While Middlesex was very strange, I think it was an important read as well.
I didn't know what a hermaphrodite was until I read this book, and I learned along with Cal as he discovered himself through the pages. It is not unimaginable to me to question who I am as I grow up, but to discover that you are really a completely different gender--that I cannot imagine, simply because I am a girl, and I will always be a girl, and I wouldn't want to be any different than I am.
However, it was interesting to read as the then-Calliope discovered her sexuallity and the changes her body did, or did not, make. I think a lot of her struggles were things that every teenager can relate to, if not to the full extent of the problems that she had. But it was great that it touched upon the acceptance of the people who are important to you and everyone else around you. Because no matter how hard we all try to deny it, other people's opinions do matter, and how they react to certain things can affect our lives forever.
Today's world has become more accepting of hermaphrodites, lesbians, gays, bisexuals, asexuals, transgenders, genderqueers, genderfluids, and any other variation of the labels we put on ourselves, so I feel like this book fit right in with the ways that a lot of people feel on the subject. For example, if my parents were to read this book, they'd find it much stranger than I did, just because of how their generation was raised. I think it's important for young adults to read books like this to discover that these people--even if they are a bit different than the "norms"--are just human beings too. They were born the way they are, and they shouldn't have to change just because society wants them to fit in. The more people who read first hand accounts--be it fictional or non-fictional--will understand that it is natural to be different. It's how we survive.
Even though I initially read the book as my language arts project, I really enjoyed the content. It was a fast read, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone interested on the subject. Even if you're not, it's good to experience other things so that maybe you can change your perspective on things you don't understand.
Monday, February 2, 2015
Big Hero Six
This movie completely blew my mind.
I mean, it had me crying over a damn robot, for God's sake. Not that it's hard to get me to cry over a movie, mind you, but still, the point is valid.
Not only does the movie have a phenomenal plot line, but it also represents a couple of different races too, which Disney isn't really big on doing. Plus, there wasn't really a romantic plot line to follow, it was again based on family, like Disney's Frozen did recently. I feel like this is monumental for kids because today's society is big on waiting to start a family. People go to college now, and become successful before settling down or having children. One of the big parts of the beginning of the movie was focused on Hiro going to school, which is so important nowadays if you want to be successful in a career.
One thing that did suprise me was that the movie did take a fairly dark turn. Though most Disney movies do incorporate the whole "revenge" thought process, usually the murderous aspects of that are just implied, or sort of misrepresented through magic or other means, but this movie was very upfront about the fact that Hiro definitely wanted to kill the Professor. He wanted revenge for his brother's death, and he was totally willing to make Baymax kill the man. But by his friends stopping that from happening, its another way of showing that friends can help you through your darkest times, and that even when you make bad choices, you can make things right again.
My favorite part of the whole film was Baymax, hands down. While his character didn't have much depth to it, he served as both the comedic relief and a heartwarming companion. He probably made me smile more than anything else during the film. As a medical student, the health care possibilities that Baymax represented were fascinating, as well as the moral aspect that the robot represented. He acts as more than a machine, and definitely becomes Hiro's closest and most unexpected friend. Baymax represented a good moral standpoint by refusing adamantly about hurting others and that his job was to be the caretaker. The scene where he showed Hiro the tapes of his brother just made me smile, and the scene where Hiro had to leave Baymax behind had me holding back tears.
The only thing I would have liked to see out of this movie was more of the bot fighting, just because the idea of it being an underground activity was interesting to me, but it wasn't really touched upon throughout the rest of the movie other than Hiro upgrading Baymax's exterior. All in all, it was another hit for Disney, and I didn't expect any less.
I mean, it had me crying over a damn robot, for God's sake. Not that it's hard to get me to cry over a movie, mind you, but still, the point is valid.
Not only does the movie have a phenomenal plot line, but it also represents a couple of different races too, which Disney isn't really big on doing. Plus, there wasn't really a romantic plot line to follow, it was again based on family, like Disney's Frozen did recently. I feel like this is monumental for kids because today's society is big on waiting to start a family. People go to college now, and become successful before settling down or having children. One of the big parts of the beginning of the movie was focused on Hiro going to school, which is so important nowadays if you want to be successful in a career.
One thing that did suprise me was that the movie did take a fairly dark turn. Though most Disney movies do incorporate the whole "revenge" thought process, usually the murderous aspects of that are just implied, or sort of misrepresented through magic or other means, but this movie was very upfront about the fact that Hiro definitely wanted to kill the Professor. He wanted revenge for his brother's death, and he was totally willing to make Baymax kill the man. But by his friends stopping that from happening, its another way of showing that friends can help you through your darkest times, and that even when you make bad choices, you can make things right again.
My favorite part of the whole film was Baymax, hands down. While his character didn't have much depth to it, he served as both the comedic relief and a heartwarming companion. He probably made me smile more than anything else during the film. As a medical student, the health care possibilities that Baymax represented were fascinating, as well as the moral aspect that the robot represented. He acts as more than a machine, and definitely becomes Hiro's closest and most unexpected friend. Baymax represented a good moral standpoint by refusing adamantly about hurting others and that his job was to be the caretaker. The scene where he showed Hiro the tapes of his brother just made me smile, and the scene where Hiro had to leave Baymax behind had me holding back tears.
The only thing I would have liked to see out of this movie was more of the bot fighting, just because the idea of it being an underground activity was interesting to me, but it wasn't really touched upon throughout the rest of the movie other than Hiro upgrading Baymax's exterior. All in all, it was another hit for Disney, and I didn't expect any less.
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