Blog #10 -- Planet of the Apes

The theme of Xenophobia appears in the film through the apes fear of the humans. This is also the same for the men who land back on Earth. The apes fear the humans because they were brought up to do so. The higher authority told them to fear the humans because they knew of the destruction that they brought upon themselves that ultimately ruined their society. This gave the apes a chance to evolve and become more advanced. This is why the humans were afraid, because when they left earth it wasn't normal for apes to be so advanced.

Planet of the Apes shows us that no matter how different the society, there is always going to be distinctions within it. There is always going to be people who stand for different things in a society. And people are always going to be discriminated because of their differences. I think that apes and humans were created equal but our mindset doesn't let us get over the little differences that we might have.

I think that Planet of the Apes has a message that sometimes it's alright to follow authority. In the apes' case they did find bliss in ignorance. They were protected from the information by the leaders. I think that the apes should be told of the world that came before theirs. If they were to have this knowledge I believe that they would be able to better understand the humans and maybe prevent another end of the world to happen.

Ender's Game #4

It surprised me that the identity of ender’s siblings wasn’t disclosed to the public. But then as the story progressed, I understood why they weren’t revealed. They were crucial to the war that was happening on earth and they were the some of the only ones strong enough to lead the people. People would feel uneasy if their real age was found out because adults naturally think that they should be smarter than children. I agree with Ender when he was with Valentine and he expressed his worries about defeating the buggers when he doesn’t even know anything about them. I think it’s totally unrealistic to conquer something you can’t understand in the most basic form. I don’t know if the people at the battle school don’t know anything about the buggers or if they are simply filtering all of the information they know away from the kids. I still think that it would have benefited them. I didn’t like how they set up Ender and the commanders in the end and lied about their battles being just a game. In my opinion, I think that Ender could have dealt with the pressure. It surprised me how Ender went back to the tactics he learned during Battle School and used them to win the war with the buggers. I thought it was kind of cool how Ender came to understand the buggers. I think that the government should have put in more effort to understand them so they all didn’t have to die due to people’s fear of them. I wonder where Ender ended up putting the cocoon because it implies that he did find a place to put it.

Enders Game #3

It is very apparent in the beginning of chapter 10 that the Colonel and commander are rushing to get Ender ready for battling with the aliens. They think that the war with the aliens is going downhill. Ender provides to be the only hope they have to win the war. I think that they put unnecessary stress on Ender and the children at the school. They don’t have time to be and act like children. It is unfair to treat them like adults even though they have a higher level of thinking than most of them. This shows again how helpless and afraid they feel because of the presence of the aliens. Ender shows a lot of strong leadership qualities in these two chapters. He takes a group of kids who are inexperienced in battle and leads them to victory in every battle. He becomes a strong and respectable character in order to gain the attention and respect of his soldiers. He gives them high expectations and expects nothing less. And the last quality of a leader he has is understanding. He knows the limit of his soldiers and knows what exactly they are going through. I think Ender showed extreme intelligence when he went through his last battles at the school. The teachers rigged the battles to his disadvantage and yet, he always came out victorious.

Blog #9

In The Monsters are Due on Maple Street, the neighbors getr paranoid about each other being aliens. They go after and put blame on eachother in order to put reassurance within themselves. They don't want to live in fear with people who are close to them like their neighbors. We as humans, usually fear the unknown and different and all of the possibilities that come with it. We live in this fear and let it eat us up until it destroys us and the people whom we surround. I thought it was horrible how all of the neighbors went crazy because they were too xenophobic. There wasn any threatening that people were doing. The power went out and this started the whole chain of events. I really enjoyed this video. I thought it was neat how they showed the aliens in the end and how they were purposely going to every Maple Street to see how the people reacted when the power went out. I didn't expect this ending at all.

To be honest, Muse creeped me out. I find it weird how the slug tapped into his thoughts and conversed with him that way. This story reminded me of a book I read called Host. In both stories the main character has an alien that taps into their thoughts. The only difference is that in Host, the alien controls the persons thoughts completely. I cannot decide weather or not the slug in Muse controls his thoughts completely or if he combines his thoughts with the main characters. We cannont tell because the character wouldn't know if he was being controlled or not. I didn't like how the father didn't accept his son's choice to have the slug with him. It shows that we are afraid of being controlled by the unknown.

Ender's Game #2

In chapters 6-9, the presence of the fantasy game proves to be a reflection of Ender's most personal thoughts and feelings. The giant symbolized Ender's obstacles in school that he needed to overcome in order to perform to his fullest potential. The mirror with the image of his brother in it symbolizes how Ender couldn't get over the fact that he was "murderous" like his older brother. In the game and in his personal life, he decides to "kiss the snake" in other words; accept this part of character and use it to his advantage. In these chapters, we see ender grow as a leader. He manages to use his intelligence to win over his peers. For instance, in one of his first battles he figures how to make it so the laser beam only paralyzes his legs so he is able to shoot at the opposing team to prevent his team from taking a loss. He also assembles a group to practice his combat skills with and has many under and higher classmates join in to be trained by him. It really surprised me when the point of view changed to that of Valentine and Peter's. In my opinion, I think that Peter is using Valentine to get the power to rule earth. In the past he was very power-hungry; there is no way that he is willing to share the power with Valentine.

Blog #8 (Puppet Show)

I didn't really enjoy this short story. I found that it was hard to differentiate the characters. I thought it was really suprising that the burrow was the alien in the end. Throughout the short story you were expecting to know how the story was going to end. I think it was sad how the people failed the test. They were trying to attach themselves to something that was in a way sort of similar to themselves instead of being open to every possibility. If I was in the same positin I don't think that I would've passed either because the ending totally took me by suprise. I think this story says a lot about our society and how we are programmed at a young age to expect certin things in life. It isn't benificial at all to have this mindset because you will miss out on certain things in life. I found it interesting how the main character had blue hair and eyes and red skin. I don't think he would be accepted in our society because usually when people are born with "deformities" they are often picked out of the crowd and juged by the masses.

Ender's Game #1

I have enjoyed Enders Game this far. I find it very interesting how Ender seems to act so much like an adult. He always knows the future actions of those around him and has a very deep knowledge of technology. I keep wondering what the people who are in charge of Ender's new school are trying to train him for. We as readers know that there is a presence beyond humans in this book but we don't exactly know what these aliens are doing to threaten the humans. To me, it seems that they don't even know much about the "buggers"and are just blindly fighting them because they are afraid of how different they are from themselves. This misunderstanding is shown in the first chapter when Ender is playing buggers and astronauts with Peter. He questions if the aliens play games like the one he plays with his brother. This again, shows that there is this complete lack of knowledge about the aliens. I kind of connected with Ender and his Relationship with his brother and sister. Sometimes I get into fights with my older sister like he does with Peter, but in the end I know we have relationship like he has with Valentine where we would do anything for each other.