Life is but a Neflix queue...

Macbeth's Netflix Queue

1. Star Wars Episodes III-VI                    
 

Overview: Star Wars mainly revolves around the character Anakin Skywalker as he becomes a master  Jedi and learns from his master Obi-Wan. They are constantly going on missions to save the galaxy. However, Anakin get's frustrated that he cannot do certain missions that masters can and believes the Jedi do not understand his full potential and are holding him back. But the Chancellor, AKA Darth Sidious treats Anakin as if he is special. In episode 3, Anakin starts having dreams that show his wife, Padmé dying during child birth. Anakin wants to keep this from happening and so the chancellor says that if Anakin allows him to teach him the ways of the "dark side" then he will be able to save her. As Anakin grows closer to him he becomes more evil, wiping out almost all of the Jedi just to potentially save his wife (so he believes). However, in the end Anakin is the one that ultimately kills Padmé strangling her because of his anger. In the next 3 films the strong, loyal Anakin is evil Darth Vadar.

Justification: These films and especially episode III would be a great movie for Macbeth to see because it really shows what happens when you have uncontrolled ambition. Also the dreams that Anakin was having is just like the prophecies that Macbeth was told by the witches because no matter what, Padmé was going to die, but Anakin didn't know that he would be the cause. Anakin believed that since he saw these visions, he had to do whatever he could to stop it from happening just like Macbeth thought he had to kill in order to become king like the witches said. Little did Anakin know that this ambition and evil was what caused Padmé to actually die and Macbeth did not know that becoming a murderer would cause his downfall in the end and not glory as king. Macbeth would want to see this so that he could have someone to relate by being in a similar situation as him.

2. Arrow











Overview: Arrow is about a billionaire playboy named Oliver Queen who, after 5 years of being stranded on an island, returns to Starling City to fight crime and corruption under a hood and mask, as a vigilante named the Green Arrow. In the earlier seasons, Oliver does not tell anyone about his secret job and ends up lying to the people closest to him. People get hurt and even die because of this, but Oliver made a choice to not tell anyone (until later episodes).

Justification: This TV show would be interesting to Macbeth because of Oliver's choice to hide behind the Arrow mask and fight crimes but lie to everyone in order to keep his name clean. Macbeth would believe that he could relate to Oliver because even though Oliver is not evil Macbeth hides the murderous part of him in order to keep himself clean and stay king and Oliver hides his vigilante side in order to stay as the innocent son of a billionaire mother and a protective big brother to his sister. However, as Oliver kills more and more bad people and gets deeper into fights with evil leaders, he starts to break down and eventually people close to him start to find out that he is he Arrow because it is to hard for him to hide it. This is just like Macbeth because as Macbeth kills more people he starts to deteriorate as a person and doesn't know who he is anymore. He becomes week and this is what leads to his death.

3. The Dark Knight














Overview: Batman has been able to keep Gotham city from being decimated by criminals with the help of Lieutenant Jim Gordon and Harvey Dent. However, when a new criminal named the Joker arrives, he turns the city into total chaos. There are a few characters that this film follows, the main one is batman, but another one is Harvey Dent. Harvey Dent, who goes from being a strong, respected man in the begging of the film to an evil, broken man.

Justification: Macbeth would watch this movie mainly because he relates to Harvey Dent but also because Bruce Wayne hides behind the Dark Knight mask. Harvey Dent is the Mayer of Gotham City and in the film he is loved by everyone in the city and is influences people to have hope and be strong in hard/scary times. As the film goes on Harvey goes down an evil path, particularly because of one major event that occurs. In the film Bruce Wayne and Harvey Dent both love a woman named Rachel Dawes and would do anything to protect her. But spoiler alert Rachel is killed by the Joker and is not saved in time by Batman or Harvey. This destroys Harvey and when he is in the hospital because of getting burned on one side of his face, the Joker visits him and manipulates him into thinking that everyone even Harvey was responsible for Rachel's death, except for the one who actually killed her. After this realization Harvey goes down a path of evil because of this planted idea in his head. He is determined to punish everyone who was involved when Rachel died. The reason Macbeth should watch this is because he needs to see how Harvey drastically feel apart as a person just because of an idea that was planted in his head. This happened with Macbeth because he thought that he needed to kill to become king.

4. Pretty Little Liars


Overview: This extremely popular show follows high school beasties, Aria, Hanna, Spencer, and Emily after their friend Alison goes missing and they begin to receive mysterious messages from someone who signs as -A. Throughout the episode the girls try to figure out who this A person is and where Alison is/who killed her/possibly killed her. They are sent to many dangerous places, commit crimes without meaning to, are forced to do things they don't want to, and most of all, lie about everything.

Justification: Macbeth would probably love this show because it contains so many topics that he is familiar with, such as hiding behind masks, appearance vs. reality, a supernatural/creepy feel to it, and lying. Macbeth would enjoy watching the girls have to make choices to lie to their loved ones in order to keep what they are up to a secret. He would especially like season 2 when spoiler alert Mona reveals she was the first A (because she is not the ultimate A, we will find that out at the end of season 7!). Mona was a great friend of Hanna throughout the season, pretending to care for her and causing Hanna to place trust in Mona. However, she finally has to reveal she is A when Spencer figures her out. Macbeth would be very interested in learning how Mona was able to hind being A for so long and so well so that he could use that knowledge to hide his evil side.

Sources
https://www.quora.com/Why-did-harvey-dent-become-bad-in-the-the-dark-knight-movie-in-the-end-what-did-joker-told-him-that-made-him-change
Pictures
http://boomstickcomics.com/2015/04/star-wars-saga-finally-coming-to-digital-hd/
http://moviesbestownload.blogspot.com/2012/03/star-wars-episode-v-empire-strikes-back.html
http://www.wcmlibrary.org/event/adult-feature-films-star-wars-episode-4-‐-a-new-hope-pg/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47JUXQU5fKw
http://www.dccomics.com/tv/arrow-2012-present
https://play.google.com/store/movies/details/The_Dark_Knight?id=qY3UkAHufLY
http://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/pretty-little-liars/304160/

Witch-slapped: Macbeth's Fall from Grace

Why do people who are not "evil" take the first step into evil? What, for instance, is involved in taking the first step "down the primrose path to the everlasting bonfire" (Macbeth, 2.3)? What are the consequences of the individual choosing evil (particularly the internal consequences)? Use examples from the text to support your opinion.

When thinking about the first part of this question we have to first decide what the definition is of evil. Everyone in the world does bad things in life but evil deeds are on a completely different level. Acting bad is when you put your needs above others first in situations where the community should come first. But evil is when you physically or mentally harm others to benefit yourself or to give yourself power over others. So why do people who have been good all their lives begin to follow the path of evil? To me, this is an extremely hard question to answer that we will never truly know the answer to. But there are many logical reasons that I have come up with.

The first is that people may decide to become evil when they are power or wealth hungry. This is exactly what happened to Macbeth. People have a weakness when it comes to power, doing anything to become in control or obtain more power. In Macbeth the prophecy told by the witch was that Macbeth would become king and that Banquo's children would be king after him. Macbeth contemplates killing Duncan for a long time until he finally lets evil take over. He does not know how else he would become king if Duncan is king. The born goodness in Macbeth, however, was what made it hard for Macbeth to make a decision but in at the end of a soliloquy in act 1 scene 7 he says "To prick the sides of my intent, Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself And falls on th' other" (Macbeth, 1.7). This is pretty much saying that ambition is what is causing him to go through with the plan to kill Duncan. Fear of loosing this power will also prompt people to stay evil and that is why once Macbeth started down the evil path he couldn't stop and had to attempt to kill Fleance and Banquo because he wanted to stay king. He feared Banquo and his family becoming king after him so he felt he had to do something about it even if it meant continuing to be evil. Macbeth says, "To be thus is nothing, But to be safely thus. Our fears in Banquo Stick deep...And put a barren scepter in my grip, Thence to be wrenched with an unlined hand...Put rancors in the vessel of my peace..." (Macbeth, 3.1)

However in Macbeth's case power was not the only element in causing Macbeth to turn evil, lady Macbeth was the ultimate turning point for Macbeth because she called him a coward and said that he was not worthy of being a man if he did not kill Duncan. Macbeth did not want to seem weak or not worthy of being a man so he gave in and listened to his wife.

When a person becomes evil there are consequences to this, whether it be internal or external. In Macbeth's case, the consequences were more internal because after killing Banquo, he claims he sees his ghost and is very scared. He almost wishes that he did not kill him because of this. Macbeth also continues to go back and forth about whether what he was doing was the best course of action until he realizes that after he killed Banquo there was no turning back and that is when we see a different side of Macbeth, weakness. Macbeth states, "I am in blood Stepped in so far that, should I wade no more, Returning were as tedious as go o'er" (Macbeth, 3.4).

The second reason that is worth mentioning is that a person who decides to step down an evil path may have realized that life isn't fair and that he/she needs to create a world in which everyone experiences what they have gone through. So these people may inflict physical or emotional pain on others because they believe it is the only way for them to feel better about their troubles. I believe that it is human nature to not want to suffer alone and that is one reason why people turn evil. It's not necessarily their fault for the terrible things that happened to them in life but it was their choice to take the easier way out and become evil and inflict pain on others rather then staying strong and not letting their past traumas consume them. This example was not the reason that Macbeth became evil but I thought this was important.

Works Cited
https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-difference-between-the-good-the-bad-and-the-evil#

#IBMakingArt and McBeth

Here is the art I picked: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/63.12/

1. Artist:  Abbey of Bury Saint Edmunds, Title: The Cloister's Cross, Date: ca. 1150–60, medium: Walrus ivory, size : 22 5/8 x 14 1/4in

2. Geographic Location: Eastern England in the middle of the twelfth century. This type of design could be found on the front of a cathedral building during this time.  

3. Subject/Iconography: According to the site, this cross contains anti-jewish inscriptions, hinting that the people of this time period were against the jewish religion and showed their dislike through art such as this. This art really portrayed their praise of Christianity because the cross is the main holy symbol. The cross depicts, from what I can see, people praying to G-d or Jesus and this really shows the importance of religion to the Europeans at this time. 

4. Style/Technique: The art was formed using 5 pieces of walrus tusk that were fit together. TO portray the importance of this piece of art, the author included a great deal of pictures and engravings on this. He wanted to make the art special and perhaps different from other works. He also made this art in a way so that it would voice an opinion that he had about which religion he believed was the superior. It's hard to see exactly what is depicted on the cross but something else I noticed was how crowed the cross was with designs and engravings of pictures. The author filled up every last inch of space on this piece to make it be the most effective as possible. The more pictures, the easier it would have been for citizens to understand the art and appreciate it. The cross is not dyed a different color than the bones were, showing that the creator likes to keep things natural and pure probably because they believe it makes it more holy.

5. Significance/functions/purpose: I kind of talked about this earlier in the post about how this piece functions to shun the Jewish religion and make the Christians seem superior to all. At this time Christianity was getting really big and people started to believe that other religions were not correct to practice, such as Judaism, causing works of art such as this to be made to try and persuade people to change. The hope seems to be to show Christianity is the most holy religion and should be practiced by all. Today this piece would still be considered holy and important to religion because the cross is the main sign of Christianity and it is still treated with great respect in every church. Some extreme religious people still do not treat jews with respect like this specific cross is showing, but many churches do respect the Jewish religion now. This means that this art would not fully be used in society today because we have changed our thinking to try and accept all religions and people. So the cross part is valued today but not the engravings necessarily.

Can't bury these tales: Canterbury Tales & Jane Eyre

Can't bury these tales: Canterbury Tales & Jane Eyre

**FREEBIE**

And the greatest of these is love...I mean, pride

TV Advertisement
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2MTLNfCZBQ

Author: Apple
Publishing Date: April 25, 2016
Located on YouTube

This is an iPhone 6s commercial, focusing on advertising the new fingerprint technology of the phone. In the beginning of the ad, the viewer is shown a zoomed up photo of a finger pushing onto glass to show the fingerprint it makes and a voiceover says, "This is a fingerprint, and with touch ID it does way more than unlock your phone." By starting out with saying this, it hooks the audience because they want to find out exactly what else the fingerprint can do on their new, or soon to be new, phone. The ad then takes the audience on a visual trip through an up close view of some of the cool tasks that your fingerprint can complete on the phone. After the audience sees a task completed on the phone, the camera cuts to a shot of the owner of the phone to show their excited expressions, hinting that this could be the audience too if they buy the phone. During the whole commercial, there is a lady's voiceover in the background describing each scene in a very laid back tone and directed right at the audience. I also noticed that the commercial moved very fast from scene to scene to show the audience as many things as possible that the phone could do within the 30sec limit for the commercial.

When looking at this commercial deeper, we can see that it demonstrates the deadly sin of "sloth" and a little bit of "greed". "Sloth" is the sin more easily pulled from this ad because it is literally persuading people to become more lazy. This new technology can "Pay for stuff," "Unlock stuff for you," "Signs documents for you," and it even "Starts your car."All of these chores are usually done by people on their own and not with the aid of a phone. Most of these tasks really are not that hard or take that much effort but humans are getting lazier and lazier as we progress into the future of technology. This ad is just depicting humans as beings who want a phone to do their every day simple tasks because they are just that lazy. Apple is showing this as a positive, new trend because they want to sell their product. They make the commercial colorful, simple, and easy to understand so that they can reach a broad range of audiences. The syntax was very short and to the point to make the phone seem simple to use as well. Their techniques have obviously worked because everywhere you look their is an iPhone in someone's hand. I also noticed that the actors in the commercial are from many different races and both genders. This was done to make the phone seem more of a universal tool because all races and genders can and should use it. There is also a hint of "greed" in this as well because the commercial is presenting a new technology that we as humans really do not need to live happy lives. We only want it to make our lives easier and less work but we still feel as though it is something we should have in our lives. Also there are millions of people in the world who do not even have enough money to have 3 meals a day and Americans and other wealthy people are worried about their phone having the latest technology gadgets. This is being greedy.

As I talked about above,  in terms of actors, the commercial is multiracial and contains both genders. I think this reflects who the intended audience is as well because the actors act as everyday people just like the audience is. So the audience is anyone who has enough money to own a television, but to be more specific, it is probably greatly aimed at middle aged adults to seniors who have to worry about many of the tasks depicted in the ad. Younger audiences would think that the new phone is cool but would not have much use for the fingerprint gadget. Adults and especially seniors would benefit from this the most because it is one tool to make their lives a little bit easier.

What Does My Name Really Mean?

My name, “Heather” comes from the English word heather, used as the name for the variety of small shrubs with pink or white flowers which commonly grow in rocky areas. It was originally derived from the Middle English era word, hather. The name did not become popular until the later 20th century, peaking in the 1970s where 6,072 babies per million were named Heather. However, the name significantly dropped in usage in the 21st century, as seen in the graph below. This is one reason why I feel my name is extra special to my identity and uniqueness. Today, I do not know anyone my age or near my age who’s name is Heather. I only know 2-3 adults. Since there are no Heather’s in my classes or really in the places/things I do in my life, I feel like my name does to some extent define me and makes me feel a little more special then if a lot of people had my name. For example the name Emma is really popular in my generation today. But to be honest, I do not think it is your name that defines you as a person. It is the actions you take and the beliefs you express that truly define you as the unique person you are. The names you use to describe yourself such as athletic, smart, shy, outgoing, funny, lazy, etc. collectively define you as a person but not one single word such as your name. Your name can be one of the words that comes together with others though. Like if someone is called gay, bisexual, dyslexic, etc., this may be a part of their identity but it is not the only thing defining them as a person. I am not saying I do not like my name because I actually really LOVE my name and I would not want to change it. I was named after my great grandpa Harry for my first name and great grandma Fay for my middle name Fay because in the Jewish tradition children are usually named by picking a name that has the first letter of a family member’s name who has passed away. So because I was named after someone important in the family it does give my name more meaning and I feel more connected and special to the family.

After reading the article by Anna Quindlen, I immediately thought about soccer when I was trying to think of an example of when I have been "two," an individual and a part of a whole group or team in this case. Soccer is a great example of me having to be two people at once because I am constantly working to build my individual skills to be a better player, but at the same time I have to do what is best for the team when making decisions on the field. Also there may be times during a game where I am tired or I really do not feel like playing that day but I have to pretend like I do and push through it for the well being of the team. My coach and pretty much any coach will always tell their players that they need to play for the team and not the individual, but in some occasions, the individual's needs and wants overpower their thoughts of doing things for the team. For example some people may want to score a goal really badly, so they will not pass to anyone every time they get the ball and will loose it too much, hurting the team as a whole. But the biggest concern is when people just do not try their hardest and put in 100%. This really annoys me and I think every soccer player and any other sports team players in general have experienced there inner selves taking over their ability to help the team. My goal every time I step on the soccer field is to put forth my best effort and make the best decisions I can that will benefit our team. But there are times where I struggle with this because I get tired and just let myself loose focus and that is when I make mistakes that can hurt the team's ability to succeed. The effort of every player is equally important to the team even if there are different skill leveled players. The team can only reach its goals if everyone thinks a little less about what the individual wants and a little more about what the team needs.

Works Cited

http://www.babynamewizard.com/baby-name/girl/heather

(Picture)

http://www.behindthename.com/name/heather

Blog Post 1: "Others" in the real world and The Handmaid's Tale

The Handmaid's Tale

Wing Young Huie's photos all had a purpose to them than was just on the surface. The one I chose was very interesting and I thought was relevant and prominent to beliefs today. The piece was taken during a three year project that Huie completed which involved photographing diverse neighborhoods in St. Paul. It was called the University Avenue Project and lasted from 2007-2010. Here is the photo.

When first observing this photo we see a black man sitting on the sidewalk in a yellow costume (probably a chicken) holding a sing that says "No Wait Special" and has a big yellow price that takes up almost the whole board, saying "$24.99." It looks like a used car dealership of some sort because in small letters below the price it says, "Most vehicles plus tax" and there is part of a car in the foreground of the photo. In the background we can see part of a white building that does not look very nice or fancy. On the surface this may seem like a random picture, but when you take time to think about the purpose of this photograph, there is a message and a comment on societies beliefs.

When looking deeper into the image I see that it is tackling the issues of low wage jobs and poor communities, specifically black communities. However, I think this photo is portraying an image that the American society deems as typical of a black teenage male; not staying in school and as a result having to work minimum wage jobs in order to support their poor families or themselves. Huie is trying to comment on the whole stereotypical attitude that Americans have towards black people when it comes to their educational abilities.

When looking at this photo we are able to pull out these bigger picture meanings because the photographer does an excellent job at using techniques to make it possible for the audience to analyze it. Specifically, Huie plays off stereotypes and public bias to highlight the concept of "othering" in our society today. Huie does this by using mainly visuals and color. Similarly, Margaret Atwood tackles "othering" in her futuristic society, but she uses descriptive language and imagery to depict this.

In Huie's photo his main goal is to show the "othering" of black people, specifically males by inferring how society believes they are not useful for anything because of their unintelligence, aggressive behaviors, and unwillingness to work hard. While this may be true with some black people, what Huie is trying to say is that there are people of all colors and races that fit into the category describes above and not just black males. Also he wants Americans to understand that it may seem like black teenagers bring this terrible situation onto themselves by dropping out of school, but this may not always be the case. There could be other reasons why and they could be working theses jobs in order to pay for college. But instead of thinking of other reasons, Americans go straight to the conclusion that these people are not smart and probably some are criminals who are in a completely different category of citizens from people such as hard working white males. Huie is able to convey this message to the audience through the use of a vibrant colored costume that the man is dressed in to really highlight that he is the main part of this picture. He also photographs the man with a serious almost depressed looking face to depict that this is not what he wanted with his life but maybe he could not get a job anywhere else because of his color skin. He wants to show that this is not how it is supposed to be.

In comparison, Atwood uses imagery in her language to depict the way society considers Handmaid's like Offred. In contrast Atwood also uses a great deal of descriptive language unlike Huie who has a very simple picture with not too much detail or density.  At one point Offred explains, “We are containers, it’s only the insides of our bodies that are important. The outside can become hard and wrinkled, for all they care, like the shell of a nut. They don’t want us to look attractive” (Atwood 96). In this quote Atwood uses these two techniques to show that the Handmaid's are considered "others" because they are supposed to look uglier than normal citizens or higher officials and they only have one purpose, to bear children.

In conclusion both authors are trying to show the audience that "othering" is a major problem in society that causes many social groups to form and inequality to occur. The problem gets worse and worse if nothing is done about it. Huie and Atwood want as many people to become aware of this problem as possible in order to understand that something needs to be done to stop it. They want to show that it happens everywhere and could be even worse in the future like Atwood shows.



Works Cited

The Handmaids Tale Novel

http://www.wingyounghuie.com/p929219206/h66b2c695#h66b2c695