Femininity

This week in class we discussed femininity, and woman's roles in society. For example, we read an article that discussed what happened to men in a small town when their wives went on a women's march for a weekend leaving men, "to juggle schedules on their own."(Bondyjan). This was down to outline the importance of women in daily lives which related to our broader topic of women's roles in society. Women are important to society today, and have many more opportunities than in the past. Yet in the Marvel movie universe, women have only been seen as a love interests and side characters. Though many of them are really cool and strong, such as Black Widow, we have yet to see a strong female lead character. This may be a clue into how women are still perceived in society. Though we have come a long way, and recognize woman's value, simple things like this show how much farther we have to go as a society. Marvel has planned to release a Captain Marvel movie in the next year, who is a female. Whether this was done as a response to the criticism they received for not having a current female lead or not, it is definitely a step in the right direction. I hope society can one day officially advance past any prejudices.

The Failing American School System

By many standards, the American school system is failing. According to a study by professors from Stanford University, only 6 percent of students in America are in advanced math, while over 20 percent of students in countries such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and Korea are in advanced math. So, why is that the American system is failing compared to other countries, and how can it improve? Well, I believe the problem lies within the restrictions put forth by the NCLB, or No Child Left Behind. The NCLB states that all students must be proficient in math and reading by 2014, regardless of students with special needs, students who speak English as a second language, and students with less societal advantages. This is a problem because many schools are focusing in specifically teaching math and reading, instead of other important subjects like history, science, the arts, geography, and even recess. Children in the American school system are being deprived of very important subjects, all because of the restrictions made by the NCLB. Not to mention, schools that fail to meet the proficiency rate, are at risk for closing, or becoming a charter school. Without these restrictions in place, teachers would be able to teach students all the valuable subjects,without fear of losing the school.

Standarized Testing

This week in class, we furthered our discussion on the American school system, specifically standardized testing. The discussion is lead by the question of, "Who does the American school system serve?" In an article by Lori Higgins, it is revealed that Michigan government will be closing school that are underperforming on standardized tests, specifically, "in the bottom 5% academically,"(Higgins 1). I believe that this will benefit both student and government respectively. According to the article, "Schools wouldn't close if there are no high-performing options for the kids who are displaced."(Higgins 1). This means, that students will not be deprived of an education. On the contrary, they will be transferring to a high-performing school, which will give them an opportunity to learn at a better school. Closing schools also benefits  government because the money that went to that school, can be used somewhere else. Not to mention, the poor scores of the closing schools will no longer bring down the state's education rates. The only downsides are the possible relocation for families and the difficult transitions for some children to a new school. Though they will be entering a higher-performing school, this transition can be detrimental to students who already struggle in school. This can be resolved if they are relocated with many of their peers. In conclusion, I believe it is a win-win situation to close schools, despite a couple downsides.

The American Education System

This week in class we studied the American Education System, by watching multiple videos on the subject. Each video described problems or flaw with the current system. For instance, one resource we used a poetry video titled, "I Just Sued the School System." This video related students to fish and it explained that one can not judge a fish one it's ability to climb a tree. This analogy is used to describe how the school system is made to test everyone in the same way, and this outdated system is not effective in determining each individual student's intelligence. This is because each student learns in their one unique way, and some students are adept to success in the current system, while others struggle because the school system is not tailored to them. Like most issues, this can be related to superheroes. Each superhero has their one unique abilities, just like students. One cannot expect Spider-Man to lift the same things as the Hulk, and one cannot expect the Hulk to swing from building to building with webs. In this way, the Finnish school system is more successful. According to a video we watched in class, each student has classes more tailored to them, and have, "equal opportunity," and the teaching profession is much more respected. These are the type of changes that  need to take place in the American school system, because the current system is not tailored to each specific student's ability to learn and be successful.

Bilingualism Vs. Monolingualism

This week in class we read an article called "In Plain English: Let's Make It Official," by Charles Krauthammer. Krauthammer talks about how his experiences growing up in Canada, and how the bilingualism of Canada has caused a political war. He believes that the United States should take advantage of the common language of English and make it the official language. He believes that monolingualism will bring, "a critically needed cohesion to a nation as diverse, multiracial and multiethnic as America." (Krauthammer 744). I believe that monolingualism is beneficial to this country, mainly because of the way it brings many people of different ethnicities together. This idea is similar to that of the division between DC Comics and Marvel Comics. Similar to the division of languages in Canada, many people are divided between these two comics. My belief of the issue is the same as my belief about the unity of language. I think that people should enjoy both of these comics respectively, to experience more great superhero stories, because both are very rich in lore. They should do this instead of only choosing to follow and enjoy one comic. Comics and language are both more successful when brought together, because they bring people with different walks of life together in unity, which is the basis on which America is built on.

Comics and the English Language

Comic books were originally created to portray super humans in tights who save the world. Now, they are portrayed in large block buster movies, as not only super humans in tights, but as demi gods. This concept is due to the changing society since comics were first introduced. Technology has not only allowed for this change in portraying superheroes, but the general population would rather watch an action-packed film with their favorite superheroes than read a comic book about them. This noticeable change in how society views superheroes and how they are portrayed is similar to how the English language has changed to accommodate to changing society. The English language is based on the rules "Standard English" but as teacher Anne Curzan believes, "all speakers have the right to make informed decisions about when those rules are appropriate." (Curzan). This idea of English being flexible based on the choice of the speaker is exactly why the language has changed. As society develops, some tend to speak with more slang or colloquial terms, and others tend to change the established rules of grammar. The new environments that children are exposed to will cause them to adopt the language that is spoken there and as time goes by and society changes, the environments and education for children will change. English's flexibility will be the reason it continues to change with times, and so will superheroes.

What superheroes would say about Huck Finn

Superheroes would have many different opinions of Huckleberry Finn.  And here is what they hypothetically could have been:

Iron Man: Well, Huck is a stupid character. I mean, come on, make up your mind kid, are you a good guy or a bad guy. I mean Jim was an idiot, but at least you know he had a sense of morality. The real heroes of this story are the Duke and the Dauphin. I mean the guys scammed a whole town and made some serious money! Now that's genius.

Spiderman- I don't know man I just read it for school.

Captain America- Personally, I commend Huck for making tough decisions in morally difficult situations. Society's standards have taught him one thing, but he uses his feeling and experiences to make decisions he believes is right. I believe we saw a boy turn into a man.

Batman- I didn't like Tom. The boy was a villain. He craved the thrill of adventure so much that he would risk the lives if others for his own personal pleasure.He reminds me of the Joker.

Superman- I think every character had good in them. I believe Tom was just misunderstood, and he did not mean harm to those around him. He was the product of his upbringing. And in the end I think we should all have sympathy for those kind of children. In regards, to the Duke and the Dauphin, well obviously they did not have enough confidence to be who they really were. We should have allowed them to be rehabilitated through therapy.

Huck Finn the Anti- Hero

An anti-hero is a hero who helps or saves people for his/her selfish reasons. Deadpool is the face of anti-heroism in the Marvel universe because he does not help people for the good of others. For example, in his feature film, the only reason he took down a bunch of bad guys was to find the guy that pretty much gave him his abilities, but also made him ugly. Basically, he killed a bunch of villains to be pretty again. That is a perfect example of the intentions of anti-heroes. By this definition Huck Finn can be considered an anti-hero, because of his relationship with Jim. He travels with Jim across the Mississippi river, not to help Jim escape slavery and find his family, but rather to have help in his own travels and escaping his father. When he finds Jim he states, "I was ever so glad to see Jim. I warn't so lonesome now." (Twain 52). This quote exhibits Huck's true desire to travel with Jim. When Huck is asked if he is harboring any runaway slaves, and he lies to save Jim, he does because he believes he would feel bad if he had given him up. This is another scenario where Huck helps Jim but for his benefit. Unlike Deadpool, Huck seems to change the reason for his actions. He sends the coast guard to help the sinking ship because he genuinely feels bad for the murderers that are going to die. I believe Huck is only an anti-hero because he struggles with morality and cannot define right from wrong. As opposed to Deadpool, who is really just a scumbag.

Proctor-Man

John Proctor reminds me of Batman. Not in the literal sense, seeing as how I doubt John Proctor has ever fought the Joker, yet they are both tragic heroes. John Proctor's fatal flaw is how important his name is to him. He refuses to betray his friends when asked to sell them out to the court, because he cannot sign his name to the document for the town to see or his name would be tarnished, and he would have to live with the guilt. Batman has a fatal flaw as well, and that his inability to kill. This does not seem like a bad thing, but when bad guys are constantly trying kill him and the many civilians of Gotham, it would help he didn't focus on arresting them rather than finishing the job. In  many iterations of Batman, his refusal to kill has been his downfall, as it much harder to detain an insane criminal with super powers, rather kill him/her/it, believe it or not. Batman's and John Proctor's fatal flaw make them great characters, and tragic heroes respectively.
Not only are they both tragic heroes, but I would describe them both as role models. John Proctor is role model because he cannot sell out his friends to the court, because he will not be able to his children, "how to walk like men in the world," (Miller 207). For this reason, John Proctor is a role model to his kids because they can see he did not show cowardice in the face of death, and would not betray his friends. This is similar to Batman because he pretty much does that every day. He runs into danger to protect the lives of the innocent, there is no greater role model. He was every little boy's hero, simply because he is Batman.

 

Comics and Religion

Religion and superheroes are two topics that most people don't relate, unless someone reads comics religiously. Get it? Anyway, they are more similar than people think. Consider how they both have  impacted the culture of the world. Comics were created to entertain, and they have been very successful. Every year new movies are made about superheroes, and they take up much of the media. The success of these movies is immense, which shows how popular and revered they are in our culture, similar to the widespread acceptance of church and religion. Superheroes such as Captain America are created to show how to be a good person and put others before oneself. These comics are similar to early Puritan writings which were written to exemplify the benefits of religion and show how to live a good life in the eyes of God, though using different tactics. Early Puritan writer, Jonathan Edwards, uses fear in "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" to convince sinners to follow God and live a life without sin by describing the mighty power of God and torments of Hell, through threats such as "God has many different unsearchable ways of taking wicked men out of the world and sending them to hell." (Edwards 22-23) . This is juxtaposed to the cultural influence of Captain America, who is a role model to comic fans and a perfect representation of how to be a morally good person. They also use similar tactics to tell morally influential stories. In comics there is always a good and bad guy, and the good guy always winds because his intentions are pure. These stories can be related to biblical stories which always convey a moral ideal, such as the juxtaposition of God and the Devil, or David and Goliath. Religious writings and comics both influence culture by using stories and rhetorical devices.

Christopher Columbus and Spiderman

I'm sure there is confusion as to how Spiderman and Christopher Columbus relate. Christopher Columbus, to my knowledge, had no super powers. Despite obvious differences, they have similar stories, yet opposite roles. Spiderman was the unsung hero of his town. He did not take credit for his actions, and continued his life as a teenager in high school with no social life and deals with an onslaught of bullies. Not to mention, Spiderman is vilified by the local paper, though he is innocent and only trying to help people. So how does this relate to the story of Christopher Columbus you ask? Well, Spiderman is kind of like the Native Americans that Christopher Columbus encountered when he "discovered" America. The Native Americans, just like Spiderman, have been falsely represented. They were not so happy to give up their land, as we have been taught. Instead, Christopher Columbus, who unlike Spiderman, has been painted as a hero, slaughtered many Native Americans. As stated by Christopher Columbus in his Letter to King Ferdinand of Spain he "took some natives by force". Spiderman only takes criminals by force, yet in his story the people believe he is the villain, and Christopher Columbus was revered as a god, and his story spoke of his heroic journey to discover America. Spiderman relates to the Native Americans because he has been falsely and unfairly represented, just as the Native Americans have been falsely represented throughout history. Christopher Columbus is the opposite of Spiderman, who is a good guy that everyone thinks is a jerk and Columbus was a jerk that everyone thought to be a good guy. Seriously, he was a scumbag. Stop teaching our kids about his heroics. Teach them about Spiderman.