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Engage with and reflect on Prof. Alexander’s lectures: As you near the end of the quarter, what does Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower help you notice about the function of speculative narrative in our culture(s) today? In what media or genres do you consume (or create) speculative narratives, and what is their appeal? What kinds of worlds do these stories build for you?
In Octavia Butler's graphic novel The Parable of the Sower, Lauren's story and her life help me to notice the function of speculative narratives in our culture today by seeing how the setting or concepts that are seen in her world or simple things like Lauren's thoughts in the novel and her actions can be seen as a representation of a possible future.
Examples
Considering the setting takes place in the early 2030s in California where there is chaos and social issues, this already presents a world different from our own considering we are in 2022 and also in California, close to 2030 where there are also indeed social issues and chaos in our world, yet presented differently than Lauren's considering in her world it is more dystopian.
I am further able to notice through the graphic novel and its ideas of possible realities of change and the possible future within the function of speculative narratives today in our own culture such as George Orwell's book 1984 which centers on an imaginative society controlled by the government in which they don't let people think. This book in which I consume and find interesting also expresses speculative narrative because it offers a different world from our own in which the types of ideas the world has today concerning totalitarianism can be furthered into a possible future written in that speculative fiction and the dangers that idea can conjure within a world if possibility.
Another speculative narrative I consume that appeals to me and is similar to what Butler expresses in the graphic novel is the classic movie Back To The Future II. In the second movie, Marty McFly is transported into 2015, where the movie shows clips of transportation that lifts of the ground like Marty McFly's flying skateboard. This is appealing as the movie is an exhilerating futuristic fantasy and is exciting to watch while at the same time, it is a speculative narrative of what our future could and might look like. It is also ironic, as the movie was made in 1989 to possibly inspire the future of 2015, but seeing as 2015 passed and some of these futures the movie presented like the flying skateboard have not actually happened in 2015 in our own world but like a speculative narrative, it shows it is not an exact representation of our world but a world different from our own we can imagine can exist in a different world.
Through these fantasy oriented speculative narratives, they are able to help me build a world where I can think outside of the box, where I don't have to simply accept and revolve my own life around the tangible things I can see or the realities the world incites, but I can add my own insight and ideas and to perceive the world around me in rather different worlds with different possibilities enterwined with my imagination and inspiration from these stories.
Works Cited:
Boccaccio, Giovanni. The Decameron (Norton Critical Edition). Edited and translated by Wayne A. Rebhorn. Norton, 2016. ISBN 9780393935622.
The Starry Night, 1889 by Vincent Van Gogh, Starry Night: 10 Secrets of Vincent van Gogh Night Stars Painting, November 30, 2022 https://www.vincentvangogh.org/starry-night.jsp
Reflection:
As I continue to learn and explore this website and its abilities, I feel confident that through this space provided I can exert my own ideas and thoughts to others. Being able to place my own crativity within my writing, this opportunity strengthens my abililty to persuade or highlight the importance of certain aspects I find throughout the year, whether it be through the works we read or the concept of Worldbuilding itself. SImilarly, at this moment I feel I am only "getting started" on how to express my ideas of World building, but as the year continues, I plan to be accurately knowledgable in both works and the theme of Worldbuilding in which our ideas though may seem small at this moment, but can produce a greater outcome and connection between our imagination and our reality at any given moment.
(Marty McFly on a flying skateboard in Back to the Future II from Google Images Search)(the description of its speculative narrative seen in the above bullet point #3)
Works Cited:
Butler, Octavia. Parable of the Sower. Graphic novel adaptation by Damian Duffy and John Jennings, Abrams, 2021. ISBN 9781419754050
Zemeckis, R. (1989). Back to the Future II. Universal Pictures.
MUSIC
MUSIC
The general genre of music itself connects to what we learned in this quarter because we can relate it back to Prof Alexander's lecture about Afrofuturism and bringing back the authority and concentration towards people of color. This is seen as Prof Alexander shows us a song "The Deep" by Rivers Solomon, in which this is music directed to creating a world different from our own that highlights real world history during the slave trade and deaths of many mothers and their unborn children. Music brings to life all history, present, and possible futures as we are seen in the song for example Solomon refers to the slave trade's past of colored children dying in the ocean after being thrown overboard, connecting to present day where colored people are faced with social injustice and lack of equality in such a way that going into the possible future, the song tells the tale of colored children making a world of their own underwater to escape the issues and in justices white people imposed on them in the past.
The general genre of music itself connects to what we learned in this quarter because we can relate it back to Prof Alexander's lecture about Afrofuturism and bringing back the authority and concentration towards people of color. This is seen as Prof Alexander shows us a song "The Deep" by Rivers Solomon, in which this is music directed to creating a world different from our own that highlights real world history during the slave trade and deaths of many mothers and their unborn children. Music brings to life all history, present, and possible futures as we are seen in the song for example Solomon refers to the slave trade's past of colored children dying in the ocean after being thrown overboard, connecting to present day where colored people are faced with social injustice and lack of equality in such a way that going into the possible future, the song tells the tale of colored children making a world of their own underwater to escape the issues and in justices white people imposed on them in the past.
SONG: "Achilles Come Down" By Gang of Youths
One cultural piece I consume in which offers a specualtive narrative is music such as the song "Achilles Come Down" by Gang of Youths.
This song is directed to the Greek myth of Achilles who was half god and half human. The song presents the story of Achilles in Homers Odyssey, where Achilles was in love but when his love dies he is in pain and feels lack of desire to live but the singer adds to the story, trying to uplift the character Achilles that there is meaning in life.
The song itself ties to the vocalist's own reality and his personal experience with finding joy in his life. The vocalist brings in his own feelings and connects to the mythylogigal half god Achilles who also experienced feelings of depression and negativity. This speculative narrative I find most interesting because it further brings Greek myth and fantasy to describe a different version of the issues we ourselves may face such as finding joy during our struggles but in a different version of our world, one filled with greek gods and myths coming to life.
This also connects to Prof Alexander's lectures in the beginning of the quarter, considering we learned about Homers Odyssey, and the respect for gods in Greek culture, where we learned that the people in Greek culture followed Xenia as a form of reverence to the gods in case a guest might be a god. This correlates to the song because both are tied with Greek mythology and the lecture gives an interesting percpetion of gods, where they are seen as the most respectable and honorable of heros but the song presents a god who is only half god- Achilles- and focuses on his negative perception on life because he is not liked for being half man. Therefore I am pushed to not only think about Prof Alexander's lectures but outside his lectures and out of the box because in the song Achilles struggles with finding joy, which brings me my own sense of curiosity considering gods (as we learned in Prof Alexander's lectures of gods being heros) were always praised and given honor, so I think about gods not only from the people in greek culture's perspective, but the possibilities if a god were only to be half and how people in greek culture would percieve this, as well as about how the gods may be thinking about themselves.
Reflection:
Throughout the quarter, I have been able to present my thoughts about how I interpret what I learn from Humanities Core and its theme in Worldbuilding.
Looking back at Homers Odyssey, I am able to see such difference between my work now compared to that first assignment. Seeing as in my work concerning the Odyssey in Activity 1 focused on my interpretation and understanding inside and outside the lectures on the host and guest, specifically the characters Odysseus and the Cyclops, I see that my ideas were developed through the help of the lectures as Prof Alexander's talks guided me in how I presented my thoughts.
As I compare Activity 1 to the end of this quarter, I am able to see such difference in the fact that I am now able to develop a larger understanding not simply guided through the lectures, but also through my own imagination and connection to this real world we live in. I am able to apply the stories we read and the concepts we learn to a larger capacity where the imagination and possibilities behind what we learn can also be applied in our real world if only we allow ourselves to let them come into our lives and how we perceive the world around us. I feel in this quarter I have been given an inspiration of imagination and a push to think more outside the norm and create newer worlds of my own.
I would like to see my site developing not just in imagination next quarter but also in my understanding. For example, I hope to look back at my activities as well from this quarter and understand how ideas of reviving compassion and intellect seen in Giovanni Boaccaccio's Decameron can be taken and applied to my own understanding of how people today find joy or how to gain a different perspective on issues or occurrances I find hard to change perceptions on.
I also hope I am able to get a better understanding of how things such as what we read, watch or learn not only connects to large events and big concepts but to the tiny things and my own everyday actions and behaviors. I hope I am further challenged as a writer, reader, student, and person as a whole to look deeper into how I can incorporate worldbuilding and change within my own life while being encouraged and acknowledging it from my own peers.
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