Reading: The Aquatic Uncle

I read The Aquatic Uncle for this week. The relationship in the story is related to me. The old generation family members and the people you love. A lot of time people struggled with the conflict between these two sides. Just like the main character in the story. Their relationship looks fine until they meet the family member. This part looks so real for me. And the thing what the main character did for the girlfriend is also relatable. I also love the ending. It is not a traditional happy ending like the fairy tale, the princess lives with the prince happily forever. Most of the time, people’s relationship break because a lot of reasons. The family, living style and the thought will bring conflicts to the relationship. The problem and the ending make this relationship and the story related to me and make this story believable.

Reading: Anubis Gates

I read The Anubis Gates for this week. I like the story although I feel this is a fantasy story. I usually not really interesting in time traveling story, but this one is really interesting. I think the difference between this novel and what I’ve read before is how the characters fit in that time period. The character won’t live easier even though they come from the future and have all these knowledge. I like the details about the character’s emotion. It makes this character believable. Some of the time-traveling novels just make everything so easy because the main character comes from the future and know everything about that time period. But the character in this book is “live” in that tome period. He still needs to put some effort to survive in that time period. It doesn’t make things super easy even though his historical knowledge. This makes the time traveling in the story more believable than other novels I’ve read.

Reading: Fahrenheit 451

I didn’ read before this class, but I read Fahrenheit 451 after I saw the movie in the class. In the story, the main character’s job is going to burn the books because are not allowed to own the book. Maybe the main theme in the story in this story is about the TV and the reading. They prohibit the book because thinking makes people unhappy. The thing really makes me read this story is the main character’s job- a firefighter. In this story, the firefighters are not saving fire but burning the books. This reminds me curtain generation of China and Taiwan.

In the earlier generation of Taiwan, people don’t have the freedom to talk or publish whatever they want. The government will watch over the people and control their thinking. All the publication is under control by the government. In this case, people only know what the government wants them to know. They are not allowed to get information from other countries because the government is afraid people start thinking. The government thinks the people will start to resist or judge the government after they start to think. They confiscate most of the book and stop people get information. They even control the textbook and brainwashing the student. A lot of students realized the history they learned in the school is fake after they studied abroad. The government tries to hide the mistake they made by erasing or polishing curtain event to make the history looks perfect. Bad things will happen if you start to think or have knowledge. This is what makes me interesting to read this story. Not a good thing, but make me related to my country.

Week Nine: Space Opera

After I read The Martian, the story structure reminds me of the hero’s journey or the urban fantasy. I feel the same way when I watch the star war movie in the class. In both of the movie an the story, their main character will jump into a trip because of some reason. The trip will full of danger and a lot of problems which they need to solve it and try their best to survive. The audience can see characters change and grow during the trip.

I’m not a big fan of space story but I like story type like hero’s journey. This type of story usually makes me feel positive when I read. It’s really interesting when you discover the new world with the character and see character use what they learn to solve the problem. It’s also interesting to see how the author develops the character during the trip.

Week 7: The Novel of Spiritual Education

I like this story after I read The night circus. It looks like Harry Potter mash-up with Romeo and Juliet.

I really like the details in the story, like the changing of the characters’ emotions and age of the event. These details make this story believable. I also the special circus design. Not the usual red and yellow color but black and white.

The two main character grows in a really different background. Alexander and Prospero have really different teaching style.  Prospero trains his daughter Celia very strict. Alexander just gives his student a lot of freedom. He gives him a lot of resources and let him study by himself. I like the author use this way to build different types of characters. I think the background add more conflict between the character and more interesting when they meet each other.

I also finish the Harry Potter for this week. I feel both of the stories have their own way to present the magical education. In the Night Circus, It has two different teaching style and makes these two characters fall in love with each other to raise the conflict. In Harry Potter,  It also includes the different teaching style. But the conflict is not because of the characters education nut of their lineage. The author uses the wizard and muggle to raise the conflict. And I also feel more related to Harry Potter’ character. Because the author builds the whole magic school even the magic in the story, the characters in Harry Potter are easier to understand and related to real life.

In Class: Bloodchild

1. What is your reaction to the text you just read.?

I’m not usually read this type of story which is about the alien. I was a little confused by the story when I first time read this story. In my previous experience, they are always about occupying and rule the earth when the stories are about the alien. I think it is interesting that the writer made the complicated relationship between alien and human. In this story, the alien has a close relationship with those humans. The interesting part of reading this story is it makes me confused when I keep reading it. It looks normal at the beginning but everything goes strangely.  

2. What connections did you make with the story? Discuss the elements of the work with which you added to connect.

The connection in the story I think is the mother. She is the only one who knows the dangers and tries to protect people she loves. This is the most normal and related character in this story for me. She is a normal character compared to the other characters.

3. What changes would you make to adopt this story into another medium? What medium would you use? What changes would you make?

In my personal opinion, I usually prefer the movie than the novel. I’m interested in the looking of those aliens. How do they look like? How they live in the environment? I really interesting in the visual element in the story. And I believe can have an interesting way to tell the story and show a different version of this story to the audiences. In the movie, audiences can see all of this character and the environment.

Writing: The Ocean at the End of the Lane

This book reminds me of the movie we played in class “Coraline“. They both have a young character. A determined kid.  And their life changed after they find a fantasy world. In Coraline, the little girl finds a copy of her parent and her house by passing through a small door. In the “The Ocean at the End of the Lane”, The boy’s story starts with the birthday party. Compared to some fantasy story, I feel a little heavy and scary in this story and Coraline.

I feel some elements reminds me the urban fantasy and the Heroic Journey. They both have an adventure in a magical world. They will meet amazing characters, strange creatures and face the evil villain. Some of the characters they meet may not really evil but people may feel cruel or cold because of their motivation. They may be not human but act more like an animal. The things they do is normal to an animal but is cruel or a human, like eating people.

I also find the similar concept statement in these two stories. Be careful what you wish for. In Coraline, the little girl is not really happy with her parent. And her life changed because she finds the new parents. And the Ocean at the End of the Lane is about the character Ursula. The different is, In Coraline, the witch is evil and tried to use Coraline’s wish to trap her. But Ursula is not really evil but just doesn’t know how to help people properly.

Writing: Frankenstein

The story Frankenstein is about a crazy scientist who wants to make his crazy idea comes true. The scientist, Victor, plans to build a perfect human. He digs the graveyard and collects dead body. He realizes he build a monster and try to fix it after he made  Frankenstein.

During the story,

I never read Frankenstein before, I know this character before class is based on the movie or animation. After I read  Frankenstein, I feel those “gothic novel “ are happened in the similar place. They usually happened in the dark place and always has a castle. In this story, I didn’t feel a lot of scary feeling but feel a little sad for Frankenstein. Victor is the one who causes all of this problem even he aide the price, he still made Frankenstein this sad character. The scary looking is not Frankenstein’s fault. But the fear from people increase the conflict and after Frankenstein found he was abandoned by victor, the tragedy happened.

Writing:Interview with a Vampire

There are several relationships between these character Interview with the Vampire. In this story, it has several main characters. Lestat, who always want to dominate over others. He is one who starts most of the relationship between the character. He is one who turns Louis into a vampire. And he also bites Claudia. Louis is the one who conscious of human nature. He hunts animal while Lestat hunts human. Lestat creates the third character, Claudia, to keep Louis stay with him. He is the one who made these complicate relationships. In this story, these three main characters depend on each other. They connect to each other. The first relationship is between Lestat and Louis. Lestat is the one who made Louis become a vampire. He seems the most powerful and tries to control everything in the story. He looks more like a vampire than Louis. He usually hunts people and bites before thinking. Compare to Lestat, Louis still keeps his human nature. Lestat wants to Louis to get rid of his human nature and Louis wants to change Lestat. They keep different opinion about human nature. And Lestat tries to use a little girl to keep Louis stay with him. This cause the second relationship. Claudia is a little girl who will never grow up. She hates Lestat makes her be a kid forever. She tries to kill Lestat and bring Louis away. But she ends up dying under the sun. The third relationship includes another character, Armand. He is the oldest vampire and the leader of the group of the vampire. These vampires are looking for their companion. Lestat let Louis stay with him. Claudia tries to keep finding an adult to take care of her. In this book. I feel the theme is about different kinds of love and discover themselves. They are between the desire of blood and human nature. It is really interesting to figure out this relationship. The identity of these vampires makes their relationship more complicated because they are not only meet each other but actually created (turned into a vampire) by someone.

Writing: The Hobbit

After I read The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien, I feel this book has most of the elements of the classic journey of the hero. The main character starts a journey one day because of something he wants and he learns a lesson or gets something else after their journey. Bilbo joins the trip because he wants to have an adventure. He learns and changes after he backs home. He also meets the new friend, faces the problem and almost lost everything during the trip.

The thing I feel is a little different from the classic journey is the journey's goal is not Bilbo's goal. The journey's goal is getting dwarf's home back. The journey is not for Bilbo and it does not start by Bilbo even he is the main character. He may try to back to his home, like the movie “Finding Nemo” and “Rio”. He may try to find someone, like the movie “Coco”. But in “The Hobbit”, I feel like the story is more about the dwarfs and Thorin. They are the one who will really get something after the journey. Their background story is the main theme of “The Hobbit”. And Thorin learns a lesson at the end. Even the story named “The Hobbit”, I feel that the main character is Thorin. 

But there is another thing that reflects the classic journey is the main character usually start the journey because something they thought they need it. But they realize what they really want during or at the end of the journey. Bilbo thought he needs an adventure so he starts a trip with those dwarfs. But he realizes what he really wants is back to Hobbiton and relaxes in his home. And he also changes after the journey.

Reading Tolkien’s novel is kind of a new experience. In his book like The Lord of the ring, he puts a lot of lyric or poem. He may use several pages to let the character sing the song. This is really interesting to use this way present character and story. 

Writing: Weird

This week's topic is "weird". I feel not really comfortable with what I read and watch this week. The movie we watch in the class " Under the skin" is really impressed me. There is not a lot dialog in the movie. The way they shoot the film is so different from the movie I usually watch. But there is one scene makes me really uncomfortable.

At the beach scene, we all know the couple drowns in the sea and the diver who wants to save them is killed by the main character. And more, even they don't show the baby is dead, but we all know he will die at the end. I shocked by this scene. When I'm in the story class, the teacher always tells us don't kill the character if they do not deserve to die. And most of the movie I watched is kind of follow this rule. But in this scene, The diver tries his best to save people's life. The husband also tries his best to save his family. They all good people and didn't do anything wrong. But they all die at that scene.

This is so different from what I've been trained. In the animation movie, the good people always have the happy ending and get what they want at the end. And the villain usually got punished or they really learn something. These animation film always make me feel positive. I believe everything will be fine at the end even the character may face some problem during their journey. But I don't know why I feel so hopeless in this movie. The music, color, lighting, and the story. I can't feel any happiness in this film even in the party scene.

And same as the story I read this week, King Rat. The story is interesting but I also feel a lot of depression and the negative feeling in the story. I feel this topic "weird" has a lot darker story. The character act colder maybe they are not human. It is a really good experience to watch this type of story and movie.

Reading: Akata Witch

This week reading is Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor. The character and the culture setting is really interesting. The Nigerian culture and the albino girl. The setting makes me interesting in this book. But the story is not as unique as the setting.
The story is similar to some fantasy novel for the teenagers. In this kind of story, they always have a kid who feels not fit in the school or their family. They may be bullied by classmates or not have the good relationship with his family. And all this will change because the kid realizes she is a wizard or has the certain superpower.  And this kid usually is the key to saving the world. This kind of stories is usually popular in the teenagers. I guess teenagers usually feel they are not comfortable with anything. They feel they are not fit into the class, family, and friends. Same as the character in the story.
In this story, the little girl finds out she has magic power and goes to a magic school, just like Harry Potter. The story also needs a villain in this magical world. They both use magic but in the good way or bad way.

I like this story but I feel is a little too similar to the Harry Potter.

Reading: Kwaidan

I read the Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things for this week assignment.

I choose this book because I prefer the short story than the novel. I can read a lot different type of story in this book. Each story has their own concept statement. In the story of O-Tei, I see the couple finally stay with each other after a long journey. I understand the A blessing in disguise in the story Hoichi the Earless. There are many different kinds of story in this book. They are short but full of meaning and things we can learn from.

I didn't read a lot horror novel before this class. But I feel some different from this book and the last week reading. I don't have a lot of horrors or creepy feeling when I read these story. In the story of O-Tei, I feel it's a romantic story. The husband finds his true love after many difficulties. And in the Hoichi the Earless, It has some spirit elements in there, but still won't make me feel it's a horror story.

I can feel the difference between the western horror story and this book. The western horror story is more based on the dark, strange atmosphere. But I feel the story in this book is based on culture or what can people learn from these stories. I feel love, humanity in these stories, they just play by spirit or nonhuman characters. And I also feel the Japanese culture in these stories.

Some of the stories remind me of the fables. These stories teach people to be kind. Some of the character in the story they pay for what they did. Like the story "Jikininki" and the " rokurokubi ".

Because the stories are translated from old Japanese story. And some stories are told to him by someone else. These stories may be told to different people for several years. This is why these stories have a lot of Japanese culture element in there. And I think I've read some of the stories in this book. They've been told by several generations. Most of them have several version. These stories are not only present by text. They also present in artwork, musical or movie. Some of the characters in the story even appeared in many different stories. I think this is why I can feel a lot of Japanese culture in this book.

I like this book in general. Sometimes the short story or the short film inspired me more than that novel and movie. Although I've read some of the stories before, It still interesting read it again. Especially read it in English.