Book vs. Movie

Since we are reading Persepolis I thought I would bring up the movie version. First of all, has anyone else besides me seen it? I think I saw it a year or two ago. Now that we are talking about the history of Iran and the revolution, I have a better understanding of the graphic novel.

I like both the book and the movie. The book is good with details and adding more history to the story. I enjoy hearing a voice to the character in the movie, though. In my opinion they are both good, but the book portrays her story in a more effective way. Any other opinions?

"I love the smell of napalm in the morning."

I recently watched the movie Apocalypse Now, and I thought it would be an appropriate one to discuss for this assignment.

Apocalypse Now

During the Vietnam War, the young American Captain Willard is given the assignment to hunt down and kill one of his own: Colonel Kurtz, who has apparently gone insane, murdered hundreds of innocent people and constructed a strange kingdom for himself deep in the jungle. Willard and his crew embark on a surreal river journey to find Kurtz. One famous scene shows a beach attack where the helicopters are playing "Ride of the Valkyries" as they approach. This is a war movie, but I think that it is more about how war changes people. It goes into the darkness that they can experience because of war.

^The helicopters approach while playing the song as loud as they can.

Apocalypse Now and Slaughterhouse-Five are very different, but there are still some similarities. In my opinion, they are both somewhat about the horrors of war. Though not explicitly showing this, they both have elements showing how people change due to what they experience in war. Mary O'Hare would probably be okay with this movie because it doesn't glorify war as much as it just shows what goes on and people's mental and physical reactions. If you haven't seen this movie, you really should. It is bizarre in some ways but it is one of my favorite Vietnam films.

Unstuck in Time

Right now our class is reading Slaughterhouse-Five and not surprisingly, I made a connection to LOST. (For anyone who hasn't seen past season two, there may be spoilers!) Here are some of my connections:

"Blood. Sometimes it sets my teeth on edge."

Today in class we were talking about anti-heroes, and Dexter Morgan came to mind. Taken out of context, Dexter would be a great villain. However, because he kills "bad guys" and lives by a rigid code of conduct he is considered the anti-hero of the show/books. He cleans up the filth of criminals set free by the legal system. Some people may not like his technique, but he appeals to a large audience: people who don't fit in with the system and people who silently wish that someone like him actually existed. Dexter makes you question your own values and morals. Should you root for him, or should you be disgusted?

Part of a Group

A time that I was part of a group was when I joined Academic Decathlon. The first year that I was part of it the topic was Latin America, and I lost interest and left. The next year the topic was the French Revolution and even though that wasn't really my favorite thing in the world, I stayed because the members of the group were all very nice and helped me with the material. When we took a trip to New York City, everyone got a lot closer. We were always together, and everyone became a close-knit group of friends. No one was left out. This experience showed me that being part of a group isn't always bad; before that I usually avoided groups in favor of being on my own.