Bonhoeffer & Avatar

The article Costly Grace by Dietrich Bonhoeffer can be compared to the animated series, Avatar: The Last Airbender. The article applies to the series because Bonhoeffer talks about how cheap grace is “the deadly enemy of our Church”. In the finale of Avatar, Aang is faced with a complicated decision of what to do with the villain of the series, Emperor Ozai. Aang must stop him from destroying the world but does not want to kill him. This applies to Bonhoeffer’s article in that Aang is fighting for costly grace instead of cheap grace which would be the killing of Emperor Ozai. According to Bonhoeffer, “cheap grace means the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner.” Aang realizes that his duty is to put an end the evil actions of Ozai but not to put an end to the Emperor’s life. In the end, aang decides to take away the Emperor’s abilities which have enabled him to sin and destroy the world. This brings about an end to the evil without an end to the being responsible for it. Aang chooses a noble path in which he takes no lives but still fulfills his duty in protecting the world.

Unbreakable & Semester Reflection

This semester of Freshman Writing Seminar was really great. I enjoyed analyzing superhero movies and using them as topics for writing. It was definitely very different than any other English class I have ever had. I really liked that we went over V for Vendetta because it is one of my favorite movies and talking about it in depth was great. However, it was very hard to write on films. I am used to writing on books, articles or quotes, which had a lot of strong sources available. Unfortunately, with movies, there are very few sources because the majority are just reviews of how the film turned out and if it is worth watching it or not.

At the end of the semester, we had to watch Unbreakable. I had never seen this movie before but I really enjoyed it. It told a traditional superhero story in a more realistic way. This was nice because it made it easier to apply it to real life. Instead of just some crazy story it’s something that I could see happening. This made it the perfect movie to end the semester with because it incorporated what we had been talking about in class.

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog Review

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog is a great film series to watch. I enjoyed it a lot because of the wide variety included in it. The blog incorporates action, music, love, drama and comedy into an unusual super villain story. I enjoy this because I love action movies but I also like comedies and musicals as well as romantic movies.

The action incorporated in this movie is very tongue in cheek. Dr. Horrible, goes after ridiculously named things such as Wonderflonium for a ray that can “freeze time”. Wondeflonium is a completely fictional element and literally freezing time is impossible. However, these add to the comedic aspect of the blog. I enjoy this because it takes away from the seriousness and makes it very light-hearted.

I also appreciate the love and drama integrated into the series. I love how the villain falls for the leading lady and how the super hero of the city is turned into a sort of a villain when he steals Penny from Dr. Horrible. This is great because had the story been told from Captain Hammer’s perspective, the audience would be cheering him on for upsetting the villain. However, the audience sympathizes with Dr. Horrible much like the audiences sympathizes with Megamind instead of Metroman. This is especially so when the leading lady rejects the villain, in this case Penny, that the audience truly feels pity for the villain.

Although interweaving the action with comedy and drama make the series great, the musical scores and lyrics in the blog series are what make it exceptional. This is because people love singing along to movies such as Grease, Hairspray, and Across the Universe. These movies have become successful because of the songs incorporated into the movie. They make it fun to watch over and over again. I can watch musicals many times because I enjoy just singing along with them. That is why I think Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog is such a joy to watch.

This series is also great because of how it creates a super villain that you can emphasize with. While the main character may be a villain with plans and desires to become even more “horrible”, his love interest in Penny shows a different side to the traditional villain. This humanizes the villain so that the audience can feel empathy for him instead of just hoping for the superhero to win battles against him. Because of this, the film series is very different then other superhero movies. In this, the audience is allowed to see the story through the villains point of view in a light-hearted and entertaining form.

All in all I really recommend this series to people of all ages who enjoy movies such as The Princess Bride and the recent Megamind movie. It is a good movie to watch with friends or family and be entertained. It is also truly a one of a kind film to watch. There are not many other movies that compare to this, which makes it a one of a kind experience for all.

The Dark Knight

In The Dark Knight, Batman is an exception because unlike most heroes, his abilities come from his ingenious weaponry and devices that allow him to do many heroic stunts. However, he has no unusual abilities. Batman is just like all the other citizens of Gotham; he is 100% human and susceptible to human weaknesses. The only difference is his insurmountable amount of money. He is also an exception because he operates outside the law. Batman creates his own rules and laws and judges good and evil. Although his methods are for the better good, they are not always the best way to carry things out. Therefore the authorities are not completely happy with his ways and yet he remains untouchable. Batman operates outside the system of law but cannot be affected by it. Lastly, he prevents other less experienced people to become vigilantes such as himself because he feels that they are not prepared enough for his dangerous job. In some ways this may be because he wants to be the only hero but he also does this to prevent the ill equipped from being harmed by the dangerous villains Gotham is inhabited by. This makes Batman the one and only hero of Gotham city.

Megamind

The movie Megamind is about a super villain and his super hero counterpart Metro Man. The film takes a different route than most superhero movies by making the villain the protagonist of the story. This different take makes the movie especially interesting as the audience is allowed to see things from a villain’s point of view. I especially liked how funny the movie was and how is depicted the hero as not so heroic. I also liked that Megamind’s powers were not based on strength but of the mind. In the end he defeats the new villain he accidently creates y thoughtfully thinking of what to do while he falls to his death. His brains save his life and the people of the city. Another thing I enjoyed was that the super hero dies early on in the movie by Megamind. This was a huge shock to me and completely unexpected because I believed it would be Metro Man vs. Megamind the whole movie. Nevertheless, the film did do a good job of portraying a time where the villain wins and the hero is eliminated. The villain then loses his purpose in life and is left with nothing to do. All in all I think it was a great and unique movie and people should really go see it.

Family and The Incredibles

My understanding of family is not those who are related to you by blood. However, a family to me is the people that love you and help you grow. If your actual blood relatives fulfill this roll than they are not family. However, that does not mean that a family has to be perfect. In fact, most families are far from perfect. The film “The Incredibles” depicts a family that is far from Incredible. The husband lies to his wife about his whereabouts, the children disobey their mother, and the mother keeps important stuff from her children. However, although they may not always be perfect in their actions, they do demonstrate love like when the mother covers her children with her own body to protect them from a crashing plane. The father also is willing to go to any measure to save his family and keep them from harm. I believe this is what a family is all about. You don’t have to act perfect as long as you show you love each other. It is more about love than following orders and it is what the movie demonstrates through the superhero family depicted.

Hero

The movie “Hero” emphasizes the importance of words. The film is about a nameless protagonist and the story behind his failed attempt to assassinate the King of Quin. The film begins after the failed assassination of the King by Sky, Snow, and Sword. The King has since become very guarding of his life and does not allow people within 100 paces of his throne. However, the nameless protagonist is allowed to sit closer after he shows the King the weapons of the assassins. While telling his story of how he killed Sky and then got Sword to cheat on Snow, angering her to kill Sword and then killing Snow after she is emotionally compromised, the King realizes that the story is not accurate because of Snow and Sword’s emotional control. Nameless then tells the King the actual version in which he kills Sky using a special technique and then convinces Snow to injure Sword, preventing him from interfering, and then staging a fight with Snow. The audience then realizes that Nameless is going to kill the King. However, while the King reads Sword’s scroll and realizes that the ultimate warrior is a warrior with no desire to kill, Nameless realizes that he is not this so he leaves and then is killed by the state so that China can be unified. Therefore words, not actions, are what unify China and stop the assassination on the King of Quin.

Hauerwas' Ideas

Stanley Hauerwas wrote September 11, 2001: A Pacifist Response. This article explains Hauerwas’ belief that you cannot be a Christian without being a pacifist because the two are entwined. It also talks about how a pacifist would respond to terror such as that of September 11, 2001. I believe that Christians should be pacifists but also that they should not be passive. The Bible admires Jacob because he is aggressive and fights for his faith unlike Isaac who just goes along with everything so as to avoid conflict. This shows that just because we are Christians, does not mean we should just sit around and pray while people are being killed. Instead, we should stand up against murder. That is why I support the troops that go out to war. Even if I do not support the actual war, I support the brave people willing to go out and risk their lives for what they believe in. I believe that they are doing a noble thing by acting on their beliefs and not just hoping that injustice and murder will disappear. God will not just make the bad stuff go away. We should pray and ask for help but we should also put our prayers into action and do something about it.

Visual Rhetoric

The ad is an example of visual rhetoric. This is because it utilizes sensory images to communicate a verbal message in relation to culture. The message it is trying to get across to the audience is that if you drink milk, you will be strong and have a nice body like Wolverine does because he drinks milk. In order to get this particular message to the audience, “Got Milk?” uses Hugh Jackman because he has a body that many people wish they could have. They expose his arms in the picture so that you can see how muscular he is and then attribute this to the milk he is drinking. The style of the ad also appears to make him seem more tough and unapproachable which is also then attributed to the milk. Lastly, they utilize the extremely popular X-Men movie to attract films of the movie. They incorporates parts of the movie such as his powers to regenerate. This is completely fictional and milk has nothing to do with this in the movie, or in real life. However, it helps draw in fans and younger kids that like the fictional powers being associated with milk. 

Double Consciousness

"Double Consciousness" is awareness of one’s self but also an awareness of others. This concept can be applied to super hero studies because of how most superheroes are white. Black superheroes have been greatly excluded from American society because of their civil rights struggles. Therefore there have not been many colored superheroes in comics and movies. Another conflict represented in American comics related to "Double Consciousness" is how the few black superheroes must reflect American culture even though they are technically African-American. This poses a conflict because it is much harder for such an ethnic race to represent such a mainstream society like America. African-American culture is a culture completely separated from traditional American culture because of the struggles the race has been through. The African-American super hero must then represent traditional American society must also remain true to their roots so that they can represent the other side to America. Superhero studies can then be affected because in order for it to be a good comic, it must be well rounded and represent every side of America and yet be a unique individual. African super heroes must be careful to stray away from “Africanizing” America. They should not force their culture on America but rather combine the two cultures harmoniously.

Allegory of the Cave

After reading the Allegory of the Cave by Plato, I believe that it would be better to live on the inside. Even if the conditions were not exciting or particularly favorable for us, the outside world would just be too hard to handle. Physically, the human body would not be accustomed to the different environmental conditions and the excitement resulting from such intense stimuli would be hard to bare for the heart and mind. Emotionally, it would be very difficult to become a part of a world you have absolutely no knowledge of. It would be like placing a child in the world and expecting him to be an adult and know everything going on. Therefore I would prefer to be in the only thing I have ever known and remain in the cave. The cave would not be as horrible to me as it would for other people looking into my life because it would be the only thing I knew about the world. You cannot hate something when you have never experienced something better than it so if I never left the cave, it would just be the natural way of living for me and I would not complain about it.

Privledge

A privilege is not a right and therefore can be revoked. It is more like a benefit or a favor and must be earned. One example of a privilege is a teenager getting to drive a car. It may seem like it is a right to have a car to drive around but in reality the teenager's parents are doing them a favor by allowing them to drive a car.

Introduction

My name is Emily Bhanukitsiri. I was born in Fremont, California and attended high school in Temecula, California. My graduating class only had 91 seniors but it was nice knowing everyone in my grade. I have one pug named Evey and an iguana named Jade. I am Thai, Chinese, and Mexican and only eight people in the world have my last name because my grandpa made it up when he escaped from China to Thailand. My favorite movies are Star Wars III-VI, V for Vendetta, Lord of the Rings trilogy, Indiana Jones, Pride & Prejudice, and Aladdin and my favorite books are Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier and Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. I currently attend Azusa Pacific University and hope to become either a registered nurse or a nurse practitioner and provide medical aid for countries were people have little access to it. I expect to get a lot out of my freshman writing seminar class. Our class is focusing on super heroes and social issues so I hope I can apply some of my favorite movies to current events. I also hope to improve my writing skills and learn proper citation and MLA formatting so I can apply it to future papers in all my classes.