Final blog entry.

I believe this has been a great class in my learning process. It has taught me many things such as identifying and interpreting archetypes, symbols, and how to organize my ideas when I write. Since English is my second language, this class has helped me to improve not only my writing but also my way of thinking and interpreting movies, stories, books, and poems.

One of the things i didn't know before coming to this class was the many archetypes there are in our personalities. Some of them can be stronger than others but they all are present in our daily lives. It also helped me to understand the many symbols an author includes in a poem, a book, or a director in a movie. Symbolism is a very powerful language that makes us understand not only with our minds but with our hearts too. Thanks to this class, now, every time I read a book, a poem or watch a movie I always look for the symbols, archetypes, and themes. With these features kept in mind, it's easier for me to understand what the author or the director is trying to tell us. Another thing I learned form this class was how to create a blog entry which is something I had no idea about, how to comment on others' posts, and how to place a video or an image in a blog entry. I also liked the way my professor reinforced and extended my abilities to write and to organized my essays by commenting and telling me what to do or what was wrong with my work on my posts.
The blog entry that I liked the most in this class is 3.1 Macbeth, interpreted by Christa Itzel. She does such a wonderful job describing and interpreting the image of Macbeth and his wife. In this blog, Christa is able to see some expressions and symbols I couldn't identify such as Macbeth having one foot in and one out of the door showing Macbeth debating his actions of killing the king and the way lady Macbeth uses her feminine side to manipulate her husband. By seeing this blog entry, I strongly believe that Christa and many other classmates as well as me, have learned the meaning of poetry and other literary genres from fiction, drama such as Macbeth, and nonfiction,
Finally, I have always been fascinated by the supernatural and spiritual world, mythology and religion, and the greater forces that are beyond our human understanding. The subjects that called my attention in this class were witches, dragons, fairies, vampires, angels, demons, and many others. I like reading books about these subjects because I try to find an explanation or an answer on wether they once existed, still exist or never did. I think they exist but they are forces interpreted on images so they can make more sense to us. This is why when this class was introduced to me I knew right alway how fascinating it would be and how much I would learn from the course, the professor and my classmates. I hope some day in the near feature I will have another class like this or maybe teach it, but for now I have to move on and keep walking throught my learning path.

Final Project (Brother Bear Movie Project)

                                                             "BROTHER BEAR"

                                                             

BIOGRAPHY

This amazing animation movie named "Brother Bear" was directed by Aaron Blaise (left) and Robert Walker (right). Aaron Blaise has had an exquisite talent for drawing animals and nature scenes since he was five years old. Born in Hurlington, Vermont, he moved to Naples, Florida, with his Mother and Stepfather at the age of eight. He always dreamed of one day working with Disney Studios or Hallmark cards. In 1998, he graduated and moved to California after winning an internship at Disney. Following the internship, he moved back to Florida then graduated to being a character animator for Disney's successful animation movies such as: "The Beauty And The Beast", then he served as supervising animator on the mega-hits "Aladdin", "The Lion King", and "Mulan". Blaise has always been fascinated by the Native Americans myths and legends about bears so he decided to talked to then-division head Tom Schumacher about making a an animation movie featuring a bear. Schumacher liked the idea and based on Blaise's quality work as supervisor, he decided Blaise would make a good director. This film would be his first home grown product. Once the film started developing, he and his story department visited the Kodiak Islands, Alaska's valley of Ten Thousands Smokes then Yellow Stone Park, the Grand Tetons and California's Sequoia National Park as part of their research. Blaise is also a painter and enjoys painting outdoor nature scenes. He and his wife have two children.

Robert Walker is the middle of three brother and was born in Scarborough, Toronto. He and his family lived in Kitchener and London before finally settling in Ottawa. He focused on art throughout high school and after graduation he enrolled New York's St Lawrence University where he took more art classes. A friend of the family had worked in animation and directed walker to Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario. Following three years of studying at Sheridan, walker was hired as an apprentice layout artist at Atkinson Film Arts in Ottawa, where he worked on the series  "The Raccoons". He soon realized that he enjoyed more the area of layout than animation. He started selecting the shots, drawing the backgrounds, and staging the characters.He worked with Atkinson Film Arts for five years then was hired by Disney in April 1989. He met his co-director Aaron Blaise for the first time on April 17, of that same year. Walker moved up to head of layout for the Florida Studio, overseeing scenes for features including "The Rescuers Down Under", "The beauty and the Beast", "Aladdin", and "The Lion King". After supervising the layout department on Florida's first feature "Mulan", he took a brief break from production to do visual development for "Brother Bear" as director for six months along with Blaise.

        PLOT 

This film begins with Denahi as an old man, telling a story about the wonderful experience he lived with his brother Kenai and Sitka. This film is set in an almost over ice age in North America where Native Americans believed that the spirits had the power to create all creatures and change the seasons of the year. These Spirits were said to manifest in the form of an aurora that touched the pick of the mountains. Kenai is the youngest brother who would always do stupid things that appeared to be brave for him so he could prove to his older brothers that he was ready to become a man. Sitka is the oldest brother who gained the eagle of guidance as his totem. Denahi is the middle brother who received the wolf of wisdom as his totem. So, the three brothers returned from fishing to the tribe where a ceremony is being held  in order for Kenai to received his sacred totem which is going to be given by Tanana, the shaman of the tribe. She gives Kenai the bear of love as his totem, much to his objection, stating that bears are thieves. His point being a fact when a bear steals their fish while the ceremony was being held. Denahi blames Kenai  for it. Keani felt guilty and responsible so he pursues the bear to kill it. Once he found the bear, a battle unfolds on a glacier where Sitka cracks the ice with his hunting pike in order to prevent the bear from killing his two brothers. Sitka and the bear fall down along with the piece of glacier into the water where he loses his life and the bear survives. They go back to Tanana and a funeral-like is held to honor Sitka. Angry and vengeful, Kenai heads out to avenge his brother. He chases the bear all the way to the top of the mountain where another fight is unfold until Kenai kills the bear. Unaware that that mountain is where the Spirits make contact with the Earth, Kenai is transformed into a bear after the dead Bear's body disappears, by a bald eagle that represents Sitka's Spirit. When  Denahi arrives, he mistakes Kenai for dead, and his bear form responsible for it, so he decides to chase him down some river rapids and avenge Kenai. Kenai survives and is found and healed by Tanana who does not speak the bear language but advices him to go back to the mountain and find Sitka and be turned back to a human again. After listening to Tanana, he discovers that the wild life can talk when he finds two brother mooses, Rutt and Tuke. He tries to explain them what happened but nothing made sense to them so he gives up and leaves. Kenais walks a few feet away and gets caught by a trap. While he is hanging on the trap, a little chatty bear cub named Koda tries to help him but Kenai has a big ego that stops Koda from helping. After trying so hard Koda frees him. Koda would never stop talking, he has so many stories to tell that in one of them he talks about the lights that touch the mountains. Kenai get interested so the two bears make a deal. Kenai will go with the cub to a nearby salmon run and then Koda will lead him to the mountain. The two bears become the best friends that Koda even sees Kenai as a brother. When Koda tells Kenai the his mother is missing, they are hunted by Denahi who fails several times to kill Kenai, still unaware that the bear is his brother. Rutt and Tuke, run into the bears several times looking for protection. So, the group of four decides to ride a herd of mammoths to make their trip faster. The two bears fall asleep waking up unaware of where they were. Koda and Kenai get off the mammoths and move on while the mooses get stuck on top of the mammoths and get left behind. After walking for a few minutes, Koda finally realizes where they are. They had to cross a land full of lava and mini-volcanoes in order to get to the salmon runs. While they are crossing, Denahi tries to kill him again but the two bears escape and reach the salmon runs where a lot of bears live together as a family. After Kenai becomes comfortable around the bears and sees how nice they live, he decides to leave but they didn't let him until they all had to tell a story about the greatest experience they live for the year. During their discussion, Kenai says the the best experience was finding Koda. When Koda's turn to talk arrives, he starts to tell a story about his Mom fighting three human hunters. As Koda goes on, Kenai realizes that he killed his mother and runs away feeling guilty and horrified. When he calms himself, he decides to tell Koda the truth. Koda runs away stricken with grief, anger, and disappointment. Kenai goes after him but he could not find Koda so he leaves to the mountains apologizing for what he has done. Rutt and Took fell apart but reformed their brotherhood in front of Koda, pushing him to go after Kenai. Finally, Denahi confronts Kenai on the mountain where Denahi is about to kill Kenai but Koda steals his hunting pike preventing Kenai from getting killed. Koda aids Kenai out of love in this fight. When the two brothers were about to kill each other, Sitka's Spirit appears and turns Kenai into a human form, much to Denahi and Koda's surprise. After Sitka and his brothers held each other as well as Koda did with his Mother, Kenai asks Sitka to turn him back into a bear because he knows that Koda needs him. Sitka complies and Kenai reunites with Koda. Sitka turns into an eagle and disappears along with Koda's mother into the lights of the Spirits. Kenai had his totem ceremony again  held by Tanana but this time he was transformed into a bear in order to become a man.

                                                                        

SYMBOLS

There are many  symbols in this film with very deep meanings (images below). Bear is a large, heavy, omnivorous mammal that walks on the sole of its feet, with thick fur and very short tail. This animal symbolizes the awakening of the strong force of consciousness in the Native American people. It also represents determination and love when  defending its offspring. It is powerful and dangerous when it is thread by humans or invaders. Kenai's totem is a bear. Mountains are large natural elevation of the earth's surface rising abruptly from the surrounding level. Mountains represent mystery and coldness since their pick is snowy and very cold. They also represent beauty and history of how rough nature was before becoming what it is now. They mean obstacles to overcome in order to progress. It also means that our spirit and mind rises to improve ourselves as we climb up. A mountain can also represent loneliness or difficulty to achieve mental, spiritual, or emotional states. Aurora is a natural electrical phenomenon characterized by the appearance of streamers of reddish or greenish light in the sky, usually near the northern or southern magnetic pole. The aurora represents a beauty and confusion too since it changes colors and shapes every second. It also symbolizes a magnificent and an indestructible force where powerful energies meet and battle everyday. In the Native American beliefs the aurora represents the place where all our ancestors still go on after death. They have the power to change the seasons and all life and things in nature. River is a large natural stream of water flowing in a channel to the sea, a lake, or another such stream. Rivers represent fertility and the progressive irrigation of the soil. They also represent the irreversible passage of time, in consequence, the sense of loss and oblivion. A river also symbolizes life and all the powerful forces that happen in our consciousness. They could be deep or stay on the surface. It also represents power, triumph, and love since it would violently sweeps anything in its way in order to become united with the sea. Ice is frozen water, a brittle, transparent crystalline solid. It represents beauty and fragility as well as behavior and emotions. Ice also represents some one with no soul or no love such as a vampire who lives in darkness and cold places. Ice is tricky where the fear of falling in order to learn is present. We can either face or avoid the fall, it is up to us. A wolf is a wild carnivorous that is the largest member of the dog family, living and hunting in packs. It represents loyalty and respect within its family, fury when it comes to territorial terms, being a hunter as its nature, and wised and powerful to hunt its prey in order to survive in the wild and to raise its cubs. Denahi's totem is a wolf in this film. An eagle is a bird of prey with massive hooked bill, long broad wings, a keen sight, and powerful sight. This bird represents guidance for the very good sight it has to watch over its preys and care for its chicks. It also represents independence and strength as well as  freedom and beauty. Sitka's totem is an eagle.

Eagle

Mountains and Aurora

                                    
          

River

Ice

          ARCHETYPES

The archetypes that I was able to find are the wisdom, magician, innocent, warrior, wanderer, orphan, and altruist archetype (images below). Sitka is a wise guy. Every time his two younger brothers get into arguments and fights he always controls them and gives them advice. A wise person has a very deep understanding and realization of people, things, events, or situations, resulting in having the ability to choose without wasting time and energy. Sitka is a person who applies his perception and knowledge to guide his two brothers. Even after his death, his spirit still went on to help them find their path. He can also be magician because after his death, he becomes a spirit with powers to transform Kenai into a bear. Tanana, the shaman of the tribe, represents the magician archetype. A shaman in the Native American culture, is a person who posses supernatural powers to cure and to communicate with God and spirits.  Tanana assigns the totem to a person according to whatever the spirits manifest in a totem to her. She also makes the rituals and translates the spiritual language to her people. She can also be the wisdom archetype because she is old and understands how nature and the universe work. Denahi is a warrior. He is supposed to be wise but he is young so he has only a little wisdom. He chases the bear to avenge his two brothers. He fights Kenai a few times but never kills him. He would fight anything in order to avenge Kenai and Sitka and that is what makes him a warrior; he is a person with great vigor, courage, and aggressiveness caused by the death of his brothers.  Koda which is a bear cub, represents the innocent archetype. He is a very chatty bear who only cares about the great stories he listens from the others, protection, and someone to play with. He got separated form his mom but he meets Kenai right after. Unaware of what Kenai has done to his mom, he begins to love him. Koda is a very smart bear who knows about the dangers of wild life. However, he is innocent enough that he still keeps the hope of finding his mom until Kenai tells him what has happened. He is unable to understand because in Koda's mind there is no guilt, sin, or wrongdoing. All he knows about is nature and the  respect and appreciation to kill in order to survive. This archetype represents me as well because i am an innocent person in so many ways. I understand Koda because I was born in a farm where nature, family, and survival was all that matter. I grew up away from crime and bad influences that happen everyday in big cities such as New York or many others. Every time we killed an animal, we respected and appreciated it for the meat it provided us. Also, I would always play with my brothers on the trees, cornfields, in the forest, or on the mountains. Being innocent is good because it is a very healthy state of mind but it can either destroy our souls when innocence is broken or make it stronger to love even more. This is what happened to Koda, his innocence made his love for Kenai even stronger that at the end, he saved his life and stayed with Kenai to play with him, tell him stories, feel protected and feel saved next to Kenai. Koda could also be the orphan archetype because he loses his mom and stays on his own until he finds Kenai. Kenai represents the altruist archetype. After he is turned into a bear, he goes trough very hard times that make him understand and value what he is and what he has. When he finally realizes what he did to Koda's mother and his two older brothers, he becomes altruist. He decides to stay as a bear to protect and help Koda in the wild. An altruist person is anyone who would do anything for love and ask for nothing in return. I am an altruist person and this is why I will become a veterinarian. I want to help and protect animals and make them happy along with their owners. If they are happy then that is just enough for me to be happy too. Sitka is also an altruist person in this film because he gives his life to protect his brothers. His love for them is so great that even after his death he comes down as a spirit to protect them and save them from killing each other. Koda could be also altruist because he almost gives his life to protect Kenai from Denahi. Being an altruist is good because it fills our hearts with joy knowing that we did good to others but it could also be bad because at some point we could feel empty for giving too much.

Tanana (Wisdom/Magician)

Kenai (Altruist/Warrior)

                                                         

Denahi (Warrior)

Koda (Innocent/Altruist/Wanderer)

                 

Sitka (Wisdom/Magician/Altruist)

To conclude, I believe that this movie is great because it has so many symbols and many archetypes that could teach us very much in our daily and busy lives, no matter how busy and complicated our lives could be, what matters at the end is how happy we are and how in touch we keep with our selves to achieve anything we want.

www.tribute.ca/people/aaron-blaise/11092

www.moovies.com/65799-robert-walker/celebrity_8218

ultimatedisney.com.brotherbear

apple macbook dictionary

google-bother bear-images

Blog entry 4.1: Project update.

So, what I've done so far is to research about the directors of the movie "Brother Bear" which is the movie I'm going to be working on. In this case, there are two directors so i had to do a biography about their lives, background, the work the did when they were young in order to rich or accomplish their careers, and the work they have done now in the recent years. I am also changing my project a little bit. At the beginning I said I would post one image and one trailer of the movie. I still am going to do that but now I decided to post an image of the directors at the beginning and will be posting more images but of the movie, next to my commentaries. I think this will be better because you will be able to read and see the image at the same time so you can have a better idea. So far, I already have the image of the directors next to their biography. I also have another image of the three brothers and the two bears that are the main characters of the movie, which will be used for the next step that will be the plot.

Blog entry 3.5: Essay

CORALINE

    As I kept reading this fascinating book about Coraline, I realized how great of a story it was so i decided to read it twice to understand it better and identify the types of archetypes I could find through the Coraline character. In my opinion, Coraline was all types of archetypes such as an Orphan for two days when her parents went missing, a Wanderer since she was an explorer, a Warrior for fighting for what she loved, an Altruist for caring and sacrificing herself for her parents and other children, an Innocent because she was just a little girl unaware of dangers in her new house, and Magician because she believed in other world. However, the archetypes that i will focus on will be the Altruist and Innocent since they are both my primary archetypes.
     An  Altruist person is the one who is always willing to do or sacrifice anything for others. It doesn’t matter if we get back what we give or not, we just do it and that’s it. Being altruist is good because people or animals always need help, they always feel good that they have some one to protect them and support them. Being an Altruist means having sympathy for others. However, giving or caring too much for others can be exhausted and a heavy load to carry. We can get the feeling of needing more and thus it can hurt when others don’t see how much we do for them or instead of rewarding us, they do the opposite of what altruist people do. They become selfish, take advantage of our kindness, or simply take it the wrong way instead of being thankful. My other primary archetype is Innocent. Some people say that being an innocent is a blessing because we are away from sins, crimes and guilt. But, being innocent does not last forever since all humans one day have to grow up. During the process of growing up, we have to go through a lot of painful experiences in order to mature. Our innocence is part of our lack of experience in life. When we are innocent, we only care about living and being happy. Innocence has to do a lot with the environment in which we are raised. Some people as myself, were raised in a farm where we grew up more in touch with ourselves and nature. Being innocent is good but it has its negative sides too. We can get fooled by others easily, we can risk our lives for stepping into something that is not familiar to us, we lack the knowledge to prevent ourselves from situations that can be harmful to us. As a result, these experiences could lead us to pain, soul and mentality poisoning, and destruction of innocence or even death.
     When I read the Coraline book, I was able to identify my two main archetypes through her character. Coraline Jones was a young girl which means she was an innocent person who just wanted to play with her toys and explore the world. When she and her parents moved into their new house, she started becoming bored since her parents were on the computer all the time and did not have time to play with her. One day her father told her to explore the house and count the windows, doors, and blue things. When Coraline found a locked door, she asked her Mom to open it for her. The door only opened to a brick wall but I believe it only opened to innocent people and since her mom was with her, the door was blocked with bricks. Next day, Coraline opened the door and discover a dark hall. On the other side, Coraline discover her other parents but with buttons eyes. They gave her everything she did not have with her real parents. Coraline went back and forth comparing the two worlds until one night her real parents went missing. To me, this is the end of Coraline innocence because now she was lonely and needed to do something on her own to get her parents back. This is the time when Coraline discovered her dark side which is having everything she wants. One night, the black cat who was Coraline's only companion went along her side. When Coraline look through the mirror and saw her parents inside asking for her help she realized her other mother had them. This is the time when i was able to identify my archetype as altruist through her because even though Coraline was aware of the dangers around her, she still went back to her other mother’s world to get her real parents back. She loved them and cared for them too much that she made a deal with her other mother. The deal was about playing an exploration game where if Coraline found her parents and the other children’s souls that were taken away and hidden by the other mother, She would be able to go home and take them with her, but if she failed she would stay and let her other mother love her. So Coraline went through some serious obstacles such as finding the three children's souls that were hidden inside marvels inside her toys box, inside the body of a monstrous replica of her neighbors from the first floor, Miss Spink and Miss Forcible, Coraline went through a trap set by her other mother who wanted to keep Coraline in darkness forever with her other father who was transformed into a caterpillar with stick-like legs. I think all these obstacles were all the steps for Coraline to mature. Coraline also went to the upstairs flat where her other neighbor lived. There, the rats challenged her with the other marvel that carried the soul of the last child. On her attempt to get the last soul, Coraline fell and hurt herself but as we say in spanish "de la espina y el dolor, nace la flor" (from the pain and the thorns emerges the flower). She thought she lost the rat along with the marvel but the cat killed the rat, giving Coraline the last soul and more hopes to save her parents. She already knew they were inside a snow globe but she pretended not to know where they were. She told her other mother that they were behind a door. When her other mother turned to open the door, Coraline took the snow globe, threw the cat at her other mother’s head, and run to the door. She and the cat escaped but her other mother's right hand escaped too.  Coraline still needed to get rid of her other mother’s right hand that was looking for the black key to open the door again. So, Coraline, not an innocent girl anymore but experienced, decided to play a trick. She took an old cloth from her Mom, her dolls, and her dolls’ tea cups. She went to a well that went half a mile down and laid the cloth on top of the well. She put the cups around the edges of the cloth and weigh them down with water. She carefully put the black key on top of the cloth. When her other mother’s hand found the chance to take the black key, it ran and jump on top of the cloth, grab the black key, and fell all the way down into the well. Coraline went back to her parents and realized how much she loved them.
    As we can see, Coraline was a innocent girl to her new house, to her other house and even to her other dark side. But as she went through all her experiences she learned to love more, to be more careful, and to value what she had. In addition, knowing my archetypes as an Innocent and Altruist person that I am, I was able to understand that Coraline would never give up the people and the world she loved. She always knew that her parents were more important than the materialistic things she could have. I believe that Coraline became more altruist when her innocence was taking away by her other mother. She realized how great her parents were and since that moment on, she did every thing she could to protect and rescue them in order to be with them and love them. All she cared about was her parents, the children and even the cat because that’s what an altruist person does; protect, care, and save others at any cost.
    

Blog entry 3.4: My project

So, I have come to the conclusion that my final project will consist on a research about a movie that  includes symbols and all the archetypes mentioned in class such as wanderer, magician, altruist, innocent, orphan, and warrior. I am basically going to focus myself on the Altruist and innocent archetypes which are the ones that describe me the most. This movie is called "Brother Bear" which has many archetypes and symbols and of course a lot of meanings behind each symbol. I have watched this movie ten times already to help me understand it better and be able to see every detail in it. I already identified some of the symbols, the archetypes and themes. I have also done some research on the director of this animation movie. I am thinking about posting an image at the beginning of my project and a trailer that I have already picked too a the end of my writing. This will help others to understand it more clearly. The way i am going to post this project will be as a blog entry in which i will follow all the steps I have learned throughout this class. First i want to introduce the director; second i will do a plot about the movie; third i will identify and interpret the symbols; fourth I will find all the archetypes, but i will describe with more detail the ones that relate to me more, and so on.  I believe I will be done with this project even before the due date which is on December 16 I believe. I am really positive that this project will turn out to be very nice since it fits the criteria being asked by this class.

Blog entry 3.3: Final project ideas

For my project, I am thinking of doing a research on a movie which would have a lot of symbols and archetypes. Symbols would be love, immaturity, braveness, etc. And for archetypes I would like them to be innocence and altruist which are the archetypes that describe me the most. Besides, I would like this movie to have all the different archetypes we have already mentioned in this class such as Orphan, Wanderer, Warrior, Altruist, Innocent, and Magician. I already thought the movie i want to do since I've watched it a few times already. I think it will be easier if I watch it a few times more. If I watch it as many times as necessary I will really understand every single action, symbol, and archetype. Once I have done that I will publish it as a blog entry by following the necessary steps in order to accomplish my final project. I might even post a trailer so students and people can watch it and understand it better. This week I am going to watch this movie 3 more times. Last week I watched 2 times and that's when I decided that this was the right  movie i was going to do a research on because I believe it fits the criteria for this class.

Blog entry 3.2

This video clip appeals to a lot because it starts with Macbeth's face floating between clouds and lightnings while it brakes little by little into pieces symbolizing his own destruction. Also, the meeting of the witches who look very evil is very important because this is the time when they made the prophecy and started to talk about facing Macbeth and the bad things that are about to happen. After they placed a curse to the air when they said the phrase "filthy air", Macbeth and his friend Duncan came out in a battle and won. The witches appeared again and told Macbeth and his friend in a very unclear way what their destiny was going to be. Duncan was going to be happier and father of kings and Macbeth was going to be a king hereafter. The king received the news and good things about Macbeth's victories so he decided to meet him and tell him how much He trusted him. Then Macbeth started to see the darkness inside him to become a king and started to understand the witches prophecies. He went to see his wife who already spoke with the witches about Macbeth's destiny. She told him to stop being an innocent flower and become the serpent underneath and leave the rest to her. The king came to their house and made a party to honer Macbeth as the kings man. The witches put the spell on Macbeth and his wife convinced him to murder the king with a dagger that became part to his imagination as well as the crown.
In this video the witches are the evil ones who will destroy Macbeth, the king is the powerful man who is supposed to die in order for Macbeth to destroy himself with greed. The wife is like Eve in the bible, who pushes her husband to murder the king. Macbeth is the murderer and the witches' instrument to kill the king. The dagger symbolizes death and destruction, and the crown the power and ambition for Macbeth to take. The clouds represent turbulence of bad times approaching. This video is the beginning of the destruction of Macbeth in this fascinating story.

Blog entry 3.1

This image of Macbeth appeals a lot to me because it has many symbols such as his hands, blood, eyes, knife, ring, eyes, face and his clothes. The blood on his hands represent all the people he killed around him in order to get to the throne and become more powerful. His hands represent all the actions he did that made him feel guilty. The knife is the tool that he used to take away the lives and the power from his victims and to protect himself from the ones who wanted to accuse him as a murderer. The knife makes Macbeth a killer. In his eyes we can see how tormented and guilty his soul feels for being a murderer and there is nothing he can do since ambition has taken over him. The expression on his face when he looks at his hands with blood is just full of pain and guilt for the things he has done. His ring stained with blood represents that thanks to his power ambitions now his wife is dead along with his kids. Greed took over the love he had for his wife and destroyed his family. His furry clothes make him look as a wild animal who just wants to kill for power, protection, and leadership and therefore get whatever he wants without thinking about the consequences. In general, this picture symbolizes a murderer who spilled a lot of blood from his own family and even from the King he killed so he could take over the kingdom and become a king. At the end he did not become a great person nor a king but a villain who ended up destroying instead of building.

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Supernatural Life :): Blog Entry 2.2: Altruist: " What does the picture above mean to me? The adult in the picture is the image of what I want to be when I become a father. As a..."

Blog entry 2.2: Altruist/innoncent

My main archetypes are Altruist which is caring for others without expecting anything in return, and Innocent is a lack of guilt, with respect to any kind of crime, sin, or wrongdoing. For altruist i have chosen the following image of Superman:

This picture appeals to me because Superman is always watching for other people or any body who needs help. He is always protecting the world without expecting anything in return. He has two sides: his human side which makes a simple farm boy and a reporter, and his alien side is the powers he possesses to save us all. Superman is a very loving person who would do anything for humans. He is always willing to help, save, and protect. He is very strong physically but emotionally he is weak and that is why he is always willing to do whatever it takes so humans and the world are save.
For the innocent i find the following image just perfect.

Lambs relate to me a lot. They are innocent who only care about living and sometimes do not know about the dangers that come from out side of the fence. They are raised in farms most of the times and that is all they know. They always let any thing come close to them such as predators, unknown people or objects. I was raised in a farm where my two older brothers and Grandparents were the only ones who lived around me. Everything was just nature and animals. This is why now that i moved to New York City I still fall for people who only want to take advantage of me. I am working on being less innocent but i guess the first years of my life have influenced the way I am, so I still have a lot of work to do.

Blog entry 2.1: Symbolism and archeotypes in "Goblin Market"

Christina Rossetti was born on  December 5th, 1830 in London, England. She was educated at home by her mother. Rossetti suffered a nervous brake down when her father's physical and mental health started deteriorating. Therefore, she had to leave school at the age of 14. Because of her depression, her mother and sister became part of the Anglo-Catholic church. Religion devotion came to play a major role in Rossetti's life. Rossetti began writing at the age of 7 and published her first poem at the age of 18. She wrote a variety of romantic, devotional, and children's poems. She is best known for her long poem Goblin Market, her love poem Remember, and for the words in the Christmas carol in the bleak midwinter. Rossetti was opposed to war, animal cruelty, and exploitation of girls in under-age prostitution, and all forms of military aggressions. In the later decades of Rossetti's life, she suffered a nearly fatal attack, then she got breast cancer and though the tumor was completely removed, she suffered and recurrence. She died on December 29, 1894 and was buried in Highgate Cemetery.

In the "Goblin Market" poem Rossetti talks about these unknown creatures that she describes as goblins, who were the fruit sellers. They only came out at dust or dawn to sell. These fruits were very addictive and harmful to any body who ate them. People did not even know where they got them from. There is also these two sisters named Laura and Lizzie who lived in a farm with their poultry and their cows. Every evening before getting dark, they would go through the forest to get water from the brooks so they could have some for the next day. As they went along the forest they would hear these men singing to people to buy their fruits. Laura and Lizzie would also hear them singing every morning when they were milking their cows.  Laura was a very beautiful and curious girl while her sister was more cautious and beautiful too. After hearing these men singing for a while, they approached Laura to sell her their fruits and she agrees to buy a fruit from them. Even though Lizzie warned her and told her the story about a girl who died after eating these men's fruit, Laura did not listen to her sister. Laura bought a fruit from them but she did not pay with a silver coin. One of the creatures asked for one of her golden hair in exchange for a fruit so Laura paid him with a golden curl. She started eating as many fruits as she could until her lips became soared. She filled herself up and still wanted more. She became addictive to these fruits that she could not stop eating. One day, she stopped hearing the creatures singing. She wanted to eat more but they were not there any more so she became really sick. She tried to plant the seeds she saved form the previous fruits she ate from the goblin market but they did not grow at all. She got worse as days went by. She was basically dying until one day her sister Lizzie could not tolerate seeing her in that condition so she decided to go and find the sellers. Maybe that way Laura would heal by eating the fruits again. Lizzy found the sellers getting ready to eat so they invited her to the table to eat with them. She refused to do so because she did not wanted to waste time while her sister was dying. She only wanted to pay for the fruits and leave. These creatures raped her, beat her, and forced her to eat but she did not open her mouth at all. All the juice from  the fruits spilled on her face and her body. After Lizzie got released, she run through the forest back home. She was crying so much that when she got back to her sister she asked Laura to kiss her and suck all the juice from her. Laura drunk the juice and healed. After this event, they never heard from the goblin market again. Both sisters got married to their husbands and had children and of course, they lived happily ever after.

Some of the symbols that i have found in this poem are the following ones:
FRUITS: Satisfaction, temptation, addiction. I found them in lines 44 "who knows upon what soil they fed" and 45 "their hungry thirsty roots". The author is trying to tell us that sometimes eating the unknown or forbidden fruits could be dangerous and even deadly. HAIR: Beauty, sexuality, value, pureness, virginity, age. This symbol is in lines 123 "You have much gold upon you head" and 125 "Buy from us with a golden curl". Rossetti is trying to tell us that there are certain things in life that have more value than a simple silver coin. Such as her dignity, being pure, innocent, and beautiful. We should always take care of those things because once they are gone, we cannot take them back. Laura sold part of herself and paid a lot more for it. FLOWER: Beauty, fragility, love, sadness, pureness, affection, sweetness, destruction, womb. I ffound it in lines150 "Ate their fruits and wore their flowers" and 151 "pluck'd from bowers". The author is telling us that these fruits were very poisoning and dangerous once they went into an innocent, fragile and pure girl who never tried them before. She is telling us that these bad creatures took advantage of Laura's innocence to harm her. FIRE: Essence, warm, light, reaction, birth, life, and death. Located in line 279 "To swift decay and burn" and line 280 "her fire away". The author is telling us that as Laura became ill, her essence of life starting dying, she lost her temperature and became cold, she could not react to anything but the fruits only, she could no longer see the light she saw when she was born; only darkness and death was part of her world at this moment. Another symbol i found was SISTER: eternal bond, connection by love and by blood, affection, protection. In lines number 299 "Tender Lizzie could not bear" and 300 "To watch her sister's cankerous care". The author tries to tell us here that whatever one sister was going through the other one felt it too. They were connected by a family bond and they would do anything to protect and save each other from anyone who would try to hurt them. FLOOD is another symbol that means destruction, power, danger, uncontrollable. Located in lines 408 "white and golden Lizzie stood" and 409 "like a Lily in a flood". These lines try to tell us that as destructive, powerful and dangerous as these bad elves were, Lizzie stood strong and refused to eat their bad fruits. Otherwise, she and her sister would both die. So Lizzie had to stay strong to a greater force.

Some of the archetypes that i found are obvious such as the fruits, the goblin man, and the sisters: Laura and Lizzie. The FRUITS were the poison that almost took Laura's life. They were the instrument that the sellers used to take everything away from Laura. The GOBLIN MEN were the ones who took advantage of innocent and fool Laura. They also tried to destroy Lizzie's life at the cost of their fruits. These were the evil elves or bad creatures of the poem. LAURA was the beautiful, weak, innocent and young sister who allowed herself to fall in temptation for the fruits that almost caused her death. She was like a daughter learning new experiences. LIZZIE  is the strong protector. She was wise and smart enough to not let herself be fooled by the goblin men. She was like a the mother trying to teach her daughter. She would do anything for the good of her sister.

My conclusion about this poem is that these two girls, especially Laura needed to learn a very hard lesson in order to value herself. Sometimes the lessons we learn in life do not come with enough turbulence to wake us up from our innocence and immaturity. But in this case, these two sisters learned their lesson in a hard way. I am sure that from then on they were more careful and valued each other a lot more as sisters. And as we say, what does not kill you makes you stronger, so this is what happened with Laura and Lizzie. They became stronger and wiser and that is why they got married and lived their lives with their new families. I love Rossetti's message in his poem. She is trying to tell all girls that they should be very careful with their beauty because the more beautiful they are the greater the risk is that some one is going to take it from them.  It happens everyday to those who want to be famous or do not take care of themselves. They end up paying with their virginity, beauty, innocence, and purity. To me there is nothing more important than dignity, wisdom, and humbleness to accomplish the goals we want to reach.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christina_Rossetti

1.3 POETRY SYMBOLISM

The song i chose is called "At The San Blas dock". It was written and interpreted by the band named MANA. Mana is a pop/rock band from Mexico whose career has expanded more than two decades. They use a lot of symbols and metaphors in their lyrics and that is why i chose their following song in which they talk about this girl who became part of the environment in which she was left, waiting for her lover who never came back:

She said goodbye to her love
He parted in a ship at the San Blas dock
He swore he would come back
And soaked in tears she swore she would wait
A thousand moons passed away,
And she was still at the dock, waiting.
Lots of evenings nestled
In her hair and her lips.
She wore the same dress
In case he would come back,
He would not mistake her.
Crabs bit her dress, her sadness and her illusion.
And time went by,
And her eyes were full of dawns.
She fell in love with the sea
And her body grew roots at the dock.
Alone, alone in oblivion
Alone, alone with her spirit
Alone, alone with her love, the sea
Alone at the San Blas dock

Here are some of the symbols i found in this song with the connotation (C) and denotation (D) meanings:

SHIP: (C) Vessel larger than a boat used to transport people or goods by sea        
           (D) Represents a journey, an exploration, an uncertainty of return.
        
DOCK: (C)  Structure extending from the shore into a body of water
              (D) A place to rest, see the horizon, the outside world, sunrise or sunset, stars, clouds, sky.
            

SOAKED:  (C) To immerse in water or liquid.
                   (D) Represents the amount of tears from the sadness coming from within us or the pain caused by someone.

MOONS: (C)  Natural satellite of the earth, visible by the reflected light from the sun
                 (D) Seasons, time going by, cycles repeating themselves, beauty, light, full of hope, half or empty with nothing left.

EVENINGS: (C) Period of time at the end of the day, usually from 6 p.m. to bedtime
                       (D) End of the day; darkness, silence and coldness approaching, time coming and going.

NESTLED: (C) Settle or lie comfortably within or against something.
                    (D) To become part of a place, to inhabit a place where we keep our love, life, hopes, dreams and activities.

HAIR: (C) A fine threadlike strands growing from the skin of humans, mammals and some other animals
            (D) Women, beauty, sexuality, age, wicked, angel, devil, destruction, etc.

LIPS: (C) Either the two fleshy parts that form the upper and lower edges of the opening of the mouth
          (D) Represents a kiss, sexuality, beauty, love.

DRESS.  (C) Put on one's clothes.
                (D) Body language, personality, identification, emotional state, social status, culture, education.

CRABS: (C) A crustacean with a broad carapace, stalked eyes, and five pairs of legs, pincers being the first ones
                (D) That never moves forward,  painful bites, it has two kinds of lives: water and land.

EYES:  (C) Each of a pair of globular organs in the head through which people and vertebrate animals see.
             (D) Window to the soul, beauty, expression, portal to see and interpret our own world.

DAWNS:  (C) First appearance of light in the sky before sunrise.
                  (D) A new beginning, new hopes, expecting the unexpected, it could be something new or the same as yesterday, light returns, everything comes to life again.

SEA: (C) The expanse of salt water that covers most of the earth's surface and surrounds its landmasses
          (D) Deep, expansive, blue or dark, mysteries, strong; keeps, gives or takes life away, dangerous, beauty, wild, etc.

ROOTS: (C) Part of a plants that attaches it to the ground providing water and nourishment to the rest of the plant.
                (D) To become part of the soil, turn into a plant, not being able to move.

OBLIVION: (C) A state of being unaware or unconscious of what is happening.
                      (D) No longer part of this world, ignored by the rest, not to care about anybody else but our dreams, hopes, and illusions.

SPIRIT.  (C) The nonphysical part of a person that is the seat of emotions and character.
               (D) Eternity, indestructible, holy, essence of live. To live forever.

This song talks about a girl who says bye to her lover who went to explore the world or maybe went to war, while holding the promise of coming back to her. She loved him so much that she decided to wait for him exactly at the same place. Years went by and she would still be waiting for him. Days would come and go but without him. After waiting so much for him, she became obsessed for his arrival. She always kept hope so she decided not to change her clothes so just in case he would return, he would recognize her right away. So, time went by and after so much of a wait, she fell in love with the sea and became part of it. People in the town started calling her crazy because she was like a restless spirit staring at the sea. This song is so sad because she grew older and probably died waiting for her lover who never ever came back to her. Mana tries to tell us that when love is real, no matter what happens it will always be there in our souls keeping us strong. They also try to tell us that love can be heaven but it can be destruction at the same time.

http://elerinwen.deviantart.com/art/En-El-Muelle-de-San-Blas-21888330
Mac Book dictionary

Blog entry 1.2 La llorona (the weepeing women)

Since I was a little boy my Grandparents and people around me talked about la llorona all the time. They said that if I cried at night before going to sleep, La llorona would come and get me because she was a women who did not like cry babies. They said that she wanders the forest, the rivers and streams crying and asking for her children. People assured of seeing her or hearing her cry many times but I never saw or heard anything so I decided to do a little research about her. The links below got my attention because they relate a lot to the stories I heard when I was a kid and because one of them relates this legend to the greek mythology too.
According to my research, La llorona was a beautiful women with a really long black hair and a white gown. Her name was Maria and her beauty would capture the attention of rich and poor men from the area. Eventually, Maria married a very wealthy man who lavished her with gifts and attention. After having two of his kids, he started to change, returning to a womanizing and an alcoholic life leaving her for months. He would comeback only to see his children but in Maria he had no interest any more. Maria was devastated and began to feel resentment toward her boys.  One day maria was walking with the boys in a shady pathway near the river when she saw her husband with another women. He stopped and talked to his children and ignored Maria. After seeing this, she went into a terrible rage, turning against her children throwing them into the river. As they disappeared she realized what she did and run down the bank to save them but it was too late. Maria broke down into inconsolable grief, running down the street and wailing. The beautiful llorona mourned them day and night.  She stopped eating and started walking and crying along the river bank hoping they would come back. Her gown became soiled and thorn. She grew thinner and looked like a walking skeleton until she died on the banks of the river. Long after her death her spirit began restless and began to wander the rivers and streams. Since then, people have been talking about her. They have seen her and heard her many times during the dark nights. People became afraid and warned their children not to go out at night. There has been some cases in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Mexico and Central America about people seeing her. In the greek mythology her name is Lamis who had children with Zeus who forced her to eat her own children since she was only a mistress for him. This greek myth goes on in a very similar way to the one in the Americas.

www.legendsofamerica.com/gh-lallorona.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki.la_llorona