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May 6, 2019 at 3:25 pm #1416Raina Schoen ThomasParticipant
I’m not sure if this was ever fully established in class, but if the fertility issue is in the female population alone, having a woman as the hero would have added some extra layers to character. If it was a woman assisting Kee, the heroine’s own issues with motherhood and infertility may have played a bigger role. Both male impotency and female barrenness are very difficult, often emotional, issues. However, film and literature tend to highlight the emotional aspects of this problem in women more often than men. While there are some taught behavioral bases that can be detected between men and women, the film industry plays a role in how exaggerated these differences are. Films reflect the world, but the world goes on to mimic said reflection in a very interesting interplay.
I wonder how the issue is addressed in the novel when it is the men who cannot conceive children.
This is the first potential difference that comes to mind. There are definitely more worth discussing, but seeing how it is 4:25, I’m going to submit this and head to class.
April 22, 2019 at 11:40 am #1386Raina Schoen ThomasParticipantLovecraft may have been tapping into an issue that is becoming more and more relevant as time progresses. During the time he was writing there had been a good number of scientific breakthroughs concerning biology, technology, and the cosmos. Just to give a sense of the time, in the 1910s, several cellular discoveries were made and blood banks were invented. In the 1920s, other biological leaps were made and the theory that the universe was expanding was really beginning to develop. These discoveries, while significant, really may have drove home to some people how much is still unknown (both on the microscopic and intergalactic levels). As Lovecraft has mentioned “the strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown” and this notion was certainly one he used in his creative endeavors. I do find it interesting that the alleviation of this fear, making the unknown, known, is perhaps much worse than the fear itself. I agree with you that it’s a very applicable point of discussion and caution. Since Lovecraft’s time, humanity has acquired much more information about the world and universe, some of which poses very real threats to our wellbeing. For instance, many may wish that the knowledge of atomic and chemical weapons was never known and the resulting biological horrors (ex: Agent Orange, radiation poisoning) look to be out of the most grotesque, dystopic fiction. Yet it is reality.
Humanity has gotten to a point where it’s quest for acquiring knowledge poses major existential risks that could mean the end of its existence and perhaps more. Studies of pathogens and genetic manipulation help us develop treatment for disease, but it can also result in destruction. Thanks to the CRISPR-Cas9 technology we now have the full capability to completely edit genomes into whatever we want. This is excellent for gene therapy for diseases like cancer and dementia, however someone could just as easily us this technology to create the world’s deadliest pathogen and the human race would experience a real-life game of Pandemic. Any of the pathogens existing in BSL-4 laboratory settings can and have contaminated the outside world. The re-release of and genetically altered smallpox could result in catastrophe. The development of artificial intelligence is also a field of study that should take caution in its advancements. A super-intelligent AI, capable of a level of machine learning that we haven’t yet encountered, could provide many benefits but could also very easily surpass us in our intelligence and slip out of our control. Physics experiments can potentially result in destruction on an astronomical scale. We’ve gotten to a point where we really don’t know what will happen when we poke around with particles and could potentially set off a very disruptive event. The Large Hadron Collider located underneath the France-Switzerland border is capable of producing micro-black-holes, which could be harmless, but could also disrupt the energy fields of the universe. Like a child playing with a firearm, we really don’t understand the full weight of what we’re meddling with. The question still stands whether our value for information and potential benefits reaped from it outweighs the potential threats. It really feels like we’re nearing a threshold where we will no longer have the choice.
I highly recommend the End of the World Podcast with Josh Clark if anyone is interested in this stuff or has a long commute/housework to do.
March 11, 2019 at 1:36 pm #1350Raina Schoen ThomasParticipantI really appreciate the subtlety of the religious symbolism. Apart from the post-egg-eating scene when Luke is casually spread out in the shape of the cross, I found that I had to dig a little deeper to discover the underlying symbolism of the film. It was smart of the filmmakers to insert the symbol of the cross as a sort of Easter egg for viewers to dig deeper, if they care to. To add to our list of religious symbolism, I would also say the scene when Luke is given all of that rice and the other inmates take from his plate parallels Jesus and his apostles during the last supper and communion. This film was quite enjoyable on all layers. It told a wonderful personal narrative with engaging and well-developed characters, but also had many hidden symbolic/allegorical elements.
Shout out to George Kennedy, who played Dragline, I thought his performance was amazing and his character made my heart feel warm.
March 4, 2019 at 11:07 am #1328Raina Schoen ThomasParticipantYes, I agree. If it even exists, I would not not say that the female gaze is simply a parody of the male gaze. There are several movies that depict a form of role reversal, like in Magic Mike, that characterize male characters as sexual objects. However, again, this is simply taking a sexist trope in film and flipping it around to give the other sex a taste of its own medicine, and regardless still isn’t a nice way to represent people. Since the male gaze has dominated the film industry for so long, it is undoubtably an unconscious influence on both male and female filmmakers. Any new perspectives these days are very much welcome. and with any hope films that fall into the category “realism” will end up more closely resembling reality.
February 25, 2019 at 4:14 pm #1315Raina Schoen ThomasParticipant<p class=”p1″>I’m a bit conflicted about the father’s choice to add fantastical elements to the stories of his past. In one sense, he is still teaching his son important lessons about life and character. Despite the exaggerations, in essence, the stories still serve their mechanical purpose: to pass on the valuable insights gained from experience to his son. Whether these teachings are represented through realism or fairytale they should theoretically do the job. His son, however, developed a different mind, and the lack of plausibility of his fathers stories caused him to reject them and their lessons in full for a good portion of his adult life. Perhaps the father could have taken his son’s feelings into account and met him half way, rather than continuing to tell his tales in the same way he always did in a somewhat stubborn manner. Maybe then the ultimate reconciliation between father and son could have happened a lot sooner.</p>
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