Essay 4 Topic

For my final essay I will be writing about the first prompt. I find it very interesting how the Walking Dead has grasped such a large following and I think one of the primary reasons for this is because it has a presence in so many mediums. For instance it originally was a comic book series, but then it evolved into a television series, which also sparked the production of it being turned into a video game. I also want to explore why this zombie franchise in specific has been so successful and what sets it apart from other zombie franchises. It will also be beneficial to note the differences between the tv show and the comics because I would want to highlight how this franchise is so dynamic and viewed through so many different lights. Lastly I will also be talking about the "Talking Dead" which is a television series of its own that follows the show and provides another outlet for viewers who enjoy the show to closely follow it.

Walking Dead

I have been watching this show for about three years now and I can say that it is one of my most favorite shows. It is not like other zombie based cinematography with mindless gore and violence but has an intricate plot. This was also pointed out by author Robert Kirkman when in he says these comics "show us gore and violence and all that cool stuff too... but there’s always an undercurrent of social commentary and thoughtfulness." I am well versed with the T.V. show so watching the episodes again was refreshing, however I never read the comics and was glad to have been given the chance to do so. I noticed many differences between the comic and the show. I noticed that the comics had many different characters and didnt even include some of my most favorite characters, such as Merle and Daryl. It also has an altered but very similar plot line. All of volume one of the comics is basically equivalent to the first two seasons of the T.V show. One of the main reasons I also enjoy this show a lot because it also shows the moral conundrums and decisions that the protagonist Rick Grimes has to face. For example in the TV show in episode 12 of season 2 Rick has to kill his best friend Shane and goes through so much pain doing so.

Part 2: Flame Alphabet

I am choosing the following passage which is right from the beginning of part two.

"I caught one last sight of Claire. She seemed confused. No one told her she'd come up short in the field and collapsed. No one told her she had not escaped. They stuffed me in my car, shut the door, then banged a hand on the roof to tell me it was okay to go now. Join the procession out of her. Get going. Without her. But it was not okay.......when I kicked on the doors they were blocked from the outside. It was like my car was underwater and I could not get out."

Even though this quote comes very early in part two, it stuck with me because it shows true desperation. This quote refers to when Sam and Claire were getting out of town and how Claire decided to go back to the house. However before she even made it to the house, her legs 'faltered' and she lay motionless on the field. When Sam tried to go and get her the men of the quarantine pinned him and stuffed him back in his car, and instructed to leave. Sam was bewildered and tried to go out again to get his wife but was again pinned down and he felt like his car was underwater and he was drowning in it. I found this passage to be very powerful because it reveals true helplessness and how a man has to leave behind his potentially deceased wife because people won't let him get her. I thought about what Sam could have done or what I would do to get Claire, but when you think about it he really could do nothing and was helpless. Even though he is eventually reunited with Claire, I hope no one ever has to go through this type of traumatic  of experience, because it is frightening to think about.

The Flame Alphabet

I chose the following passage from page 17

"A decline in our appearance came next. Claire's own hair had come to look like a wig, as if her body might reject it all at once. Her hands had the dimpled plastic cast of a mannequin, a body painted with something fake, then cooked. She had never worn much makeup before, but now she was casting her face with it and she shuffled through the house with the clownish features an undertaker smears on his bodies."

The above passage depicts what happened to Claire as a result of this mysterious disease that has been looming around. It shows us how she is become more and more inanimate everyday. I laud the authors use of imagery here because I could clearly picture and even feel the hand of a mannequin, when Claire's hand was compared to it. It also shows us how Claire is desperately trying to preserve some of her former glace and beauty by using large amounts of make up. The author equates this to what an undertaker does with dead bodies to make them look beautiful as well. This is symbolic because I think that this signals or foreshadows the death of Claire. I am looking forward to reading more about this speech related disease, which forces parents to leave that what they love most.

Bounty

I thoroughly enjoyed reading George Saunders visual novella, Bounty. This novella touched upon many themes such as discrimination, familial ties, and slavery. It also reminded me of the other works we have read in class and led me to draw a parallel to Connie's tail and Eliza's tail ( from the Blackhole comics).
In this novella I found it very powerful how Chris decides to give up everything in order to find his sister Connie. He gives up his job(which is very rare for a flawed to have), security, and his home so that he can make sure his sister is safe. Along the path to his sister he faces many obstacles, gets tortured and even loses his virginity(which can be associated with him losing his innocence). However what I found most powerful was that even after he finds his sister at the end, he doesn't continue on with the job that Corbett provides, but goes out to change the world. He does this because he when he see's his sister's baby he says out loud " I've never loved anyone so much in my life.....I beg them to repeal the Slave Edict and grant her full citizenship. I ask them to consider their own children and honor that part of the eternal that resides within them." This shows us how he doesn't want Connie's child to go through the same hardships that he went through and believes in his fathers words that "that in time you meek shall inherit the earth." However instead of staying passive he decided to go out and join a rebel group to help other flawed's and change this oppressive system.

Blackhole Comics

I chose to talk about the part during which Rob disappears and Chris goes to meet her best friend Marci for solace and comfort. This occurred in page 285 when Marci was showing Chris a picture of Marci and her friend going to a concert. Chris thought that the picture looked stupid and blatantly expressed her views, this caused Marci to become angry and lash out at Chris. Marci told Chris that she doesn't appreciate how her friend is criticizing her so much and says that she doesn't criticize Chris for her "fucked up life." She even goes on to say how she has a life and has to wake up early in the morning to go to school whereas Chris will just sleep the whole day. I found this passage very interesting because it shows how the friendship between two very close childhood friends takes a turn for the worse and it also foreshadows the end of this friendship. It shows you how time and distance can undo and weaken friendships. This has also been very true for me and I'm willing to bet for a lot of others as well.

Sources

1. Ben Affleck on Bill Maher’s Muslim Problem

In this article, historian Juan Cole addresses the controversial debate between Ben Affleck and comedian Bill Maher regarding Islam. Bill Maher and Sam Harris give an impassioned discourse upon their views of Islam. However much of it can be summed to Muslim-hating bigotry. I found this article very interesting because while it does discuss the debate upon whether Islam is a violent religion it also provides some background information upon Bill Maher. After reading this information it is hard not to associate Bill Maher as an Islamaphobe.

2. Terrorism and the other Religions

This article was also by historian Juan Cole and talks about how Islam is often misconstrued as the most and only violent religion in the world. However Juan Cole effectively  rebuts this claim by showing that Muslims are no more violent than any other religious people. He does this by talking about terrorism in Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism and more. I was very drawn to this article because it directly correlated with my first article about Maher. Also because Juan Cole is actually a professor at the University of Michigan and I am lucky enough to be taking one of his classes. He is a leading expert in Islamic affairs and is widely read and sought after for his expertise.

3. Islam and Democracy in Indonesia

This paper by Michel Buehler talks about how Islam and democracy coexist in the largest Islamic country in the world with about 230 million Muslims. Aside from that it also talks about how Indonesia is the world's third biggest democracy and how that is confounding given that most of its citizens are Muslims. People find this hard to believe because Islam and democracy aren't the most compatible of combinations due to Islam's view that no secular law is to be put above divine law. Buehler does a good job describing how these two coexist, one of the reasons being "the fragmentation of Islamic authority is society." I found this piece to be very interesting because it fits in well with where I think I'll be going with my essay.

Ragnarok

"She read the introduction about the retrieval of the old Germanic world, with its secrets and wonders...  She was puzzled of the idea of the Germans. She had dreams that they were Germans underneath her bed, who, having cast her parent into a green pit in dark woods were sawing down the legs of her bed to reach her and destroy her. Who were these old Germans as opposed to the ones overhead, now dealing death out of the skies."

This passage comes quite early on in the book and refers to when the thin child comes across the book Asgard and the Gods and starts to read it. It refers to the child realizing  how this book is filled with many mysteries, apparitions, and illusions. The thin child also comments how this book was written by Germans and how it reminds her of the shrouded Germanic culture and its secrets. I also found it very interesting as to how she comes to the conclusion that she is afraid of Germans. She doesn't explicitly say this but says that she thinks they're Germans underneath her bed, who are trying to claw their way to her and destroy her. As a young child I would also be afraid of whats under my bed or in my closet, and I found it intriguing how the thin child made Germans to be her bed monsters. This probably has a lot to do with the time and setting of the story because parts of it refers to World War II and the bombings over England and how German's are doing this by "dealing death out of the skies."

Qu'ran Readings

This was my first time reading excerpts from the Qu'ran and it was very interesting to get to read it from the viewpoints of three translators. It helped provide me with a more solid basis for understanding. At first I wasn't following along the stories too well but as I got used to the syntax I was able to get the grasp of my most things. I favored Yu Safali's translation over the other two because it was written in English that I better understood and was generally more comprehensive. However it was still very enriching to be presented with all three translations at the same time because it provided for an interesting dynamic. For example in the Az Zukhruf readings, there was a line(043.068 ) which all three scholars interpreted the prophet's followers through different names. Yu Safali mentioned them as Devotees, Pickthal mentioned them as Slaves, and Shakir mentioned them as Servants. Upon reading these texts I also realized how the Qu'ran makes many references to Jesus, Christianity, and Judaism. It just shows how connected the world's regions truly are, unfortunately that doesn't stop people from spilling blood over petty differences in these interrelated religions.

Book of Daniel

I was never familiar with the Book of Daniel and reading the excerpts and explanation was very interesting. At first when I was reading the excerpts I couldn't follow along to well but when I read the explanation and became cognizant of the time period and succession of events, it all became clear. I also didn't expect to the Book of Daniel to be an apocalyptic book of the Hebrew Bible and when I read this it made sense because it did have many of the characterizations of an apocalypse. One of these characterizations could be  Antiochus Epiphanes the evil tyrant who symbolizes apocalypse and the onset of it due to his cruel treatment of the Jews. It was also very interesting to hear of Daniel's interpretation of King Nebuchadnezzar dream, which symbolized the successive kingdoms to come. All in all a very though provoking and interesting read.

Babel

I was unfamiliar with Babel, so reading all the different translations and views of interpretation upon it were interesting. Some recurring themes that I saw in all the translations were hubris and the wrath of a higher being(Ywah). I also didn't really get why the god punished the humans and scattered them everywhere right after the big flood. I mean I get that they were building a great tower and were united under a common language, but why would god be afraid of mere people? Also many people say that the tower was built so that they would be on level with god, but how high could a tower truly be built back then. It was still interesting to read how Babel has been translated so many times and how it still generally manages to say the same story, because often times multiple translations of a text skew the true meaning of it.

Gilgamesh

I had heard of Gilgamesh in my world history class in high school. I knew it was about a man who sought out the answers to immortality. However this video showed me that there was so much more to this story. This epic is an extremely intricate and detailed work that really resonated with me. I think it resonates with almost everyone, because it depicts human emotions. This video showed me how people thousands of years ago felt and thought the same way we do today. It also shows me how people look for the same answers that people did thousands of years ago. I felt it very interesting how Gilgamesh influences many people today. I was surprised when the speaker talked about how Gilgamesh influenced Sadam Hussein and many others. This epic is also a very meaningful because it shows how even though we cant be immortal we should live our lives happily and with meaning.

Religulous Response

The moment I looked at the title of this movie I knew what it was about. In this movie Bill Maher looks to disprove and ridicule many religions through common sense and comedy. I found it very interesting how he traveled the world and got to interview so many people with such different backgrounds. This movie reminded me a lot about The Unbelievers. However one thing that this movie failed to do was to use scientific reasoning to back its claims, whereas The Unbelievers did. I wish this movie could have been more like Sam Harris's TED talk because in that video Sam very explicitly uses science to tackle religion. I also felt that at times Maher was inconsiderate towards many and didn't even let many of his interviewees finish their statements and treated them with disrespect. I feel that this movie does a good job of ridiculing religion and providing an interesting point of view, but this could have also been accomplished with the belittlement of people.

The Last Man

I've always loved comics as a child, but this comic completely blew me away. I was always at the edge of my seat because so many things were happening at once. I never could even fathom of the extinction of one gender, but this comic allowed for me to experience that. It was interesting to see how women responded to this catastrophe. Some sought to preserve the old traditions while others took on a more radical approach and wanted to destroy everything associated with masculinity. The Amazonian group were really interesting to me because I could never imagine that such a radical group would rise up in an apocalyptic scenario without men. It was also interesting how each member would burn off one of their breasts to show their solidarity and resolution to the group. I also look forward to continuing reading this series and see how the dynamic between Hero and Yorick will play out. I  hope that we get to read more comics from Vertigo in the future.

My Imaginary Bunker

In the piece "My Imaginary Bunker," author Megan Bergman writes about how we as a society do very little to help combat climate change and that if we don't combat it, we or our children will have to face the consequences. Even though Bergman downplays her efforts in protecting our environment I think that she does a lot. She is a vegetarian, drives a hybrid car, farms her own vegetables, drinks out of jars, and recycles. I can only cross off one of the above from my environment friendly actions, but if more people were to act in more conscientious ways like Bergman than that can truly make a difference. I think that we should all supplement our "armchair activism," with some life changes or actual activism, because that can help us preserve our environment and keep the earth cool.

Shock Doctrine

The readings that pertained to the Shock Doctrine were all very eye opening and some even appalling.  In Free-Marketeering by Stephen Holmes one point was made that resonated with the other readings assigned in this class. This similarity that arises is income disparity and how these disasters(in this case capitalism) only makes the rich stronger and the poor worse off . Holmes went on to say that the poor become so marginalized that they are "no longer even worth exploiting." One appalling point that was made in the piece  was how individuals, companies, and even nations can sometimes benefit off of disasters. I was sickened to hear of how the Iraq War was "the single most profitable event" for Oil Services Company Halliburton. What's even more sickening was that the company's former CEO was Dick Cheney who at that point in time was the Vice President of America. If people don't know America was at war with Iraq when Cheney was in office. This shocked me and even though I never saw the 9-11 attacks and the Iraq War response as examples of events that follow the shock doctrine," I can now because of these readings.

Debt, Justice, and Morality

I found many emotions stirring through me when I was reading the piece on debt. In this reading, David Graeber talks about how third world countries have been afflicted with debt and how the IMF has a big role in this. I always thought the International Monetary Fund was a institution that helps developing countries, however Graeber opened my eyes. In his piece he refers to the IMF as the "world’s debt enforcers—You might say, the high-finance equivalent of the guys who come to break your legs." The IMF has basically allowed banks to give out billions of dollars in loans to developing countries for exorbitant compound interest rates and has assured the banks of repayment. What I found even more disconcerting was that most of these countries have paid back three to four times what they have owed and are still not even close to repaying their compounded principle amount. I find it sad when people and organizations can profit on others suffering, and this can also be seen in the Justice reading which talks about price gouging in Florida. As a society we need to amend our profiteering attitude and try to help others out without  thinking only about ourselves and our gains.

Response to Slavoj Žižek

Slavoj Žižek makes some very interesting points in his writings and even though I don't agree with all of his points, some of his points caused me to reflect upon my own preconceived ideas. One such point was in his article Wake up and smell the apocalypse, in this article Žižek refers to apocalypses as revelations and not catastrophe. This is the second time I have come across this, first with Junot Diaz's writing's and now with Žižek's. I always thought about apocalypses as negative catastrophes with no positive attributes or revelations attached to them. However this isn't always the case, Žižek mentions that often times apocalypses yield positive consequences or information that can help future generations avoid more disasters or be better prepared. Another point that Žižek made which really stuck with me was regarding America's self obsessed bubble and the 9-11 attacks. I do agree that often times America is quite closed off and not aware of the problems occurring in other countries but I think it was wrong of Žižek to talk about the 9-11 attacks in the manner he did. He compared this infamous event to some movies and TV series and said "America got what it fantasized about," which I don't think is the best way to phrase what he was trying to say. However, I do agree that we all should change our attitudes and start to pay more attention to the outside world and not just to ourselves, even though that is needed sometimes. We need to change ourselves to make sure we can help and change others.

Response to: Apocalypse: What Disasters Reveal

In the intriguing essay, Apocalypse: What Disasters Reveal, author Junot Díaz tells readers about the three different meanings of apocalypses, and how some of them can be characterized as social disasters. This terminology is interesting because it shows us how some apocalypses are results of human and societal interventions and disturbances. Díaz primarily focuses on the Haitian Earthquake that rocked the country in 2010, in his essay he provides many reasons to why this social disaster occurred. He first started off with Haiti's colonization by the French, and how the French introduced a far greater number of workers to the land, when it could only support so many. Then he moves on to how Haiti became locked in a cycle of debt due to the indemnities it paid, and how they were under indirect rule from other foreign countries including the USA. Haiti also deforested much of its land, which led to mudslides, erosion of arable land, and more dependence upon foreign foods, especially American rice. Then Díaz profoundly connects all these points back to Haiti's earthquake and how they all led up to this apocalypse. When he used that word, I was taken a-back, because I never thought of natural disasters as apocalypses. However, he has a valid point because Haiti was completely wrecked by this disaster and he connected this well to the three different meanings of apocalypses. It was also very interesting to see how Díaz connected the enormous income disparity we see today to apocalypses and how in the future  we might see rich billionaires locked away in their protective haven while everyone else just dies off in future apocalypses. But he does end the essay with a glimmer of hope as he eventually believes that human beings will "collectively take responsibility for the world" their creating in order to alleviate human misery.