Marjane

Marjane

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Meg's Persepolis Week 6: Class Act



Last class, we discussed why people seem to like the same types of stories. (When I refer to "hero" I mean both hero and heroine, male and female) For example: the hero is alone in the world, he/she is normally an orphan, the hero turns to a dark side which almost makes him/her evil, but they eventually return to the good side again. Sound fimiliar?
These stories, most commonly existent in superhero stories such as Spiderman, Superman, Daredevil or Wonder Woman, are and have been extremely popular throughout the ages. Why? Perhaps people enjoy reading about people that seem to be less off than we are, and seeing their struggles turn to success, fame and happiness is uplifting. This to me seems true, I enjoy reading story narratives in which characters that have faults are able to overcome fears and difficulties. Reading fiction or even non-fiction at times that has these factors make me want to overcome my fears and difficulties as well. I believe stories need to have some sort of un-good (Newspeak, 1984) event or issue to be interesting. Who wants to read about somebody who has a great life, great job, great family and dies happily in their sleep at age 100? It is not relateable, and there is nothing to be learned. In my opinion, the best stories are the ones where you can come away feeling "cleansed" and refreshed with a new sense of life. These as I now know, are considered a "catharsis."
When people are younger, most children are taught to look out for the "moral" of the story. In the "Tortoise and the Hare", the moral of the story is "Slow and steady always wins the race." This, even as a child, didn't make sense to me.
"Fast and quick wins a race!" I would think to myself. However, what bedtime stories were beginning to teach us children was that there are themes to written narratives. Themes are universal, timeless messages conveyed by a text that usually teaches something about life, or human nature. Themes cannot be confused with motifs, which are reoccuring subjects or elements in a narrative. "Slow and steady always wins the race" does make sense in some retrospectives. This certainly helps me in a egg and spoon race.

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