Blog 8

In “High School is Hell”, I believe the argument that is being made is that high school really metaphorically like hell. The quote, “Today's teens live in a world where their classmates plot their murders, where the threat of gun violence is always present, where there is a high rate of sexually transmitted diseases, date rape, and stalking,” explains directly why high school is a living hell. I did not feel like I had to take all of these things into consideration at my high school; however, I do believe that there are high schools in the United States where students have to deal with these kinds of situations. Whenever I think of these situations, such as the plotting of murders or gun violence, I think of Columbine High School. I could never imagine “plotting” my classmates’ murders or even think of bringing a gun into a school. I guess that’s just where I grew up, that everyone pretty much knew everyone and my whole class got a long with each other. Another quote that I thought was more about a normal high school “hell” was, “Finally the viewers are left with a show where the characters' worst horrors are not just the monsters they are fighting but the grim reality of such ultimate high school horrors as parent-teacher night, not having a date for the prom, being made fun of in class, and not getting a spot on the cheerleading team.” I think this more describes what I went through in high school. Seriously though, people freaked out if it was let’s say two weeks before prom and they didn’t have a date. People made such a big deal about have a date that they would literally cause themselves to get sick, or not concentrate on the one thing that mattered in high school, graduating. But at the same time, I mean come on that’s not nearly as hellacious as someone killing one of your classmates.

Blog 7

For my next episode, I decided to watch “Out of Gas” from ‘Firefly’. At first I didn’t understand why, that at the beginning of the episode, Mal was on the floor and looked as if he was dying. The ship was gloomy, dark and had a blueish tint to it. After watching the episode, I started to put things together about death. Even the name of the episode strongly correlates with death. When you are “out of gas” usually that means something bad is going to happen, and in Serenity’s and the crew’s case they are literally out of gas, meaning fuel and oxygen. Throughout this rough situation, Mal tries to hold everyone together since everyone is down and believes they will all die. I personally think Mal thinks he will die however he has to be strong for the crew since he is the captain. Kaylee says, “We’ll start to feel it, then feel nothin’ at all,” and Simon says, “Suffication’s not really the most dignified way to go.” After realizing the way the crew will probably die is suffication it makes sense to me how the director made Mal seem throughout the episode. As I mentioned before, whenever Mal is shown when the ship is going down, the surroundings have a blueish tint. I believe the director did this as some sort of symbolism because when you suffocate you turn blue. This episode definitely has a lot of symbolism that somehow, someway ties into suffocation.

Blog 6

Going over “The Train Job” as we did in class today makes me look at ‘Firefly’ a little differently than I previously viewed the show. I never really expanded my thoughts about the characters or specific moments; however, in most of my blogs, I tried to connect my idea to something that involved the real world. Today definitely helped me put two-and-two together. The part that was most significant to me, in this episode, was when Inara went back to Paradiso to rescue Mal and Zoe. By her doing that just shows that all of her characteristics are true. Although she seems to be of a higher social class than some of her crew members, she is extremely compassionate and looks out for others, such as this example. In this episode, she also gives advice to Kaylee about Simon. Although Kaylee seems to be from a lower social class than Inara, Inara speaks to her as if she is a really good friend. I truly believe that Inara means every word she says to Kaylee in this scene. This makes me believe that there are people like Inara out there. One person that comes to mind is Oprah. She is of the extreme high social class, but she is such a “normal” person. She gives advice to so many “regular” people and gives so much of her money to benefit others. I wonder what would happen if every person of that kind of status would do what she does? How many people would be affected? Would there be much of a difference between the social classes?

Blog 5

For the next episode of my choice I watched Episode 7 ‘Jaynestown’ of “Firefly”. Throughout the episodes I have watched of “Firefly”, it seems that Jayne has always acted as though he were a tough human being. He also doesn’t act as orderly as say Simon or Mal. When the crew arrives in what is known to be Jaynestown, he seems very cautious and hesitant because he decided to disguise himself. Then they see the statue of Jayne and are in disbelief because they are in a very poor town and don’t realize why he is being honored. I thought I was kind of strange that the little boy was just blatantly staring at Jayne, but I figured something was going to happen where he would be recognized like that. The song the man sings in the bar, the bartender giving him the best whiskey in the house, and the replica statue are things that pay tribute to the “local hero”. A line in the song says, “He stole from the rich and gave to the poor”. That kind of makes me think of Jayne as some sort of Robin Hood character. I also think it is kind of ironic that he didn’t realize how much of an impact he had on the town. I guess many “Robin Hood’s” don’t realize those things because they are just trying to help others instead of themselves. I would react the same way Jayne did after he was recognized because he realized how much the people appreciated his actions.

Blog 4

For the next episode of my choice I watched Episode 6 ‘Our Mrs. Reynolds’ of “Firefly”. Before Saphrine becomes a conniving little woman and betrays basically everyone on the ship, she seemed like an innocent woman who was semi-arranged to marry Captain Reynolds. Whenever she was around Captain Reynolds, she always looked and had her head down, making him seem superior to her. She acted very timid when she was around him and she always wanted to please and obey him. She freakishly and magically appeared out of nowhere, wherever he was. She did everything for him, even if he didn’t ask her for anything, she was always there waiting on his hand and foot. She kind of resembled a slave. She was worried that if she didn’t do, as he wanted that he would just abandon her on the next planet to fend for herself as a prostitute. She sort of resembled a slave. In the world today, many cultures arrange for women to marry certain male individuals, based on class or social structure. When this occurs, it shows the rest of the world that women are still not seen as equal to men in all parts of the globe. This situation, although important in some cultures and religions, has many downsides to it that give the whole concept a negative connotation. Women, like Saphrine, should be able to choose the man whom they wish to marry, instead of being forced into a situation in which they are not comfortable.

Blog 3

I watched Episode 5 ‘Safe’ of “Firefly” for the episode of my choice. When Simon gets taken away and punched by the natives of the town, he goes into a flashback where he talks to his parents about his sister’s notes that she has written. Simon knows there is something going on in her head and wants to explore this dilemma; however, his parents completely disregard his concern for River. They basically tell him that there is no need to worry; that it is just a “phase” she is going through. His parents seem as if they are naïve to the fact that their daughter has some sort of “imperfection”. In today’s society, this seems to be a relevant situation in many households. Many parents, like River’s, don’t want to believe the harsh reality that there might be something different about their child. Because of the way society is today, with all of the competition, parents want their children to always be seen in the best light as they can be. It is unfortunate that some parents, like River’s, decide to neglect their child’s problems in order to maintain some sort of “norm” in society. Those parents should be more open to exploring these “flaws” in order to better their children’s lives because it would ultimately help them to become a better person than they ever could be if the flaw was ignored. This situation occurs more often than not and everyone should be aware that taking action could help those individuals with certain special needs.

Blog 2

I find it very interesting in this episode of “Firefly” how apparent the different social statuses were. The scene that stuck out most to me was when Kaylee, the mechanic, was working on her project for the ship and Dr. Simon walked in. She seemed all frazzled when he came in; I don’t think she was really expecting him to come to her “end” of the ship. She greeted him with a “Hello Dr. Simon” making him seem as if he was more important than she was. However, Dr. Simon was more down to earth than she probably expected him to be and told her to just call him “Simon.” It’s ironic how the mechanic, which is a more blue-collar job than the doctor, is the one that puts the doctor up on a pedestal. This kind of seems like the way our society has been shaped to be. On a daily basis, it can be observed by the average person that these social norms occur more often than are probably realized. It seems that these reactions to people of different social statuses has become a routine way of life to most and is not looked upon as a bad way of speaking to those in different “classes”. One example that can be applied to most of us is the exchange of words between students and their professors. Almost always students call their professors by their doctorate label and last name, which is appropriate, respectful, and is expected in a college environment. However, this label also influences students to often times be intimidated and fearful of their teachers. These types of communication are seen all over society and can often times be influential to many individuals. It is interesting to see this concept in the episode of “Firefly” because it is a very real-life issue that occurs all the time and affects people in many different ways.

Blog 1

Hi! My name is Maria Fortunato. I’m 19 years old and a sophomore at The Ohio State University. I’m from Powell, Ohio, which is about 20 minutes north of Columbus. My family and friends mean the world to me. I would do anything for any one of them. I have a 17-year-old brother, Tommy, who is a junior at Olentangy Liberty High School. My mom and dad are both pharmacists and they both graduated from The Ohio State University. So, I think it’s safe to say that I’ve been a Buckeye since birth! I have the best of friends that anyone could ask for. I see my best friends from high school at least once a month. We try and visit each other, since each of us goes to a different university. I made some really good friends as a freshman here last year at OSU. I decided to go with a random roommate last year when applying for the dorms and she is practically my twin! I’m Italian and German so I love to eat; I eat constantly and consider eating a hobby. I love going out and meeting new people. I’m a very outgoing and friendly person. I’m addicted to reality TV. I pretty much have a show for every night of the week! I’m thinking about majoring in Business and minoring in Spanish. I’m not sure what field of Business I want to pursue, but I might study Law after getting my degree. Everything is all up in the air still! I’m just happy to be studying at OSU.