Blancanieves vs. Brothers Grimm Snow White

In reading and watching both of these stories there are several similarities that do stand out. In both of these stories, the young girl was lost their mothers during child birth. They also were hated by their stepmothers although at a very young age. Lucky for both of them, they found a group of guys who cared about them and took them in when they were abandoned by their families. And of course, they both sat in the glass caskets at the end of their stories to display their beauty to the world.

In Blancanieves, when the stepmother was jealous of the girls beauty she tortured her by making her do hard labor jobs and living in a dirty shack, not allowing her to live in the house or even go up to the second floor. She ran away and became a bull fighter, joining her "bullfighting dwarves." Sadly, her ending was a bad one and she died in the arena being carried off by the very people who adored her. She was put in a display glass casket and used in a carnival show, where the guy who took care of her also obsessed over her, sleeping in the glass casket with her and kissing her dead corpse.

In Brothers Grimm Snow White, Snow White was a mere seven years old when her stepmother, who obviously had some serious personal issues and a lot of free time decided to try and kill her because she was jealous of her beauty and wanted to be known as the most beautiful in the land. I know this is a Disney movie, but this Snow White was kind of foolish for talking and accepting things from a random stranger on three separate occasions. I don't know how I would've felt if I were those dwarves and I came home from a hard days work several different times to Snow White passed out at the doorway near death. But even with all that, it was them putting her in that glass casket near the end that attracted the young prince. Unlike Blancanieves, the poison was shaken out of her throat and she came back to life, giving kids who watch the movie a happy ending. Alot better than a corpse being on display in a glass case and an obsessive guy kissing and sleeping with it if you ask me.

Cultural Product that could be potential Myth

A person that is not only embedded in the culture but also helped create and mold what it is today that will most certainly be a myth years from now is Hip Hop icon Sean Carter, stage name Jay-Z. His first album Reasonable doubt put out in 1996 at 26 years old, Jay-Z was shut down by record labels left and right when he was first trying to sign a deal. They didn't understand the impact Hip Hop could have at the commercial level at that time, and even after Jay-Z's signing they barely understood the impact he would have on the genre. When he and fellow entrepreneur Damon Dash came together and created Roc-a-fella records in 1995, their touring success and Jay-Z rapping with fellow Brooklyn rapper Biggie Smalls helped them gather a large audience. This large audience and popularity would be enough for Universal Music Group, who would buy the independent Roc-A-Fella label and help it grow. Although only several decades away from Jay-Z's beginning, his rise to popularity in the culture has already created myth-like stories, the most popular being his apparent association with the long talked about secret society group of rich men called the Illuminati. It is said that the sign he holds up "the roc sign" representing his label Roc-A-Fella records is supposed to be a sign that links him to this secret society group. Although I myself believe this "secret group" is a way for a "depressed" culture to explain how a man from Marci projects in Brooklyn New York could not only make it out alive but be a huge success, most people believe Jay-Z and many other artists from the black community only made it by "cutting a deal with the devil." He is never fully praised for his hard work and drive to make a better life for himself, going on tours in vans to sometimes very small shows and getting shut out by every major record label when he first came knocking. Jay-Z will grow old and just like the rest of us pass away, but how he made his rise to fame will forever be argued in circles around the world. As more time and more artists come along and mention him as one of the greatest rappers to ever do it, Jay-Z's myth will continue to grow.

Movie Review: O Brother Where Art Thou?

In the movie O Brother Where Art Thou?, three men (Ulysses, Pete and Delmar)escape from prison to  recover over a million dollars in treasure that Ulysses claimed to have stolen from an armored car and buried before he was put away. This turns out to be a big lie, especially since before that one of the guys (Pete) only had several weeks left to serve, but now because he ran away had to serve over 50 years. They spend most of the story looking for the treasure, and at one point record a song that becomes popular "Man of Constant Sorrow" calling their group the "Soggy Bottom Boys. After they find out that Ulysses was lying just to get his wife back, they go on to help him get her back and find her ring so they can be together. "I ran into several mythological references during this movie:

-The blind man Weaver that tells them their futures 
-The blind man Root that runs the radio station
-The one-eyed Bible Salesman Dan Teague
-Tommy Johnson the guitarist who sold his soul to the devil

Out of the four I saw in the movie:

-The blind man Weaver that tells them their futures reminds me of Achilles mother from the Iliad, when she told him the two paths he could take for his future, die and be immortal or live with a family and be forgotten.
-The guitarist Tommy Johnson, who sold his soul to the devil so he could play guitar reminds me of the story of Atlas, when Heracles tricked him into taking the sky while he ran away with the golden apples. Both Atlas and Heracles were stuck in a weird place, left there to ponder their foolish decisions.

The Tragic Hero in Antigone?

In my opinion it is quite clear that the hero in the story Antigone has to be the girl, son of Oedipus, Antigone. Her selflessness to take care of her father while he was sick, her courage to stand up for what was right even after he died and her bravery to go on and bury her brother, Polynices despite Creon's order to not do so. But if I were to choose another hero from the story I would chose Haemon, the man who was supposed to marry Antigone before she defied his father Creon. He stood up to his father and told him to reconsider hanging Antigone, at a time where it was considered foolish to side with a woman. He also ran away vowing never to come back because of his father letting his pride get in the way of overturning his decision to kill Antigone and her sister. Antigone showed courage, having a heart despite what the world around her says and standing up for what she believes in in a Myth during a time period where women had yet to surpass their role in the household as mothers, cooks and cleaners.

Construction of the Journey of a Hero: Olivia Pope

In explaining the journey of a hero and how they came to be what they are known as, I have chosen Olivia Pope, from the show Scandal. Before she had her own detective firm, Ms. Pope worked for the current president in the show as an assistant on his election campaign. Although she is very talented and intelligent, going on to help him and his Vice president win the White House, she goes on to have an affair with him during the campaign and it continues during the show. What makes this even more complicated is the fact that she is good friends with the now first lady of the White House, and the firm that she runs sometimes has to do cases against the very man she secretly loves. Her biggest strength, her independence and dedication to do her job are also her biggest downfalls in her personal life. She has no time to harbor a legitimate romantic relationship and the one man she loves is already married, hes also one one of the most powerful men in the world. So although powerful and worthy of admiration to her dedication to her firm and being very good at her job, Olivia Pope at the same time could be looked down upon for her affair with the president and her lack of a social life, a robot of sorts surrounded by humans (she wont even allow herself to cry).

"Spirited Away" and Pantheon character comparisons

Several characters in Spirited Away stood out to me. The first one was Haku, who was one of the few people who wanted to help the young girl Chihiro find her family and warns her to go back across the bridge to get out of the spirit world along with her parents. He reminds me of Prometheus in spirit, because he was willing to be looked down upon by the others in order to help the humans. He, just like Prometheus was not liked by his peers when his name was mentioned. Prometheus of course stole fire for the humans and was punished by Zeus for doing so. Chibaba, the woman that gave Chichiro her job in the beginning of the movie and runs the place, reminds me of Hades. Just like Hades, she runs her world and has a way to get to and from it only using a ticket(she has a floating train, Hades has a boat and they both go across a river). She assigned Chichiro a job and a new name when she got her and stole her old one, just like how Hades calls the shots in the underworld and tells everyone what their place is in it.

Borge's Asterion

In writing Asterion, Jorge Louis Borges achieves several different things. First, it shows us small origins of how myth worked during those times. Just like today, rumors and hearsay were big in the social parts of society but the only difference was that there were no social media outlets or ways to communicate besides talking in person. This would allow people more time to ponder on these passed on stories and even on purpose or by accident add a part to the legend that was not true at all. For example, Asterion stated that many people thought he was a prisoner in his own house and that all his doors were locked up so he couldn’t get out. This along with many other accusations would go on to be false, as he would go on to state and debunk each part of the myth that became him, collected stories and gossip that somehow made it to his doorstep. The second thing this story did indirectly was paint a picture of the culture from the time so we could see it. It was clear that things like writing each other letters and mingling with friends were common because Asterion was stating that he wasn’t a normal man because he didn’t do any of those things, he found hobbies like reading and writing meaningless. He even at times seems to entertain some of these myths, laughing at some of the gossip complied about him in front of the public. It probably was a brave thing to do at the time, for Asterion to come out and clear the air and admit himself being almost a cog in their system.