Week Twelve: Diverse Position Science Fiction

           The story takes a look at a group of humans forced to leave Earth for reasons that are never made clear. They are taken in by an alien race that keeps them in a ‘Preserve’ then uses them, primarily the males, to incubate their young in a process very similar to pregnancy and childbirth. The central character in this story is Gan, a young man coming of age who has been promised to the alien ‘protector’ of his family. The story focuses on several things simultaneously.

           On one hand, it is the author’s pregnant man’ story about a man choosing to carry children out of love in an unequal relationship. Gan chooses, in the end, to not kill himself or his protector but instead to allow her to, in an almost sexual scene, implant her eggs in him. He does partly to protect his family and partly because he can’t stand the thought of her being that intimate with someone else.

           On the other hand, it is a story about power dynamics between two different races where one has the power to dictate the terms under which the other shall live. The humans live a life slightly better than that of livestock where they are denied access to weapons and anything else the aliens feel they shouldn’t have, can’t leave their ‘Preserve’ and have to give up their children to act as incubators for alien children. In the end it is a truly disturbing story. But overall, Bloodchild is a fantastic reading experience.

Week Eleven: Cyberpunk and Steam Punk

I watched Paprika this week, it is one of my favorite animated film directed by Satoshi Kon. Satoshi is also one of my favorite director, I love all his works, it is so pity he passed away in such a young age. Memories, Perfect Blue, Millennium Actress, Tokyo Godfathers, Paranoia Agent and Paprika are all amazing works, I really recommend them to everyone.

In Paprika, a gorgeous riot of future-shock ideas and brightly animated imagery, the doors of perception never close. A mind-twisting, eye-tickling wonder, this anime bears little relation to the greasy, sticky kid stuff that Hollywood churns out, those fatuous fables with wisecracking woodland creatures selling lessons in how to be a good child so you can grow up to be a good citizen. Model behavior isn’t on the menu in Paprika, and neither are dinky songs and visuals. Here, when a woman sprouts a pair of wings, she doesn’t only flit about like Tinker Bell; she’s also pinned captive to a table, a man’s hand slithering under her skin.

This is not an animation that made for children, it is made completely for adults viewers.

Week Eight: Mythic Fiction and Contemporary Urban Fantasy

Week Seven: The Novel of Spiritual Education

I am a person that don't like to read, but Harry Potter is probably the first long novel that I finished. I think that shows how much I love this series when I was a kid, I mean I still love it now and I really enjoy the movies as well. I still remember I was in middle school when I read the first book of Harry Potter, I started reading the time when I went to bed and I spent the whole night finished the book, I just couldn't stop reading it.
This week , I reread part of the first book again, I was still fascinated by how good it is. This book is full of wonderful, sly humor. In Hogwarts, exams don't mean just essay tests, but also practical tests. Professor Flitwick called them one by one into his class to see if they could make a pineapple tap-dance across a desk. Professor McGonagall watched them turn a mouse into a snuffbox -- points were given for how pretty the snuffbox was, but taken away if it had whiskers.

Throughout most of the book, the characters are impressively described and every one of them are so vivid that you can almost see them in front of you. 

On the whole, the first Harry Potter book is very funny, moving and impressive .

Week Six: The Heroic Journey

I’m not gonna lie, I didn’t know who is J.R.R Tolkien even when I watched The Lord of the Ring Movie, but I was fascinated by the movie immediately and fall in love with the whole background story and the mystery world that Tolkien created. Then I read Hobbits and it was that time I found out Tolkien is the writer of all these masterpieces. I watched the first and the second movies of The Hobbits, it was pretty good, the dragon was amazing, but still I think the book is on another level.

I would say J.R.R Tolkien’s works is a huge inspiration for me. The movie of The Lord of The Ring fulfilled my fantasy of middle earth world. There are so many characters and creatures that I like in Tolkien’s books, some times I also like to design my own versions or think of some of the creatures when I design characters.

This week, I reread part of the book again. This is a book full of adventure, heroism, song, laughter and landscapes. One of the most appealing aspects of The Hobbit is that we can all find our inner-Hobbit; the part of us that wants nothing by an easy and comfortable life. But there is still something inside all of us that perks up at the thought of adventure and a journey into the unknown and I think this is why The Hobbit is such a firm favorite and fondly remembered by all who read it.

Week Five: Witches

       This week, I read the book of Aunt Maria, the story is clearly aimed at younger readers, but it also is a bit scary for those too young. I'd say readers from 12 up would enjoy this enormously. I loved the main character and really disliked Aunt Maria. Unfortunately, she was so well developed, and her motives so normal, that I loved her too. Despite her frightening abilities, she was only human. She wants to keep the world the way she has been used to and is scared of change. There are many people in our world these days that are just like that. I also loved the way the main character found ways to do things her aunt disapproved of. Of course that got her deeper and deeper into problems.

       A powerful woman character in a fantasy or horror type of story or film is usually in the form of a witch. Witches have magical powers and are usually more evil than good. But when talk about witches, they are usually very ugly and a bad character. But in the other hand, good witches are usually very beautiful. I recently watched a TV show called American Horror Stories the 3rd season, it is a story of a bunch of teenager witches, powerful and attractive, I think it is kind of fit nowadays young people’s imaginations of witches.

         But the Movie Kiki’s Delivery Service we watched in class is another whole different story. A young witch, on her mandatory year of independent life, finds fitting into a new community difficult while she supports herself by running an air courier service. I feel the witch Kiki is neither the ugly one nor the untouchable beautiful ones. She is more close to a normal person.

Week Four: The New Weird

Being in school as students we can often hear “that person is weird” or “that thing is weird.” I always like to ask why. What makes something or someone weird or normal? Something is weird when it breaks societal norms. For example, if someone puts his hand over his mouth while talking, you would probably consider that trait as weird.  But why is that? Because it is not a normal thing a person will do while talking.

A good way to demonstrate this point is to look at different cultures. What’s weird in one may be the norm in the other or vice versa. For example, slurping your noodles or soup in America would be considered weird, but not slurping could be weird or offensive in Japan.

Even though our society may deem a certain person or trait as weird, at the level of individuals, it can still be desirable. If a girl blushes constantly, she may be considered weird by her society but some men may find it cute. For them, it is a good weird.

For my self, I like weird things such as weird illustrations or weird music, they maybe not fit my taste, but I always like to try. I think 'weird' is very compelling, because it gives you a break from a stereotype. I really respect people who use the old fashion way to do their job but I admire those who create new things. For me, I don’t really care if a thing or a people is weird or not, as long as I think they are good, I will respect.