Week 7: The Novel of Spiritual Education

"Harry Potter"

J. K. Rowling 

Harry Potter has been one of my all time favorite novel and movies since I was very young. When I started reading the series, I read it in English then in Korean since my parents had told me to read it in both languages. If I remember correctly, the original was much more effective in telling the story as well as expressing the atmosphere JK Rowling was trying to go with. It wasn’t bad reading in a different language, but with the different grammars used in Korean just simply gave out a different feeling. 

I have watched the movies once again with the topic of this week in my mind. Harry Potter wasn’t the first book to introduce me into the world of magic since there were Asian novels and comics that had a good variety of magic, however it definitely was the one that introduced me into how world of magic may be connected with the modern world. As a young child, I always thought that if I had the ability of magic, I would show off in front of others, however in Harry Potter, there is a rule to never use magic outside of Hogwarts. 

Back then, it was quite popular for a story to have ordinary people to dislike those who were special. Like in Harry Potter, witches and wizards were seen in a quite negative way to those with no magic abilities. Also Harry had to deal with his relatives who disliked him due to jealousy toward his parents. As I grew older and continued reading and watching the novel, I gradually realize maybe in some ways being a witch or a wizard can be a downfall in one’s life. Especially having a life like Harry’s probably wasn’t the best since he was lead to dealing with “You-Know-Who”. 

JK Rowling has written the series in such expressive and creative way that the book is not only loved by teenagers, but also is loved by adults. It still does introduce us into the world of wizards and witches allowing us to experience the world through the book. 

I do enjoy fantasy, however I love it when there is a connection between fantasy and modern life that Harry Potter still falls under one of my favorite series. Magic may be the key point in the novel, however with a taste of reality just simply makes it so much interesting. 

Week 6: Heroic Journey

"The Hobbit"

J. R. R. Tolkien

Many stories do include a hero as their main protagonist who goes on journey and develops in their own ways. The novel, The Hobbit, written by J. R. R. Tolkien tells a story of a heroic adventure of a character named Bilbo. I have both watched the movie and later on read the novel, however the novel did include more detailed on each character including Bilbo himself. Although his father was a normal hobbit from a well-to-do family, his mother was from the Tooks, a family where they were infamous for their un-hobbit-like tendency to go on adventures. Bilbo started off as an ordinary hobbit who enjoyed being comfortable at his own house rather than going out into an adventure until het met Gandalf, the great wizard, and twelve dwarves. They offered him to join them to go on an adventure to find the mountain of gold, in which he refused. However, inside of him surely flowed the blood of the Tooks since he did later join in for the journey. 

As you read through the book or watch through the movie, Bilbo’s character develops very smoothly. It is definitely hard for him to overcome his uncomfortable feelings toward the dangers they were encountered, but he gradually began to notice he was going toward the right direction. Bilbo doesn’t change drastically by the end of the story, however he was not ended with the same cowardly self he began with. He may have not overcome his fear of dangers in adventures, however he did matures throughout the story. There are tons of stories with a hero where they are always featured as a golden figure within the tale, a strong and powerful individual. Bilbo isn’t that type of hero that people points fingers at, however how his mind matured throughout the journey simply makes him a hero of his own kind. 

Week 5: Witches and Women in Genre

"Suspiria"

Dario Argento

When we think about a witch, most people think of it as a female figure in black with a witch hat and a broom, but Suspiria depicts a completely different witch. The witch in the movie isn’t like the witch from fairy tales, but rather like a witch people believed during the time period of witchcraft. 

There was a part in the movie where Suzy, the protagonist, asks a psychologist, Frank, what are witches, he replied with "a believer in the material world and a psychiatrist to boot, I’m convinced that the current spread of belief in magic and the occult is part of mental illness. Bad luck isn’t brought by broken mirrors, but by broken minds.” This quote indicates that witches are based off people’s belief of evil. It’s rather a kind of belief where people practices on black magic. Professor Milius also replied to Suzy saying that witches are “malefic, negative, and destructive” which indicates that witches are all about the negative energy. 

There is a moment where in the movie there is something spiritual about the witch that this movie may also fall under the category of ‘supernatural’ which I found very interesting since I never really thought of witches in a supernatural way. I’ve only thought of witches to be from a fantasy or from folk tales, but never something to do with spirits or the dead. It was quite an experience watching this film to understand a different aspect of the term ‘witches’. 

Week 4: Old Weird and New Weird

I haveThe Walking Dead and The Living Dead and watched Cabin in the Woods and Insidious. I have questioned myself how the old weird differ from the topic ‘Monster’ we discussed during our first week of class. In the description the old Weird was known from the Weird Tales Magazine that included range of stories appeared dramatizing uncanny experiences, tales of the monstrous, or experiences with supernatural. So I wondered if Frankenstein also fell under the Old Weird. 

The two readings are basically about the main characters living under a condition where most people are infected and have turned into a living corpse. They are simply a survival story and surely is where the protagonist experience an uncanny event where they try to find a solution to the deadly disease. In these two readings about zombies probably fall under the term ‘weird’ because they do have their own category called the ‘zombies’ or the ‘undead’ which may be pretty much different from the term ‘monster’. Zombies were surely influenced by Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein since it also include a story of the undead, however people don’t find it the same due to the fact that zombies are born through science fictional methods such as radiation, mental diseases, or viruses. 

Insidious is a supernatural horror film and ’supernatural’ fall under the term ‘weird’ as well. There are many people who believe in it and who doesn’t that it’s something people may question. If this falls upon the this week’s category, then many of the Asian horror films may also fall into this category as well due to their use of supernatural themes. However, in many of the supernatural films shown in the United States do include demons. That may be something people may find it weird since something unusual is happening around. Honestly, in reality when something moves by itself or just abnormal things happen in front you, many people may react with ’that’s weird’. Then slowly move to ’that’s creepy’ or ’that’s scary’. Surely, something that we simply aren’t familiar with are weird. 

Cabin in the Woods is just includes both what the two readings and Insidious has. The movie includes all different kinds of creatures from an undead to a demon, giant animals, aliens and many more. At first sight, this movie may look like a movie that’s just about some supernatural events happening in this cabin to these group of teenagers, however there’s much more to it. And that is something most people would find it ‘weird’ and ‘funny’ as they continue watching the movie. It was quite unusual for something like that to be what’s behind the scene of the teenager’s death that this movie definitely falls under the category of ‘weird’.