Technology

This isn’t my first online English class, yet it is the first one that has changed my perspective on how I feel about it. Online learning is different of course. In this class it has its parts where it is like an in class, class. So in person learning it is typical interaction face-to-face, tangible and possibly easier to stay focused. Online you have no interaction and nothing is in person. This semester we were able to do videos and got to know our classmates more than a regular online class. The challenges to taking an online class are the distractions, facebook (for the random every 5 minutes procrastination), television, friends, bed (because anything involving school makes you sleepy) and no instructor to keep you focused when you start to doze off. The benefits of taking an online class are being able to get ahead more than a regular class. Also, other benefits are being able to do your work whenever you can, no tardy, no absent marks and you can be sick and still “go to class”. It isn’t that bad at all when you think about it. One of the technologies we used this semester was blogger.com it really opened my eyes and helped me with my essays with the comments I received. Blogger also benefits with the interaction with classmates, how everyone decorated their blogs you got a slight idea of how they are as well as their writing styles. I found it very beneficial, I hope that more instructors choose this way of interaction. 

image source here.

Final Presentation

Final Presentation

I couldn't figure out how to make it into a video that just opens on the blog. So you'll have to click the link above to view. (:

Reflection

Taking this class has been a struggle and a mountain to overcome. I’ve always had troubles in English classes due to procrastination and to being not motivated. The skills that I have learned in this class has been my writing process, I’ve added extra reviews into what I typically do. I notice that the more people who review it for me the better the writing in the end. I plan to apply that to my future college courses when essays come along. Hopefully that will better my grades. The readings in the class haven’t affected me much, one thing that it has done is opened my eyes to what other kinds of things there are to read, I learned that the readings in the class are the kind I would like to avoid in the future. I’ve never liked reading but having to read Frankenstein really pushed me to my limits and made me have to step outside the box to fully understand the book. I think I have met the learning outcomes for the class, the one that I think I still have problems with is to interpret and analyze texts, I understand it but I seem to struggle in that the most than anything. With the essay we did for Frankenstein I found that the most troubling essay, especially sense the book wasn’t of my interest. The process to getting the essay finished was hard, the book never really stuck in my head, which made it a struggle, once I got it finished my grade was not what I’d like but it just made me more determined to succeed in my next essays. The one outcome I feel that I succeeded in most is the organizational strategies, taking this class took me to a new level of organization. In both life and in my essays, it wasn’t easy but I feel that I have brought my organization up in this class. My writing process has changed in a few little ways, the main thing is that I review it more than I used to. I have more people review it and mush all of their opinions into my paper and I think it has really helped my finals seem more finalized. The biggest challenges were in writing. The analysis writing is the hardest I’ve ever had to deal with, when it comes to essays. I’m not a deep reader; I don’t typically read between the lines and analyze what it could mean. So I found it the hardest thing to over come, I still don’t feel extremely confident in it but I definitely feel better now than I did at the beginning of the class. Overall I have gained a lot from this class. I hope to use what I have learned in my future classes and in life. 

Zombies

In the introduction to American Zombie Gothic Kyle William Bishop states, “Historically, zombie cinema had represented a stylized reaction to the greater cultural consciousness – primarily social and political injustices – and America in the 1990s settled perhaps into too much complacency and stability to warrant serious, classical zombie narratives.” (Bishop, 15) This part in particular stuck out to me the most. My idea of what he said are basically us as Americans caused zombies to truly come alive. Someone intelligent came up with a fun theatrical way to explain how the government or how the world is going to crap. I for one, hate scary movies only by force, dragged by my feet, clawing at the doors refusing to enter have seen only a few. One movie I have seen by choice, Zombie Land. While yes, it is absolutely funny and not as scary as I expected it still shows that for them, the world was gone, the main characters in the movie were the only people left. Looking for a safe place just as we are on this world. We are always expecting the worst and to have safe place like home, it is what we need at the end of the day. Now, most people probably don’t think about it but after doing the research for the last essay made me open my eyes to see what these movies might be saying. Now I see Zombie land is funny yes, but really tells you a story that the world is falling apart it is always helpful to have someone by your side whether family or stranger. The government can one day fail us and we might not have anything to do to stop it. To let go of everything you know is a scary thought and to start over or fight for your life. People do have to fight these fears already but as a hole it could be really scary. Zombies overall have many different meanings that could potentially change views for a lot of people.

image found here 

Draft of Final

Charming Vampires

            Vampires the monsters that were once portrayed as scary are not so scary anymore. They are immortal monsters, living forever, feeding on the living until they come across the wrong path. Vampires used to be something to be warned of, bloodthirsty and a monster that no one should mess with. Because of “Twilight” and other glorified vampire movies and television shows. Vampires are now looked at as, dare I say, sexy, beautiful creatures that roam the earth without warning. Vampires are viewed as a romance, the perfect lover to always be near. Being different can be looked down upon, the recent vampire movies seem to open eyes showing viewers that anyone can be loved. They are monsters indeed; though throughout the years their vicious behaviors have changed and the outlook of what we all knew as a dangerous monster is now dangerously charming.

             In most recent vampire movies like “Twilight” bring new views to the spectrum. Like in earlier vampire movies they are portrayed as lovers or a romance. On the Monstrous website they state, “In a few cases, such as the Dearg-Due of Ireland, the vampire is a beautiful female that uses her beauty to seduce her victims.”(Monstrous, Hollywood Vampires) Now when they say, “seduce her victims” something could be very similar, possibly a beautiful woman reeling in handsome men to follow her around and keep her company throughout the night out on the town. But when she is through with them she easily disposes of them and will possibly never see them again. In a vampire’s situation, they reel their victim in, use them or in this case drink their blood but in such a violently sexual way. Once they are through with you they leave the victim lay there dead. Vampires are known for killing their victims by sucking blood out of their neck. In most scenes the victim screams a pleasurable violent scream. It almost sounds as if they are at climax, which gives the idea that vampires might as well be a romance. As confusing as it may be, how could a vampire be so attractive and yet have a side to them that is so potentially dangerous humans cannot resist the temptations of being lured into their trance.

Falling for someone who is not in mind of perfect is something that happens daily. People fall in love; you cannot stop or force whom it may be with. So as most people judge who they fall in love with and are careful not to do it with the wrong one, we are all hopeless. Being out casted puts you on a list that is taboo, forbidden to cross if you are on the list of the beautiful. Unfortunately it stops a lot more people than it should, breaking rules in this case is okay. In these movies, which are occasionally, ridiculous to think of actually do make a point. They can be startling or scary, not suitable for children but do make an amazing point. Even though these vampires are cold to the touch, feast off of people; the women or sometimes men, fall in love. In “Twilight” the movie, the main character Bella says, “About three things I was absolutely positive: first, Edward was a vampire. Second, there was a part of him - and I didn’t know how dominant that part might be - that thirsted for my blood. And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him."(Twilight, movie) Bella knew he was different the moment she laid eyes on him and it didn’t stop her from doing anything she could possibly later regret. Now in the story Bella is confronted by Edward the vampire and tells her that he can’t let her go. Giving the Idea that vampires mate for life.

            The black sheep of today may not be a vampire but is different than what most call “normal”. The persona of a vampire is that they look and act different than a typical human being. They are pale, cannot be seen in sunlight, have cold skin to the touch and many other traits. They are not normal they are outcasts that stir up commotion or what some people call gossip. Just like the kids in class that dress Goth, or the kids that do nothing but hide inside all day playing video games. In “Twilight” Bella the newcomer to her school sees these kids come into the cafeteria while she is eating and asks a friend who they are. To her self she says, “I felt a surge of pity, and relief. Pity because, as beautiful as they were, they were outsiders, clearly not accepted. Relief that I wasn't the only newcomer here, and certainly not the most interesting by any standard.”(Twilight, 29) They are not like the typical teen, or are they? If it is hard to understand the idea that vampires are outsiders. Imagine a world, where the outcasts are vampires like in “Twilight” and “Dracula” a world where the living is completely normal, everyone fits in and the outcasts are vampires in disguise until someone pushes the boundaries.  In the book “Dracula” Mr. Harker describes Count Dracula as he greets him at the door of his castle, “Within, stood a tall old man, clean shaven save for a long white moustache, and clad in black from head to foot, with out a single speck of color about him anywhere.”(Stoker, 16)

            People had different views on vampires early in the years; they were horrific dead human looking monsters that were bloodthirsty and fed off of human’s blood. They weren’t considered attractive or sexual at all, they almost resembled zombie like. Come to think of it Vampires are like Zombies only vampires survive off of blood, zombies off of human flesh. Bram Stoker author of “Dracula” change it all. Stoker started a new era of vampires which led us to today with “Twilight”, movie and “True blood”, television show. On the website Monstrous they discuss sex and vampires and how it all relates to each other.

“With the coming of the Victorian age, both the male and female vampire became beautiful and both exhibited a sexual appetite, though both vampire and vampiress retained the beauty as only a facade. The penetration of skin by sharp canine teeth easily evokes both violence and eroticism. In anger or distress the vampire still revealed its ugly, more corpse-like side.” (Monstrous, Sex and Vampires)

Vampires unlike any other monster are the only monsters that have a sexual tone to it. Giving viewers and readers an imagination like no other. There is a sense of pleasure while reading a book and watching a movie that has vampires in it. The thoughts and images that come to mind when reading these stories have this “I wish” kind of feeling. As the reader things like meeting a person who is desirably handsome with features that make you stumble and wonder bring delightful pondering on unrealistic needs.

            Certain things have stayed the same, myths in particular. Immortality, superhuman strength, shapeshifter, mind control and much more. Vampires throughout the years have had their changes and one thing has certainly for a long time remained the same, their ability to captivate minds of the innocent to feed their hunger. Vampires will continue to be a monster to be scared of, just with a twist of romanticism.

Works Cited

Monstrous. 1998-2009. http://www.Monstrous.com

Stoker, Bram. “Dracula”. W.R. Caldwell, 1987: 378

Meyer, Stephanie. “Twilight”. Little, Brown and Company: New York, 2005: 498

“Dracula”. Dir. Tod Browning. Universal Studios, February 14^th 1931. DVD.

“Twilight”. Dir. Catherine Hardwicke. Summit Entertainment, November 21^st 200

Annotated Bibliography

Stoker, Bram. Dracula. 1897. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990.

I chose this book because I have asked for advice on what to write this essay on. I have a bad case of writers block and can’t seem to get out of it. I am using this book as a reference for my essay to help give the ideas of what Vampires were considered. I have yet to have read the book but am in the process of it. I expect it to be like the movie which I have watched  to help me understand the book.

A. L. G. A Vampire, and other stories. 1884. New York: Oxford University Press.

From what I’ve taken reading this short story (or so I think that’s what it is considered). It consists of a small poem. Written in the late 1800’s I expect it to be similar to Dracula.

Meyer, Stephanie. Twilight. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2005. 544. Print

Twilight, the book everyone talks about. I have yet to have read it or watched the movies. I will vaguely read the multiple books Meyer has written. But focus on the first book mostly. I will use this as a source to show how vampires today, are beautiful and sexy.  

Image source here.

Project Proposal

          I am planning on completing option 2, mainly because I do not enjoy reading and with option two I’ll be able to read a little and possibly watch a movie to help me with the writings. I do not know what primary texts I plan on reading yet I am meeting with Laura Cline to figure out what I can do. With the project I hope to accomplish a good look on this type of writing style so far it has not been kind to me.  The research I plan to do it mainly Google, for web to see what it can give me site wise. I also plan to use books or short stories as well as movies. I hope this essay will run smoother than the third essay on Frankenstein.

Monster picture here and I know we aren't allowed to use wiki as a site but i thought this was cool :)