We've all heard of the phrase a picture is worth a thousand words. Pictures express feelings and ideas that we just cannot explain in words. In his comic about comics, McCloud argues that pictures and words need to go hand in hand. A good comic is composed of both words and pictures. One is not meant to outshine the other but rather harmonize with each other in order to tell a good story that relates the thoughts and feelings of the character.
McCloud establishes his credibility by simply putting his ideas into practice. By using a comic to talk about comics, he uses a balance of words and pictures. In this way, we can see that he made a good comic and since he makes comics he should have good basis on what makes a good comic. It's almost like a comic-ception, a comic whithin a comic. In a similar sense, an essay about good writing would establish credibility by simply being an essay. A writer has every right to define what's good writing like McCloud has every right to define what's a good comic.
Even within his comic, he says that as a child he used words and ideas interchangeably but then realized their importance. As readers, we can all see that he has a basis of knowledge that we share with him. We were all kids at one point and this shared stage of life makes it easier to see that he is credible. We all read books with pictures and then we went on to books with words. He is a credible source to decide the importance of one over the other.
In today's world, it isn't hard to find a negative review of a celebrity. In the video above, celebrities read some of the awful things that are said about them. With the vast reach of the internet, people think that they can say whatever they want online and get away with it. The stuff said about people online in general stays there forever. I couldn't imagine having some of these things said about me, especially since these people have never even met these celebrities and are already judging them for something that is so ridiculous that it doesn't even make sense.
The main problem with this, is that people think making fun of celebrities is funny. I can admit that I laughed along to this video because it was funny. However, if we learned who these people really are and not what society sees them as, then we would probably feel terrible. They are people just like everyone else and they get judged for doing everything and anything. It's hard to see the hardships that celebrities endure. I don't think I could ever read something negative written about myself. I'm almost positive that I would cry on the spot.
In Celebrity Bodies, Daniel Harris brings attention to the struggles that celebrities face with standards of body image and perception. People blame celebrities for setting standards on society but no one ever thinks that society puts pressure on celebrities. We see celebrities with the "perfect body" and we become jealous and bitter and we want to be like them. "They have everything they could ever want." We seldom think that they were once in our shoes, seeing celebrities in the media and wanting to be like them.
Everyone has struggles and the people that are on TV are still people. We need to learn that we don't have the right to judge someone simply by their popularity. We don't know their story. In retrospect, it would be different if a famous person judged everyday people without considering their background. Reality is subjective. Once people learn to view the world with rose-colored glasses then maybe things will start to look up for society.
In "My Zombie, Myself", Chuck Klosterman uses the word zombie to refer to something that always keeps coming back to us in life. No matter how hard we try we just can't kill it. we know how to and the process is the same every time, we just can't bring ourselves to do it.
My "zombie" is my depression and anxiety. I'm not using it as an excuse for all of my actions but it certainly is driving a good majority of them. I know what to do to defeat these zombies but I can't. I take the medication, talk about what I'm feeling, get all the support I need yet I still can't do it. I stay in bed for hours not being able to do anything just because I can't bring myself to do it, then I worry that I'm going to be a failure for all the stuff that I'm not doing that I need to. It's a cycle and it just keeps repeating.
Now, this zombie isn't here all the time. It comes and goes and breaks are greatly accepted but generally short and sweet. The most important thing that I've learned on how to beat this zombie is to not let it be a part of myself. I am myself, not just a person fighting depression and anxiety.
I want to be able to get better and defeat this zombie but I need to know that it's going to take a very long time and is almost nearly impossible. They don't call it a "zombie apocalypse" for nothing. The best advice I can give for someone fighting a zombie, is that once you realize what it is that you're fighting, your battle is already halfway done. Keep faith and look in front of you. Don't judge your progress by how many more zombies are still coming but how many you've had the strength to kill.
In his essay, Hip Hop Planet, James McBride says that hip hop is a warning. Now what exactly does this mean? When I first read this, I pictured a car coming down Walcott Street, blasting rap music, and all the Saints kids dancing (very badly) to whatever song was playing.
It's easy to get swept up into hip hop music. It's catchy, it's fun and it's always been fairly popular since the 90s. Today we reference so many hip hop songs in television, movies, and just plain old everyday life. It's impacts are everywhere. (^^^) But why do we really love hip hop so much? We can easily relate to it.
Hip hop speaks of the issues regarding everyday life. It paints a picture for us of tough situations that people may be struggling with. It uses slang and swear words, to get a singer's point across. This is also why we relate since I know all of us can confess to using slang and swear words.
When we sing of struggles, we can either sing alone or we can sing together. Hip hop is meant to be sung together. Through one rapper or artist, the everyday people are given a voice.
Love The Way You Lie - Eminem & Rihanna
This song brought to us the reality of domestic abuse and drug addiction. Eminem himself struggled with drug addiction. A lot of people loved this song not only because it was catchy but, because they could relate to it and find hope in it. Seeing Eminem sing about the pain of being on the abusive end of a relationship was inspiring. We didn't hate him for it, rather we acknowledged the fact that he knew he was wrong. He didn't want to be abusive but from his background, his struggle with drug addiction made it hard for him. He wanted to do what was best for his daughter and give her a role model to look up to and he wasn't that for a period of time. We did like any other human would do and we sympathized.
This is also a warning. It warns the general public of the dangers and the realities of domestic violence. This is an issue that impacts more people than we realize. However, no one in society likes to talk about the issues that are taboo so it goes unnoticed. Eminem got us to notice. Hip hop warns us about what is really going on. It's a call to wake up and spread awareness for what should really matter to us. It's matter of fact and there's no guess as to whether there is a problem but people are left wondering what they will do to stop what that problem may be. Hip hop is a wake up call and it gets us to jump around and sing passionately about issues close to us. Through hip hop the world will hopefully change for the better.
Politics: the activities that relate to influencing the actions and policies of a government or getting and keeping power in a government (Miriam-Webster Dictionary)
What does this have to do with politics? The answer is that it simply doesn't. Trump is wining over people because he says things that get their attention and then says something completely ridiculous like the headline above. That is his political strategy. In a world where we are constantly swept up in new trends that are funny or amusing, it makes sense why he is getting people's attention. However, John Oliver, in his show, mocks Trump on not only his hair, but his ability to contradict himself. He has contradicted himself on so many issues that it seems almost impossible to believe that he will get anything done in office as president. Yes, he's funny to watch and easy to make fun of, but do we want that in a president? I know that I don't and if I could vote, I would not vote for Donald Trump. He wins peoples popular opinion but he does not actually have any political knowledge or arguments that he supports with facts.
This is Bernie Sanders. He actually has political ideas and arguments. And guess what? He actually supports them with facts and knowledge!!! With Bernie's, great ideas, it's hard to see why he is not getting the wide-spread attention as Donald Trump has. This is because he simply tells it like it is and Dump Trump has the same appeal as Keeping Up With The Kardashians. It's entertaining but has no real face value and we are all confused why it's still being aired on television.
At this stage of the election, there's no real way to tell who is going to win. However, if the same political strategies continue, Bernie definitely has to step up his game in order to beat Trump. Both candidates have argued that the people are fed up with the way the government is being run. Bernie is saying what he wants to do to fix it and Trump has his wall that he's going to build.
