Dear All of You,
Lets go back a few years. I was new to all of this; and for all of you, it wasn't your first time. I had my friends, my own safety zone. We always looked up to you and wondered if we would ever be anything in the future. There was one difference between us and that may have been what kept us apart for that first year. You grew up faster and sooner than I did. Being only a little middle schooler, it was normal to be shy and awkward while you were all out finding yourselves and becoming the people that you would be for the rest of your lives up in the big intimidating high school. I couldn't help but to be thankful to meet you, look up to you, and use you as motivation when I also began to do the same a year later. Come to find out how similar we all were, it was an exciting moment and soon enough our friendships thrived.The moments we shared and the memories we created will never be forgotten. Waking up early, the tight ponytails with so much hairspray that you thought it would never come out, the crazy clown makeup, the butterflies as we approached the mats. Every thing we did seemed to be "the last one". Uncomprehendable, yet bittersweet and still exciting, we continued to repeat this process throughout the nine months we continuously spent together everyday. Our relationship felt like home to me. You were like the sisters I never had- keeping my secrets, giving me advice, helping me to make my life choices whether you were right or wrong, you were always there for me. The day came. With our suitcases packed, uniforms and confidence being our number one priority on our packing last, we boarded the plane; once again "for the last time". It seemed unreal as we went through each day, walking the beach, shopping and buying souvenirs, taking pictures to capture each and every moment we had left with each other. Then it was time, we put on our uniforms one last time, hair-sprayed our hair one last time, tied in that big gold sparkly bow one last time, and set off for the reason we were all here. As the butterflies set in, the motivational speeches were given, and off we went to the blue mats that never before seemed to be so welcoming before. Two minutes and thirty seconds later it was all over. The end has arrived and there was nothing that any of us could do about it. The hard work entailed in that almost three minutes had never felt so worth it. No matter how much we didn't want to let go of everything we've gained together over the past years, it was now time and saying goodbye may be harder than ever before. Even though, its not necessarily a goodbye. It's a "see you later", because although our relationship may become distant, you will always be in the back of my mind and never be forgotten, because a breakup doesn't always have to end bad.
Love always,
Liz
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Monday, January 14, 2013
Revenge
Anyone and everyone, at one point in their lives, has had thoughts or even carried out plans of revenge. Don't deny it, you have too. Revenge is everywhere, even if it only exists in your head. When i hear revenge, I think payback, or karma or anything along the lines of getting back at someone for something they have done to you. As far as I believe, it's just human nature to have that feeling of wanting to get back at someone who has upset you or caused problems for you in your life. So even if you'd like to say that you've never wanted revenge on someone, I'm sure that you have at least seen it occur from an outside point of view either in books, T.V shows, or watching others carry out their revenge. One example that is very popular especially most teenage girls is the television show Pretty Little Liars, and another is the famous playwright of Shakespeare's Hamlet.
http://www.hollywood.com/news/Pretty_Little_Liars_Puzzle_Hunt_Get_Your_Next_Clue_Here/28583923
In Pretty Little Liars, five high school girls were all best friends until one night one of them, Alison, went missing and and was later found dead. For the next few years, the other four girls continue to seek the killer and find new things and details about the murder every day. They discover a team of people who were against Alison, and do the best that they can to get more information and plan a revenge on making their lives miserable and stressful. Someone, or multiple people, that go by "A" have constantly been antagonizing the girls and everyone else in the town, and trying to place the blame of the murder on other people. The girls want nothing more than to get revenge on this person/people and will do whatever they can to try and achieve that, even if it means making sacrifices and losing friendships or relationships in their lives. However, before Alison's death, she constantly took advantage of others, manipulated people, and bullied anyone who she thought had a lower social status than she did. The "A Team" is still trying to get revenge on Alison, but doing it by torturing her friends and putting them in dangerous and mysterious situations. This T.V show has a twisted plot line, with a ton of revenge included and displayed throughout the episodes as the series goes on. In multiple of the episodes, Alison's ghost makes appearances in her friends lives at random times and tries to communicate and tell them things such as to hints or clues of information that could be useful.
Creepy, but still interestingly, Pretty Little Liars isn't the only media that has a ghost return and make interactions with the characters. In Shakespeare's Hamlet, the ghost of Hamlet's father appears, and reveals that it was Hamlet's own uncle, Claudius, who has killed him and he must seek revenge.Claudius, soon after his brother's death, marries Hamlet's mother and makes Hamlet go mad with his planning of revenge. During his struggles to get back at his uncle, he accidentally kills the father of Laertes, Polonius, causing more problems to come his way. Now not only King Claudius wants to also get revenge on Hamlet, but Laertes does also. This play is filled with revenge around every corner of every page, and that is what helps us readers to find the reading to be enjoyable and exciting, because revenge creates an interesting story, making it easier for people like me to actually get into the story and feel more involved and curious to what is going to happen next.
http://www.examiner.com/article/shakespeare-fest-presents-hamlet-st-louis
http://publicvigil.blogspot.com/2010/10/hidden-catholic-meaning-of-hamlet.html
http://www.hollywood.com/news/Pretty_Little_Liars_Puzzle_Hunt_Get_Your_Next_Clue_Here/28583923
In Pretty Little Liars, five high school girls were all best friends until one night one of them, Alison, went missing and and was later found dead. For the next few years, the other four girls continue to seek the killer and find new things and details about the murder every day. They discover a team of people who were against Alison, and do the best that they can to get more information and plan a revenge on making their lives miserable and stressful. Someone, or multiple people, that go by "A" have constantly been antagonizing the girls and everyone else in the town, and trying to place the blame of the murder on other people. The girls want nothing more than to get revenge on this person/people and will do whatever they can to try and achieve that, even if it means making sacrifices and losing friendships or relationships in their lives. However, before Alison's death, she constantly took advantage of others, manipulated people, and bullied anyone who she thought had a lower social status than she did. The "A Team" is still trying to get revenge on Alison, but doing it by torturing her friends and putting them in dangerous and mysterious situations. This T.V show has a twisted plot line, with a ton of revenge included and displayed throughout the episodes as the series goes on. In multiple of the episodes, Alison's ghost makes appearances in her friends lives at random times and tries to communicate and tell them things such as to hints or clues of information that could be useful.
Creepy, but still interestingly, Pretty Little Liars isn't the only media that has a ghost return and make interactions with the characters. In Shakespeare's Hamlet, the ghost of Hamlet's father appears, and reveals that it was Hamlet's own uncle, Claudius, who has killed him and he must seek revenge.Claudius, soon after his brother's death, marries Hamlet's mother and makes Hamlet go mad with his planning of revenge. During his struggles to get back at his uncle, he accidentally kills the father of Laertes, Polonius, causing more problems to come his way. Now not only King Claudius wants to also get revenge on Hamlet, but Laertes does also. This play is filled with revenge around every corner of every page, and that is what helps us readers to find the reading to be enjoyable and exciting, because revenge creates an interesting story, making it easier for people like me to actually get into the story and feel more involved and curious to what is going to happen next.
http://www.examiner.com/article/shakespeare-fest-presents-hamlet-st-louis
http://publicvigil.blogspot.com/2010/10/hidden-catholic-meaning-of-hamlet.html
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Satire Represented by Shrek and Huckleberry Finn
When the Dreamworks movie Shrek was released in 2001, many connections were made exemplifying the topic of satire. Satire is the use of ridicule, humor, irony and exaggeration and is used to criticize and evaluate different issues in life. The film Shrek is a fairytale that is not like any other. For example, in our society today princesses are known to fall in love with a prince charming or knight in shining armor. However, the heroic figure in this movie ends up being Shrek, who is the complete opposite of a prince; he is an ogre. Ogres are usually not really the most charming or "good guys" necessarily in most stories that we usually hear. In most cases, the prince is handsome, charming, good looking, and very strong. Shrek is merely the exact opposite of how a prince is portrayed in our society today. This also shows, however, that one does not have to have these characteristics to fall in love. Princess Fiona fell in love with Shrek while he was and ogre still and she was remaining as a human at the time. This situation is a great example of satire in media that is represented in a form of irony, or other words, incongruity.
Out of most of the satirical techniques, parody is used the most frequently throughout the film. Parody is used to imitate and ridicule an original version of something though humor and to make the audience laugh and feel more comfortable with the topic. In Shrek, a scene representing a parody of West Side Story is when Shrek and Princess Fiona are almost captured by Robinhood and his men. During the battle between the two sides, everyone is singing and dancing while fighting and this scene is very similar and can be compared to one that is displayed in West Side Story. A second satirical technique used in the film Shrek is exaggeration which is the enlarging of a situation beyond normal boundaries to show fault and to show situations which have become ridiculous. One example of this in this film is the scene also where Princess Fiona is battling with Robinhood and his merry men. Fiona goes crazy and takes down every one of the men that she is fighting against and makes it look easy and like it was not a big deal. This scene shows how exaggerated the fight really was and made Fiona, still a princess in human form, look much bigger and stronger than she would be in real life if she was fighting off multiple men.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is a great example that uses satire to show the many problems of civilizations and societies. Twain mocks how society was with the topic of racism by making a story about a boy, Huck, and his families slave, Jim, and the friendship they acquire throughout their journeys and adventures during the novel. Huck and Jim experience many things together during the story line including running away, meeting frauds, feeling new emotions together, and realizing the meaning behind their friendship. The language Twain chose to use in this book is interesting, yet informational because it is comical and challenging for the reader, but how people have talked in the time that the story was written. One scene exemplifying parody in this book is the scene when the feud occurs between the Shepardsons and Grangerfords. These two families have a history of never getting along, but don't seem to even know a real reason for their disputes. Exaggeration can also be shown as a satirical technique in this scene because two of the children, one from each family, run off and get married and begin another feud with the families. The problems between these two is greatly exaggerated and could have been handled in much better matters. Parody and exaggeration are just two of the many forms of satire in literature and media, well shown by examples from both the film Shrek and the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Out of most of the satirical techniques, parody is used the most frequently throughout the film. Parody is used to imitate and ridicule an original version of something though humor and to make the audience laugh and feel more comfortable with the topic. In Shrek, a scene representing a parody of West Side Story is when Shrek and Princess Fiona are almost captured by Robinhood and his men. During the battle between the two sides, everyone is singing and dancing while fighting and this scene is very similar and can be compared to one that is displayed in West Side Story. A second satirical technique used in the film Shrek is exaggeration which is the enlarging of a situation beyond normal boundaries to show fault and to show situations which have become ridiculous. One example of this in this film is the scene also where Princess Fiona is battling with Robinhood and his merry men. Fiona goes crazy and takes down every one of the men that she is fighting against and makes it look easy and like it was not a big deal. This scene shows how exaggerated the fight really was and made Fiona, still a princess in human form, look much bigger and stronger than she would be in real life if she was fighting off multiple men.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is a great example that uses satire to show the many problems of civilizations and societies. Twain mocks how society was with the topic of racism by making a story about a boy, Huck, and his families slave, Jim, and the friendship they acquire throughout their journeys and adventures during the novel. Huck and Jim experience many things together during the story line including running away, meeting frauds, feeling new emotions together, and realizing the meaning behind their friendship. The language Twain chose to use in this book is interesting, yet informational because it is comical and challenging for the reader, but how people have talked in the time that the story was written. One scene exemplifying parody in this book is the scene when the feud occurs between the Shepardsons and Grangerfords. These two families have a history of never getting along, but don't seem to even know a real reason for their disputes. Exaggeration can also be shown as a satirical technique in this scene because two of the children, one from each family, run off and get married and begin another feud with the families. The problems between these two is greatly exaggerated and could have been handled in much better matters. Parody and exaggeration are just two of the many forms of satire in literature and media, well shown by examples from both the film Shrek and the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
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