Girl in Landscape

Girl in Landscape 

Since the beginning I got a close relationship to the leading character, a sense that I could be in her mind and in her shoes. As a female reader the way the character describes how she needs to deal with her brother and family, and the coming of age it becomes closely relatable since the beginning. Also Having spent much time in New York reading the description of this familiar places, the subway the beach, sound like a copy of what it could have been my diary.

Even though located in a future, being able to relate completely to the depiction of the past (which is my present) really made feel part of past history and be able to see what the future could be like by the author. The futuristic aspects does not feel too unrealistic, relating it mainly to the degrading environment which I know it’s a fact; the sun burning, and the abandoned Coney Island all do seem like things that will happen in a near future.

After being hooked immediately with the characters and the anxiousness of going to a new planet, which seemed really exciting and promising, the death of the mother anticipated that the drama was going to be bigger and the transition to this place more painful. It also created a stronger bound for me as a reader with the character, seeing that the future is not that far and that the problems are the same.

The mix of sadness, devastation and excitement made the transition of a relatable future to a completely unknown situation smooth and barely notable. The mix of feelings were so great that even though as a reader I was located in a new unknown environment it didn’t let me get lost in the unknown.

After the first few scenes in the new unknown planet I got disconnected to the story and I think I can attribute to the number of unexpected events and situation. Being on another planet with unknown creatures, the entire family structure change, and strange happening with unknown causes leaves the viewer with many incognitos that drive away from the story and the characters.

Another aspect that caught my interest and defining aspect in the story was the sexual gender confusion happening in Pella’s mind; the existence of the Archbuilders as an unknown gender made up with both gender but at the same time independent to sexuality, but also the sexual tension with Efram. It represents for me what it can be the lost experience of the coming of age in an exaggerated way.

Before the collapse of this new planet happened, another interesting and important aspect is the way they deal with this new location, which really reminds me of the idea of a utopian society, for example when they are trying to build a school with this grant idea of integration.

Comic strip and silent movies

Having red Tin Tin The Shooting Star, and having seen two Charles Chaplin silent movies, The Dictator and Pay Day, I notice many differences in the way I interpret and even relate to the story depending on the medium, and the role that words and imagery play.

First of all I believe that the nature of the medium modifies my experience of the story deeply.

 Having red since young comic strips, and specially Tin Tin, the story is for me more relatable, I could when younger but still can now put myself in the story and be in the location with the character. I think I can attribute this to the fact that since it’s a comic strip and that even thought it has a clear linear story line; the viewer can jump around the dialogues and illustrations, since the time is not pre determined, I sometimes find myself first reading the last conversation to then be curios about why is that conversation so and read the beginning after, creating many possibilities of wondering and theories in my mind that I could relate to, that not necessarily the writer was thing off. For example, in Tin Tin The Shooting Star, when the story is still being set, in page 10 the last illustration shows the professor surprised and asking Tin Tin if he likes bull’s eyes and Tin Tin being surprised by the question, showing a big question mark above his head. Since that part captured my eyes even thought it was the end of the page, I wondered how on earth this conversation happened and what was the relation between the shooting Star and the professor to Tin Tin liking Bull Eyes; if the shooting star related to the bulls eyes or if the professor did or if the earth quake mentioned earlier did; and so after creating theories in my head I went ahead and the previous part to find out how that conversation happened. I believe that the fact that comic strips have both words and picture but in a specific set up allow the viewer to move around the page in different ways creating more interpretations and theories relating it to the previous knowledge and experience.

On the other hand, the movie medium doesn’t really allow me to jump around that much and make my own theories, the time in which you experience the story is already pre determined by the filmmaker, and the viewer has no way of changing the timing of the story; on the other side, the silent film, which only consists in imagery and music gives me also more freedom on the interpretation and the creation of theories.

On the Pay Day short film, when the character comes back to the house after a long night out, and his wife finds him, we can see an expression on her face and via body language I can create an interpretation of what she says grumbling at him, but at the same time I don not know the words that are being said, I can put the words of my Mum in her mouth, as well as the words of my professor or my own words, I can also change the way the story is interpreted.

In this case the lack of words give me freedom of interpretation of the exact words said in a really relatable way.

As a conclusion I believe that the presence of words and imagery influences the way we experience and relate to the story. On one hand the comic book, including imagery and written text, gives me the opportunity to jump around each act and create my own theories, even thought there is no freedom of interpretation of what is being said or how it looks I find myself with wonders that makes me create theories involving myself to the story. And on the other hand, the silent movies does not have the aspect of free timing between its parts, but it does have the freedom of what is actually literarily being said, making it really relatable to my own experience and how things are said, and also making me wonder what they would have said in the mind of the author.

Assumption on reading Oz

What assumption do I have based on the response comparing The Wizard of Oz and The Hunger Games

On the first place, a week ago was my first real encounter with the American fairy tale The Wizard of Oz. Unlike for many in the class, I had never seen the movie, heard the story or red the book; for me it was just another fairy tale. After reading the book, looking at the illustration and seeing what a great influence it has had on the movies, the musicals and American culture in general I got a lot more amazed by the story itself in the context of history. Having the realization if the historical and cultural importance made me appreciate this story a lot more, commenting on it with a higher satisfaction and respect.
On the other hand, The Hunger Games, even though it was also a movie that I had never see, I had heard of the story and the fact that they were children killing other children really disturbed me making a critical perception towards it.
At the same time, while watching the movie I was constantly thinking of the comparison with The Wizard of Oz, seeing many similarities with the Oz, seeing it almost as a copy in many aspects; making me to not appreciate the movie and the story as much.

Defining characteristic of me as a reader.
As a reader, I like to find myself into one character's mind, the first person narration that would involve me in the story, I like to be an active reader not a passive one.
I am a lot more critical on pieces that result in more action than in the analyzation and deep description of the thoughts or feeling of the characters.