The Chicken or the Egg?

“I do not know whether God created Shakespeare but I know that Shakespeare created us.”

-Harold Bloom

I love this quote. Perhaps it’s the theater kid in me that causes me to agree with it, who knows. Regardless, i think this quote holds a lot of truth. God is an unseen being. Some people believe in him, some people believe in many, some people believe in the equivalent of him, and some people don’t believe in him at all. I believe in God, some days more than others. So as far as the beginning of the quote is concerned, it is so true. I agree with it because I’m not completely certain about God’s existence. Therefore, I don’t know if he was the one who brought Shakespeare to life.

Now, for the second part, the way that I interpret the quote might be different than others. How I’m choosing to understand it is that Shakespeare wrote all the stories that are the base for new ones. Maybe he stole those ideas from someone else, but he is the one who is universally known. Also, within those stories all possible form of human behavior and emotion is encompassed. You have comedies, tragedies, history. There is love, murder, mistaken identities, brothers, sisters, lovers, mothers, fathers, kings, queens, warriors. Everything that we think of that makes up society is included in Shakespeare’s work. And so, in theory he created us.

Obviously he didn’t literally take a mold and added magic and brought us to life. But all that we are, how we act, and the way we behave is reflected in his work. Maybe you could ask the question of the ages, “What came first, the chicken or the egg?” Meaning, “What came first, human behavior or Shakespeare’s plays?” I guess it would make sense to assume that people were already behaving a certain way and Shakespeare just happened to be first to notoriously write about it. In which case Shakespeare didn’t create us. 

This raises the bigger question which is, do we create art or does art create us? I believe that art creates us. Our behaviors are shaped by what we see in the media. We get the inspiration for how we dress from how our favorite actors or singers dress. The music we listen to speaks about our society. Everything about the art that is in our world molds our behavior. However, I can see the other side as well. Art is a reflection of us. Art is a creation inspired by who we are and what we are. So, I think I have to conclude that there is no this or that. Art walks hand in hand with us. We create it and it creates us. We create art but then art inspires ideas within us that lead to more art. There is no way to ever know what came first, because as an ever-changing society, we are constantly shifting and the patterns of our behavior are not stationary.

Dear Witches, You Are No Longer Scary But Rather Intelligent and Beautiful

In contemporary culture witches, or wizards, represent higher knowledge/intelligence/wisdom. An example of this is Hermione Granger, from the Harry Potter book series. She is very intelligent and reads constantly and this comes in handy throughout the whole series and all the adventures that she and her friends embark on. It is even possible, that without her help Harry Potter wouldn’t have even gotten close to defeating Lord Voldemort. 

In Snow White, the witch is devious and manages to trick Snow into eating the poisoned apple. Although this could also still be a reference to the fear that men had of women when witches were originally created in literature, she was intelligent nevertheless. Not to mention, Albus Dumbledore, another character in the Harry Potter books, was also very wise and intelligent, and he happened to be a man. 

Apart from representing higher knowledge and all of that, I think that witches and wizards could potentially represent the human alter ego, who has magical abilities to solve problems, due to a feeling in society of helplessness when fixing a world that continues to fail in so many ways. As humans it is difficult for us to deal with reality when things aren’t going our way. It’s so much easier to pretend that those things aren’t happening or to escape into a fantasy world where the solution is a simple as casting a spell. 

This makes me wonder what werewolves represent in contemporary culture. In the Twilight series, Jacob Black and his pack are young teenagers with rippling muscles and an inability to keep their clothes on. The excuse given in the book for their appearance is the growing number of vampires in Forks. They are protectors. However, in Harry Potter, Remus Lupin is actually a monstrous being who has no control of his actions or recollection of his human self. He is a victim to a terrible condition that isolates him from the rest of the wizarding world and that causes people to judge him and treat him like a leper. I don’t see the common ground. I guess I have to keep in mind that Twilight also has shiny vampires who will forever remain sexy teenagers, while Harry Potter is a story about an orphaned boy whose mission is to destroy an evil wizard who kills innocent people. That being said, I still don’t really know what werewolves could possibly represent. I guess I just need to read more works with werewolves in them to be able to make an asserted analysis. 

I find it so interesting that in both of these cases, not only has the meaning of what each monster represents changed, but also what they look like. This only raises more questions in my mind. Why is it, that today’s society makes even “monsters” look attractive, as opposed to repulsive and frightening. It seems like our society is so obsessed with beauty and superficial things that we can’t even allow our monsters to be unattractive and scary, as they should be. 

Eating Oysters Isn't Just Eating Oysters If It's In A Book Or Movie

Who knew that eating meant more than just satisfying one’s hunger? I guess if you think about it that makes sense. Everyone knows what eating is and it’s not a particularly exciting event. So, why would an author use pages in his book on such a trivial activity? Because obviously there’s something more.

From what I’ve read and seen, a meal can be used to have everyone in a story in one place for when big news are delivered, or a particular plot twist that involves everyone, is delivered. So in those situations, it’s not about the food, but rather having a reason to have everyone together in one place at once. Also it can help to show character traits, like in the Bell Jar. When Esther is at the ladies' luncheon she spends a good about of time talking about the food and devouring it and in doing so one can notice how she doesn’t really interact with anyone else. It is so much about the food because there is a lack of dialogue with the other girls there. And of course this meal is what leads to the food poisoning later on. So this one meal both underscores Esther’s loneliness and lack of social activity and sets up a future conflict. 

Again, I don’t know why I hadn’t figured this out before. During most meal scenes in movies, people are having a conversation. As the audience you naturally pay attention more to what is being said than what is being done. The eating is secondary because it’s not essential. In the same sense, if there isn’t conversation happening during a meal scene, then you know that the action is important. That although they are eating, there is something bigger happening that must be spotted. 

I also found it very interesting when it talked about how in “Tom Jones” the eating scene in the inn was used in place of a sex scene because that couldn’t be openly shown back then. That is such a clever way to visually display an act that, well, could not be visually displayed. Having an everyday act represent something that society has deemed inappropriate to show is genius. A meal scene will never be censored if the characters are just eating. Because the director could always claim that it is an ordinary scene if he needs to. That being said, I will be more observant of scenes in which meals are happening. Something tells me that I have missed out on many things in the past because I wasn’t aware of the importance of what wasn’t happening. I must say though, using meal scenes to represent other things probably works best onscreen than on paper because being able to see how the characters eat is much more effective than reading about it. Just like anything that deals with the sense of smell is much more effective on paper because the descriptions can be more elaborate than a scene with an actor smelling something. 

Harry Potter is the Best Piece of Literature Ever...And I'm the Biggest Nerd for Saying That

After having read this chapter, it was so easy to think back to all of my favorite books and movies in which the character goes on a journey or mission and spot each thing that the chapter listed. It’s also interesting that it pointed out that once the character is on the quest, the original “errand” he was meant to run is forgotten. That is so true. Like in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets when Ron and Harry are going to find Lockhart to tell him where the chamber is and then they end up going down with him and killing Voldemort and the basilisk. This leads me to a statement that is also so true, “Th real reason for a quest is always self-knowledge.” This again leads me back to Harry Potter. During Harry’s battle against the basilisk, Dumbledore’s phoenix drops off the sorting hat, out of which Harry pulls out Godric Gryffindor’s sword. This is validation to Harry that he belongs in the house of Gryffindor and calms his worries that because of his ability to speak parseltongue, like Voldemort, maybe he was meant to be in Slytherin. After all is done, Harry is at peace that he is in the right house and that he is not like Voldemort, although they share some traits and abilities. 

I suppose that if you think about it, it makes sense that all quests include the things that this chapter speaks about. Even when one is coming up with a story, with no preplanning, most of the things in the chapter will be included. It’s just how stories work. For a story to make sense and a journey to feel true, there must always be a main character that embarks on the adventure. Otherwise what are you going to talk about? There obviously has to be a destination and a reason to go there. Without a destination there is no journey and without a reason for going there is no purpose to move anywhere. Challenges and trials are also essential because without conflict there is no story. Conflict is what makes things interesting and what makes the story worth reading. No one is entertained by peace and easy success. And of course, there has to be a real reason to go to the destination. The real mission will not be revealed immediately because the exposition must happen first. Also, if the real mission is revealed at the beginning there is a chance that the reader will miss it because he or she is too busy getting acquainted with the setting and characters, etc.

Honestly, it just wouldn’t make sense to have a story about adventure without any of these things. They make the story come together and what allow the story to be a good one. All of these parts are essential. Harry Potter was such a great series because J.K. Rowling had all of these things in abundance in each book. She created a world that was believable and characters that had a purpose. That is why although the series included seven books that could be considered somewhat repetitive, they never actually were. It never felt like the same thing again, even though essentially the story was the same. 

Now, Where Have I Seen Her Before?

This chapter was an extended version of something I’d heard before: “There are no new stories.” That’s not to detract from new works that may come up, but it’s just the truth. I haven’t been around that long, but in my short life I have noticed this. 

A very easy, maybe bad, example to spot that proves this is any given romantic comedy movie out there. The guy meets the girl and pursues her and then they end up together. Of course little details set the stories apart, whether it be the evil step mom in one and the crazy magical quest in the other, but the basic story is the same. 

Part of me wonders why this is. I guess an easy explanation is that it’s just hard to come up with original stories. As a playwright I can definitely agree with this statement. One of the reasons I have such a hard time being proud of my work is because I’m afraid that people will think it lacks imagination. Then it could also be because as human beings it’s just hard to deal with things that we don’t understand. The unknown is scary. It is in our nature to protect ourselves and avoid being vulnerable at any cost. Therefore, people read stories and watch movies about things that they are familiar with and that they know for certain how they feel about. It allows them to stay in control. Maybe because of this authors stick to what they know will be easily accepted due to its familiarity. 

And in that train of thought, maybe it’s also due to what society has deemed acceptable. After all, there have been books banned in different parts of the world because they were “too scandalous” or “inappropriate”. Upsetting the norm in society is frowned upon. Anything that isn’t “normal” or “traditional” can cause negative reactions. Most people would like to believe that they are open to change and new things, but it’s often proved to be false. Homosexuality is still something that causes commotion. Sex and anything related to it still causes most people to blush and change the subject. The man is still supposed to be the one to ask the woman out. How then, can anything that ventures into subjects that aren’t normally spoken about be accepted? They aren’t. And so we are stuck with the same stories. 

Maybe it’s because our knowledge of the world is too small to be able to come up with new stories, after all there is the other saying: “You write what you know.” We only exist in one planet. There are seven others that we have very little or no knowledge of. We are also only one type of living organism. Our goals in life are all basically the same. What we know is very small compared to what is out there. And we can’t write about things we don’t know. So again, we are stuck with the same stories. It’s no wonder we constantly see the same characters in literature and in movies.