Evolution of Characters- Disney

        Story has evolved over time and the portrayal of female characters in movies have slowly been changing as well. The best example I can think of that portrays this point is the evolution of the Disney "princess" films. I believe all Disney movies are great and I love the stories but the older Disney princess films always portrayed the females as a damsel n distress waiting for a guy to save her. They make the princesses these perfect little girls that never do anything wrong. They never give the princess power or control. Well today Disney is starting to change this trend.
         A perfect example of this is the 2012 film, "Brave, " one of the newest Disney movies. In this story the princess, Merida, is a disobedient and powerful princess. She is forced by her mother to learn all of the things a princess should do but she really just loves to go out with her bow and explore. The problem in the story is that her parents, the king and queen, are about to pick who she maries and say that it her fate and that the princess must do it. However, Merida wishes to change her fate. The story revolves around her trying to take control and change her fate and break traditions. She runs into many obstacles with this decision and she has to be brave and mature to overcome them. Merida was a breath of fresh air because of how different she was from previous princess characters. She took control of her life and didn't wait for a guy to do her work. Another thing was different was that true love or marriage never happened in the end. I think that this is another way of showing the power of the women as well.
         Next, the Disney take on  Rapunzel is another new take on the original Disney princess movies. In Disney's "Tangled" Rapunzel has been locked up in a tower for years and years and wishes to see the lights she sees once a year. She finally works up the courage to leave the tower and explore it for herself with the help of guy she just met. She uses the crown to make the guy taker her to the lights and throughout this journey she finds love and the truth about her life. She finally realizes who she is and fights against the person who has been holding her captive for years. In the end she sacrifices her magic hair to save the guy that she loves. Disney's "Tangled" was probably the start of the new movement to stronger female characters in Disney movies because it was the first tie the princess had power and took a stand.
        Another Disney movie that has stepped outside the box is Disney's newest hit "Frozen." Frozen is the take on the Ice Queen and it has Queen Elsa and Princess Anna. At first glance they are both sisters, daughters of the Kind and Queen of Arendelle but Elsa actually has powers over snow and ice. The movies starts out sad with the death of the parents forcing Anna and Elsa to grow up alone and the fact that Elsa can't control her powers makes it even harder for Anna. They are forced to stay in the castle lonely until Elsa's coronation day and that's when everything starts to happen. Her powers slip out and she runs away to hide and live in the  mountains where she can't let her powers out and not have to hide them anymore. This story revolves around Anna's trip to bring Elsa back home and throughout this journey she overcomes obstacles and even meets a guy that she might like. I don't want to ruin the movie for anybody who hasn't seen it so I won't say anymore, buy that it is another example of new take on the Disney princess movies.
         These are just some examples of how story an characters have evolved over time. It's evident in the Disney princess movies the change in the female characters over time At first, Disney portrayed them as the perfect girls always dressed up to make them look the most attractive and made them seem like a damsel in distress. Now, Disney has given the princesses ore power and makes them disobedient and more adventurous. The girls take control of their own life and try to break traditions. It's nice to see these new and empowered characters because they are a brush of fresh air and appeal to more people. People like characters that are different and Merida, Rapunzel, Elsa, and Anna all are unique so a lot of people like them. Disney is on the right path with these characters and I m interested to see what they come up with next!

Mystery and Suspense

Why are we attracted to mysteries? Is there something in our brain that is wired for thrillers and suspense stories? The answer to that is yes, we love to be able to live out a murder mystery or suspense without actually experiencing it.  There’s something about mystery or suspenseful thrillers that gets our blood pumping, goose bumps rising and heart racing. We live out the scene through the eyes of the character. For example, the first time I saw the movie Disturbia I loved it because I was totally immersed in the movie. It is about a troublesome kid who figures out a serial killer lives next to him but nobody believes him. Once he finds out, he sees all of his victims die from across the street but when he calls the police they don’t find anything. Then the killer befriends his mom and plans to make her his next victim but the kid has to stop him. The movie is very good and it can really get your heart racing once he is the killer’s house because there are surprises at every turn.

There’s something about mysteries that just attract our interest. We like trying to predict what happens next, who the killer is, and who is going to end up doing what. No matter who you are, you always try to deduct or predict what is going to happen it’s in our nature. We always put ourselves in the characters shoes and end up saying things like “No don’t do that, don’t go in there, or what are you doing?” because we are so into the stories. We even end up saying things like if I were in that situation I would have run or done this or that. We’ve all done it. But that is the purpose of these mystery and suspense stories, they give us an opportunity to live out dangerous or thrilling situations without actually experiencing it. It gives you a nice escape from reality and gives you a chance to live out a dangerous murder mystery and allows you to be the sleuth or savior to solve everything. I always loved that feeling of solving the mystery or putting all the clues together to find out the culprit, it kind of ties up the loose ends throughout the story to me and makes it all makes sense.

In conclusion, there is something about murder mystery and suspenseful thrillers they get our blood pumping and attract our attention. I think it’s the fact that it gives us a chance to live out dangerous situations without actually experiencing them in reality but it could be for other reasons to.

Language and Math

I know language affects a lot of aspects of culture but I never realized how it could affect subjects such as math. I’ve heard the saying that Asians are better in math than Americans which proves to be true but always wondered why? Is there a reason why they are better at us in math? Well, writers such as Malcolm Gladwell think that their success in math is derived from their number system in the language.

"Take a look at the following list of numbers: 4, 8, 5, 3, 9, 7, 6. Read them out loud. Now look away and spend twenty seconds memorizing that sequence before saying them out loud again. If you speak English, you have about a 50 percent chance of remembering that sequence perfectly. If you're Chinese, though, you're almost certain to get it right every time." Gladwell wrote this is his book and explains that the English number system is more complicated than the Chinese one. His studies showed that it took our brains longer to remember our more complicated number system and sustain it in a memory loop that only lasted two seconds; however,  the Chinese number system is shorter so it took a fraction of the time to learn and remember their numbers so they would get it right almost every time. The Chinese number system is more logical and simpler to understand so it allows the people who speak it to understand math quicker. For instance our numbers after ten is eleven and twelve, two totally different words to represent numbers. You can see how this could get confusing. But in the Chinese number system these two numbers would be ten- one (+-) and ten-two(+=) which makes remembering it so much easier and adding, subtracting, dividing and multiplying easier as well. Think about the equation twelve times thirteen. In English we are comparing two numbers that sound totally different so it would take us a while to figure out that it equals 156 if we didn’t have that memorized. However, in Chinese this would be ten-two times ten-three so it would break up into ten times ten plus the ten times two and three plus the two times three which is 100+50+6=156. You can see how their number system is a more logical way in thinking and understanding numbers.

Language is a powerful thing that affects many aspects of a culture. Having a simpler number system in their language allows the Chinese people to understand math quicker than English speaking people showing yet another way language affects a culture.

Happy Endings

Why do we love to see Happy Endings? As humans beings who crave stories we always love to see the unrealistically perfect ending to a story. Maybe it’s the guy gets the girl or the couple can finally be together but in whatever genre we like happy endings. But have you ever wonder3ed why we like happy endings so much? Is it because we’re optimists?  Dreamers?  Or is it because we’re realists who know that life is filled with obstacles, some of which we can overcome and some we can’t, but we want our fiction to be filled with hope? Barbara Delinsky responded to this question and gave three reasons. One was we enjoy happy endings because we like read about positive outcomes so we can approach real life in a more constructive and hopeful way. The next was for mere entertainment, and the last one was for the feeling of getting completely drawn into a book. I completely agreed with all of these reasons because I feel that happy endings are the most entertaining and make me leave hopeful and optimistic after I’m done.

First, happy endings help you get a more hopeful approach to real life situations because seeing a positive resolution within a plethora of obstacles inspires you. I don’t know about you but I love seeing a happy ending and wish that could happen to me after I’m done watching it. After the movie or book, I just feel good about myself and feel more confident. On the other hand a sad movie makes you feel depressed and tired after your done reading it because maybe your favorite character died or had something tragic done to them. A happy ending makes you hopeful that maybe just maybe you might get your happy ending in life!

Next, we love reading happy endings because they are most entertaining and fun to read and watch. Happy endings offer a good escape from reality where everything is unpredictable and anything could go wrong at a second. It takes you to a world where good always prevails and dreams come true and as optimistic readers we love seeing a positive resolution for a change. In a world where a lot of wrongs and sad resolutions happen we are attracted to and amused by stories that offer the happy endings.

Lastly, we loved getting completely lost in books with happy endings because it is easy to have yourself drawn into the plot. In these books you associate yourself with the characters and feel what they feel. You go through the story hoping they get their happy ending. You feel the drama in their life and honestly hope for their happy ending and once they get it you get in such a happy and positive mood because something went right. As I mentioned before, this is escapist literature and gives a brief escape from reality which a lot of people enjoy.

There’s just something about happy endings that we love!

The Power of Words

Don’t underestimate the power of words. Words are nontangible things but can really affect you both positively and negatively. When used positively words can inspire, evoke emotions, and convince people to join you side; however, when used negatively it can put down, depress, and anger people.

A prime example of words used negatively is bullying. We always here that saying “sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.” This may be true physically but mentally and emotionally the words have the power to hurt you. Bullies use belittling, offensive, and mocking words to try and make you feel less than them and insecure. Words have the power to change your day in an instant because in just one mocking phrase your whole day could go bad. Words are very powerful things that should not be underestimated.

AS I mentioned before, words have the power to change your day in an instant but this could also make it for the better. An example of this is a compliment. If somebody goes out of their way to compliment you it makes you feel comfortable and confident. Compliments put you in a good mood and cause you to have a positive outlook on that day. Another prime example of using the power of words for good is in inspirational speeches. My favorite inspirational speeches are sport’s speeches because those are the ones I’m used to getting. Although the coach doesn’t say too much, the way he says the words and the emphasis he puts on certain words makes an effect that inspires you to play your best.  When used positively the power of words can inspire you and make you more confident which will always make anybody’s day.

Words are powerful things that can bring you down and pick you up, depress you and inspire you, and mock you and compliment you.  It is for this reason that the mastery of words can cause you to have a huge advantage in the world today.

Etymology of Words (Echo, Snob)

I know I’m probably taking something away from Why we Say It Wednesday but I’ve always been fascinated by the story or origin behind common everyday words. For example the word, echo has quite a story behind it. First off, the word echo is reverberation of sound due to sonic reflection from hard surfaces. Its origin is believed to come from the Greeks who had no way to explain the phenomenon of this reverberating sound. Therefore, like every other time you need to some reason or story to justify a phenomenon they turned to religion. The story goes that Echo was the name of a nymph who accompanied Zeus and his wife Hera. Hera, who was a not a fan of the nymphs to start out with, disliked the chatterbox. Zeus charged Echo with the responsibility of keeping Hera busy while he was doing things he ought not to. Enraged by this deception, Hera cursed Echo with the ability only to speak when spoken to, she could not keep silent when spoken too and she could only repeat that in which was spoken to her. After having this curse, she fell in love with a self-absorbed youth and later had her heart broken. It is said that Echo died in a cave, however, her voice is still present with us today and from this the word echo.

Another word that I found very interesting was the word, snob. A snob is a person who believes that some people are inherently inferior to them. The word snob was first believed to be used in the 1820’s in England but started in Scotland to describe a shoemaker or a shoemaker’s apprentice. In England, it is believed to come from the phrase sine nobilitate which means without nobility. This phrase was abbreviated s.nob and it was put next to ordinary people’s names to help distinguish them from the aristocratic peers. Then this term began to be used to mean a person with no breeding, both the honest laborers who knew their place and the rude social climbers who imitated the manners of the upper classes. Due to this change, the word or abbreviation snob began to mock people who acted in this way.

Etymology of words just fascinates me because I think it’s very interesting to know the stories of some of the common everyday words we use. It’s weird to think about how words came to be because we are so used to saying them so often that we tend to believe that they have always been used when in reality they haven’t been. I wonder what new words we are going to create in our lifetime and what stories they will have behind them.

Video games: The Evolution of Story

Over the course of mankind, story has constantly been evolving and so too has story-telling. Stories used to be passed orally, then through books and other written pieces, to the radio, to movies and now we see a whole new form of story... video games!

You’re probably thinking that video games impede our story-telling mind not stimulate it but I believe that it does just the opposite. Video games are actually expanding our story-telling minds allowing us to learn, imagine, and experience new stories. The best part about these stories is that they are interactive. Video games actually enable you to have input into your own story! They aren’t like books where you are reading somebody else’s tale, you are creating your own story! I know that you are thinking that a lot of video games have set stories that you must follow but that isn’t necessarily true. For example, in The Sims or in Minecraft there is no set campaign or story mode you have to follow. In both of these video games you are able to create your own story within the virtual world. You can roam and create your own life in the video game realm. Having the ability to create your own story within these games isn’t blocking our imagination and story-telling minds but in fact adding to it. It allows us to experience scenarios that we would never be able to experience or be ready for in the real world which will help you in the future. In addition to allowing us to create our own stories they also offer cultural/life lessons as well. In most games, they reward skill, courage, and honor. Eventually these traits are ingrained in our brains and causes us to show these traits in real life. Also, video games helps you learn strategy and planning as a result of the many ways you can accomplish or overcome the obstacles in the game.

Some people argue that sitting in front of the TV screen all day sucks the imagination from your head, but actually these games are offering more stories and are in fact helping our imagination. Studies have actually shown that kids who play video games are more creative than kids who don’t.  The study of 491 12-year-olds was conducted by lead researcher Linda Jackson, a professor of psychology at Michigan State University, as part of the Children and Technology Project. The study showed that the more kids played video games, the more creative they were in tasks like writing stories and drawing pictures, as gauged by the figural version of the Torrance Test of Creativity. The test uses picture exercises to measure mental characteristics like originality, elaboration, and emotional expressiveness. The study shows that contrary to popular belief, video games stimulate our story craving minds and offer a new form of story that we can interact with. Video games prove that story is constantly evolving and adapting itself to find new ways to be experienced and spread. Who knows how story will evolve next?