Digital Media Final Project

My group created two facebooks to tell the story of Mary Shelly's Frankenstein. One facebook page was made for Victor Frankenstein while the other was made for his creature.

Victor Frankenstein:

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000767984500

Creature:

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000781184226

Light of They Countenance

I thought the graphic novel, Light of They Countenance was very entertaining yet disturbing as well. Disturbing because it is extremely true, for someone to compare a television to God and for it to make sense. The comparison’s between TV and God, as it is watching over us essentially, though we think we are watching it. It is informative, gives us hope, and comforts us in our times of need, all things God in religion is used for. We as a society have accepted television in our everyday lives, if someone has an hour to kill they watch TV, families watch TV as they eat dinner, instead of conversing. It is sad, but there is nothing we can do about it, it is so customary and part of our culture, there is no going back.

I think that this graphic novel is literature, even though it has pictures and is considered a comic. I think the pictures play a huge role in the points the words are trying to prove, it gives the reader imagery, and unlike from visions in peoples heads when they read, these pictures are clear and tell a story all in themselves. What is literature exactly? What separates a novel from a graphic novel? When I read a novel, it is essentially telling a story, there are characters, conflicts, and resolutions, all told by words. Comics are very similar; the only difference is that there are fewer words, and more pictures. Not necessarily a bad thing however, I feel like it has all the key elements of a novel, which is considered literature, therefore Light of They Countenance is a literary work.

This work is very similar to what we have been going over all quarter in class. The issue, or lack there of, of technology and how it has shaped and formed our society in recent years. This graphic novel is eye opening; it explains our dependence on television and how many people’s lives are grown to be reliant on it. Although it may not be the downfall of our civilization, like the robots of R.U.R. and Frankenstein’s monster, it is still a technology, our creation that is in our lives and changing how we live.

Blade Runner

I thought Blade Runner was a great film and tied in very well to the texts Frankenstein and R.U.R. In Blade Runner, much like R.U.R., robots are created to do jobs that humans would not have wanted to do. So these replicas become slaves of humans, and with their human like qualities, revolt against humans. The main character, Decker, is a blade runner, which means he hunts down and kills replicas that have revolted and killed humans. This ties into my essay topic much like it does with R.U.R. and Frankenstein, if the humans had treated the replicas with more respect instead of treating them like slaves, they wouldn’t have needed to revolt and conform to killing their creators.

There were many other similarities I saw that tie these three works together. For example, the relationship Batty and Pris had reminded me a lot of the relationship between Primus and Helena at the end of R.U.R. Two robots so much in love with each other, they seem very human in their interactions. In R.U.R. the very threat of having one of the lovers killed triggered a reaction that humans didn’t expect, both lovers would rather they die instead of their mate. And in Blade Runner, when Pris dies, you can see the emotions fill up in Batty, and it really makes him seem human.

I think Batty spares Decker at the end of the film because he thought that Decker was a replica, just like him and Pris. Decker put up a really good fight against Batty, a replica whom is known for having strength superior to humans. Also at end of their fight scene, Decker manages to pull himself up and exert a lot of strength despite how damaged and hurt he is from fighting Batty. I think when Batty sees this he realizes that a human being wouldn’t be able to do that, so he talks to Decker about living in fear, being a slave, and how his lifespan would too be only 4 years. I think Batty’s observation could be true in this movie; Decker could have been a replica for all we know. A replica designed to hunt and find other replicas, not a bad idea considering Decker didn’t know he was a replica, much like Rachel. If Decker were a replica, the love scenes between him and Rachel would make a lot more sense as well.

Frankenstein and R.U.R. analysis

I noticed many connections between Frankenstein and R.U.R. I read Frankenstein first, therefore while I was reading R.U.R. I couldn’t help but think that they have the same exact overall message. First of all, they both have scientists that are messing with the laws of nature by creating life unnaturally. By using their technology they manage to create live beings that look like human beings but a little bit altered. In R.U.R. however, these beings are designed to free the humans from work for the rest of their lives, thus leaving them to just do nothing all day. On the other hand Victor Frankenstein created his monster purely out of curiosity and to defy the laws of nature. They both succeeded and the result of their creations were both negative. Both creations grow to resent their creators and vow to destroy their lives. Frankenstein’s creature with the destruction of Victor’s loved ones and family, and the R.U.R. robots with the destruction of the human race as a whole. Both creations were capable of much more than they were meant, and the humans soon realized that their creations were capable of ruling their creators. The creations longed to experience human emotion and be human-like, they both desired to live like the humans do in happiness and acceptance. In order for them to do this, both creations of technology tried to enslave their creators and force them to make more of their kind. With hopes of companionship and to refuel their race, in order to have constant existence, much like human beings. All in all, the technology saw human beings lifestyle and it appealed to them so much that they both tried to urge their creators to make them more human.

Essay #2 Brainstorm

In Mary Shelley novel Frankenstein there are many elements of Technophilia, however once the destructive capabilities of the technology are known, the characters in the novel become extremely Technophobic.

For example, in the beginning of the novel when Frankenstein first became interested in brining life to objects that are already dead, he slaved over the production of his creature. He even sacrificed a lot of his health in the process of creating such a creature, “But my enthusiasm was checked by my anxiety, and I appeared rather like one doomed by slavery to toil in the mines…Every night I was oppressed by a slow fever” (38). His deteriorating health didn’t seem to bother Frankenstein too much, for he was so obsessed with doing the impossible. Frankenstein didn’t stop to think about the effects that his creature would have on the world; he didn’t seem to care at the time. Which is also interesting that he would create a gigantic creature to first test his hypothesis, he was too much in love with the idea of his great technological find.

Frankenstein may have loved technology when he was in the works of his experiment, however upon being successful with performing the impossible, he suddenly hated his creation. Frankenstein saw the “ugly” side to technology and it frightened him so much that he completely neglected the being, leaving his creation to fend for himself in the cruel world. “How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I endeavored to form?”(39) Frankenstein couldn’t stand to look his creature, even though he labored over it for months and it took a great toll on his well-being. Frankenstein feared his creation; it was unnatural, with its body not in proportion and yellow skin.

The monster, having been neglected by his creator tries to find refuge in human beings around him. However he is unsuccessful, for people fear his unnatural qualities. As the monster is neglected more and more he starts to take out his vengeance on the human race, starting with his creator. Frankenstein soon recognizes the capabilities of the technology that he created, superhuman strength fueled by the rage he possessed towards the humans, because of this, the monster is feared by all throughout the novel.

These pieces of evidence are different in nature but are seemingly related to the thesis. Although society goes from loving and being extremely interested in technology, bringing life to a lifeless object, they soon realize that the technology is too unnatural and not fit for the world, therefore people grow to fear the creation.

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

The first paragraph to me seems chronologically correct, it opens the reader up to a situation; a man is on a bridge soon to be hanged for military crimes. There is a lot of description of the bridge and the people taking part in this setting, also the thoughts of this unknown character, as they may be the last thoughts he ever has. He has a final thought about how he can be freed and be brought to his wife and kids, but we are not sure yet if he accomplishes this.

The second paragraph gives the reader background on a southern man who we can only assume is the man on the bridge that will be hanged in the near future. This paragraph is the first thing that happens in time, as there is foresight to the first paragraph. As Farquhar asks whom he seems to think a southern soldier, but is really a federal scout, about a stockade made by the north, built on the Owl Creek Bridge. The soldier warns that tampering with the stockade by any civilian will result in being hanged. Therefore, obviously Farquhar had tampered with the stockade because in paragraph 1, he is being hanged.

Finally in the last paragraph which takes place after the second, then the first. There are a lot of aspects of p.o.v. In this paragraph of the story because Farquhar’s thoughts run like mad throughout it, but it is still third person. Throughout the paragraph Farquhar is experiencing one final effort to escape from the rope’s grasp and swim in the river to his safety. Despite how elaborate and, “realistic” though, it was all planned out in his head as the last sentence tells us Farquhar never made it past that bridge. I thought the transition was pretty interesting in this paragraph, it went from the opening of this scene, to background as to why the person was about to be hanged, and transitions back to the man actually dying, but having the thoughts of an elaborate and heroic escape. All in all the methods used in telling this story made it very entertaining and made more sense other than putting the story in chronological order of the events taking place in their respected times (paragraph 2 first, then 1, then 3).

Suicide's Note

Suicide's Note

The calm,
Cool face of the river
Asked me for a kiss.

Personally, I thought that the machinima-ized video of “suicide note,” was a very interesting way of displaying a serious poem. Also, I feel that the video strays away from the overall meaning of the text by having a video game character act it out. I thought that the halo video game character made this suicide scene funny and entertaining while the poem on the other hand reads chilling and almost scary. I think this is because essentially, it is comparing an alien killing video game character to a human on the verge of ending his or her own life. When I read the poem I picture a man on the top of the a bridge and these words reflect the last words he is thinking in his head, he is describing the last thing he sees. Whereas when I watch the video, it is hard for me to relate and sympathize with this character (could be because I have played halo before). It has all the elements of a sad scene though, the song, “mad world” which has some very depressing lyrics and melody is being played, and the character is staring down at the water as he is thinking the lines of the poem. But for some reason I felt more entertained than saddened. Maybe it is because we often associate video game characters to having fun and playing a game, if the character dies you will just come back to life and continue playing. Therefore, I feel the video strays from the overall tone of the poem, which I feel is very depressing, the thoughts of a person at the lowest point in their life.

In an episode of Seinfeld, George wants to recite a poem to his girlfriend and chooses a Keats poem. I think this enhances the pop culture moment because it proves George is not a very smart guy, which is a constant theme in Seinfeld. I think it proves he isn’t that smart because Keats typically doesn’t write poems that a boyfriend would recite to his girlfriend expressing his love for her.