Credit at Last

For my last extra credit I read an article on web of language about a ten year old boy in England who had a yorkshire accent before he had brain surgery because of a case of meningitis, and had a posh upper-class accent similar to Patrick Stewart after his surgery.

More Credit

Get Out of Jail Free instead of week 11's submit a piece of writing to eckerd review, Week 8's email an author of a source, and week 5's watch two youtube videos.

I showed up for halloween as a soccer coach/spy that fills the roles of hero, shadow, villain, ally, threshold guardian, and mentor.

I voted using an absentee ballot for Oregon.

Annotated Bibliography 11

Vogler, Christopher. The Writer’s Journey Mythic Structure For Writers. Studio City, CA: Michael
Wiese, 1998. 293-312.

Summary
This last reading from Vogler's book is basically a commentary on his book and the Writer's journey in the appendices section titled "Stories are Alive." Vogler uses this section as an opportunity to relate the extensive Hero's Journey and relate it to writing this book as other authors relate it to their books. He claims that the Hero's Journey and the Writer's Journey are one and the same and relates writers to the shamans of old, transcending to other worlds and bringing back information to the tribe. He expresses his faith in the power of words and their ability to heal people among other things. The following section is used to explore his claim that stories are alive and respond to human emotion. Writing allows us to build upon the knowledge, wisdom, and accomplishments to achieve more and avoid the old mistakes. One reason that he likes stories is because of the hard questions these plots, characters, and adventures make us ask ourselves. This leads Vogler into an analysis of Disney fairy tales and uses the story of rumpelstiltskin which he gives an overview of and uses as an extended example. Then Vogler goes on to talk about the power of wishing in getting the audience involved and oriented in the direction of the story. This leads his discussion into wants vs. needs in stories which are a great way to show character development and are set up to continuethe story after the wish phase.Usually the hero makes the wish, then through the adventure that follows they face tests and ordeals that make them grow, mature and prioritize, and the desire is changed from something they want to something they need.

Reaction
I must agree with the power of writing and learning from the past through writing, but I'm not sure if I agree with the analogy of writing healing. The power is in the writer to control the words, not just the writing itself to control the words. A great example of this is the spin doctors in political campaigns.

Questions
1. Is there a story where the want from the beginning of the story is granted over the need?
2. Is there a story with a happy ending where neither the want or the need is granted in the end?
3. Does this book end by satisfying a want or a need?

Reflection and Planning

In looking at the four modes I came up with for project three. This exercise was very fun to find the ways that you could change the meaning of something and how easy it was to change the meaning of something to fit your needs to illustrate your point through different sources of media.

I am going to interview someone from the Eckerd soccer team about a bad experience with cheating in soccer by thanksgiving break.

I was trying to volunteer at USL Soccerfest tournament which involves youth teams from around the world, but I don't have transportation available as it is during thanksgiving weekend. So instead I will be going to volunteer at the boys and girls club if I can't find some way to get to Tampa during that weekend which is very unlikely.

Four Modes Revised

Song: Tubthumping by The Hit Crew

This song is a representation of football's attitude towards it's reputation that is brought on by the controversy and cheating in recent years. The chorus states " I get knocked down, but I get up again. You're never gonna keep me down" which is the attitude of fans especially of the british football leagues. The British are very hardy and will fight for something until the end and if something knocks them over they get back up and keep fighting. The album that this song is from is even called "Sports Cheers(Star Sports Jams)" showing the relevance to sports before you even start to look at the song itself. THen as you look deeper into the song, the first verse is all about drinking whatever drink reminds you of the good times and sing the songs that reminds you of the better times. This is demonstrative of the attitude of nostalgic elderly fans reminiscing of the times before high paid superstars, dives, and fears of refs being bribed. The last thing about this song is that it has an positive optimistic beat and tempo telling the audience that things are going to get better again.

Movie: Goal

This movie is almost completely in tune with the themes of my project, which makes it a perfect example of someone who could cheat to advance his career, but he doesn't. He continues to play with passion and integrity, keeping himself and the game he loves as pure and beautiful as he possibly can. This movie is a good example because it show that it is possible for soccer to be played honorably and fairly, but people can choose to cheat, slack off, and showboat which turns the game into a circus show instead of the wonderful sport that it is. This movie also shows that athletes don't have to become omplete jerks just because they make lots of money and the main character actually changes the rich, showboating superstar and turns him into a better person as a result of their relationship.

Visual Image: The Scream by Edvard Munch

In this picture you have a person holding their hands to their face which for me is a great representation of fans and coaches reactions to a call that goes against their team either for flopping or because the ref doesn't see the flop. The bright colors swirling show the amount of passion and emotion involved at the moment that the great scream of despair or disbelief at the ref's decision is perfectly captured in this painting even though it probably wasn't the original inspiration for the picture. THe river could symbolize the flow of the normal course in a game of soccer and the bridge where the screamer is standing symbolizes the disruption of the flow and the path of the bridge apparently heading for the hills could mean the long uphill climb it will be for the screamer's team to get back even in the game after the controversial call, a journey which may not be completed in time to salvage the game.

Book: Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

Focusing on chapter 11: Vini Vidi Vici. Ender has been given command of an army in the war games league of battle school, which is in orbit around earth. He is the youngest commander in the school's history and hasn't had his army for a full month before he is called for his first battle as a commander, while the usual time is three months, and he has to fight eight battles in seven days while the usual is one battle every two weeks. In one battle his opponent gets 5 minutes to set up his army before he gets to enter the zero g arena and later he has to fight against two armies at once. But despite having an inexperienced team and no days off he continues to fight and win against the odds even after the head of battle school continues to stack the odds against him. This is like the situation that several teams faced in Serie A in Italy while facing teams that bribed the refs to throw the game.

Annotated Bibliography 10

Vogler, Christopher. “Epilogue: Looking Back on the Journey.” The Writer’s
Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers. Third Edition. Studio City, CA. Michael
Weise Productions. 2007.

Summary
In this section Vogler gave an overview of the Hero's Journey and illustrates the different stages. For this purpose he uses four different movies: Titanic, The Lion King, Pulp Fiction, and The Full Monty. Vogler also talks about the Star Wars saga and it's relation to the Journey. Then Vogler gives us some warnings and guidelines for the use of the Hero's Journey storyline. First he warns against using the Journey as an exact blueprint, he explains that there is no exact formula for writing a story about a Hero's journey and the ultimate goal is to touch the "universal human emotions." This is especially true in the example of Pulp Fiction where the stages are jumbled showing that the model is just a guideline, that the needs of the story dictate the structure, and that any stage of the Journey can appear at any time. Another point that he makes is that you should have only one plot, but many subplots in your story. Titanic is a great example of this because it has the main plot which is the story of the ship and it's crash and sinking, but then there are the subplots of all the passengers on the boat which are what make the story so good because they touch on all of the universal human emotions and appeal to all audiences through familiarity of socioeconomic status and age. In all of the film examples that Vogler uses in this section he identifies each of the stages in the Journey to demonstrate the variety of order while still using the stages.

Reaction
Although this was by far the longest reading in the book, it also left me with the least to talk about. I have seen all of the movies that he talked about besides pulp fiction which made it very easy for me to understand his analysis of the movies. The book threw some light on the writing of scripts for me and showed how much thought there is actually involved in the writing of screenplays for movies.

Questions
1. Is there a particular stage in the Journey that carries particular importance to the making of a good movie?
2. What type of film is the most successful in using the Hero's Journey?
3. Do you think that the Hero's Journey model makes movies to generic in today's Hollywood?

vogler Annotated Bibliography 11/2/08

Vogler, Christopher. “Resurrection and Return with the Elixir” The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structures For Writers 3rd Ed. Studio City, CA: Michael Wiese Productions, 2007. 197-228.

Summary
In these sections Vogler enters the third act of the Hero’s Journey. First he discusses the Resurrection stage of the journey that opens the third act. The dramatic purpose of this stage is to fulfill the audience’s need for another death/rebirth moment of climax that is needed at that point in the story, while the last stage dealt with the need for a crisis. The Hero needs to undergo a transformation before he returns to the Ordinary World, making that change visible to the audience and make it visible to the audience without just telling them that it happened is the writer’s dilemma during this stage. A new personality or physical “cleansing of death” from the Hero’s body are some of the ways to demonstrate the change. Vogler talks about the curious need for two ordeals, or a crisis and climax. The demonstration of the Hero acquiring knowledge and bringing it back to the Ordinary World is in itself a feat. Often there is a “showdown” inserted here, a final battle with death in which the Hero will exhaust all of his abilities and resources to survive. Very often the Hero’s survives the showdown except in the case of the tragic heroes, which Vogler addresses on pages 200-201. Sometimes there is a “quiet climax” where a “crest of emotion” tells the audience that the conflicts are resolved. There can also be a “rolling climax” where multiple problems are resolved with attention paid to each of them, but the audience needs to recognize a moment of “emotional breakthrough” according to Vogler. He also tells us that Catharsis is the final culmination of the character arc, the gradual of the characters change throughout the story has Catharsis as the climax.

In the next chapter Vogler discusses the Return with the Elixir stage of the journey. The main function of this stage is to implement the change in the daily life and use the lessons learned to heal the wounds of the Hero. There are two approaches to this stage, the circular and the open-ended; the circular tends to have a sense of closure and the open-ended leaves unanswered questions or conflicts. Another difference between the Return and the other stages that are similar to it is that the Return must finish your story so that it satisfies or provokes your audience as you intend. The Return can also be a good time to throw in a surprise, as the audience won’t be expecting it. Vogler goes on to describe how authors can conclude the story and some of the pitfalls that may be encountered. Heroes are often sadder but wiser or sadder but not wiser when reflecting on the elixir as a representation of the cumulative journey or lesson that must untimely be shared. Too many endings, abrupt endings, or unfocused endings are often found to contain pitfalls. Vogler also mentions that epilogues are needed to wrap up the story when there is a story that doesn’t allow for a traditional wrap up in the Return.

Reaction
In this reading Vogler pays attention to the role of the discussed stages as a part of the overall journey as opposed to his usual discussion of stages as individual entities. He uses a good variety of film examples and wraps it up with the Wizard of Oz, which while it is repetitious, also shows the whole journey very well.
Questions
1. Can you think of any films that don’t have a second crisis in the Resurrection stage?
2. Are there any examples of movies in a series that has a circular ending despite having a sequel?
3. Can you think of a stand alone story with an open-ended ending?