Reaction to "The Walking Dead" comic

In response to The Walking Dead comic.

                I am one of the many people who are obsessed with zombies and anything that has to do with them.  The Walking Dead comic vol. 1 was a very well-illustrated, entertaining comic that kept me engaged the entire time.

                Rick was a police officer that got shot and went into a coma just before a zombie apocalypse occurred. He awoke, very confused, to an abandoned town and no wife or kid at home. I would be very devastated to find my wife and kid missing after waking up from a month long coma. After finding a man and his son that told him everyone had traveled to Atlanta, Rick grabbed some gear and headed off to the city. He was surprised to be unable to find gas (which he could have syphoned from other vehicles). I am not in his situation, nor have I ever been, so I feel I cannot accurately assume what I would do.

                After he found a survivor in the city, who took him to a camp with others, Rick found his wife and kid there. His co-worker had brought them to the city and assured their safety. I saw this as a stretch and in some ways unrealistic but I keep in mind that it is a comic and it makes for an interesting storyline. Rick continues to try and get the camp moved due to safety hazards because they are so close to the city. His co-worker Shane refuses but I agree with Rick that it would be safer further from the city, with the exception of getting supplies.

                This volume ends in Rick’s son shooting Shane to protect Rick, which was an un-expected turn of events for me. I found it to be very interesting and a good way to end the issue. The entire issue was enticing and I look forward to reading more of these interesting comics in the future. 

Reaction to “Vampire Gentlemen and Zombie Beasts”

In response to “Vampire Gentlemen and Zombie Beasts” by Angela Tenga and Elizabeth Zimmerman.

                In this article the author’s had a very interesting discussion about the changes vampires and zombies have occurred over the years and the difference between the two. They also explained the representation of each monster compared to today’s society.

 I thought it was interesting to see the comparison of the vampires from earlier times with the sympathetic vampires of Twilight. Vampires seem to have a less threatening appearance than they did in earlier times. For example, the vampires in The Lost Boys from the 1980’s had a much more intimidating feel but at the same time still had individuality and did not age just as they discussed in the article. I do agree that today’s vampires, like those in Twilight, are a poster for celebrity lifestyles but that is all modern day media. Vampires have gone through a drastic change and are now just a small print in modern day horror movies.

Zombies are now a national phenomenon due to their current status in the horror industry. As they talked about in the article, zombies have taken over vampires place in the horror film genre. They also described that zombies remind us that we’ll soon be rotting flesh. Zombies have taken on many forms throughout the years and everyone has their own take on them. There is a fascination with the zombies, giving people the feel of surviving.

The authors touch on the representation of people and society through these monsters. They discussed that the Twilight vampires live a fantasy life and show a higher social status than those in the past. Today’s vampires’ work is rarely shown but their rewards are capitalized. On the other side, zombies represent the poor man in today’s society. Zombies’ work for feeding and continuing on is focused on but they have no rewards to show for it. Zombies have taken the spotlight for modern day horror films. 

Homework part 2

Article 1:

I believe that Tarantino is in the right about the subject. I feel that its not his blame for the violence in America. I think that just because you watch a violent movie doesn't mean you'll become a violent person. Its the way you are raised that makes you who you are, movies can be a outlet for violence and a escape for some people not a reason to go out and hurt somebody.

Article 2:

In this article Mark LaSalle thinks that media and movies are to blame for all the violence in America and that when a kid watches a violent film they over a period of time will get distant from what is right and wrong and think that violence is the right thing. I think that is not true because as a kid I watched all kinds of movies for entertainment purposes but my parents always reminded me that its not real and its just for entertainment and excitement.

Marilyn Manson:

Marilyn Manson was blamed for the violence in the Columbine shooting because the media needed somebody to point a finger at when they couldn't find a reasonable cause why the kids did it. They couldn't just drop the story and not say why they did it so they pointed a finger at somebody who made "violent" music. I personally do not think that his music made these kids violent he even states that the kids hated his music. My dad when I was growing up would listen to his music and so I would hear it too and I actually enjoyed it and if you look at me now I would have to say it did not influence me in any way. Like Manson stated I think news is to blame in most cases the way they idolize and make the people who do bad things "famous" but its also in human nature to be somewhat violent and you don't have to grow up watching violent movies to become such a person.

Week 1

In the article written by Mark LaSalle, is about the numbing of the outcome of violence in our culture. Kids see a death of a person, their body gored, mangled, and guts everywhere, they become senseless to the entire ordeal. To me i still see a body in the movie as a real life body and still freak out. I can't even see a bird being killed in the 6th Harry Potter movie... But in the article he explains that today's media and movies they glorify the death scene in any movie.

The second article of  Quentin Tarantino he explains that there needs to be a defined line between movie violence and real life violence. Fight scenes in movies are a staple to everyone!! so he believes that there is no real connection to the real life violence and movie magic. I grew up playing playing video games and watching cage fighting through my ATA taekwondo academy and I didn't want to punch or even cause injury. But, some people are easily swayed.

Marylin Manson explains that his music is just music, that he as a single person shouldn't be blamed for the killings at the Columbine Shooting. The two teenagers who did the shooting were really a product of bullying. I was living in Colorado at the time of the shooting too, the state acted amazingly to the crisis. But plastering their faces everywhere. Some shooting that I know of have began as a way to get noticed. 

Article 1 for next week.

response:
 I don't watch any movies about 15 years. I observed my kids watching the movies. It had no effect to them because I educated them that the movies were bullshit. Just for excitement or feel action to do something for fun a bit. I don't hold the movie directors accountable for the violence. It is the parent's responsibility to educate the rights or wrongs.

Article 2 for next week

response:

I believe that the movies don't hold their accountable related to the crimes that we face daily. I hold the media the most accountable for keep the crimes spreading. They expose too much about the crimes which encourage the bad people to get attention or wanna to be "well known" in news or history. If the media don't show the crimes happenings, the crime will cut half or much more.


Marilyn Manson’s “Columbine: Whose Fault is It”

response:

The enterainment was not accountable for this crime. I strongly believe that the parent and media were responsible for either exposure or poor judgement. The parent should notice the signs of trouble that they had. The media gave too much attention so they influence the bad people wannabe to be famous. Suppose that the media doesn't exposure much about crime, it will be much less than we would think.

Violent movies and their effect on American culture

 In an article published to SFgate.com, author and movie critic Mike LaSalle confronts the issue of violence in movies with the claim that these images desensitize and contribute to violence in American society.  He then switches over to blaming critics for this phenomenon, because he feels like they(himself included) should have spoken out and somehow convinced movie makers that showing violence in any film rated underneath "R" was wrong.  I think Mike feels like critics have more control over society and the film industry than they actually do.  People only care about what critics think when they agree, these trends and film in general reflect society moreso than the other way around. 

Tarentino advocates not blaming the film industry for real world violence. His claim is that films reflect society and people do not feel the need to commit violence against actual people just because they saw it.  While there are good points to be made about this, in my opinion he is too dismissive of the effects films can have on people.  He speaks about wanting to reach people and then pretends like his films have no lasting effects.

Our last article, by Marilyn Monroe, provides the most insight into our topic simply because he's not using an interview or article as a sales technique, but is actually contributing to an ongoing discussion. He claims that the attacks by journalists are simply a tactic to distract people from the fact they provide as much violence to the public as anything else.  Monroe also contends that times have not become more violent but our access to individual events has increased.  From my perspective, there is a lot of truth to that.  Its easy to decry violence when it happens against people you sympathize with, but nowhere near as many people bother to address the issue when we're killing Osama Bin Laden in his home, in a foreign country, or when we execute a murderer, or when a war breaks out between other countries. 

Lets not blame any industry or group or law for violence commited by the individual.  Every person is different, everyone reacts to different things.  Lets educate and help people, and see if we can have more of an impact in reducing violence than people who seek to blame and legislate.

Article Response

In the article about Quentin Tarantino I do believe that he has a valid point about separating violence in movies and violence in real life. Quentin believes that violence is a part of his movies as much as another film maker may use comedy. Everyone has their own style. I believe that there is little to no connection between animated violence and real life violence. For example, I grew up watching violent movies and playing violent video games but I want to be a police officer to help better the world. I believe violence is in the person and the media is just something to blame.

In the article written by Mark LaSalle he states that violence is the cause of violence in our society. He says that movies, like anything else, are a part of our culture and children and young adults see images of graphic deaths it desensitizes them to real life violence. He believes that fake violence is creating a culture in which young people turning into adults don't understand the seriousness of violence. He also says that movie critics aren't helping because they will write a good review on a violent movie just because that's the thing to do. Violence is a part of any culture and video games and movies are entertainment. A normal minded person will not get desensitized just from movies.

Marylin Manson makes his view very clear in this article. He was blamed for creating a violent culture of young adults. Manson claims he was just making music and that has nothing to do with turning two teenagers into murderers. Manson blames the media for making violent people "celebrities" by plastering their faces all over the media. They make movies, write articles, and make murderers famous. Manson believes violence is human nature like when Cain killed Abel, there was no movies to blame it on then, just human hate. I believe Manson has a point, human nature is violence, it has been in our history for millennia and movies are just something to blame.