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.