Self Reflection for The Great Escape December 14, 2009

Mallory Blessed

Literature & Composition

12/14/09

Self Reflection For The Great Escape

This essay was my definite first choice when I found out what the final project was.  I have wanted to revise this essay since I wrote it, and received feedback from the students in the class.  When I was writing this essay, it became my favorite to write throughout the entire year.  The ideas came very easily to me and the topic was general enough in that I could take the topic and go in whatever direction I wanted to with it.  I like the ability to have a creative liberty with essays because in all other classes essay have to be exact and perfect.  There can’t be freedom when writing about a topic; everything has to be written in a black and white form.  I love being able to creatively express myself, like a true author would do when writing a novel.  This paper was also the easiest for me to write because I was able to be as creative as I would like when describing my favorite and best reading experience.  I feel like if I can give a great explanation of my reading experience then I too have become an author that takes a reader away to a place of vivid settings and escape.

I think I have definitely been working on my ability to clarify my ideas and points in my papers.  This is a large problem that I have been having with all of my writing.  I think I have become better at this, but I still have to keep working on this when editing and revising my papers.  I believe I have gotten better at writing my introduction and conclusion paragraphs, but my skills still need to keep improving for me to become better at writing these parts of the essays.  Especially because these two parts of a paper are very important for tying my ideas and thesis into the points made throughout my paper.  I feel that I have accomplished many things this semester, including my introduction and conclusion paragraphs and clarifying my thoughts.  My writing has gradually, yet steadily gotten better, but I am still not the best writer.  I still feel accomplished in that my work has improved since the beginning of the semester and will keep getting better throughout my college career.

The Great Escape December 14, 2009

Final Project

Mallory Blessed

Literature & Composition

12/14/09

The Great Escape

“Reading is something you do because it has been assigned in school, or because all other options have been exhausted—no more chores to do, all other games and activities put away.” (38)  At least that is what Sven Birkerts says in The Gutenberg Elegies, and I completely agree with this statement.  I have gone through this transition with the reading of books.  I, at one point in my life, used to read very frequently for school and for pleasure, but nowadays I do not read at all.  I find that reading is something I can only do when I have the perfect environment, and the perfect book, which I do not find very often.  But this summer, I read one book, The Song Yet Sung, only because it was assigned for school.  But this book soon turned into my favorite and best reading experience of escape and perfection.  Birkerts explains that his mother “read for pleasure, for company, and for escape,” (38) and I too found that The Song Yet Sung by James McBride took me to another world, a place to escape.  But this feeling of escape does not happen for me all the time.  The Song Yet Sung allowed me to escape and it became my best reading experience, but I have found that the influences of technology have changed me into a person that prefers passive and effortless entertainment, which has caused me to become an absent reader.

My best reading experience takes place throughout the first week of August, at the empty beaches of the Outer Banks, North Carolina.  The beaches of OBX: the perfect place to start reading a book: that is if I have to.  When I wake up Monday morning, I know that today will be my first day at the beach with my family and best friend, so I do not expect to spend my day reading a book.  I want a whole day to soak up the sun’s rays, and ride the waves into the shore of the beach on my boogie board.  As my friend and I approach the beach, with boogie boards, Frisbees, towels, and chairs in tow, we notice that the sun is not so bright today.  Rather it is dim and covered with gray cotton ball-like clouds.  We drop our things and immediately walk down the beach to where the dark wet sand awaits our toes. The water quickly submerges our toes and embraces them in icy cold water.  I look down at my feet thinking icicles will be hanging off of my toes, but instead the color of my feet have turned blue and the blood has rushed away.  So in replacement of swimming in the water, I now have to wait for the sun to outrun the dark gray clouds.  While I’m waiting, I suppose the only thing to do is read the book I did not want to crack open on my first beach day.  At least the environment I am in is perfect for my reading adventures.  It is just like the Zac Brown Band’s song “Toes” when he describes his perfect environment: “I got my toes in the water, feet in the sand / Not a worry in the world.”  So, the The Song Yet Sung is started on a cloudy, yet muggy day on the golden sandy beaches with the calming waves crashing at my feet.  After reading only the first page of the book I am already skeptical of the plot.  How do I always end up reading a book over the summer for school?  I always thought with college, there wouldn’t be readings over the summer.  Yet here I am, on my vacation, reading a book that I am not invested in at all.  The book begins slowly, but as the pages in my left hand increase, and the pages in my right hand decrease, the plot starts to become interesting.  It shows its true colors of problems, loyalty, and love between characters.  Now the book has engulfed me; the plot and I begin to combine into one person, while I forget turning the remaining pages of the novel.  All I can see is the visualization of the characters, the muddy swamps, and my emotions as the characters go about their dilemmas and action moments of almost being caught by Patty Cannon and her accomplices.  I am taken away to a new place, a place to escape from the real world and release myself into someone else’s world of mystery and suspense.  This type of reading experience doesn’t occur all the time, but when it does it makes reading the most magical and wonderful thing.  But of course all good things have to end, and when a reading experience like this ends, I feel saddened because I know that this doesn’t occur all the time.

Like Birkerts’ mother “She read for pleasure, for company, and escape.” (38)  I agree that when I read, I love it when I can escape from the world around me and pretend to be in someone else’s shoes for the time being.  The Song Yet Sung is one of the few books that I have read in my life that I truly became emotionally invested in.  I visualized the characters in the books, and empathized with their problems and tried to guess what their next step or problem-solving technique will be.  I read the novel to learn their story, to learn about their problems, and find out what will happen to their love for one another.  I read for their despair, for their feelings of love, and compassion.  I felt what they felt and became one with the plot and characters.   I felt like I was along for the ride with the Dreamer and her decisions of stupidity or compassion.  I was there with them, but I could not be seen or heard.  But as I describe my best reading experience, I too need to describe exactly why I choose not to read on a usual basis.  As one is reading this paper it seems like you would question why I am not an avid reader anymore.  This would be because when I begin reading a book for personal enjoyment or for school, I usually end up reading a book I really do not enjoy or like.  This constant threat to my reading causes me to not want to read for pleasure.  Rather it brings me to another reason why reading has become a lost art for me.  Just like Birkerts states: “Reading is something you do because it has been assigned in school, or because all other options have been exhausted—no more chores to do, all other games and activities put away.” (38)  The idea of me reading one hundred pages to soon find out that I do not enjoy a book makes me feel like my time has been wasted.  So technology and the ability to easily do something passive and with less effort has become a sad realization for me.  I now only read when I am assigned a novel in school because I would like to do well in my classes. Reading has become something I do not enjoy anymore because I feel like it is not something passive rather it is something that takes more work and energy than watching television or “surfing the internet.”  Reading takes thinking, imagining, and allowing the book to evolve on its own, and hope that the plot becomes really appealing and enthralling.  This is a definite problem with my wanting to read, because I hate reading dreadful books.  Especially when television or the Internet allows me to watch something, and then easily change it if I become bored or uninterested.  Technology gives me a summary of topics for television, and an ability to shy away from a certain program if my interest doesn’t lie within.  Technology has allowed for me to become lazy or passive to what I’m doing.  Which is a negative concept because I prefer to not use my own brainpower anymore.

When I was reading The Song Yet Sung, it was assigned by Washington College for a first homework assignment.  This homework assignment was the only thing standing in between me and a great summer, or so I thought.  But I soon found out that not every book is terrible, and that some books allow an infrequent reader to enjoy something so pure and fundamental for the brain’s enjoyment.  This will allow me as a person to grow and become well rounded instead of only enjoying technology and the positive aspects they bring to my life.  The Song Yet Sung is one of my favorite reading memories because of the plotline and ability to allow me to escape and be taken to another world.  I have become an infrequent reader unless it is for a school assignment.  This is a sad realization for me, as I have grown up an avid reader, but have now turned into an absent reader that prefers the luxuries of technology.

Patchwork Girl and its “Gaps, Leaps” December 4, 2009

Mallory Blessed

12/4/09

Literature & Composition

Patchwork Girl and its “Gaps, Leaps”

“You won’t get where you think you’re going.” (“Stitch Bitch”).   This is only the first sentence of the paragraph “Gaps, Leaps” in Shelley Jackson’s article entitled “Stitch Bitch.”  This article paragraph covers the feelings of how readers may react to a novel in hypertext form.  I personally agree with Shelley Jackson’s interpretation of a hypertext novel in the paragraph “Gaps,Leaps” because gaps are problematic within this form.  And following such a difficult path and network for Patchwork Girl became problematic for me as a reader.  To read a novel as a hypertext it “leaves you naked with yourself in every leap, it shows you the gamble thought is, and it invites criticism, refusal even.” (“Stitch Bitch”).  I agree that my personal reading experience for my first hypertext, Patchwork Girl, easily became something I did not enjoy because of the gaps and leaps that Shelley Jackson speaks of in his article “Stitch Bitch.”

“A conventional novel is a safe ride.” (“Stitch Bitch”).  I completely agree with Shelley Jackson in that when I am reading a regular novel I am taken away to a place of freedom and escape into the world of the plotline and story.  With a hypertext your mind is always searching and trying to find and understand the next link and part of the story.   “Books are designed to keep you reading the next thing until the end, but hypertext invites choice. The choice to go do something else might be the best outcome of a text. Who wants a numb reader/reader-by-numbers anyway? Go write your own text. Go paint a mural. You must change your life.” (“Stitch Bitch”).  Hypertexts are a new and different way of reading a novel and because this is such a different idea many adult readers, including me cannot enjoy a hypertext novel because it is so different.  A hypertext does not allow me to follow along with the story or be able to completely understand the plot.  There are many different routes that a reader can take to read the novel in the form of a hypertext. But the author then loses control of what the reader actually ends up reading and how hard they try to find the story.  It becomes a maze to try and find the plot.  A hyperlink takes readers away from the prior story they were reading before.  Then one story or part of a plot could never be read again, and the reader will just continue on and stop reading an important part of the novel.  This could affect the future of the reader understanding the plotline.  This problem of having a novel in hypertext form causes gaps and leaps in the reader’s ability to understand the plotline.

Gaps and leaps begin to plague the reader’s mind when it’s a hypertext form because the reader is easily confused by new hyperlinks.  These hyperlinks take the reader away from the previous plot or idea that the author was speaking of.  Jackson speaks of the gaps and leaps that are caused by the hypertext:

“In a text like this, gaps are problematic. The mind becomes self-conscious, falters, forgets its way, might choose another way, might opt out of this text into another, might “lose the thread of the argument,” might be unconvinced. Transitional phrases smooth over gaps, even huge logical gaps, suppress contradiction, whisk you past options.”

Hypertexts, like Patchwork Girl, don’t have transitional phrases or ways to allow the reader to understand the words and plotline to a full extent.  In Patchwork Girl, I will be reading “the Journal” and trying to understand the story and plotline, but instead I will click on a link that will take me to another place to discuss a rock being thrown into water.  The way a hypertext works is just confusing and the thought process that has to go into trying to understand a novel becomes completely different from a conventional novel.  Gaps begin to fog the reader’s ability to understand the plot and what the author is trying to say and portray through the characters.  Many readers of hyperlinks, for example Patchwork Girl, and me do not even begin to find all the hyperlinks and links to the plot and story.  I am still unsure as to what the hypertext is even about because of the gaps and leaps that the links cause.

In Jackson’s article, “Stitch Bitch,” Jackson speaks of how he wants his readers to be: “I want piratical readers, plagiarists and opportunists, who take what they want from my ideas and knot it into their own arguments. Or even their own novels. From which, possibly, I’ll steal it back.” (“Stitch Bitch”).  By having a novel in hypertext form it leaves a lot of room for readers to become numb to the story and give up much easier then a conventional novel.  Then the readers may never have their own ideas or thoughts for Jackson to eventually “steal back.”   Hypertexts take more effort from readers because there is not an exact end in sight, and with a numb-reader comes many gaps and leaps in the their knowledge.  This problem is one that the author has to accept when putting their novel into a hypertext form.  Readers may become bored and give up reading the hypertext, and the author may never have all of his or her words read.  This is because of the hidden hyperlinks within a hypertext form which leaves the readers with many gaps and leaps that are never filled in.

Works Cited

Jackson, Shelley. Patchwork Girl. Watertown, MA: Eastgate Systems, 1995. Electronic.

Jackson, Shelley. “Stitch Bitch: the patchwork girl.” MIT Communications Forum. Web.

1 Dec. 2009.

Patchwork Girl and its Gaps, Leaps December 2, 2009

Mallory Blessed

12/1/09

Literature & Composition

Patchwork Girl and its Gaps, Leaps

“You won’t get where you think you’re going.” (Jackson).   This is only the first sentence of the paragraph Gaps, Leaps in Shelley Jackson’s article named Stitch Bitch.  This paragraph covers the feelings of how people can react to a novel in hypertext form.  I personally agree with Shelley Jackson’s interpretation of a hypertext novel in that gaps are problematic and following such a difficult path and network for Patchwork Girl became problematic for me as a reader.  To read a novel as a hypertext it “leaves you naked with yourself in every leap, it shows you the gamble thought is, and it invites criticism, refusal even.” (Jackson).  I agree that my personal reading experience for my first hypertext, Patchwork Girl, easily became something I did not enjoy because of the gaps and leaps that Shelley Jackson speaks of in his article Stitch Bitch.

“A conventional novel is a safe ride.” (Jackson).  I completely agree with Shelley Jackson in that when I am reading a regular novel I am allowed to be taken away to a place of freedom and escape into a world of the plotline and story.  With a hypertext your mind is always searching and trying to find and understand the next link and part of the story.  “Books are designed to keep you reading the next thing until the end, but hypertext invites choice. The choice to go do something else might be the best outcome of a text. Who wants a numb reader/reader-by-numbers anyway? Go write your own text. Go paint a mural. You must change your life.” (Jackson).  Hypertexts are a new and different way of reading a novel and because this is such a different idea many adult readers, including me cannot enjoy a hypertext novel because it is so different.  A hypertext does not allow me to follow along with the story or be able to completely understand the plot as the other would like it.  There are many different routes that a reader can take and try to read the novel for what it is in the form of a hypertext.  But the author then loses control of what the reader actually ends up reading and how hard they try to find the story.  It becomes a maze to try and find the plot or if you are reading a part of the novel and accidentally click on a different hyperlink and be taken to a completely new and different part of the novel.  Then one story or part of a plot could never be read again and the reader will just continue on and stop reading an important part of the novel that could affect the future of the reader understanding the plotline.  This problem of having a novel in hypertext form causes gaps and leaps in the reader’s ability to understand the plotline that the author wants to portray.

Gaps and leaps begin to plague the reader’s mind when it’s a hypertext form, the reader is easily confused by the new hyperlinks that take the reader away from the previous plot or idea that the author was speaking of.  Jackson speaks of the gaps and leaps that are caused by the hypertext:

In a text like this, gaps are problematic. The mind becomes self-conscious, falters, forgets its way, might choose another way, might opt out of this text into another, might “lose the thread of the argument,” might be unconvinced. Transitional phrases smooth over gaps, even huge logical gaps, suppress contradiction, whisk you past options.

Hypertexts, like Patchwork Girl, don’t have transitional phrases or ways to allow the reader to understand the words and plotline to a full extent.  Instead like in Patchwork Girl I will be reading the Journal and trying to understand the way Shelley Jackson writes the story but instead I will click on a link that will take me to another place to discuss a rock being thrown into water.  The way a hypertext works is just confusing and the thought process that has to go into trying to understand a novel becomes completely different from a conventional novel.  Gaps begin to fog the reader’s ability to understand the plot and what the author is trying to say and portray through the characters.  Many readers of hyperlinks, like me and Patchwork Girl, do not even begin to find all the hyperlinks and links to the plot and story.  I am still foggy as to what the hypertext is even about because of the gaps and leaps that the links cause.

In Jackson’s article, Stitch Bitch, Jackson speaks of how he wants his readers to be: “I want piratical readers, plagiarists and opportunists, who take what they want from my ideas and knot it into their own arguments. Or even their own novels. From which, possibly, I’ll steal it back.” (Jackson).  By having a novel in hypertext form it leaves a lot of room for readers to become numb to the story and give up much easier then a conventional novel.  Hypertext takes more effort from readers because there is not an exact site in end and with a numb-reader comes many gaps and leaps in the reader’s knowledge.  This problem is one that the author has to accept when putting their novel into a hypertext form.  Readers may become bored and give up reading the hypertext and the author may never have all of his or her words read because of the hidden hyperlinks and perhaps uninterested readers.  Hypertexts are filled with gaps and leaps because of the form that they are written in.

Patchwork Girl and Its Gaps, Leaps November 30, 2009

Essay Compost #4

Compare Patchwork Girl with the Stitch Bitch article especially the Gaps, Leaps paragraph.

The idea of hypertext and what it is and how it is problematic due to the gaps, leaps that it has due to the hypertext form.

“A conventional novel is a safe ride. It is designed to catch you up, propell you down its track, and pop you out at the other end with possibly a few new catchphrases in your pocket and a pleasant though vague sense of the scenery rushing by. The mechanism of the chute is so effective, in fact, that it undoes the most worthy experiments; sentences that ought to stop you in your tracks are like spider webs across the chute. You rip through, they’re gone.”

Use this quote to compare hypertext of Patchwork Girl with what Shelley Jackson is saying about hypertexts in this article Stitch Bitch.

The Extremists & Me November 13, 2009

I thought that it was very interesting to hear Birkerts’ opinion and ideas about the Hypertext and the revolution of turning books into an electronic source of literature.  He brings up the fact that there are two sides and opinions to the idea of having a book as a new hypertext.  There is one side being the extremists-the ones that say, “the book is no longer the axis of our intellectual culture” (152).  And the others, including Birkerts that do not want the revolution of technology to take over the print of books.  “I am proof of the fact that many of us are still habit-bound, unable to grasp the scope of the transformation that is underway all around us” (152).  Birkerts goes on to say that everyone will eventually be able to adjust to the changes or so the extremists say.  But other people who enjoy reading, who enjoy the printed text, rather then the virtual world of trying to find your novel, characters, and plot line, will not transition to this virtual world very well.

After reading this part of the Chapter 11, “Hypertext,” I definitely agree with Birkerts’ statement of “But those of us who live by the word, who are still embedded in the ancient and formerly stable reader-writer relationship, will have to make our difficult peace,” (152).  Personally, if all books were in a hypertext form I would never read for enjoyment or for school.  I would absolutely hate reading all the time, because as of right now I really dislike reading Patchwork Girl, which is in hypertext form.  So if all novels were in an electronic form and had to be read by clicking and trying to follow a map, that is hard to read, I would just become very frustrated and would give up.  Also, when reading for enjoyment it should be easy and allow you to go to another world where the characters come to life and allow you to be taken to a place of relaxation, suspense, adventure, and whatever the plot of the novel is trying to convey.  I do not read often but when I do read, I enjoy relaxing and easily going through the words of the novel to experience the plot and what emotions the characters are experiencing.  I love a good novel when I can empathize with the characters and pretend as if I am in the shoes of the character or as if I am right beside the characters following them as they make their decisions, whether good or bad.  I personally wonder if Birkerts thought that novels would stop being printed and the only hypertext forms of novels would be left?  I hope that books are not put into the form of hypertext because I know I would never enjoy reading and would never want to read.

Patchwork Girl Confusion November 6, 2009

Patchwork Girl, a novel in an electronic medium, is about a girl who is sewn together.  She then meets a man, who is the narrator in the story.  He tries to see patchwork girl as a person or not what her physical appearance is.  It seems that she has super-human powers and can easily physically handle the narrator in this story.  I am actually very confused about the story so far because I haven’t been able to find most of it.  I have read about the graveyard, which confused me a lot as well.  I believe that part of the graveyard story is alluding to the patchwork girl and how she is in pieces.  And her different organs can be found in a graveyard.  Maybe this part of the story will soon be cleared up as more links and ways to read Patchwork Girl can be found.  But the plotline at this point is very confusing for me because there are many different ways to try and read what the story is.

Beginning to read Patchwork Girl, I really do not understand the way it is written at all.  It is very confusing, and I feel like this way of writing will only cause the reader to become annoyed and upset rather then get a sense of what the novel is actually saying and describing in the story.  I am just very confused about what should be read, or what images should be interpreted, or even where to click to see most of the story.  Also, throughout the story when reading, there are other links to click, which will take you to a different place to read on about something else.  I feel like this is just another way to confuse the reader because I personally will not remember what I was reading at one point.  Then I may never go back and read what that part of the story had to say like when reading “a journal” on the title page.  When clicking on the window to continue the story, the reader can choose two different links either “written” or “sewn” and continue with the story.  This link takes you to a different story line a different plot and different idea.  I find this very deterring when trying to read the story.  I feel like I am going to forget to read something important which will help me continue with the story.  But this idea can definitely be connected with the article by Hayles.  He mentions in the second paragraph that people have become “inattentive to the diverse forms in which ‘texts’ appear.”  This goes along with my idea of frustration when reading The Patchwork Girl because I do not enjoy putting more effort into trying to find the novel and what to read.  If I am going to have to read something then I want it to be easily accessible which is extremely lazy of me.   I wonder, though, how Shelley Jackson thought of the idea of putting his novel into a CD form for the computer? Was he trying to think ahead of a future technological curve? Did he think that maybe books would be an old-fashioned and irrelevant form of leisure and work soon?

Santa Claus vs. Frankenstein October 30, 2009

Mallory Blessed

10/30/09

Literature & Composition 101

Santa Claus vs. Frankenstein

In The Santa Clause 2: The Mrs. Clause, Scott Calvin is in trouble because he is being torn into too many directions.  So to compensate for his need to be home with his family and also try to find a wife before Christmas Day, Santa Claus and his nifty sidekicks, Bernard and Curtis, create a life-size toy version of Santa Claus.  The creation scene of the toy version Santa and the way he becomes enlightened by the rules handbook are two examples that can easily be compared the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.

In The Santa Clause, there is an intense creation scene of Scott Calvin as Santa Claus.  The scene starts with busy elves running about in the room containing the panagraph or duplication machine.  The camera angle is shot from a low angle to make the creation machine look menacing, important, and it takes up most of the first camera shot.  This creates an air of mystery and significance to the machine.  Curtis says that he has made some improvements to the panagraph by tripling the RAM and updating the system.  Santa points out that Curtis has “externalized the power source to make better use of the electromagnetic energy.”  But Curtis quickly points out that he has only done this because it looks “really cool.”  This is actually a way that the director pulled an ironic metaphor to the creation of Frankenstein.  Because the machine has big tubes with different colored fluids and bubbles running up and down it makes the machine seem mad scientist like which reminds me of Frankenstein and the creation sequence of the novel.  At this point, Santa just figures out what Curtis’ idea is, that Santa will get into this machine to duplicate him and lessen his problems in his life.  Curtis tells Santa that he added a fuzzy logic system which would cause the creation to look and think just like Santa.  But this turns out to not be the case, but they do not know this just yet. After some convincing, Santa enters the machine to be duplicated.  He steps onto the conveyer belt, nervous and preparing for the worst.  There is foreboding, anxious, orchestral music playing in the background.  A close up on the moving conveyer belt and Santa’s legs entering the machine.  Then the viewer gets an aerial view of the machine and Santa about to go into the chamber where he will be replicated.  Huge blue lightning bolts are flashing out of the top of the machine while electricity is being given off into the room.  Just like in Frankenstein, the movie version, huge lightning bolts hit Dr. Frankenstein’s machine to make his creation come to life.  Santa yells in pain because of the electricity that is running through his body.  He comes out the other side, with smoke pouring out of the machine.  This Santa coming out of the machine makes Curtis and Bernard think that the monster is perfect in every way!   Then music begins to play; music that is less suspenseful and more of a funny and playful tune because the boys learn that the “creation” is the actual Santa.  Then terrifying screams from the three men, the camera turns around so the viewers sees Santa’s naked bottom and plastic figure.   This is the now creation of Santa or toy version of Santa.   The monster then begins to talk and the real Santa begins to think that this plan of leaving the North Pole to visit with his family and keep the toy Santa to run the North Pole will actually work.

This toy version of Santa Claus is going to look over the North Pole and the elves in the chaos of the Christmas season.  But when the toy-version Santa Claus begins to follow the rules handbook too closely, the North Pole is taken over by the evil Santa Claus.  This then creates a similar theme to Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.  Just like Victor Frankenstein creates the monster, Curtis and Bernard create a monster as well.  Both monsters become enlightened by books and become intelligent from their stories.  The monster in Frankenstein reads Paradise Lost and then begins to understand language and emotions.  This is what sparks the monster’s curiosity for companionship and the feeling of love.  The monster then proceeds to explain to Frankenstein about his encounters with the DeLacey family as he watched the family and understood their routines.  The monster then learns empathy by watching how the DeLacey children struggle with their life and constant struggle to provide for their family.  In The Santa Clause 2: The Mrs. Clause, Santa Claus’ toy version must take over the North Pole to make sure it is properly run and an authority figure is there while Santa is gone to see his family and meet his potential new wife.  But the toy-version of Santa Claus needs to read the Rules Handbook to understand what the procedure of the North Pole is.  Unfortunately, the monster then becomes out of control and takes over the North Pole with stricter rules and threatens to give the whole world coal.  By the monster becoming enlightened by the Rules Handbook, it went out of control just like Frankenstein’s creation was enlightened with Paradise Lost and then experienced emotions and empathy.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, and The Santa Clause 2: The Mrs. Clause, both have similarities that intertwine to create parallels.  One being that the creation scenes between both of their creatures is very similar and includes many aspects of a typical mad scientist.  Also, the way both creatures were enlightened by books creates another parallel between these two stories.  When watching movies, if you look hard enough, you can see parallels between the novel, Frankenstein, and many other movies and even including The Santa Clause 2.

Santa Claus vs. Frankenstein October 28, 2009

Mallory Blessed

10/30/09

Literature & Composition 101

Santa Claus vs. Frankenstein

The Santa Clause 2: The Mrs. Clause, Scott Calvin is in trouble because he is being torn into too many directions.  So to compensate for his needing to be home with his family and also trying to find a wife before Christmas Day, Santa Claus and his nifty sidekicks Bernard and Curtis create a life-size toy version of Santa Claus.  This version is going to look over the North Pole and elves in the chaos of the Christmas season.  But when the toy-version Santa Claus begins to follow the handbook of rules too closely the North Pole is taken over by the evil Santa Claus.  This then creates a similar theme to Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.  Just like Victor Frankenstein creates the monster, Curtis and Bernard create a monster as well.  Both monsters become enlightened by books and become intelligent from their stories.  The monster in Frankenstein reads Paradise Lost and then begins to understand language and emotions.  This is what sparks the monster’s curiosity for companionship and the feeling of love.  The monster then proceeds to explain to Frankenstein about his encounters with the DeLacey family as he watched the family and understood their routines.  The monster then learns empathy by watching how the DeLacey children struggle with their life and constant struggle to provide for their family.  In The Santa Clause 2: The Mrs. Clause, Scott Calvin’s toy version must take over the North Pole to make sure it is properly run and an authority figure is there while Scott Calvin is gone to see his family and meet his potential new wife.  But the toy-version of Santa Claus needs to read the Rules Handbook to understand what the procedure of the North Pole is.  Unfortunately, the monster then becomes out of control and takes over the North Pole with stricter rules and threatens to give the whole world coal.  By the monster becoming enlightened by the Rules Handbook, it went out of control just like Frankenstein’s creation.

In The Santa Clause, there is an intense creation scene of Scott Calvin as Santa Claus.  Santa must go through a huge contraption that duplicates the person’s body to make a creation.  The scene allows the viewers of the movie to see Santa step onto the conveyer belt then one sees the shadowy figure go through the process of being zapped by lightning and the viewers hear the scream of Santa.  Then Santa comes out of the other side of the conveyer belt and Bernard and Curtis are surprised by how much the creation looks like the actual Santa Claus.

Van Helsing and Frankenstein October 26, 2009

Van Helsing and Frankenstein

Topic #1:  Dracula is trying to give life to his babies, or in connection to Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, his creations.  But the only way for Dracula to give life to his babies is if he uses the monster’s body to pass his power and life on to the other creation.  Almost like from one creation to another.  By using the monster for Dracula’s creations the director pulls the idea of Frankenstein creating the monster from the novel.  It also can start alluding to the idea and themes of the novel Frankenstein to the movie Van Helsing.

Topic #2: Dracula uses a lightning conductor on Anna’s brother, Velkan, hoping that his body will give life at least for a little while to his babies or his creations.  The lightning storm and conductor is similar to the way that Frakenstein created his monster.  This similarity is another way that the director can pull different allusions from movies/novels in the same gothic horror theme into his movie Van Helsing. By pulling in small elements of different films or books like Frankenstein the director can show elements like the idea of creation being something that is very tricky and hard to achieve.  Dracula must get the most perfect environment for creating his babies.