Who Man

Women’s position in society has drastically improved from being a housewife to generally being respected and seen as an equal in the workplace. Although the circumstances are much better, there are still some who think of women as inferior to man.

Wonder Woman is the most iconic female superhero of our generation. Known also as Diana Prince, she is the daughter of  Queen Hippolyta and Greek god Zeus. Recently a live action film, Wonder Woman, was released retelling her origin and involvement in World War I. Diana is the living embodiment of all the capabilities of a woman, she is strong, fearless, preserving and compassionate.

One scene from the movie that caught my attention was when Steve introduced the team.  In this scene Steve’s friends are are so dumbfounded that Diana is going to join them on the battlefield they laugh at how outrageous the suggestion sounds. This scene is a prime example of how men underestimate women and think that they are not capable of doing the same work as them.

In this scene Steve’s friends are are so dumbfounded that Diana is going to join them on the battlefield they laugh at how outrageous the suggestion sounds. This scene is a prime example of how men underestimate women and think that they are not capable of doing the same work as them. After this interaction, Diana quickly changes their mind as she flips a man who was about to fight them, onto the floor. This scene portrays how women shouldn’ t be treated differently from men and be generalized as weak and frail.

In Medea, Medea’s husband, Jason abandons her for Glauce causing her to seek revenge on him. To enact this revenge, Medea kills her sons as well as Glauce and her father the King. This play is a portrayal of Medea’s struggle with the male dominated society. Her husband leaves her for a more beautiful woman while Medea is left to provide for her sons by herself, a very common tragedy even in today’s society.

Both Wonder Woman and Medea are prime examples of women taking the situation into their own hands and breaking the rules put upon them by men. However, Medea enacts revenge in a very cruel way whereas Wonder Woman puts an end to World War 1 and brings peace.

Shakiba Ghaffar, Team Vesta

What would you do for revenge ?

Spider-man, known as Peter Parker is one of the greatest superheroes of all time and is known for his bravery and protecting his fellow citizens. However he runs into a major problem with his girlfriend Mary Jane who he has come to love dearly. One of Peter Parker’s former best friends known as Harry Osborn has set up a plan to break Peter and Mary Jane’s relationship apart. As far as Harry thinks, he believes that Peter has killed Harry’s father and therefore now wants to take away something that Peter loves which is his girlfriend. Harry then approaches Mary Jane and threatens her for her life saying that if you continue to talk to peter you are going to end up badly hurt.  Mary Jane then goes up to Peter and does exactly what Harry told her to do which was to break up with him, leaving Peter heartbroken.

Medea is also in a similar situation where she finds out that her husband Jason is leaving her and is marrying King Creon’s daughter. Medea has never gone through something like losing a husband and does not know what to do at first. As she is furious and anger is rushing through her body, she is now looking for revenge. She comes up with a evil plan that she believes will put Jason in misery for the rest of his life. She ends up killing her two children, King Creon  and his daughter by poisoning them, however leaving Jason alive.

Medea left Jason devastated and let him wishing he were dead. Jason never saw this coming and would of  never left Medea if he knew this was going to happen. Medea let her anger get the best out of her and did not seem like the type of person to commit this horrendous act. She showed no signs of this cruelty that she committed but when one is at at troubled time they show their true colors.  Medea had no right to do what she did and showed humans are capable of terrible things. This relates to spider man as both Harry and Medea had committed disastrous acts ruining people’s lives to get back in spite of them. This shows that seeking revenge is  the not the proper way of getting out of situation and can be handled much differently.

#OldisNew #CLAS 2 # TeamVenus # Medea

Medea and Daenerys Targaryen

Game of Thrones is one of the most popular TV Shows. One of the important characters, Daenerys Targaryen, is shown to be dependent of her abusive older brother (named Viserys). In Season 1 of Game of Thrones, we see that Daenerys is under complete control of her male counterpart, her brother. He marries her off to a powerful Dothraki warlord named, Khal Drogo, in return for an army to support his decision to invade Westeros.

This scene shows the societal issue of a male dominated hierarchy. Daerneys, before she becomes rebellious, lacked the motivation and courage to go against her brother, Viserys. But upon the progress of the series, we see that Daerneys relentlessly pursues revenge upon those who oppose her. In Medea by Euripides, Medea, upon being banished from Corinth by Creon, plots to get vengeance for what her husband, Creon did to her. Medea, just like Daerneys at the beginning, was dependent on her husband Jason. Now, without Jason to support her and her sons, she loses everything. Another similarity is when in Game of Thrones, after Daerneys father was killed, and she was banned from the kingdom, she vowed to reclaim her position as the rightful heir to the empire. Both Medea and Daerneys were exiled from their countries. Both also are bent on getting revenge towards their opposition. For Medea, it was towards Jason and Creon and for Daerneys, it was towards all who tried to usurp her reign.

 

Supergirl and Xenophobia

Xenophobia is a problem that has been around for many years. It is the fear of outsiders, of something unknown and unlike yourself. It’s closely related to racism, because fear of difference can lead to treatment of said outsiders in a negative way. This issue has been tackled by many people from different angles.

The CW show “Supergirl” aired an episode (2×03, “Welcome to Earth”) in which Mon-el, an alien from Krypton’s twin planet Daxam, has arrived on Earth. Supergirl is suspicious of his motives, saying that if he is from Daxam then he cannot be good; she thinks he is colluding with her enemies. She tells the DEO (Department of Extra-Normal Operations) that Kryptonians have a saying about Daxamites: “May tex kolor Daxam,” which Supergirl refuses to translate, implying it is highly derogatory. The following exchange takes place between Supergirl and Mon-el; he is in a holding cell and she questions his recent actions.

Supergirl: …Your entire race thinks nothing but themselves.

Mon-El: And you would know all about my race, Kryptonian? Judging by that self-righteous glyph on your chest. Hey, so shouldn’t you already have all the answers?

Supergirl: What’s that supposed to mean?

Mon-El: Well, I know how your people feel about us. High-and-mighty, “enlightened” Krypton. Looking down on us lowly peasants ever since you attacked us with no provocation. […] You’ve already made up your mind about me. So, it seems kind of pointless to keep talking to you.

More of this scene can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Se35j9PKRE

Mon-el demonstrates his awareness of her attitude toward his people. He knows that Supergirl has condemned Mon-el simply because he is not from her planet. She stereotyped his race and jumped to conclusions about his actions. He resents her judgment but thinks he is powerless against it. This is a perfect example of how xenophobia/racism works, and the parallel to modern society is obvious. It’s clear the show intended the episode as commentary on today’s America.

Nowadays there is rampant xenophobia in the United States. Under the Trump administration, racists are proud of their misguided beliefs. All the fear of immigrants and/or terrorists is xenophobia at its extreme. A lot of right-wing Americans are afraid of the newcomers having a negative impact on their own lives, like taking their jobs or attacking them, even when there is little reason to expect such a situation. The modern political climate in America is very xenophobic.

But it’s not just nowadays that people have had this attitude. In Euripides’ “Medea,” Jason and Medea are both exiles from their respective lands, taking refuge in Corinth. The king of Corinth doesn’t trust Medea around his daughter, and although this is because she is the psychopathic ex-wife whom nobody in their right mind would trust, it’s possible it was also impacted by Creon’s subconscious mind telling him to beware this outsider. Also, in some translations, Medea asks Jason, “Whither can I fly, since all Greece hates the barbarian?” She, as an outsider, will not be welcomed anywhere, even if she leaves the place from which she has been banished.

At the time it was written, “Medea” was intended as a social commentary on Athens’ treatment of foreigners, and the Athenian belief of the superiority of native Athenians. Athenian imperial propaganda perpetuated the myth of autochthony, pretending Attica had always been populated by the same people, in much the same way Americans forget that no one has “always lived here” because life didn’t originate on this continent. “Newcomers” are simply newer than you are; at some point, your ancestors were newcomers too. Xenophobia is unfair to the victims of its warped perception because it hinges on the belief that you belong here and they do not. Really, no one “belongs” any more than anyone else.

It’s just a matter of who got there first, really. If Mon-el had landed on Earth before Supergirl, would she have been protective of Earth from him? Probably not. She would be the outsider stepping into an unfamiliar setup. Supergirl’s mistrust and suspicion stemmed from her prior integration into Earth culture. When American citizens are concerned about newcomers, they forget that their family was once in the same position, coming off the boat or plane into a country filled with people who already had their lives set in place. Would they dare say those other people don’t belong here?

Xenophobia is an issue, deeply rooted in flawed perception of yourself and others, that has unfortunately been around for thousands of years.

Chaya, team Venus

Breaking America

Walter White, the protagonist of the hit TV show Breaking Bad is an average white middle- class ,middle-aged man who has just found out he has lung cancer. In this video you can seen how Walter White transforms from the loving husband, father, cancer patient to the criminal kingpin who is Heisenberg.

The story of a person who goes from being “good” to becoming “evil” is a story that has been told numerous times. An example would be the story of Maleficent. Maleficent was a good and pure being who protected her home but when she is betrayed she becomes a nasty vengeful villain (antagonist). Much like in the play of Medea by Euripides, She is a mother of two and a loving wife but when Jason arranges to marry someone else she becomes enraged and determined to get her revenge.

American society is much like this ongoing story of people going from good to bad. Even in the beginning stages of Walter’s methamphetamine business he still has good intentions in earning money to leave to his family incase the cancer did end up killing him, but greed and ego take control and he does not stop making and selling meth until he gets killed because of it. Greed, revenge and ego are very dangerous and when they engulf your mind they change who you are. Walter says in the video, ” life is a cycle…it is growth, then decay and then transformation.” Americans go through this cycle too. They go through growth, which is their successes and ambitions , and then something changes which is much like the decay, and from the decay they transform into something who they are not.  Walter went through this and so did Medea. This story is a tale as old as time. It can be connected to a lot of stories and characters. Some more examples that are recognizable are: Darth Vader (Star Wars), Syndrome (The Incredibles), and Peter Pettigrew ( Harry Potter).

Luisa Reynoso- Team Hermes

Citations:

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Heartbreak: Will it make you or break you?

In the hit show Scandal, Olivia Pope, head of Olivia Pope and Associates, is a powerful, clever, and compassionate woman who runs her own crisis management and communication firm. She uses her skills to help those in immoral crisis’ to get justice for what she believes is right. Along with running her firm, she also works in the White House with the most powerful man in the country: the President. Olivia’s history with the President of the United States, Fitzgerald Grant III, dates back to before he even became president. She worked 24/7 to make sure he successfully became the next president, and she does so for 2 terms. Unfortunately for Fitz’s wife, Mellanie Grant, he had been having an affair with Olivia for years while he was office. Mellie eventually finds out about the affair and wanted to divorce Fitz but Olivia insists that she shouldn’t because it’d be in everyone’s best interest if she doesn’t follow through with it.

Flash forward to this important scene, Mellie is now running to be the first female President of the United States. She asserts to Fitz that she had earned everything she has on her own and implies that everything Fitz has was handed off to him. She emphasizes that he wouldn’t be the man his is today without the help of everyone around him, especially her. He had been complaining about the negatives of being the president, he forgot to appreciate it. Over the years of being neglected and cheated on by the man who was supposed to be the love of her life, Mellie was able to become independent and grow the confidence to run for the presidency despite the constant negativity around her.

I believe that this relates to the play Madea. Madea’s husband, Jason, had run off to marry Creon’s daughter and left his two children behind. Madea fell deeply in love with Jason and when she found out that he was leaving her for another woman, her heart turned bitter and it changed her entirely. Her thirst for revenge consumed her and led to her killing her own children. Both women experienced heartbreak but the way each of them handled it were complete opposites. Mellie allowed it to make her stronger while Madea made it break her down and bring out the worse.

-Estrella Roberts, Team Vulcan

The Game is On…?

To weigh power through intelligence is merely how human beings have separated themselves throughout human history. Scholars tend to be the higher class, while someone of lower educational level most likely will be in some form of poverty. The strength of intelligence can be found in a rendition of Connor Doyle’s: The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes, the BBC TV Show, Sherlock. The show depicts the world’s most popular detective in a modern setting instead of the usual early 20th century setting. The character of Sherlock has been replenished numerous times, with this show being one of the first to take him into contemporary society.

The clip shown from the show is of the detective Sherlock getting into a heavy and life threatening argument with his nemesis, Moriarty. This scene sort of reflects the tension that exists in modern society, being similar to how the leader of our government deals with other countries such as North Korea. It seems like a stretch but both characters are on edge, ready to pounce, and prepared to do anything necessary to out due the other. The way these two converse can be easily compared to President Trump and his rivalry with North Korean dictator, Kim Jong Un. Straying away from political issues, a more social dilemma involving this kind of tension can be seen in the fight between the alt-right white supremacists and the equal rights activists. Both groups are passionate about their social standings and fight much like the two masterminds in this scene when they collide

While observing issues in contemporary society, we can also observe contemporary issues in the play Eurpides’ Medea, as discussed in class. In the play, Jason, Medea’s lover, has acted unfaithful against her, pleading to marry another woman, and Medea is not happy once so ever. An issue of the time was how woman were seen as inferior to men, so this treatment of Medea could be seen as something of little to no importance in mythological Ancient Greece. Medea’s thirst for revenge can be compared to Moriarty’s relationship with Sherlock. Moriarty, while VERY insane, secretly loves Sherlock in a sense, and wants him destroyed not only to get rid of him, but challenge his intellect. Medea loves Jason so much, when she is betrayed go to extreme lengths to show her sorrow and anger that she was betrayed. Both are very similar yet crazy relationships that we can analyze.

Sean Reilly, Team Artemis

Sherlock vs Moriarty

Can faith be changed?

In Greek mythology, Oedipus is seen as one of the greatest tragic heroes. He was cursed from birth and had no other choice but live through the fate that was give to him. After his birth, there was a prophecy. It was said that Oedipus would kill his own father and marry his birth mother, after hearing the prophecy Oedipus’s father King Laius pierces the baby’s ankle and leaves him on the mountain to die, to prevent the curse from occurring. However, a shephard Comes along and saves the child…After growing up, Oedipus decides to find his real parents. So he goes to “Oracle of Delphi”. The oracle doesn’t tell him who his real parents are, however, she does inform him about the prophecy. Oedipus tries to run from his fate however he runs right into it. He kills Laius after getting into an arguments with him at the crossroads. Oedipus then goes to thebes and wins the throne by solving the riddle and marries his own mother jocasta unknowingly.

Similarly in the original Disney movie “The sleeping beauty” a child is born in the royal family. the king throws a celebration for his newborn Aurora and invites everyone in the kingdom but the wicked queen. the evil queens crashed the celebration and curses the innocent child to prick her finger on a spinning wheel and die from it at the age of sixteen. after hearing the curse the king tries to prevent it just like king Laius. So, he sends away his newborn daughter to the deepest village with three fairies who turns themselves to humans in order to blend in with people and keep the baby’s identity a secret. while Aurora lives hidden the king orders to collect all the spinning wheel and lock them up in one place. time passes and right before Aurora’s 16th birthday she is brought into the castle. Everyone is relieved that she was still alive. the king thinks he changed the curse however what he fails to realize is that he was leading her to the curse, when aurora finds out that she’s the princess she becomes upset. She also learns about the curse, she becomes upset with her parents for casting her away, not realizing they did it in order to keep her alive. She comes into the castle heartbroken and finds herself outside the room where all the spinning wheels were hidden. She goes in and pricks her finger on one of the spinning wheels and she falls in a deep sleep. The disney ones again proves one’s inability to run away from faith nor change it.

After hearing his fate oedipus left his adopted parents and the city he grew up I in order to avoid killing his father and sleeping with his wife while he was already told that he was adopted. Oedipus was very stubborn so he fled his hometown thinking he ditched the curse, and those were his real parents. However, right after his fled he faces faith and does exactly as it was said in the prophecy.

#OldisNew  #Oedipus #CLAS2

Nothing Is Ever Done

We’ve all seen Cinderella or at least heard of her , there have been over two dozen cliche movies of the poor orphan child who’ s evil stepmother makes her life miserable , but she overcomes the obstacles and succeeds beyond the means she was born with. To be frank , through discussion with others many feel like she does have to much to offer and at one point I did too. Well , THEY ARE WRONG. In fact, Cinderella has some wise words to offer in Disney’ new and old movie , as seen in scene in the video ( link below)  she shares with us this quote “just because its done, doesn’t mean its what should be done”. This quote couldn’t be more fitting to today’ contemporary society with such publicized political hysteria spreading and with Antigone in Sophocles’ famous ancient play Antigone .

Likewise in both the play and in today’s society revolutionary individuals take a stand against what has been placed in effect by a higher authority . In the play, Antigone goes against Creon’ wishes  , the king of Corinth and her uncles, by burying her dead brother  Polyneices and performing his death rights . Antigone believes it is the wishes of the gods , more specifically Hades , to perform rights on Polyneices’ dead body , the commandments of god illuminate higher importance compared to mere man/Creon. Correspondingly , in the current political weather many similar circumstances are being assembled where many social activist are battling against the government and other groups. For instance , many progressives are fighting against icons of white supremacy displayed throughout the U.S. . Even though it happened doesn’t mean it is right and sometimes change is infinitely possible.

The moral of my overall analysis is , the scene where Cinderella drops a bomb of wisdom “just because its done, doesn’t mean its what should be done”, is an incredibly ominous scene considering that the overall message could be utilized in the past and present , such as with Sophocles’ play Antigone and in current politics. When a lesson has no age or time period boundaries its able to infiltrate a larger audience making it powerful and that is what the scene is able to do.

Sincerely , Samantha , Team Minerva

Citations:

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Caroll Marketing Executive at Callboxinc.com | Blogger | Online Marketer, Judy. “7 Important Business Insights from the Granddaddy of Animation.” Callboxinc.com – B2B Lead Generation Company, 7 Oct. 2015, http://www.callboxinc.com/thought-leaders/7-important-business-insights-from-the-granddaddy-of-animation/

Video

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMF8M8-OZYE         Time: 00:00:30

“Youtube.” Youtube, 11 Feb. 2015, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMF8M8-OZYE .

Who Am I?

In Mulan, Mulan sings the song Reflections which is all about who she is as a person. During this song she contemplates who she is and what other people think she should be. When I was watching this I realized this searching for your true self is very prevalent in contemporary society. We are constantly looking for ourselves, the transgender movement is an example of this. Transgender people are looking for who they are. They are discovering who they are meant to be regardless of what other people say or do, to look inside themselves and recognize that they aren’t necessarily supposed to be what they were told they were.

Similarly, in Oedipus the King, Oedipus is so focused on what the oracle and the prophecy says he ends up fulfilling the prophecy by accident. Oedipus was so focused on other people’s predictions and views that he was steered into making decisions he wouldn’t necessarily make for himself, like Mulan, when she is steered into marrying for the honor of her family. While Mulan pushes against the constraints on her and follows her heart by saving her father, Oedipus tries to defy the fates as well but ends up in their clutches at the end. Both of these stories, while very similar have different endings they both reflect on how outside influence can affect a person to a very deep level. Making someone who thought they knew themselves turn out to be something entirely different. This is reflected in today’s contemporary society with the transgender movement, people finding who they are regardless of society’s opinion of them.

 

 

Social Issues Present in Pixar Films

Pixar, a subsidiary of Walt Disney, continues to produce new ways to teach modern day children about social issues through brilliant computer animation. One of their recent releases “Zootopia” fearlessly addresses sexism and racism. This is accomplished through Judy Hopkins, a rabbit who follows her dream of being a police officer rather than joining the family business of carrot farming. The plot continues with Judy stuck in a colorful world littered with setbacks and oppression. Of people telling her shes too small, too slow, too stupid, too feminine. But as a theme in this film, we set our own goals, and through Judy’s persistence and relentlessness she overcomes the limitations and expectations set upon her by others, more specifically by society; and she continues to strive for more challenging projects.

The message is clear. Our destiny is not predetermined based off of our race, gender, or culture. It is created by us and the goals we set for ourselves. Just like in Trevor Noah’s book, Born A Crime, Trevor and his mom didn’t let their society’s biased point of view, and condescending judgement hold them back just because of their color, they went against the tide and did what they wanted to do. Trevor’s mom took writing classes and broke into the white collar field even if it was just at the bottom rung, holding a mere secretarial position, Through persistence, belief, and hard work you can overcome obstacles placed by society.

In Sophocles’s play Antigone, Antigone does what she believes is the right thing to do, and she goes out and gives her brother the most proper burial she can, given the present circumstances. Even though it is unaccepted and frowned upon by her peers, more specifically by Creon, she does what she knows is necessary. Because she knows that you cant adjust your preferences to society, you have to let society adjust itself to you, it may take some time and some imprisonment but slowly but surely, we can be thankful that we have reform.

Eye for an Eye?

 

Jesus Shuttlesworth is a highly recruited basketball player that had many scouts drooling over his skills. Top basketball programs were offering him scholarships to come and compete for their schools. Even though his future looked bright many people weren’t aware of the events that have occurred in his past. Six year earlier his father, Jake was convicted and sent to prison for killing his wife Martha (Jesus’ Mother). Ever since that moment Jesus never looked at his father the same way. The governor offered Jake less time on his sentence if Jake can convince Jesus to commit to a university of the governor’s choice. Jesus would later find out his father’s real intentions and had the choices of either listening to his father and help him reduce his sentence or he can commit to another college and watch his father spend the rest of his life in prison.

Revenge was a major theme in the play Medea. Medea was a former barbarian princess who fell deeply in love with Jason. In the near future Jason was given the opportunity to get married to Glauce who was the daughter of the King of Corinth. Jason agreed to leave Medea and marry Glauce. Medea couldn’t believe what Jason was doing to her and she was quickly filling up with rage. She felt that she needed to get her revenge and make Jason feel the way she felt. Medea ended up murdering Glauce and some of her children in hopes that it would hurt Jason and make him regret leaving her.

Naim Nuvel, Team Vulcan

 

 

Blinded: figuratively and literally

In this specific scene from Spider-Man 2, it’s clear that Harry Osborn, the son of Norman Osborn, has an unhealthy relationship with Spider-man, soon to be revealed as Harry’s best friend, Peter. Harry, unable to understand the truth, is strongly convinced that Spider-man murdered his father. Although Norman Osborn was portrayed as a gifted, inspirational, and successful man to society, in secrecy he was the city’s villain–the Green Goblin trying to destroy Spider-man. In trying to do so, the Green Goblin’s advanced technological glider mistakenly kills himself. No other to blame but the city’s hero, Harry begins to grow hatred strong enough to blind his judgments. Unaware of his surroundings, Harry willingly makes a deal with the city’s new villain, tritium for Spider-man’s capture.

Similar turn of events arise in Oedipus the King, where the country’s savior, Oedipus, becomes a slave to his emotions eventually leading him to his downfall–the loss of his family, sovereignty, and eyesight. As the play progresses, we can picture the city of Thebes being darkened by sickness. The only way to free the people of such ill is to banish or expiate the murderer of King Laius. Oedipus, desperate for answers, interrogates Teiresias to find himself a victim of accusations. Teiresias states, “I say with those you love best you live in foulest shame unconsciously and do not see where you are in calamity”(422-424). His argument with Teiresias ignited spite and fury resulting in Oedipus’s constant blame on Creon and Teiresias; simultaneously, his actions portray the dangers of too much passion. For example, instead of analyzing his position very carefully, Oedipus –figuratively blind– ignored the truth and ultimately became a catalyst to his demise.

This perfectly reflects North Korea’s perpetual hatred of the United States. During the Korean War, North Korea suffered twice as much compared to South Korea because of constant attacks enforced by U.S. troops. Since then, our interference sparked North Korean propaganda against the United States. Propaganda eventually progressed into threats of nuclear attacks that still persist today. These set of emotions enforced by the North Koreans endanger millions of lives, including their own. Blinded by aversion, led by ignorant leaders, and brainwashed by demagogues, North Koreans have looked away from the truth to whatever fits their agenda.

• Amirjon, Team Juno

 

Between Madness and Love

 

In the tomb scene of Romeo and Juliet, Romeo takes his own life because he believes that his beloved is dead, then Juliet discovers what happened and she decides to kill herself to be with her beloved. In human society acts of madness for love have been seen from antiquity to modern times. Today many people, mostly young people, have attacked their lives or the lives of “people they love” because of problems in their love relationships, either because of infidelities, because they are not reciprocated or because something bad had happened to those they love. Some cases that have become popular in the news are people who kill their partners because he or she has been infidel, also young people who end up committing suicide because they are not loved by whoever they want to be loved. Acts of madness are not always related to death, there are also many cases in which a person begins to commit crimes or to follow certain customs not his/her own only to be accepted by the person he/she loves.

The subject of committing madness for “love” is presented in the story “Euripides’ Medea Translated by CAE Luschnig” when Medea hurt by the situation that is happening with her husband, Jason, begins to see life in a dark way, saying that she hates her life, looking for a way to end it, losing her head and hurting, not her enemies, but those beings who loved her, the ones she should have taken care of and love, her children.

Jamilex Dominguez, Team Mercury.

The Parallels of Masculinity and Gods

God of War 3 – Zeus Final Boss Scene

As time changes so do our views and portrayals of deities. One prime example would be Zeus. Back when Homer’s epic of Iliad first came about, Zeus was portrayed in a more fatherly way. He had more of a paternal interest when it came to other mortals. He was more rewarding of truth, charity and fairness. He had even gone as far as to send someone to tell Achilles, his son, to release a mortal’s body so that he may be buried honorably. This can be seen in the Iliad epic, the 24^th book specifically, in lines 65 and 75 where it states, “Hera, be not thou utterly wroth against the gods; the honour of these twain shall not be as one; howbeit Hector too was dearest to the gods of all mortals that are in Ilios. So was he to me at least, for nowise failed he of acceptable gifts. For never was my altar in lack of the equal feast,” and “’…that I may speak to her a word of wisdom, to the end that Achilles may accept gifts from Priam, and give Hector back.’ So spake he, and storm-footed Iris hasted to bear his message, and midway between Samos and rugged Imbros she leapt into the dark sea, and the waters sounded loud above her.” In this scene he is basically sending someone to tell Achilles to release Hector’s (the mortal’s) body so that he may be buried with honor and in return he would receive tribute and offerings. This shows his care for the mortals, his fairness.

This is unlike how he is portrayed in a more recent setting, such as in a game known as “God of War”. God of war mains a spartan man named Kratos who within the game is the son of Zeus while originally Kratos was supposed to represent strength and power in Greek mythology beside his siblings who represented victory(Nike), force(Bia), and zeal(Zelus). The four siblings were seen as the enforcers of Zeus. The other difference within the game is that Zeus was more antagonistic. Rather than supporting Kratos after he was mistreated and misuded by Ares, Zeus betrays him and uses Kratos all the while seeing him as an evil. He basically saw the vengeance in Kratos and used that to further his control on other mortals. He had little to no care for mortal life and saw them more as creatures, as tools that were below him, compared to old Greek mythology where he looked upon mortals as his own children. The video is an example of that.

This also shows us how our idea of masculinity had shifted. Back when Iliad was first made, when Zeus wasn’t just a fictional character but was still considered a deity, as a living breathing god there was more to masculinity. There was more of the paternal figure/father figure, fairness and compassion. Of course, he had his flaws, such as his many affairs/infidelity yet he also had his merits as mentioned before. While in a more contemporary setting, he is portrayed in a way that focuses on what is now known as toxic masculinity, an idea where we see men as more prone to violence rather than reason, that they believe they are higher among others. Basically, any merit is gone or there is less importance put around it, all that’s left is that toxicity. He would treat woman as tools or as a weakness in the game, “a downfall” as the video mentioned.

Point being that in our efforts within the battle of equality, we have vilified masculinity over femininity to the point that we are forgetting that masculinity used to have its own merits. The portrayal of Zeus in God of War shows a man of little to no merit, a man with an ego who only cared for what he owned, a man who solved his issues with violence and led with violence. Even the main character, Kratos, went through his journey with a vengeful and violent drive. Although in the end what he wanted more than anything was redemption for taking his family’s life through a fit of rage. The next game that has yet to come out showed that Kratos, who was one of the prime examples of this “toxic masculinity” is learning to be a father to his son, a son he wants to show affection to but does not yet know how. He now has a responsibility and is letting go some of that blood rage to raise this child. He still preforms violent acts, but now it’s not so much for vengeance as it is for survival. This shows that we may be moving to an age that is slowly beginning to acknowledge those merits once.

“https://www.greekmythology.com/Olympians/Zeus/zeus.html

Zeus: GreekMythology.com – Sep 03, 2017

“https://www.greekmythology.com/Other_Gods/Kratos/kratos.html”

Kratos: GreekMythology.com – Sep 03, 2017

Homer, , Robert Fagles, and Bernard Knox. The Iliad. , 1998. Print.

Santa Monica Studio. Stig Asmussen, Todd Papy. God of War III. Sony Computer Entertainment, 2010. PlayStation 4.

Frank Underwood: Modern Day Creon

House of Cards is a well written and critically acclaimed Netflix series created by Beau Willimon that delves into the darker themes of politics that nonetheless still accurately portrays Washington in some ways better than others that goes into societal issues on power and control. House of Cards follows Frank Underwood (played by Kevin Spacey) as a South Carolina congressman who ruthlessly rises through Washington to become President of the United States to gain more power as the man in the highest office in the world. As a character, Frank Underwood had always been a ruthless, egotistical sadist since the beginning, but as the series continues, he becomes more involved with his pride and his yearning for more power. The show demonstrates how people yearn for power and control over others and how Frank Underwood exemplifies this character trait. Even though many of Frank Underwood’s actions, such as murder, are exaggerated from real life politicians, his ruthless tendency for power and control over the course of the last five seasons reflects on present day politicians with their own paths to control others through fear and power. Many politicians aim for the highest offices in their country to impose their own self-rule through various tactics, such as gerrymandering, to round up their own supporters and silence opponents, and political corruption to abuse the power of the government to increase his or her control over others. Underwood has shown the issue of ruthlessness and hunger for power. For example; at the end of the first episode of the second season, Underwood monologues to the audience about why he murdered a certain character. Underwood, even though he had a strong sexual and secret relationship with this character, murdered her with no remorse because she had become a problem in his path to gaining power; she had transitioned from a “kitten” to a “cat”. The metaphor that Underwood is expressing is to show that the character who started out as innocent and obedient, become independent and rebellious, something would potentially become a problem for Underwood. The character may have meant something to him initially, but to him, she was simply another problem needing to be fixed. In the scene, he says, “For those of us climbing to the top of the food chain, there can be no mercy. There is but one rule: hunt or be hunted.” His speech about the murder of the character demonstrates his extent to gain power and shows off his ruthless nature. Even though he cared for her, Underwood murdered her in cold blood simply because she became a threat in his conquest for political ambition.

The scene further demonstrates and comments on how Underwood would do anything to further his political venture to control more power; much to the similarities today, Underwood displays an exaggerating action to tone down the actions of modern day politicians. Where Underwood directly caused the death of this character, politicians today indirectly cause physical harm through inhumane policies and rhetoric that Underwood would support in his Washington. In Sophocles’ Antigone, Creon, the King of Thebes is blinded by power and is shown as arrogant, ignorant, and cruel. King Creon used his the role as king to rule by his own will, not for the people’s will at heart; Creon rules as if it his unquestionable right to rule as king, ruling as a leader who displays himself as the sole power and authority of the state. In his role as king, Creon had not only acted as the power hungry leader: he acted displayed a sort of cruel ruling that came with his leadership, such as how he treats his watchman with such disrespect (lines 315-326), his ignorance by not listening to his son, Haemon (lines 726-765), and the cruelty in his arrogance when speaking to Antigone shows him as a cold person (lines 497-525). Throughout the society that is shown in Sophocles’ plays, leadership is shown as an egotistical array of arrogance, ignorance, and cruelty, particularly demonstrated through Creon. Creon’s hubris (or his excessive pride) was his tragic flaw, causing his downfall. In a similar fashion, Frank Underwood’s hubris is what led to his inevitable downfall; his pride got the better of him and his grasp on power gradually fell out; his power as President was swept from beneath him because of his ignorance, arrogance, and hubris, similar to Creon’s downfall as king. Sophocles wanted to show the reader how power leads to ignorance, arrogance, and cruelty, and that a person’s tragic flaw, such as a person’s hubris, will to their demise. In today’s society, the same view applies; as politicians gain power, their become more arrogant, more ignorant and increasingly cruel. As a result, present day media displays the same view of power that Sophocles had; in a way, Sophocles writings have become full circle in our society.

#OldisNew, #CLAS2, #Sophocles, #Antigone, #TeamSaturn, #HouseofCards, #IgnoranceArroganceCruelty, #Power

To Commit, You Must Take Sacrifices

 

Garfield, the fat orange cat known for his smart mouth, laziness, arrogance and love for food, who lives with his owner Jon. Jon decides to expand his family by bringing in a dog named Odie who is lovable but Garfield despises because Garfield feels that Jon is giving Odie more attention than him. This was very difficult for Garfield therefore he decides to kick Odie out of the house which resulted in Odie going missing and ending up in the wrong hands. Garfield then realized what he has done and decides to rescue Odie. Feeling alone and lonely is a major issue in society today. Many people who experience these feelings can feel as if nobody cares for them or a sense of betrayal. However, that doesn’t give the right to pass on the negative message to other peoples lives. How should we react to difficult situations in our lives?

Medea felt betrayed by her husband Jason as he married King Creon’s daughter to gain power. Medea is put in a tough situation where she is furious and wants revenge. This anger resulted in her killing her own children, King Creon and his daughter by poisoning them. She did not kill Jason as she left him to witness everything he has lost and what he has caused. The end result of this entire situation are multiple deaths from a single decision of an individual. Jason left it upon himself to make the selfish decision and therefore has to face the consequences due to his actions to gain a bigger image for himself.

Medea had a feeling of betrayal and felt the urgency to commit an action to seek revenge. Although many emotions arise at certain situations, one must always collect themselves and not pass on the negativity to others because that only makes matters worse and consequences will be faced. This relates to Garfield as he felt betrayed and lonely. His emotions caught to him and took out his anger on Odie. That resulted in a negative setting for Odie which was scary and dangerous. There was then a sense of regret that went through Garfield after he realized what he has done. As a result, Garfield now appreciates Odie’s presence and now is more responsible as he learned from his mistakes.

-Adam, Team Ares

That’s So Ignorant

In the television show of That’s So Raven, in one of the episodes called True Colors, Raven and her best friend go together to a job interview for a fashion store called “Sassy”. During their interview both Raven and her friend gave fashion advice to a client and while Raven gave great advice and the client ended up loving her makeover, her best friend didn’t do so well and the client did not like her fashion choices. When it came to make a decision the interviewer ended up only giving the job to Raven’s friend and the reason why was because the interviewer did not “hire black people”.

This scene in particular was very significant because usually in a Disney show that is made for children, it usually does not discuss about racism. This episode was one of my very first encounters with what racism really was and even nowadays it is still a very serious issue in America. Nowadays especially with the new laws and regulation that the government has issued over the past few years, many people of a darker skin complexion from all types of backgrounds are living in constant fear of being discriminated against and possibly be physically hurt because of their skin color. The interviewer in this episode of That’s So Raven, reminded me of the types of people in America that believe the same thing that the interviewer believed in, which is that people of color are less than or “not superior”. There are still some people in America that believe that because a person is not a fair or light skin color, then that would automatically mean that they are uneducated or worthless. This interviewer in this episode also reminded me of Oedipus and how he believed that his authority that he gained from answering the riddle given by the sphinx gave him the power to look down upon others. Oedipus constantly boasted about how he saved the people of Thebes and was blinded by his pride and stubbornness to see that he was also the one that was also causing his people to suffer. Both the interviewer from That’s So Raven and Oedipus shared their ignorance to see that instead of seeing just the surface one should see the skills of a person.

 

Jealousy and Unhealthy Relationships

A fictional character, Snow White from the movie, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs lives with her stepmother, wicked Queen who doesn’t love her. The Queen is jealous because she wants to be known as “the fairest in the land,” and Snow White’s beauty surpasses her own. Snow White takes refuge in the forest in the house of seven dwarfs to hide from her stepmother.The dwarfs grow to love their unexpected visitor, who cleans their house and cooks their meals. But one day while the dwarfs are at their diamond mine, the Queen arrives at the cottage disguised as an old peddler woman and persuades Snow White to bite into a poisoned apple. The dwarfs place her in a glass coffin in the woods and mourn for her. The Prince, who has fallen in love with Snow White, happens by and awakens her from the wicked Queen’s deathlike spell with “love’s first kiss.”

The contemporary and social issue portrayed in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is the jealousy and hatred of the queen towards her step-daughter. This jealousy and hatred takes the queen to such an extent that her inner self forces her to kill her daughter to be the fairest lady in the world. This societal issue is also visible in today’s modern society where children often face detestation and envy from their step parents which often affects their lifestyle growing up as a child. They are rarely considered as the real children and don’t get sufficient care from the step-mother. Sometimes, new parent in a child’s life is a whole other person with a different perspective and expectations and this imbalanced and unhealthy relationships affects both mother’s and child’s life.

This imbalanced and unhealthy relationship is also illustrated in the Oedipus. Oedipus murders his father, Laius and marries his mother, Jocasta and have children with her. It was his fate that he had no knowledge about his identity and the reality. This unhealthy relationships between Oedipus, Jocasta and Laius is similar to the imbalanced relationship between Snow White and the Queen because it was all in their fate to be with each other and also everyone dies at the end. The portrayal of jealously in the Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs depicts the lack of love between the step mother and the child. And, the portrayal of the unhealthy relationships between Oedipus, the king and the Jocasta, his mother and his wife depicts the fate and the lack of the knowledge of his identity. It can also happen in today’s society where a child is not loved by the step mother or a male has illegal relationship with a female.

Gurleen Kaur, Team Venus

How trustworthy are humans?

In the movie The Dark Knight, The Joker has a scene where he’s being interrogated by Batman. In this scene, The Joker is physically beaten but manages to win the altercation simply through words. He says “You see, their morals, their code, it’s a bad joke. Dropped at the first sign of trouble. They’re only as good as the world allows them to be. I’ll show you. When the chips are down, these… these civilized people, they’ll eat each other. See, I’m not a monster. I’m just ahead of the curve.”

Interrogation Scene

Recently, the Syrian Refugee Crisis has affected millions of people throughout the world and at a time where morals should’ve helped, instead people turned on one another. Millions of people required safety but instead, countries would close their borders and let people suffer. Everyone would like to claim that they’re helpful and kind, generous people but as soon as trouble showed up, all their morals were dropped. Realistically, no country could simply accept millions of people into their society with no consequences, however, banning entry and deporting people back to a place in turmoil is simply put, an immoral thing to do.

In the play “Medea”, human morals would go against the murder of others, especially children. However, Medea, who is going through a troubled time of her husband leaving her, breaks this moral by murdering her own two children. Before her husband left her, Medea assumingly would’ve never imagined committing such a horrendous act. However, as is clearly shown, a time of trouble or uneasiness can change people and cause them to do terrible things. This may be an extreme example but shows that rules and morals are easily broken. Humans are capable of doing terrible things to one another and are not as trustworthy as most of us assume.

Showing What is Right From Wrong

 

In the Harry Potter series, Hermione is known to be a very smart woman and is sacred to get in trouble. She is not afraid to show how she feels about certain topics. She tends to do things for the goodness of them. In their society, Draco Malfoy is usually a source of some problems in the school.In one of the scenes in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Hermione sees Draco and his friends making fun and waiting for Hagrid’s pet to be executed. Hermione sees them and she believed what they were doing were wrong. So, she goes to put a spell on Draco, but she decided not to. She, instead, punches him showing how she is standing up for what she thinks is right. In all schools, they have a rule where you would get suspended or expelled if you punch someone. So, Hermione basically sacrificed herself to getting suspended or expelled to show how wrong Draco and his friends are. Hermione actually ends up not getting expelled nor suspended.

In comparison to Antigone, in Sophocles’ Antigone, the society show how men think that women don’t stand up for themselves because they think they cannot. Antigone buried her brother herself, which is a crime to bury someone. Antigone’ sister, Ismene was going to confess the crime that she did not do. Antigone does not want her sister to confess it so she sacrifice herself to go confess the crime and she did. Antigone was trying to prove that she has buried her brother to Creon, but Creon wouldn’t believe it because she was a female. Antigone was then sent to prison where she killed herself.

#OldisNew #CLAS2 #Sophocles #Antigone #Team Cronos

“Skadoosh”

Kung Fu Panda is a movie franchise I’m sure many are familiar with. It follows the exploits of a gluttonous Panda, Po, who goes from being an enthusiastic fanboy, to the humble leader of the Furious Five and the defender of China. A common theme in the movies is the concept of fate, or rather the inability to avoid fate. This concept is first shown in Po, who, despite being reluctant to accept his role as the Dragon Warrior ,eventually lives up to the title, many times over. However, the concept of destiny and fate seems to apply to all of the many characters in the series, good or bad, one of the most prelavent examples being Shen. Shen makes his debut in Kung Fu Panda 2. He is a Peacock King, obsessed with fighting fate, more than any other. Seeking to maintain his rule and high standing as a king, he constantly consults the ‘Soothsayer’, a foturne telling goat, for advice. When faced with the possibility of his kingship being threatened by “a warrior of black and white”, as told by the Soothsayer, he eliminates everything in his path, this being any Pandas and even his own parents. However, his mad rush to quickly silence any possible threats, leads to his own downfall, with Po eventually defeating him in a final confrontation. Though as expressed by the Soothsayer, Shen could have certainly maintained kingship, his arrogance, cruelty and paranoia lead to his demise. In the end, he, a black and white warrior himself, fell to his own schema.

Shen’ tale is one eerily similar to Oedipus. They both exemplify an arrogance and greediness that leads to their downfalls. They try to fight fate, which in of itself isn’t terrible, but their methods ultimately seal the tragic fate which awaits the two. A lack of desire to humble oneself and control their violent tendencies makes them susceptable to the tradgedies of their fates. In the world of Kung Fu Panda, the pressure and stress of fate is known not solely to Shen. All of the characters, even his ‘conqueror ‘, Po, know the cruelty of fate. Though Po felt the stress of fate and its expectations for him, expectations which he at many times tried to run from, through humility he was able to accept and eventually conquer the obstacles which fate laid out for him favorably. Shen, his polar opposite in the movie, lacked this humility needed to shift his fate favorably. The raw and unbridled desire to dominate fate led to an equally harsh end. Such is true of Oedipus. He also lives in a world where many people are subject to the fate which the gods bestow upon them and the will which they hold over them. Even the gods of Greek Mythology themselves are subject to the strings of fate. However, there is a stark difference in the reaction. Odysseus, a ccontemporary king of Greek myths, also was reluctant to accept  his fate, which, in his case was engaging in war. However, a humility towards the gods of their world allowed him to endure the obstacles  and ultimately be rewarded. Oedipus knew no such humility and as retribution, was made the most humble and pitiable of humans or any beings for that matter, by the end.

In contemporary society, crime tells the story of both Oedipus and of Shen. Instead of fate though, we have Law. The Law(federal and religious), acts as the overarching aspect of society which all of us must submit to. Those who commit crimes, be theft, rape or murder, are those who refuse to submit to the law, just as Shen and Oedipus did not submit to fate. All of us, whichever the country, are subject to the law and all people have felt the harshness and unfairness of law at some point of another. However, we acknowledge that it is a necessary force in order to maintain some semblance of peace in the world we live in, and we are better off for it when following it. People who commit crimes, justifiable or unjustifiable may have also felt the sting of law prior to committing crimes, yet feel they have the authority to go against it, as though they alone have felt the unfairness or constrainment of it. They fail to show humility in the face of the law, both federal and religious, and suffer for it, either dying or being sent to prison. By that point they may feel humility in the face of law just like Shen and Oedipus with fate, but by that time, it is too late.

https://youtu.be/QuLUZIvf-l8k

Skaie Cooper,Team Ares

Something Wicked This Way Comes

Free will, prophecies, and fate- themes that seem to transcend time and weave themselves into our stories and literature, begging the questions of whether they truly exist and where they come from. Shakespeare’s Macbeth explores the three in a tale of trying to “play God” to one’s fate and, in doing so, meeting it tragically. In the play our protagonist Macbeth encounters three witches (shown above) who prophesy that he will one day claim the throne. Intrigued by this prospect, Macbeth informs his wife who then manipulates him into murdering the current king, Duncan, and framing another. Although Macbeth’s ploy is successful, Macbeth and his wife grow mad with guilt- the former slew in battle and the latter driven to suicide.

We see a similar turn of events in Oedipus. Born to Jocasta and Laius, the infant Oedipus is prophesied to one day murder his father and wed his mother. In an attempt to avoid this fate, the king and queen exile Oedipus and sentence him to death. Through what can only be fate (wink wink) Oedipus avoids this untimely death and grows up far from his home and parents. Once a man, he travels far and away to Thebes- unaware that this is his home- accidentally slaying Laius and later marrying Jocasta- unaware that these are his parents. Upon realizing his sins Oedipus gouges out his eyes, physically and metaphorically blinding himself. Where Macbeth tries to achieve his fate, Oedipus runs from it. Still the fate of both men is met- each shrouded by carnage and tragedy.

The scene I have chosen from Macbeth addresses the contemporary yet not-so-contemporary issue of free will. In the scene Macbeth is, literally, approached by his fate: the three witches (to which we can draw the parallel of The Fates who appear as three witches in Greek lore). The witches then tell him his fate of kingship, raising multiple questions: Was this always his fate, or has the act of them telling him this prophecy created this fate for him? Had he not been told this would he become king? Would he be murdered for his treachery? Would Lady Macbeth kill herself? Similarly, in Oedipus we can ask ourselves whether any of the events would transpire had the prophecy been withheld from Jocasta and Laius. Does the act of telling the prophecy set it into motion? Or has it always been in motion, with the act of telling simply a means of propelling it? Can we escape from our fate once we have become aware of it? Or will we always find our way back to it as we run away? These questions are simultaneously ancient and contemporary; we have been pondering these truths since civilization began and continue to do so today. We have sought answers through religion, philosophy, and literature. The question of free will versus fate is one that is explored both in Oedipus and Macbeth. It is one that continues to plague us today as we must each ask ourselves whether we are the commanders of our own minds or if there is another- a greater, incomprehensible thing which permeates us completely and decides the past, present, and future. These are questions to which we have infinite answers and no answers, and questions we must continue to explore through Shakespeare, through Sophocles and through those few and far between.

#OldisNew #CLAS2 #Sophocles #Oedipus #TeamJuno, SophieShnaidman #Macbeth

Old stories made new through abandonment

Peter Parker is a fictional character that has been portrayed multiple times in film. Peter is depicted as a young adolescent and an outcast. He goes to school and faces the teenage struggles of fitting in, being liked, and getting girls. When he goes home, he finds himself living in a household with only his aunt, as his uncle was murdered and his parents left him when he was a boy. The viewer knows that he is left because, “We see the pair leave a young Peter with Aunt May and Uncle Ben, telling the future web-slinger, ‘There is something your mom and I have to do’”  (Eason, Comic Book Resources). Peter is forced to cope with the betrayal of his parents every day and knows that he will probably never see them again. This is also seen in the opening of The Amazing Spider-man, where Peter is brought to his Uncle Ben and Aunt May. His father says that he has business to attend to and scurries off with Peter’s mother.

The contemporary social issues that Peter faces are similar with the contemporary issues in our society. Just like Peter, people in today’s society are brought up on one person households where there isn’t a significant other. All humans at some point have been abandoned and have had to deal with this loss for a long time . A large amount of adolescents think highly about fitting in and being with the “popular crowd” just like Peter Parker.

The contemporary social issues that Peter faces are similar with the contemporary social issues in Euripides, Medea. Medea is a figure in Greek mythology that was faced with abandonment as well. Medea was left by her husband Jason for Glauce. Faced by this tragedy, Medea is also abandoned by her home in Corinth, as Creon forces her to leave and never return. She is forced in a position where she has to deal with the loss of her home and the man that she loves so much.

 

Euripides’ Medea.” Www.dropbox.com, http://www.dropbox.com/s/gwhelzt22z65x7y/Euripides%20Medea.pdf?dl=0.

Eason, Brian K. “The Secret History of Spider-Man’s Parents.” CBR, 11 Aug. 2016, http://www.cbr.com/the-secret-history-of-spider-mans-parents/. Accessed 4 Sept. 2017.

Fate Or Free Will

In this specific scene the iconic character of Anakin Skywalker, who has been recreated numerous amounts of times (cartoons, books, comic books, movies, etc.), faces a glimpse of his universally known destiny…of becoming Darth Vader.
The fate of the great Jedi, Anakin Skywalker, is a well known story.  He was once regarded as a legendary war hero for the great republic by the mass population of worlds that had heard tales of his exploits.  But not only was he known as a hero, he was also known as “The Chosen One”.  The being that would inevitably bring balance and peace to the force.  The Jedi Order had raised Anakin on this great prophecy that had been foretold over the millenniums, that the Order had existed for.  This prophecy had been so ingrained and burned into his head that he spent nearly all of his life attempting to live up to it.  For any being, that is a measure that is difficult to live up to.  Being hailed as practically a messiah is not easy for anyone to live with because they have to constantly try to live without exhibiting any flaws, which for any normal being is impossible.  This prophecy would inevitably break Anakin, because like the average person, he had many flaws.  He was emotional, temperamental, caring, loving, compassionate, and much more.  These attributes albeit don’t really seem all that terrible for a person to have, but for someone such as Anakin especially with the powers that he had, was dangerous.  Which is why it was a common rule for Jedi to try to abstain from producing strong emotional ties, for fear that such ties would lead them down the path of the dark side.  In the end his predetermined “fate” of becoming the Chosen One did not come true.  The story of Anakin Skywalker constantly begets the philosophical question of whether or not if we all have our own predestined fates or if we have the power to choose.  Anakin ended up choosing his own path, choosing to seek forbidden and ultimate power, and choosing to be corrupted by the dark side and transforming into Darth Vader.  

The question is an issue that many people face in the modern world, especially millennials.  I myself am unsure of whether or not I have my own predestined fate that is slowly fulfilling itself as my time on this earth progresses or if I have free will and am making my own choices.  Do we have a fate and if so, will anything we do cease to change our fates?  Or do we have a choice and does every choice we make end up changing what inevitably happens to us in the end?

     This motif or theme is very prevalent in the story of “Oedipus Rex”, otherwise known as “Oedipus The King”.  But unlike Anakin, Oedipus wasn’t able to choose his own “fate”.  In the story Oedipus, who was orphaned as a child because of his father being told of the prophecy that his own son would end up killing him and marrying his wife, was told of the infamous prophecy while on his adventures.  Oedipus would then spend a good portion of his efforts trying to stop the horrible prophecy from happening.  Which in the end would be futile, as he had ended up killing his father, marrying his mother, and subsequently manually relinquishing his sense of sight (taking his own eyes).  Like Anakin, Oedipus knew his “fate” so-to-speak, but because of the fact he ended up self-fulfilling and sealing his own fate.

I believe that Sophocles wanted the reader of this epic to ponder on the question of fate and free will, amongst other things whilst reading “Oedipus Rex”.  

#OldisNew #CLAS2 #SEAN #TEAMARES #Oedipus #Sophocles

Is Being too Determined a Bad Thing?

The two main characters in the film, The Prestige, Alfred Bordan and Robert Angier were both determined to become the greatest magicians. They were obsessed to out perform each other. Their determination has lead them to make extreme sacrifices in their lives. For example, Angier wanted to sabotage Borden while he was performing by shooting a real bullet during Borden’s trick to catch a flying bullet. This lead to Borden cutting 2 of his fingers off, due to how serious the injury was. In order to get revenge on Angier, Borden decided to ruin Angier’s trick of a disappearing bird by tweaking the cage that led to Angier killing the bird on stage and the cancellation of the show.

This scene reflects on today’s human society because there are some individuals that are way too determined to achieve their goals that they have to sacrifice many valuable things in their lives in order to reach that goal. Lets take sports as an for example, a lot of younger kids in today’s society want to be able to be professional athletes when they grow up due to so much exposure to sports. However, they’re not even aware of the sacrifices they would have to make in order to achieve that goal. They are so determined that they start training like adults athletes from morning to night. While barely being able to balance that type of work ethic with school work at such a young age. Adding on, they don’t even have the proper time to take care of their health. This could be the reason why kids end up getting injured or suffering from mental illnesses. They aren’t allowing themselves to rest properly. Their pure determination may be the reason for possible failure in their future.

In comparison to Antigone, Antigone was also extremely determined to risk her life in order to bury her brother. The main reasoning for this determination is because she feels as if it’s her duty to bury Polynices body since he is her brother. Also, it was against the Gods and considered as immoral to leave bodies unburied. Therefore, If Antigone didn’t bury him she would’ve felt guilty and offended the Gods. This lead to her decision to violated Creon’s law by not leaving Polynices’s body to be consumed by animals in the wild.  By doing this, she sacrifices many consequences in order to bury her brother. Consequences that would eventually leads to the death of Antigone. This may have been prevented is Antigone wasn’t so determined to bury Polynices, but because of her stubbornness she had to face her downfall. Similar to the film, The Prestige, both main characters, Robert Angier’s and Alfred Borden’s determination to be the best magicians has lead them to their own downfalls.

The Power of Ignorance

In this scene from Insurgent it was revealed that Divergents were never the problem to their society, but actually the solution. The leader of Erudite, Janine, refuses to believe the truth because she follows her own thought that Divergents’ who are so different from others would end up destroying the five factions. In reality, she is the one who is creating chaos between the factions. Her ignorance blinds her from the real truth and similarly in Oedipus the King, Oedipus also is put in the same situation.

Thousands of people are dying as the plague spreads across Thebes. Oedipus, the king of this land tries to find a solution to the disease and to stop it from killing more citizens. In order to do so Oedipus must find who Laius’ murderer is. The prophet Tiresias arrives at the scene, he knows the truth but does not say until anything until Oedipus started to insult him. He slowly begins to reveal the truth about the murderer/curse “[…] you are the land’s pollution” (line 400). The blind prophet hints Oedipus that he is the one who is the main problem, the one that cursed the city into plague. However, he continues to taunt Tiresias and it led to an official statement that Oedipus is the “[…] murderer of the king whose murderer you seek” (lines 415-16). This angers the king and refuses to believe in the prophecy because it is not the answer he is looking for. At the end of the play Oedipus finds out that he is the one that killed Laius, his father. His ignorance towards the Prophet’s vision led him to finding out the truth in a harsher way, it also hurt and involved more people than he intended to. In today’s society, some people are too selfish to see that what they do can often lead to controversies and chaos like in Insurgent and Oedipus. 

 #Hera #OldisNew #CLAS2 #Oedipus #Insurgent #ignoranceisnotagoodpower

 

 

How to win the Game of Thrones..?

Game of Thrones, a very popular TV series by HBO has just released new season which absolutely rocks! The series take place mainly in the continent known to us as- Westeros. Westeros is the home for several major houses in the series, as well as home for King’s Landing. As the name suggests, King’s Landing is the place where the king and the royal family is located. As you can see on the map below, King’s landing is fairy small compared to the other kingdoms, and yet has control over all of them… Right? Well, that was the case before Cersei Lannister got the power. First of all, only Kings were the true rulers of the Seven Kingdoms, but many dramatic events have made her one and only Queen of Westeros.

Long Before Cersei sat on the iron throne, she already have played her Game of Thrones, How? Well after king Robert tragically passed away, their son – Joffrey had been crowned and therefore announced to be the king. Due to the fact that he was still young and unknowing of the crown matters, his mother – Cersei was technically ruling instead of him. However, not long after he was associated. That was very heartbreaking for Cersei, but she still had another son that could take a place of Joffrey. And he did, Tommen- youngest of Cersei’s kids became the new king. He was way too young however, thus making his mother the undercover ruler of seven kingdoms. After sometime, Cersei has destroyed something that he dearly valued, which led him into taking his life. Left with no other descendants, she became one and only ruler of seven kingdoms. Now that you know a brief description of events led to Cersei’s reign, I can take you to my next point.

Throughout the history, humankind have faced several dictators, most of which have been eliminated. Most of the time, dictatorships are practiced in the closed societies. What do I mean by that? I mean societies are that not welcoming new ideas, and new people; Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler are the few of the dicatoators that practiced their reigns in such societies. What both of them have in common other than living in a closest world away from everytone? Well, people under their dictatorship feared and despised them (although couldn’t really show it due to the fear factor.) Another common trait? They did not concern themselves with the opinions, suggestions and such of the common people, or anyone else really. Sooner or later this kind of behavior leaves people no other choice but to bring them down, which ultimately stops their reigns. Why am I saying all this? Well, although some world-class dictators have been eliminated, some still remain. For example – Kim Jong-Un. North Korea is one of the undeveloped , closed to everyone countries. He is arguably one of the worst dictators yet to exist. People in North Korea are suffering, dying of hunger and other aspects while he lives perfectly fine. Sounds similar… similar to Cersei Lannister! She, just like Kim Jong-Un, does not care of the well-being of her common people, making herself a perfect dictator. History repeats itself, and as long as people won’t find courage to rebel, the dictators will live their life as selfishly as ever before, and people will continue suffering.

In the play given to us – Antigone, Creon, arguably is the dictator. He demands that one of the son’s body mustn’t be buried, which goes against God’s will, and anyone’s moral standard. Antigone, certainly felt that it was wrong to left dead body unburied, and she did what she had to do – burry him. “I urge no more; nay, wert thou willing still, I would not welcome such a fellowship. Go thine own way; myself will bury him.”(Antigone, 69-72)As things progress, he realized that if only he did not command that, everything could have been fine. But, what happened – happened, and let to awful outcomes. Chances are that people would still do something they believe is the right thing to do, even if it was said not to do so.  Everything he cherished and valued has shattered right in front of his nose, and they happened faster than anyone would predict. The point being- If you do not concern yourself with concerns of commoners, (or anyone actually), you WILL lose everything you love. Cersei never considered anyone has ever suggested to her, not even her two brothers, the result? Both brothers turned away from her, all three kids dead, and she lost her rule over half of the kingdoms in Westeros. Moral of the story- be open-minded, see different approaches to situations, and most importantly, consider suggestions of others. None of the personas mentioned above will ever succeed, their reigns will only continue while people fear them. Cersei is not an exception, her Game of Thrones just might be over on a near future.

Diana Dubitskaya, Team Mercury

#Elsewhere #TeamMercury #GameofThrones #Antigone #CLAS2 #Dictators

Once Upon A Blog Post

Growing up, many people associate the Big Bad Wolf with the idea of a villain. This character has been portrayed often in the media as someone who is trying to harm others. The Big Bad Wolf has made an appearance in classic fairy tales, such as the Little Red Riding Hood and the Three Little Pigs. However, in both stories, he plays a frightening character that causes trouble for others.

In today’s society, people are constantly surrounded by propaganda. The media uses propaganda to influence the way people look or think about things, which can also cause people to have many misconceptions of the reality of the world. For example, on Facebook, there is a section called “Trending Now..”, which shows users the latest headlines of news. However, this does not mean Facebook users are able to see all of the news because the trending topics are subjective. Facebook may be putting a bigger emphasize on specific news articles in order to hide the harmful ones. Misconceptions do not lead to a happy ending in society because it affects the way people see things. It doesn’t allow people to have a clear perspective on things.

In the play, Medea gives a gift to Jason’s wife as a form of apology after she had caused a scene. This led Jason to believe that things were okay between Medea and his wife. However, things were the complete opposite because although Medea had done a nice gesture, the present was covered in poison. This proves that everything is not always what it seems.

– Rebecca, Team Jupiter

Hopelessness is not an Excuse to Cause Tragedy

Sarabi, wife of the lion king Mufasa and mother of Simba. Mufasa was murdered by his brother Scar as the movie went by. Sarabi became a single mother. Even she didn’t knock down by this unexpected change, she came forward against Scar to defense the kingdom. Single parenting is one of the biggest issues in nowadays society. It is hard to raise a child even with both of the parents’ effort, bring the child up in one person’s effort is multiply harder because all the responsibilities are on this person’s shoulder. Even the situation is hard, something in common of all parents is the love that they have toward their children, like Sarabi she was very brave to face the situation.

Medea, she was abandoned by her ex-husband Jason and became a single mother. Medea and Jason were refugees in the king Creon’s kingdom, but Jason abandoned her and got married with Creon’s daughter because of power. Medea and her two children will be exiled soon because King Creon worries that she will hurt the princess. Angry and lose drive Medea crazy, she took action to revenge, she planned to kill the couple and the king Creon by using her own children to realize her conspiracy. It might be hard to be a single mother at that time because people live in their land, leaving their homeland means to lose their protection. She was refugees to Creon’s kingdom, now being exiled is definitely hard for her, especially she is carrying two children. However, what she decided to do is not to leave and plan what to do for her children. Instead, she killed them just because she wanted Jason to regret what he had done.

There are many reasons of why Medea killed her own children, being abandoned and became a single mother was one of the main reason. Single parenting is hard, comparing with Medea, nowadays single parent can have a lot more help from the society and government. In the U.S., there is abundant help from the government for single parents, programs, services, benefits, welfare, etcetera. Their situation might still be hard, but with all of these available help and offers, their life can be easier than Medea at that time.

 

Kong Skull Island: Reality Awaiting us?

Towards the beginning of the recently released film, Kong: Skull Island, the expedition crew lead by a division of MONARCH, start dropping bombs on an island recently discovered to “map out” the surface if the island.  In doing so, they cause very large amounts of destruction onto the island, killing animals and ruining the habitat, while also looking greedy in doing so.  The environmental impact is completely ignored.  That is… until King Kong starts attacking them.  When Kong attacks them, this then leads into another scene involving Kong battling the planes, while the captain (Samuel L. Jackson) thinks Kong is in the wrong (second video).

This scene can relate to contemporary social issues today in how we want to control and form nature into our own image, especially in this political age.  In this age, Samuel L Jackson and the others dropping bombs are like Trump and environment destroyers, while King Kong can be seen as the scientist trying to stop global warming and save our planet.  In an earlier scene, which involves one of the scientist talking about there plan, Tom Hiddleston’s character says that the scientist are “dropping bombs”.  The scientist are quick to correct him to say they are “scientific instruments”. The setting, Skull Island, is completely unaffected by humans, yet we destroy and attack it because we feel the need to, even though the people here are doing it for “scientific reasons”.  Even though we have come a long way to see the impacts we have made upon nature, there have recently been greedy people wanting to ignore what the scientist have said about environmental issues and go back to our dark ways.  This can be seen as in with the recent election we had.  Donald Trump is trying to convince many people that climate change is not real.  This has lead to him electing Scott Pruitt, long time climate change denier, to become in charge of the EPA.  This has lead to constant setbacks recently including the loss of US involvement of the Paris Climate Agreement, possibility of new coal mining operations that would destroy natural landscapes, and recent discussions of public lands such as natural parks being opened for mining.  To top it all off, this was supposedly done to help get new jobs, or to cut spending, as Trump puts it.  Supposedly, much like the scientist exploring Skull Island, who are dropping bombs to “map out the island”, certain politicians want to destroy the environment to help with coal miners and their jobs, or other things that sound good on paper to cover up evil deeds.  And much like how Kong attacked the planes for invading his home, we too may face consequences unlike any we have dealt with before if we continue down this path.  Kong can also be a comparison in this in how he is simply trying to stop the humans from destroying his home, but in that, he is attacked simply for doing what he feels is right.  This is similar to all the scientist that are having trouble trying to produce their work today, as they are ridiculed and made fun of for trying to prove a point.  Much like Kong, they know who is in the right and what has to be done, but yet are still attacked and taken on by those above them since they dare to defy what is being done.

Much like the play Medea, the character Medea too wants to deal with doing things she believes is necessary to get revenge on her husband.  One of the things in which she plans on doing is killing her children, as mentioned even very early on in the play.  The play itself starts off with the Nurse mentioning how “How I wish the Argo’s sails have never swept through the dark blue Clashing Rocks, into the land of the Colchians; I wish the pine trees had never fallen in the groves of Pelion,…” (Euripide, Lines 1-4) almost trying to compare how the bad luck in nature coincide with the bad things Medea had done to her family.  It is also shown later on that even though the children have done nothing wrong, Medea still wants to kill them, as she feels it is the best way to get revenge on her husband.  Much like Samuel L Jacksons character in the movie, or Scott Pruitt and politicians like him, what they have in common with Medea is a complete lack of understanding who is wrong, and how others around them are telling them so.  In Skull Island, the crew and Samuel L Jacksons characters lack of acknowledgement of their destruction to the island not only affected the environment, but caused Kong to come out and killed many members of their crew.  Kong was just wanting to defend his territory, yet is deemed the bad guy for getting in the way of their operation.  Scott Pruitt’s denial of Climate Change, and others like him such as Trumps, can cause numerous damages to our nature, which in the end can lead us to losing it, and even our way of life, since we rely on nature.  The scientist and others affected by environmental issues are trying to tell them they are wrong and what must be done.  yet they are looked at as crazy and need to be quite.  They are trying to be shown as the bad guys, even though Trump is in the wrong.  Medea’s lack of acknowledgement of how her life itself will be destroyed by killing her children comes up to late by the end of the play.  By the end of the play, she has no one left to love her.  Her children are dead, her husband is gone, and now her whole world is destroyed.  Everyone tried to stop her before hand, yet they come up to late by the end.

#OldisNew #Drama #CLAS2 #Medea #Scott, Team Cronos

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