The book I'm voting for for the next installment of this class is Candy. I feel like the group that presented Candy did a very nice job explaining the plot. It really made me want to go out and pick up a copy of the book. When they were giving the summary, I feel like it was loosely related to the movie Candy that has Heath Ledger in it so I was wondering if maybe the movie was based on the book perhaps. Both focus on a heavy heroin addiction and the coming together of Candy and a boy, but in the movie there is no aspect of a pimp and both Candy and the male character get deep into addiction, whereas in the book Candy, it is just Candy that dabbles in heroin.
I chose to vote on this book because for me it seemed the most interesting. It seems , from the presentation that this book creates a lot of tension and are many parts in the story where you don't really know what is going to happen and next and that is what keeps it interesting. Also, the fact that it is in a sense a coming of age story, I think that it would be good for the next class because we are all in college to find our way or start a new life and I think that is one of the lessons in Candy.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Project Mayhem
Project Mayhem focus's on New York City's financial district as the nexus of their frustration because if they blow up the credit card company headquarters then all debt would be erased, leaving the city in total chaos. Project Mayhem is about being a free person, it's about being free from all things that hold you down. So in blowing up NYC's financial district, everyone would be free from the debt that holds them down and then everyone in New York would be free like the members of Project Mayhem.
I find it very strange that so many people took offense to Fight Club after 9/11 because Fight Club is just a fictional story and was made 2 years before the Twin Towers were struck. Blowing up buildings and the fact that it is set in New York are the only similarities to 9/11 and Fight Club. Maybe it was the threat that people in our own country could do something this catastrophic is what had people worried. But to ban this movie from certain cable networks because of its so-called scare factor, I think is just absurd. There are many movies that are set in New York and things are getting blown up, but it seems that no one pitched a fit about those and wanted to ban them.
I find it very strange that so many people took offense to Fight Club after 9/11 because Fight Club is just a fictional story and was made 2 years before the Twin Towers were struck. Blowing up buildings and the fact that it is set in New York are the only similarities to 9/11 and Fight Club. Maybe it was the threat that people in our own country could do something this catastrophic is what had people worried. But to ban this movie from certain cable networks because of its so-called scare factor, I think is just absurd. There are many movies that are set in New York and things are getting blown up, but it seems that no one pitched a fit about those and wanted to ban them.
Tyler Durden
In Fight Club, Tyler Durden says "Our Great War is a spiritually one, our Great Depression is our lives." I think that this statement means that the "War" is sort of what we all want it to be. Some people make it about religion, some make it about politics, some make it about truth and honor. But I think what Tyler was trying to say about the war is that it is always going to be there, there will always be war, but since we are not there on the front lines and seeing it for our own eyes than war itself is off in a spiritual world. Whereas the Great Depression that is our lives is right in front of us. It is very really compared to a war that is hundreds of miles away. Day in and day out we are going about living our lives, but there are hardships that face us everyday and that is where the Great Depression is, right in our backyard, not a Great war that is far away from us.
This relates to Fight Club because Tyler and Edward Norton (forgot his movie name) are just working their boring jobs and need something exciting to snap them out of their "Great Depression," thus forming Fight Club. They took something and made it their own, so instead of sitting around waiting for the world to change them, they took the first step and did it themselves. In a war, you can't make the change yourself, it has to be the leaders of the nation that stop it, therefore it makes it only something you believe in like a religion. But what Tyler did is took the only thing that he was in control of, his life, and made it more apt for the way he wanted to live it.
This relates to Fight Club because Tyler and Edward Norton (forgot his movie name) are just working their boring jobs and need something exciting to snap them out of their "Great Depression," thus forming Fight Club. They took something and made it their own, so instead of sitting around waiting for the world to change them, they took the first step and did it themselves. In a war, you can't make the change yourself, it has to be the leaders of the nation that stop it, therefore it makes it only something you believe in like a religion. But what Tyler did is took the only thing that he was in control of, his life, and made it more apt for the way he wanted to live it.
Edward Norton and IKEA
In Fight Club, Edward Norton seems to obsessed with IKEA furniture and their magazines, he even has some of the magazines located in the bathroom. He is a symptom of consumer culture because like most Americans, Norton latches on to a product and doesn't stray from it. It's all about the brand and once people get in their comfort zone with a certain product, they don't want to go out and try another. It's like when your in high school and playing basketball, the only brand of shoes you want is Nike and if you get anything different than Nike, you become uncomfortable. Or when you use one kind of shampoo or face wash. You always go back to the store and buy the same exact kind because if you had to get something different, it would take a while to become use to the idea of using a different product and that is why I think that Edward Norton is a symptom of consumer culture. He is used to his pattern of only buying IKEA furniture and IKEA furniture only.
Fight Club only shows Norton buying the furniture over the phone rather than going into the store and purchasing it. I think the reason for this is because in America today, we would rather get things the quick and easy way and if that means avoiding human interaction than so be it. When you go into the store to purchase products, it is inevitable that someone will ask you if your finding everything alright, then you have to worry about the crowds and the lines, then when you finally get to the check out, you have to deal with a high school drop out that can't punch the products into the computer. By ordering over the phone, Norton only has the chance of dealing with one stupid person rather than a bunch of them and I think that is why he chooses to order over the phone instead of going into the store.
Fight Club only shows Norton buying the furniture over the phone rather than going into the store and purchasing it. I think the reason for this is because in America today, we would rather get things the quick and easy way and if that means avoiding human interaction than so be it. When you go into the store to purchase products, it is inevitable that someone will ask you if your finding everything alright, then you have to worry about the crowds and the lines, then when you finally get to the check out, you have to deal with a high school drop out that can't punch the products into the computer. By ordering over the phone, Norton only has the chance of dealing with one stupid person rather than a bunch of them and I think that is why he chooses to order over the phone instead of going into the store.
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