Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Week 3: J-Horror

I personally found A Wild Sheep Chase to be quite interesting and unusual.  As someone who loves the Japanese Horror genre for movies the pacing of the genre didn't take me by surprise. The difference between Eastern and Western writing really comes through in this story seeing there's a large amount of symbolism in Japanese Culture. This story centers around the middle-aged man who works in the advertising industry of Japan and throughout this book goes on a journey of self discovery. I felt this story really invoked the feeling of classic Japanese folklore which prioritizes the lesson above all else so much so that the characters don't even get names. While reading you feel as though you yourself are in the position of the protagonist rather than an outsider relating to "insert name here" making the story more immersive. This is something I find value in since the ability to make a player feel immersed in a video game is a difficult aspect to harness. You could feel everything the protagonist went through first hand and on a more personal level. I'd also like to add that I enjoyed the grey area of "good and evil" that this book conveyed seeing as it didn't lean towards either or. Every action felt balanced out by another much like the Buddhist belief of karma, good actions are rewarded in the future and bad actions will reap future punishment or misfortune. If I had to think of a game I could relate this story to I'd have to recommend Life is Strange which has several karma based elements.

Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Week 2: Vampires

To be honest I never really joined in one the Twilight saga hype when it originally happened, but my roommate happened to have a physical copy of the book which I chose to read for this week's Vampire theme. Now off the bat we're introduced to Bella who is overall a very plain character. Seeing as this series was catered highly to a female audience she's clearly characterized as such for a generalized reader to insert themselves into her role. Enter stage left, Edward Cullen, the mysterious loner boy whom raises suspicion in Bella by very obviously trying to avoid her at all costs. Curiosity and persistence lead to one thing and another in which we are dropped hints as to Edwards true nature as a vampire. We're told the lore of this specific world in where vampires have powers in superhuman speed, strength, senses, and special abilities specific to individual characters. My curiosity was peaked by what cause these specific powers to come into fruition. What determined what special ability you got if you turned into a vampire? Digging a little further into the lore and later books it's the human's strongest trait before transformation that factors into the power as well as genetics and repressed emotions. Even then it's rare for vampires to even have a special ability apparently. Seeing as the majority of vampires introduced to the reader are shown to have special abilities signifies that each one has a very specific reasoning for that individual power. Now this is something I can appreciate from the author, the thought put into the backstory of each character. I find these character developments interesting since Meyer had to build the vampire lore to cater her individual world. From this I also understand the hype that came with the series when it came to the whole "Team Vampires" or "Team Werewolves" seeing as the majority of people I met on Team Vampire had already chosen to imagine what their special ability would be in trying to further immerse themselves in the world of Twilight.

Week 1: Frankenstein

Seeing as it has been quite a while since I last read Frankenstein I can proudly say that I was able to finish it and enjoy it this time around. I had long forgotten how this story was played out and it felt like a surprise rereading it. Personally I find the relationship between Victor and his monster fascinating to say the least. First off the use of a sort of telepathic connection to each other is interesting where Victor can feel the presence of his monster and vice versa. Later on he uses this to chase him and can foretell when bad events will happen due to being able to always "feel" the monster. It's somewhat similar to the study of twin telepathy or the morphogenetic field theory. Secondly, the character development of the monster is very well handled. We're shown the evolution of the creation as it is born with the innocence and curiosity of a child which is then destroyed in order to fill him with hatred and resentment. The monster matures quickly into the mind of a violent being seeking fulfillment and wishing to bear a closer resemblance to humans by demanding a spouse be created by Victor. The reader can easily find pity for the monster rather than empathize with it due to the emphasis on him being "nonhuman", grotesque, and disgusting in the eyes of Victor. I felt as though even though the monster had caused the death of 2 people close to Victor the monster still deserved the ability to enjoy the life Victor had given to him. In a way I also believe that it was selfish of Victor not to create a companion for the monster which in turn leads to the death of more innocent people. It bears a similar resemblance to modern society with subjects such as young parents in the sense that Victor was not ready to take on the responsibility and consequences of his actions in playing God and creating a new life.