The Uncanny and The Shadow

The "Uncanny" in short terms is just fear of the unfamiliar. Something that might be normal to certain people you may think twice about it and think their weird, like a baby drinking from a baby bottle is normal, if you see an 18 year old drinking from a baby bottle, there is something weird going on there. Sigmund Freud's student Carl Jung believed that there was such thing as "the shadow" and anima and animus. "The shadow" was what people would hide ways they really felt about things, or things they hid from other people and some time in their lives they would reach into that shadow, act a certain way and the reason would be because of something that happened in their past. for example, my younger sister got teased about her pointy ears when she was younger, she put that behind her (in her shadow). As she grew up she started changing her personality and being more uptight and mean about things, always getting into fights for the smallest things because she felt everyone was out to get her. When her violence started getting out of control she started seeing a psychologist and it turns out that the reason she acts that way is linked to her getting teased a lot when she was younger and she is still holding that grudge. The anima is a feminine personality found in the unconcious of men and the animus is a masculine personality found in the unconcious of women. The shadow in some way is considered "the truth", it is who you really are and how you really feel but if you were to act the way your shadow shows, then you would be considered more of like a "savage"; since the shadow portrays what you secretly think but would'nt literally do. In the movie "Abre Los Ojos" after the accident he felt as if he had to act as ugly as he felt because his face was destroyed after the accident. After the operation he felt better and had the love of his woman but when he would look at himself in the mirror he would still look ugly though nobody else saw him that way he saw himself that way. This made him act out and beat his girlfriend and try to kill her because he also saw her as the lady that ruined his face. I believe that the reason he was acting that way was because his shadow or unconcious was telling him he was going to be ugly anyway since alll he cared mostly about was vanity and money. Also, it seemed like he could'nt get enough and he already had everything he wanted. I think that these parts were foreshadowing so that the truth about what happened and him buying the life insurance would explain everything and these parts were giving the audience a heads up. In the movie "The Matrix" Neo's shadow comes out while he is in the matrix, since he is in a different place, I guess he feels he can act differently. The term "uncanny" can be used frequently in "The Matrix" because everything they see outside of the matrix seems weird to them, like when they see the lady with the red dress. I believe that both Freud and Jung have good theories about these pyschological themes. We do have an unconcious mind that makes us do things we don't want to at times, and since everyone has a different view of perception, some things may be uncanny to some and not to others, especially in different countries and cultures.

Genocide

I was watching late night television last night, and saw one of those feed the children commercials come up and I was so overwhelmed, how things like this could just happen . So it got me to thinking about a protest I walked by last week. It was a bunch of Sri Lankan people, children included, protesting about genocide; and then I figured this could also be a very great idea for my Research Project.

"Abre Los Ojos"

In the movie " Abre Los Ojos" I think the main theme is fear. I think fear is the main theme because through out the whole movie the main character was always either scared to do something, scared to wake up, scared to look at himself in the mirror, scared to talk to the crazy lady that kept stalking him, scared of everything, but most importantly his fear of reality. His fear of reality was the reason why he didn't want to open his eyes which traces back to the title of the movie. "Abre Los Ojos" meaning " Open your eyes" in spanish. In the movie, the reason why he wants to basically "die" and relive again is because he wants to have a new life, he does'nt want to be ugly. The movie shows how vanity and reality have a big part to deal with how the main character, Cesar feels. He also has a fear to lose everything he had, his money and the beautiful girl which he loves, he is willing to start his life all over. Then Cesar must finally face reality and thats when they wake him up from his horrible "nightmare" It turns out that he was living nightmare after nightmare in the movie. After he suffers the accident and his face has turned into a complete disaster he changes his way of being because he is scared he would be judged. He tries everything to feel " beautiful" again so he could be happy but it seems as the only solution is to hide from the world. The woman of his dreams isnt going to love a guy with that face anymore. It doesnt tell you right away in the movie, but he ends up basically selling his soul to the devil and applying for a company that freezes your body and wakes you up in the future, so everything after the accident in the movie was just a dream and didnt really happen. After he remembers what has happened he wakes up from his nightmare to live his life how he truly wanted it.

Research Project Ideas

Ok, so many of you have noticed I am very open minded. I have a lot on my mind to write about. This should be easy because its such a broad topic but I'm not sure what to choose.

Things I have on my mind as of now that I think I have narrowed it down to::

• College


• College Basketball


• The Christian Church

College is a very broad topic to write about. You might be thinking Ok.. you're not making sense what about college? And aren't you contradicting yourself? I would say that I want to do it because I want to get my ideas out about how I feel with people having to pay for college, and how I dont think its necessary to go to college for so many years to be certain professions, of course you want more knowledge but I feel they just make you believe that. I know there are different times now but many of our great leaders didnt go to school,etc. Also how professional athletes, singers, etc. get payed millions for doing nothing better than saving someones life. Like Robert Fulghum wrote in his poem " all I really need to learn I learned in Kindergarten" These are just some of my ideas I would like to get more into that if thats what I choose to do.

About College Basketball...

I once over heard a friend of mine which is also a kids basketball coach for ages 12-18 say " players dont lose games, coaches do" This got me to thinking, how is it possible? I'm pretty sure number 10 didnt pass the ball to the shooting guard number 2 and thats why they lost, but peopl never seem to see that players only do what their coaches tell them to do they dont just make up a play on their own; unlike street ball it is very different. But the point I would be trying to make in my essay is how the players may sometimes feel "vulnerable" and "enslaved" being that everything they do is just for the money. I could talk about how they have the NCAA brackets, etc.

The Christian Chruch...

I wouldnt say I'm an atheist or going against anything about religious teachings, but my eigth grade history teacher helped me realize how I feel about the church in particular. As I kept learning about the church throughout highschool I felt like it was sort of a joke. In my essay I dont think I would be giving much of my opinion and if I do they would be followed by facts which explain why I feel that way. I always questioned myself at church when everyone took out their pocketbooks in the middle of mass, like what did they do what that money? Pay rent? I know they say its to help homeless, or poor and children in need or just to buy supplies and things for the church. Back in I dont remember when but I would find out, ( around the old Martin Luther) times people were having to pay to reserve a place in heaven. So wasnt the church giving them all the power to sin then? How would you be able to go to heaven if youre a sinner.

Please comment on my topics. If you guys think their a little too much just let me know so I can pick something else. ASAP

Thanks :)

Virtual Cinema

Star Trek episode " The Royale" and Farscape episode " A Human reaction" both deal with going into a world that didn't seem normal. In Star Trek, after getting strange signals on their computer, the captain sends three of the subjects out to investigate. When they get there they see revolving doors and of course go through them. As soon as they get there they see that the place looks just like a real hotel and is contaminated by "humans", as they try to figure out clues as to what is happening they give up and try to leave but it turns out they are trapped. It turns out that the world they were trapped in was based on a book and the people that were in the hotel weren’t really people. In the Farscape episode the main character thinks he is finally going home and then realizes he landed in "Australia". After being held captive in "Australia" he soon finds out he is living in his own memory and the people he sees are basically just figments of his imagination, though they were real people in his life.
These episodes and "The Matrix" have pretty much the same themes in common: Reality vs. Fantasy. In comparison to these works we could pretty much fit this into our own lives. The times when something happens and we feel like it has happened before; "deja vu". How do we know for sure that it in fact didn’t happen, who’s to prove that dreams are really dreams and reality is really reality? The “allegory of he cave” was written by Plato, his idea was if humans would ever step out of their force field and face reality. Reality vs. illusion. “Allegory of the cave” can be compared to “The Matrix.” Comparing the world inside “ Matrix” to being inside the cave and the world outside the cave to being outside of “The Matrix.” The idea of reality vs. fantasy and comparing it to two different worlds is just like real life and dreams. When dreaming, you basically are in another dimension and it feels weird when you remember it. Dreams are just a record of your thoughts so in a way dreams are reality. As, I wrote my college essay to submit to colleges last year I wanted to write about my dreams and aspirations, so I did a little research on dreams and this is how my intro went: Dreams. What is a dream? Defined as a succession of images passing through mind during sleep. But I have a different view. A dream doesn’t just happen when you sleep, a dream is an explosive thought. It keeps you open minded and free and lets you imagine the unexpected. You can live your biggest fantasies and no one can stop you. A dream is your life, and if you dream big it would become your reality. Looking back at this, I feel like I wrote it subconsciously. I said a dream is your life, and after comparing each of these movies and shows which share the same theme, my perspective on dreams and fantasy vs. reality still hasn’t changed.

THE MATRIX

Honestly, before this class I didn't care for "The Matrix", and had never seen it before. I was really young when it came out and I always called it " the scary robot movie". I see "The Matrix" in such a different way now. I know that its science fiction and all but there are so many clues and things in the movie that you could use to compare to life. "The Matrix" is a great discussion topic because you know that not everyone would take it the same way. Because they were comparing and contrasting the movie with religion a lot of people may find it controverisal. I like to picture the movie as a work of art. I wouldn't say it was advanced for its time because it was produced around the Y2K, which if I remember correctly it was when technology was at its peak. To think I would've never known about any of this if it wasn't for this class. After the movie I started to think about life and how everyone sees things. I remember in my younger years in life, I thought everyone was born with a twin from another planet that had a similar life to yours. They had a dog like yours, 3 sisters and 2 brothers just like you did,annoying neighbors, family members always knocking at their door, and liked the same exact things you did; and I would spend hours just thinking about that. The director of "The Matrix" must've said "Hey, what if someone could be reborn into another world?" and made the movie to put his ideas out there, and I must say this was a good thing. It must take an open minded person to make a movie like this and after the movie have people question their dreams and even life. What if dreams are our real life and were in a dream now? How come its so hard to remember a dream at the middle of the day but it felt so real when you woke up? These are questions that can't really be answered because truth is nobody knows. Religion is used throughout the whole movie by using cinematic elements and symbols. The character of Neo is being portrayed as Jesus Christ. By using the characterization of Neo as Christ the director makes his ideas seem more believable which is why the movie has such a big impact on most people that watch it. When Neo is reborn into the matrix it looks the same as if a baby was in the womb, with wires attached to him. Jesus was the only person in history that was reborn and had an unnatural birth. The movie just had a dark aura to it. Most of the colors used were dark, and the colors red and blue were used in many things, the most symbolic the pills because choosing one of those pills changed his destiny. For us red and blue determines hot and cold, which you can fit in with how the movie was created. Like in many cases, good vs. evil. Agent Smith was being compared to satan since he was Neos nemesis. Mostly black clothing which seemed as if it was made out of latex was used for the characters, they wore black sunglasses as if in disguise and walked around with weapons. Over all, I think this movie was a good way to portray the future and question the truth about life.

JUST ME

"You're so weird..."

Thats something I usually get a lot of. Too bad I never really understood where people were coming from when they told me that. How do you know whats supposed to be normal? Whats normal anyway? My name is Lizbeth and I am 18 years old. I wouldn't say I am the best thing since sliced bread or the easisest person to deal with. I may have a bad temper sometimes or not be the nicest person, some people say I'm too blunt, others say I'm too hyper; I always tried to hide it from my elders because I always felt they would misjudge me, but the truth is I am a kid at heart and I think I would always be and so would everybody else and I don't think there is anything wrong with that. Maybe I'm as weird as I appear to be to other people because of my parents and their ways or for being stuck in the middle with six kids. I may be a kid at heart and still find playground jokes a little funny, and thats why its hard letting people know how I feel when I am really serious and this is why I could argue for days about the most trivial things. Okay, well now I feel like I was talking to a shrink... Truth is, I feel like I dont know much about myself, like I'm still finding pieces of me to put together; but aren't we all? Maybe I'm being too personal.Lets skip to the things I enjoy.::So I love strawberry ice cream, I love to sing but I must admit I'm not very good at it, I'm scared of so many things but I would like to experience them all some day. I love learning new things especially things that you could take hours discussing and even when the discussion is over thats all you could think about when you get home. I love FOOD! I also like the outdoors, but god knows how many things I am allergic to. Writing is my passion, you can't tell yet.. But I feel like theres so much to talk about that I just put it on paper. When I grow up (LOL) I mean when I'm done with college I hope to do something in the media, such as a journalist, editor for a big magazine,etc. Drama is really my passion, but I believe you don't need to go to school for it, its JUST talent. You're either born with it or not, some people are not born with it; but hey thats life! I know its what I should be striving for I just dont think thats what I should be wasting my four years in college in, I'm trying to live on the safe side and I need something to fall back on, if it happens it happens.

Well, I guess thats all you should know about me for now. Everything else comes with time. Brace yourself. =]