Annotation 11

Annotation # 11
11/16/08

MLA:
Vogler, Christopher . The Writer's Journey : Mythic structure for writers . 3. Studio City, CA: Michael Wiese Productions, 2007.

Summery:
Stage eleven is the resurrection of the hero. Writers must find ways to demonstrate that their heros have been through a resurrection. The point of the resurrection is for the hero to take everything he/ she has learned in the special world and apply it to creating a new person in the ordinary world. It cleanses the hero of death and the lesson of the ordeal. This allows the hero to gain a new personality. Sometimes the resurrection can be one last ordeal against an enemy. The resurrection marks the climax for the hero. It can be a quiet climax or a rolling climax. The climax should provide a feeling of emotional release known as catharsis. A catharsis is the logical climax of heros character arc. The character arc represents the truing points of emotional growth in each stage. The resurrection is like a sacrifice for the hero. The hero has made sacrifices to come to this point.
Reflection:
The hero has to apply everything they have learned on the journey to finding themselves in this step. It is hard to take newly learned lessons and apply them to life. From the readers point of view this is the most influential part of the story because it teaches a lesson.
Questions:

1. What is the point of the hero arc?
   
2. What becomes of the hero after they undergo the process of resurrection?
   
3. What are the stages of emotional growth? 
   

Terms:

1. Showdowns- a distinct dramatic form with its own rules and conventions. 
   
2. False claimant- someone who questions the heros credentials or claiming he is not a hero. 
   
3. Catharsis- purifying emotional release or emotional breakthrough; a logical climax of a heros arc.
   

Plan for Project 3

Rhetorical Analyses: I have completed this project and can been viewed in my previous blog. As a whole i feel like ADHD is viewed as something that is negative as seen in the 4 visual pieces. I feel like if songs, books, movies, and pictures did not show it in such a negative fashion people would not have such a hard time.

Interview: I will be interviewing someone at the Human Society and how working with the animals helps them. How does an animal help on feel and how can it help people with disabilities compensate for this issue?

Volunteers: I will be working at the humane society to find out how animals help people with disabilities.

4 things

Picture
http://www.helpyourautisticchildblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/adhd-18223.jpg
The picture is of two heads interconnected to show the difficulty that people with ADHD go through to concentrate on one thing. The audience is young people since it is a cartoon. Having ADHD makes one feel like they are two people trying to work as one to achieve a common goal except both people think differently. The ethos is that is it not ok to label people in this way. Just because they have a hard time concentrating it doesn't mean that they are two people. The Pathos is the emotion of confusion. The logos is that one feels like two people when they cannot concentrate. 
Book: Prozac Nation
http://www.antipsychiatry.org/br-pro-n.htm
The book describes how stimulant drugs affect people with ADHD entirely differently than normal people. It talks about how people use stimulant drugs to make their life better when really they don’t need it. It shows how people blame their sorrow on chemical imbalances but they loose sight that the real reason they are depressed is because their life is a mess. The ethos of this is don’t ignore your problems and use drugs to fix it. Everyone is different and drugs will not fix that. The Pathos is the emotion on feels in being exiled for having ADHD. The Logos is that their is no reason to use drugs if you do not have a chemical imbalance. 
Song: Whats My Age Again by: Blink 182
http://www.metrolyrics.com/whats-my-age-again-lyrics-blink-182.html
This song is about a crazy rocker who doesn't understand his ways and why he dose things impulsively. His friends tell him he has ADD but is unaware of what that means. This represents how difficult it is to function in the modern world without learning about the proper tools. The argument is that the set backs ADD causes are not seen as a positive thing in society. This song if for teens and young adults which it is seen that 26% have a mental disorder. The element presented are childish but simply shows how people with ADD act and how others see is as wrong. The emotion shows how frustrating it is to deal with other people who don’t understand what having ADD is like. By showing people who have ADD that it is ok to show their true self it makes people feel less labeled and exiled. This song was very popular in the late 1990’s and after this time period more people came fourth with having it since it was more acceptable. 
Film: Thumbsucker
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0318761/
In this movie Justin who is 17 years old wants to stop sucking his thumb. He knows it makes his family look bad and doesn't want to let them down. At the same time he knows that sucking his thumb makes him who he is. He is scared to loose his identity and his passion for sucking his thumb. After he stops he is diagnosed with ADHD and turns to drug use and sex to over come is lose. This shows that people think that people with ADHD turn to drugs and sex. This may be true but the only reason it may be true in some cases is because people are labeled and exiled making them turn to things that make them feel good.

Annotation 10

Summery:
The Hero’s journey is a model, it does not have to be follow in any particular order and the outcome will be the same. It is used to increase the effectiveness of the story but each step is interchangeable with the next. The story does however need a structure. Beliefs, priorities, characters, themes, style, tone, and mood all help shape a structure for a story. The audience, time, and the place also dictate what kind of story you are telling and the most effective way to use the arquatypes and steps of Voglars heros journey. It is also important to relate the story to a common event or step in human life so that your audience can relate and get meaning from the story. Depending on what kind of story you are telling you can have any element of the journey appear at any time. Voglar gives four examples of the elements of the journey used differently to tell three different stories. The Titanic, The Lion King, Pulp Fiction, and Monty Python give a taste of how the journey is applied to the four different genres. The Titanic is given as an example and how the universal wish for meaning speaks to the reader. People of any age and cultural background can understand that want to know how life should be lived and at the same time uses many elements of the journey to convey this message effectively. The Lion King is a fictional cartoon that also has all the elements of the journey. Simba is the hero who constantly refuses the call and is distracted by his shadow figure Scar. He is later encouraged by many mentors to go on fight for what is rightfully his. Pulp Fiction is a post modern film with three heros. Voglar describes todays modern world as seen through a shattered mirror. The end can be at the beginning giving it an intellectual feel. This way of interpreting a film shows the ordinary world last and begins with the end of the journey. Monty Python shows how nothingness can be interpreted as questioning the world around them. This classic story has no point or appeal yet it is effective in the way the viewer questions why the heros never accomplish anything and weather that is a classic hero.

Reflection:
The four film types show that all stories follow the same basic principles. They all contain elements of the journey which make them effective to the viewer. Even though they are not in order the viewer picks up on them and uses them to analyze the film. If films had no point people would not watch them so their has to be a point or a reason to questions the basic foundations of the story.

Questions:

1. Why in a movie like Monty is the viewer still interested regardless of the fact that the heros are failures?
   
2. Why are post-modern movies like a shattered mirror and what does this say about our culture?
   
3. How are the basic universal themes established?
   

Terms:

1. Epic Scale- where two stories run parallel and both unfold at the same time.
   
2. Sardonic humor- unorthodox subject matter and uncompromising style that is entertaining.
   
3. Postmodern- unusual structure which disregards the conventional cinemas respect for linear time.
   

Project 2 Visuals

Visual-  look ------->

Song- Whats my age again? - Blink 182

Flim- Real Life : I have ADD

Book- The Gifts of ADD By: Lara Honos-Webb 

Annotation 9

11/2/08

MLA:
Vogler, Christopher . The Writer's Journey : Mythic structure for writers . 3. Studio City, CA: Michael Wiese Productions, 2007.

Summery:
The eleventh stage in Voglars journey is the resurrection. This is also known as the climax of the story. It is the last part of the journey that is the meeting with death. The hero must undergo a purification before they are allowed to enter the ordinary world again. The hardest part of this part of the journey is that they must use what they have learned from the special world and apply it to the ordinary world. This choice is not only threatening to the hero but also to the ordinary world because what the hero learns will be applied to the world around him/her. The twelfth stage in Voglars journey is return with the elixir. This means the hero comes back with a gift from the special world. This gift posses a power that will help the ordinary world in some way. Their are two forms of story telling that are the most popular : circular and closed form. Circular means their is a sense of closer to the story. Closed form means that it returns to the beginning of the story.

Reaction:
The eleventh stage is like any big accomplishment in life. We must learn from our mistakes and apply them to life as a whole. This is the most important part of life because it helps us grow as human beings. Without this growth we would not learn or become mature. The twelfth step shows that after the gift is used to change the life of the hero others in the community make use of it to and learn from knowledge from the special world. This is the way culture is spread through story telling and every time the story is told a piece of knowledge of different culture is spread.

Questions:

1. Why is I important to learn from the battles in life and apply it to the rest of our lives?
   
2. What is the point of the story if the hero learns nothing from the journey?
   
3. What is the significance of the gift the hero brings back to the ordinary world?
   

Terms:

1. Catharsis- purifying emotional release, or an emotional breakthrough. 
   
2. Character arc- gradual stages of change in a character: the phrase and turning point of growth.
   
3. Denouement- a story that weaves each characters individual stories into one story at the end.
   

Annotation 8

Annotation 8
10/26/08

MLA:
Vogler, Christopher . The Writer's Journey : Mythic structure for writers . 3. Studio City, CA: Michael Wiese Productions, 2007.

Summery:
The ninth stage of Voglars journey is the reward. After the heros journey they can soak up all the pleasures that go along with the glory. This can take place in many ways it can be romantic, in the form of possessions, or a celebration either way the hero is basking in there glory. A hero can be aggressive about receiving there prize. The tenth stage in Voglars journey is the road back. This is when the hero returns to the starting point of the journey or they can continue on to a final destination. In this stage the hero ties up any loose ends with enemies in hopes of finding himself. A twist in this part of the journey is that the hero can be set back. There luck may run out and they will fall on bad times when everything seems to go wrong.

Reaction:
How much a hero reacts to the reward shows the degree of humbleness they possess. Someone who takes all the prizes and throws big parties is full of themselves and is not a good leader or a hero. The tenth stage represents the feeling of achievement and accomplishment in the heros journey.

Questions:

1. What does how the hero receives his reward tell the reader about their personality or how good of a hero they are?
   
2. How in the tenth stage does there hero reflect upon their actions of the journey?
   
3. What stories start where they end? How does this effect the reader/ viewer? 
   

Terms:

1. Seizing the Sword- active movement of the hero who aggressively takes possession of whatever was being sought in the Special World. 
   
2. Elixir- means a medium or vehicle for medicine. 
   
3. Magic flight- whimsical transformations of objects found in fairy tales.