"The Martian"

The story of the Martian tells the story of Mark Wanted who gets stranded on Mars after a massive dust storm that interrupts their satellite connection. Mark’s space team now believes that he’s presumable dead.

 feel that this story uses several themes and aspects that are used in the space genre of storytelling. From the unknown of space to the feeling of isolation, having to survive with whatever he comes across on the red planet. He has to figure out how to get oxygen, water and food in order to survive, while also making sure that his loneliness doesn’t affect him internally. This is not only used in space based genre stories, but in horror stories as well. Horror and space/sci-fi genre series are fairly similar. You have the wide, and unexplored depths of space and it’s from the unknown/unexplored space that horror and intensity come from. Another aspect of the horror in the story comes with others finding out that Mark had been left alone on Mars. Annie Montrose is shocked when she hears the news.

I would say that even psychological thriller could be an aspect in the story. Amenity coming from the intensity of trying to solve how to get back to earth and communicate back to his team. Most of the story derives form Mark trying to keep his sanity and solve whatever problems he comes across on Mars. I feel that this is connected to the horror of space in loneliness of Mars. 

Comedy is also a huge factory in the story. Mark Wanted, who is left on Mars by his space exploration team, has to endure the landscape of Mars, and his sanity and sense of humor is still intact. As being the only one on a deserted planet, you have to be able to keep your composure and avoid losing sanity. Mark would talk to himself to keep him occupied, in order to elevate the sadness of being all alone on a planet, without any hope of being brought back to earth. 

"American Gods"

In American Gods, Neil Gaiman gets the opportunity to fill his story with as many fictional/ mythological characters as he wants.  The story to only uses characters form mythology, but also borrows stories from various myths. From religion to folklore. Characters such as goddess Eatser, Bilquis, and others myth based characters. There are many characters that Gaiman fills his story with.

Gaiman takes look at mythology and how it can relate to people and their cultural significance. It also goes into what it means to be an American, with certain fictional characters used to show how mortal characters identify themselves as. I feel that these mythological characters, mainly rooted in their own cultures, helps in showing how their cultures and how and how American culture is, to Gaiman uses these fictional characters to introduce several different and important themes and topics. I feel that the myths portrayed in the story are made relevant by the myth characters’ representation. Characters such as religious figures are used to show religion beliefs for mortal characters. I feel that this is used to ground the characters and make them believable in a world of fiction.

This is what’s so great about Gaiman’s story American Gods, how he’s able to blend the  realism and fantasy, and have the viewers strongly relate and can find interesting. They are all used to show the deferent facets of the human experience. From religious identity, to sexual identity, the fictional characters in the story show how they are not only powerful, but relatable, showing that even the most otherworldly personalities aren't that different from ourselves.

"Night Circus" Writing Assignment

The story of Night Circus tells the story of magicians who are told that they must compete against each other in competition that travels from location to location, looking for contestants and participants.The story’s themes of magic, wonder, love, and our relationship with it, how magic is so important to us.  I really feel that the story handles aspects and themes that can be viewed as one that teens and young adults can get behind.

The magical elements in the story depicts how people are entranced in magic, which is the main focus of the story. This can be a mirror on how, as they get older, teens and young adults start to wonder more and more about what they can do and since the magic isn’s completely explained, it goes with how teens are unsure of what may not be sure of what they will do down the road. I really feel that magic and adolescence can be viewed as mirrored versions of each other. Both are unpredictable and interesting.

The notion of love was interesting to me. In the story, love is used in a way that is subtle, but also obvious. One example that comes to mind is the relationship between Hector and daughter Celia. It’s during the invitation and obstacles in the circus. The obviousness comes from the father-daughter relationship. The subtleness comes from them knowing that they love each other and talking to one another in between obstacles. Another issue that arises in the story is sacrifice, which relates to love. Here, it’s used in order to show how much certain characters love each other. It is also used to show their relationship between each other. For example, several characters would sacrifice one another, from Hector sacrificing himself for his daughter, or Tsukiki and Hector doing the same. This gives the story depth, especially between characters, and lets the viewer believe in the characters and the situations given.

Overall, Night Circus, handles certain issues between the characters in a realistic and satisfying manner. Each for the aspects and. The themes presented in the story delves deep into each character’s motivations and is able to create a compelling story for the reader to dive in.

"The Hobbit" Writing Assignment

Written by J. R. R. Tolkien, the story of The Hobbit does, in fact, follow most of aspects in the “hero’s journey” archetype. Everything from the protagonist, to the journey, to a resolution that changes up the aspects we’ve always known in stories like this. In the beginning of the story, Bilbo is established as an ordinary hobbit who enjoys being by himself in his land of Bag End, with his furry toes brushing up against the grass. I feel that this an interesting way to establish a hero, as a protagonist who is happy and content with is current living along the land of Bag End, even when he is approached to do what he needs to fro in his journey.

Bilbo is approached by wizard Galdalf, and talks to him about the mountains and tales of dragons an riches. To me, this a different way of approaching the usual hero’s journey. In usual hero journey stories, whether it be in Star Wars with Luke Skywalker learning of his true destiny, comic book movies with their iconic superhero protagonists up against their antagonists, to even Disney movies such as Aladdin and Hercules. The hero’s journey is a repeated, yet always embraced storytelling archetype that has lasted for such a long time and is always embraced by readers.

In The Hobbit, Bilbo sets out the journey alongside wizard, Gandalf in order to retrieve gold from a dangerous dragon.

Another aspect of the hero’s journey is lineage. For Bilbo, the story tells of his ancestors, talking about how his family was wealthy, eccentric, and even adventurous. Even though Bilbo has a well established and adventurous family lineage, Bilbo is known as their played back and restful hobbit. This gives more backstory to Bilbo and can explain why Galdalf approached Bilbo of for retrieving the gold need from the dragons and other creatures.

At the conculsion of the story, Bilbo recollects the events that he had gone through in his journey. Everything from the tasks he and his group endured to the sacrifices that they had gone through. This is usually found in almost every hero’s journey story. In Hobbit, group mates such as Fili and Kili have died and by the end, Bilbo is content on settling back in Bag End after his journey. This helps the story become different then the others. In most ending in heroic stories, the hero is ready to take on whatever happens in the future. Here, the protagonist isn’t as concerned to continue n being the hero. He just wants to sit back and relax at his home. This brings something different to the classic hero’s story and is done fairly we’ll, never feeling out of place.

"Legend" (1985)

Directed by Ridley Scott, 1985’s Legend, tells the story of Darkness, who's plan is to hunt down the unicorns, and bring him their horns in order to plunge the land in complete darkness. Jack, our hero of the story, decides to save the unicorns, and destroy Darkness, and save the world. To me, Legend is considered a dark fantasy film, with horror elements in it. The fantasy elements are apparent in the film, with magical creates like dwarfs, and unicorns present, and the horror comes from the lord of Darkness himself. The hero’s journey comes from Jack, as a main protagonist that is tasked to take down Darkness, as he tries to plunge the world into darkness. What is so interesting to me is the evil/ antagonist being presented, who is the actual personification of evil and darkness itself. This is contrasted beautifully by Scott's portrayal of the magical creatures as the personifications of hope, light, and happiness. Usually, in stories like this, the antagonist would be presented as this normal looking person, who hides his/her evil intentions behind their facade. Here, it's placed in full display, with huge horns and all.

Overall, Legend is an dark fantsy film that pushes the viewer into a world of fairies and devils. Scott creates the imaginative and colorful story that has an intriguing hero’s journey that is universal and interesting. The story of good versus evil is a story technique that is known by everyone, and Legend does so very well. By having the image of evil in the film be of actual, satanic evil, sells this technique very well. The fact that the goal is a simple, yet effective one, where darkness wants to steal what’s left of good in the world, helps the story even more. Ridley Scott creates a compelling, fantasy film, with an dintriqueing good versus evil fantasy story.