(Unintentionally?)Disconnected from Tragedy

When thinking about something for this blog to write about, nothing really came to mind. By no stretch of my imagination have I experienced any real personal tragedy of my own. I listed in the title that my tragedy is "disconnected" because I never really knew any family affected by tragedy (sounds super cold, but I'll explain).  I'd say when I my age was in single digit numbers (about 9-10 years ago) my grandparents on my dad's side passed away (at different times, but still within a year of each other). For whatever reason, distance or other reasons, I'd only met my grandfather once and never even met my grandmother.  I didn't really feel like I knew them, especially when my dad would never tell me about them.  So even though they died,  I felt a loss, but not an extremely significant loss (again, sounds kinda cold).  I know eventually I will feel a real tragedy, but as of now I don't think I've ever experienced a personal tragedy yet. 

The Scope Tragedy Offers

Tragedy and eroticism share a sense of broadness (though different types of broadness) when being defined by an individual. Eroticism's broadness comes what action is classified as erotic (anything could be seen as erotic by the parties involved but ultimately the pleasure is individualized for said parties).  Tragedy's broadness comes from how many people can be affected by a tragedy (tragedy can either affect a select few or an entire nation/the world).  For example, something like Robin Williams' death was very shocking and tragic for a vast portion of America and probably the world. He would be the person you (younger generations especially) would think of as the epitome of comedy. We (at least I) grew up with his comedy as a progression from Aladdin to Jumanji/Mrs Doubtfire and all other of his movies/comedy specials and such (not necessarily release order, just like what my parents let me watch order).  However, it's deaths like his that just show that anyone can be affected by something so greatly that it can cause their death even of they don't outwardly show it. I would honestly never have known about the disease that was a major factor into his death (Lewy Body Dementia) if he didn't die from it.  

Epic Heroes: Ancient vs Modern

Epic heroes in today's society seem to have less significance to the culture they come from then when they were originally conceived hundreds of years ago.  I'll preface this by saying that I don't believe they have zero significance to their particular culture, just less than when their stories began.   It just seems like the epic heroes from the past become sensationalized in today's culture with movies which can detract from their overall meaning and significance.  Take someone like Kratos, who in modern times is popularized as the "God of War."  Though not the actual God of War according to Greek mythology, Kratos became the protagonist of the Playstation-based "God of War" franchise.  The game, if you have not heard of or played it, focuses on Kratos constantly being enraged at any and all gods, questing to dispatch and kill any gods on his quest to kill his main adversary depending on the game (ranges from Ares [the actual god of war], Zeus and Alecto [Queen of the Furies]).  The game's action is based off of over the top gruesome kills and violence.  Not to say there wasn't any violence in the ancient stories, it is just that Kratos was no where near as volatile and blood thirsty as it is in the "God of War" video game series.  In all honesty, his only important role was defending Mount Olympus from Typhon while aiding Zeus and his siblings.  Most people flock to the "God of War" series less for the lore behind the game and more for the gruesome violent displays of epic proportions.  It seems like less and less people will know the character for their ancient lore and more for the modern stories outlets like gaming companies and movie makers will tell.                

New look on creation stories

Since completing and watching the presentations of my fellow classmates, I have been thinking about creation stories differently.  Any thoughts I had about creation stories from past education lead me to believe them to be strictly stories or oral reports that detail the origin of everything from a certain culture's view. Now, in a more modern age with more media choices to express ourselves, we have more variety in how we tell our stories. Whether it was creativity in the way it was said (rap song/animated/PowerPoint) or the content (using the teacher as the creator or not necessarily starting from relatively nothing to create), there was a lot of creativity from the presentations. But at its core, the aspects and features of the creation stories were the same. Just that one similarity links the creation stories we've read about to the ones we created ourselves. I'd assume in hundreds of years that the people of those generations will have even more ways to get the point of their beliefs on creations across to the masses. 

Sam, Will and Hope's Project

I'll try not to say too much about the story since we will hear it when they present, but I really liked this group's unique take on a creation story.  It'll probably be the most comedic one out of the ones presented because I would assume most other groups went for a more serious tone.  The backgrounds seem to play into the story well but some of the pictures seem to be there for purely comedy and less the story.  The actual creation part of the story is also very interesting.  It is kind of a combination of monotheistic and polytheistic creation with the original creator creation a sort of "sub" creator to deal with different aspects of the world.  They also included a council that plays a somewhat important role in the creation (or maybe in stopping it, not trying to spoil), something I would not have thought to put in a creation story.  Overall, it was a creative project and I'm curious to see it once it is presented.   

Thoughts on the meaning of Hero

When I think of a typical hero, I think of someone like Superman. He, in my mind, is person who can do no wrong (for the most part) as he saves Metropolis a countless number of times.  Heroism and acts of that nature extend out much further than just the superheroes on a comic book page or the action heroes selling out movie theaters.  The essence of heroism can practically be seen in every facet of life, even if only for a brief moment.  Some of the more obvious every day heroes are the people that put their lives on the line, such as EMTs, firefighters, police and soldiers.  These people make a community, state or entire country overall better because of the service they provide.  Some heroes, on the other hand, can go relatively unsung in the grand scheme of things.  It could be something as small as someone brightening your day or listening to you vent.  Teachers, or just people in a learning and/or authoritative position, could have a profound effect on a particular person's life to show them what potential or even save the person from doing something terrible (self harm type things).  I guess my purpose with this is to talk about the scope of the definition of hero and how widely it can be interpreted.   

My view on Eroticism

Honestly, I'm not sure what to think of eroticism. I think at face value people might view eroticism or an erotic nature as something it's not because they might not know their own definition of the word or what it means to be erotic from their point of view. I'd assume as relationships develop and people start to explore everything (like life: spiritually, mentally, physically, sexually, etc), their views on the subject change. It seems to all be about preference and what one person thinks and gives them pleasure in an erotic sense. Erotic pleasures seem to be able to have some link if a person has a particular fetish for something (if a fetish exists for that specific person, not assuming or saying everyone has a fetish for something). It can seem weird from a person who doesn't think that particular thing/action is erotic (example: I don't understand how people get sexually aroused by pain [whips, choking, etc]). In the end, it's all about the individual to find their own definition of erotic and what gives them erotic pleasure, whether or not other people have a similar sensation from it (I don't think anyone can ever get the exact same feeling from something like that). 

Barney Stinson and Eroticism

In my group that presented about eroticism, we talked about how there was an emotional component when talking about eroticism.  I think that a good pop culture reference that shows how sex can tend to be meaningless while eroticism involves emotion would be the show How I Met Your Mother.

 The character Barney Stinson epitomizes how sex can be illustrated as meaningless with no emotional connection between the two parties involved. Season after season for the majority of the show's stay on TV, Barney would always brag about his conquests of multiple bimbos he would meet at the bar, have a one night stand with and subsequently kick out or leave depending on if they went to his place (which happened the majority of the time) or vice versa.  In one episode, he even went so far to create a March Madness-type bracket with women to discover which of his old "girlfriends" is telling other women in his area that he only cares about the sex/one night stand they will have (illustrates the magnitude of his sexual partners, 64+ in quantity).  Throughout the majority of the show, he tries very hard to stay detached to women by creating various failsafe systems so he always has at his disposal a plethora of girls to have sex with (some failsafe a include a breast augmentation surgeon, lawyer with a class action case against his breast augmentation surgeon when they realize he's a fraud, breast reduction surgeon [this particular grouping is cyclical in nature with one leading to next and so on]).  He even has a "playbook" and "bro code" (with a fictitious history attached to it that he treats like a bible) that he references constantly for a good 90% of the show. 

In essence, this show illustrates how not all sex has meaning and emotion behind it.