TOW #3 Adventure Time

Adventure Time is one of my favorite cartoons. Created by Pendleton Ward for Cartoon Network, the animated serious follows the adventures of friends best friends Finn the talking dog and Jake the human boy. Together they live in the magical post-apocalyptic Land of Ooo, where they fight monsters and save the day. Adventure Time has run for five seasons, and is extremely popular not only among children, but teens and adults as well.

One reason Adventure Time is so popular is its use of humor. Though it may have an immediate audience for young children, the humor used often has mature undertones, making it enjoyable for an extended older audience. The show does not rely on cheap or crude humor, but instead creates amusing interaction between characters through hyperbole. Each character is an exaggeration of a specific type of character. There is Finn, the ultimate "good guy", Jake the lazy best friend, and Ice King the desperate bachelor, who is constantly abducting princesses. Each character is flawed but at the same time completely lovable, and all together they convey messages about love, loyalty, and friendship.

But perhaps the thing that makes Adventure Time most popular among an older audience is the sense of nostalgia created in each episode. Each adventure Finn and Jake go on awakens a sense of adventure one can remember feeling as a young child. Each episode when Finn and Jake wake up in their treehouse, ready to take on the monsters of the day I, myself, am reminded of pretending games I would play as a child where I battled monster. In fact, even the core premise of the show, where Finn is the last human left on Earth, evokes an extreme sense of nostalgia. The nostalgia generated by the characters and their adventures appeals to the viewers sense of pathos.

All together, I think Adventure Time is largely popular amongst an older audience not only because it is entertaining, but because it reminds them of a simpler time in their lives. Unlike many other cartoons with older audiences (like The Simpsons or Family Guy), it is a cartoon that appeals to the viewer's inner child through it's innocence and nostalgia, while at the same time is humorous and enjoyable.

TOW #2 New York Times Article on Navy Yard Shooting

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/23/us/obama-to-attend-memorial-service-for-victims-of-navy-yard-shooting.html?hp&_r=0

"Obama to Attend Memorial Service for Victims of Navy Yard Shooting"

            This article was written for the New York Times by journalist Michael D Shear. Shear is a white house correspondent for the New York Times, and has also  for the Washington Post. He this article as a response to the shooting at the Navy Yard. He announces that there will be a memorial service for the victims this coming Sunday, and that the Obamas will be attending to honor the victims. While Shear’s explicit purpose is to report the news of the memorial service, the article goes on with a more implicit purpose: a commentary on the gun law controversy in America.

             Shears is unhappy with the reoccurrence of each shooting, as well as the way they are being handled politically. Though this is a professionally written news article, and not an opinion piece, hints of impatience and frustration can be detected in Shear’s tone. “It has become an all-too-familiar role for Mr. Obama[…] At each event, the president has sought to find the right balance between the sadness of a nation and the anger of its citizens,” Shears writes, “But the memorial services have also served to provide Mr. Obama with the emotional power to fuel his gun-control efforts.” Shear’s tone implies that he feels that Obama is exploiting these tragedies in order to pass gun control legislation. However, Shears seems even further frustrated that despite Obama’s “emotion power,” no drastic change have been made in gun legislation. He writes, “there is little evidence that lawmakers’ positions on gun violence have shifted much in the past several months. And with Congress locked in a bitter fight about the debt and the budget, there appears to be little appetite on Capitol Hill for another battle over guns.”

            Shear’s frustration expressed through his tone likely resonates with many Americans, who are also disappointed with the lack of changes made to gun laws, especially in light of recent tragedies. However, Shear’s article definitely has more liberal biases, and is likely more effective to politically-left Americans. While I don’t think Shear’s article is strong enough to sway a conservative gun-advocate, (but then again it is supposed to be an unbiased news piece) it definitely portrays the frustration felt by many Americans.

A make shift memorial at the Washington Navy Yard

N.d. Photograph. The Week. The Week, 19 Sept. 2013. Web. 22 Sept. 2013. <http://theweek.com/article/index/249934/dont-try-to-make-sense-of-mass-shootings>.

TOW #1 "The War Within" by Anthony L. Gargno

            “The War Within” was written by author and journalist Anthony L. Gargano, and was published in the April 2013 edition of the Philadelphia magazine. This article was written for the public, in order to shed light on the inner turmoil marines and other soldiers face after returning from war. Gargano discusses the post-war life of one specific marine, referred to as “the Tree Pruner” for anonymity, who was a snipper in the middle east, and estimated he is responsible for the deaths of over 2,200 lives. Though the term is never explicitly uses, it becomes clear to the reader throughout the article that the marine suffers from extreme PTSD, wrought with guilt from his acts from the war.

            The author is able to show this guilt through the rhetorical device of narration. He retells the marine’s difficulty dealing with the traumatic stress in a story-like fashion. For example he describes how the Tree Pruner finds it difficult to sleep:  “His wife feels warm next to him. Will the faces return once he drifts off? The Tree Pruner begs his Maker to keep them away, but too many nights they reappear, hundreds of them, blinking before him one by one with their saddle-brown complexions” (86).  Through narration the author attempts to help the reader connect to the marine, and truly understand what he is feeling.

            I, however, believe that the audience, myself included, can never truly comprehend the horrors this man has seen, or the severity of the moral conflict he is experiences. This is made clear not only through the narration by the author, but the first person accounts included, that describe the horrors the Tree Pruner faced. Though the audience can not gage the true depth of these events, the author certainly does an excellent job of helping them see at least some of what the marine is going through.

            The article also includes a less prominent theme of faith, which I found very interesting. This man, who has seen horror that most cannot imagine, has every right to believe that there is no God. Yet he maintains his faith, constantly asking for forgiveness. I found his faith surprising at first, but then again, considering what he has been through, maybe it’s not to surprising at all.

IRB #1 My Life in France by Julia Child

The book I have chosen to read is titled My Life in France by Julia Child. This book is Child's autobiography, and chronicles her time spent in France, where she learned to cook and speak French. I first became interested in Julia Child in 7th grade, when I chose her for my "Hero" project, shortly after visiting her exhibit at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. I have also always loved learning about French culture. I take French, and hope to live in France someday, just as Child did. I hope by reading this novel I can learn more about how this fascinating woman transformed from someone who could neither speak French nor cook, to the Franco-American superstar chef we know today. I also hope to explore French culture through the lens of an American woman, who I can relate to.