Dear fellow people who have followed or read my material up until this point. Today is the day I retire from blogging and close Get Ranting. I have to say it’s been an enjoyable journey writing out posts and venting.
Fun facts: My blog was created on October 8th 2012. It’s been opened for 6 months, 14 days (including today) now. Or in other words, 196 days. Or in other words, 16,934,400 seconds. Or in other words, 282.240 minutes. Or in other words, 4702 hours. Or in other words, 28 weeks. I think you get the point. It’s been created for roughly half a year now.
The reason why I am closing this blog is because I feel like it’s served its purpose. I opened up this blog when I was angry and I just needed to rant. The main point of this blog was to give me a chance to rant my troubled emotions without feeling subjected to the opinions of others. But last week, I realized something that’s been missing in my life after reading the Japanese manga “Cat Street”. The manga taught me an important message that I’ve never really understood in the past. The scene below taught me: (Image credits go out to MangaFox)
Essentially, the main message here was to find your own happiness. But for two years now, I’ve been stuck in this cycle where I’ve been concentrating on the people around me to provide me happiness. Whether this was hanging around people just because they were happy people and I wanted a taste of their happiness, or me wanting to return to the past when things were happier. I was never focused on making myself happy and always looked towards other people/things. But while I read this manga, I related to the main character in many ways and I finally understood that I needed to find my own happiness to make myself and other people around me happy. I’ve never understood this message ever since two years ago when I stopped being genuinely happy due to breakups in friendships. Since then, I’ve always lived under a cynical mentality. But alas, I no longer feel this way. Cat Street has changed my life you could say.
Since this is a goodbye, I might as well post one of my favourite quotes of all time.
“Doubt them. Question them, suspect them…and take a good, long look into their hearts. Humans are the kind of beings who can’t put their pain into words after all.” Aiyama Shinichi (Liar Game).
It is always good to doubt the people around you. Doubting someone is not necessarily looking at them in a negative way. Instead, you doubt someone to try and discover more about that person. When we first meet people, we always doubt them. Many people say they “trust” others. What they do not realize is those types of people are giving up on trying to learn more about someone else. They mistake the term trust for apathy. When we become apathetic, our “trust” in others turns into indifference as we stop caring for everyone around us. Always question people and doubt them if you truly care about them.
I feel like I have finally done my own slogan justice: No restrictions. Speak your mind. Be Free. No longer do I feel restricted, I don’t feel the need to vent anymore, I have broken my self-inflicted mask of indifference and for once in two years I genuinely feel free. This blog page won’t be closed down in case anyone in the future stumbles upon it and wants to read some of my material. At least it won’t be closed down for now. But it will be inactive starting from today. (Then again, it always was lol)
THANK YOU ALL FOR DROPPING BY/LIKING/COMMENTING/FOLLOWING GET RANTING. IT’S BEEN A PLEASURE WRITING ENTRIES AND I HOPE YOU HAVE ALL ENJOYED THE MATERIAL YOU READ HERE.
Thought I’d try out the daily prompt for once. Question is: What activity, task, or game most brings out your competitive streak?
There is no real task in particular that brings out my competitiveness. It’s not so much about the situation as opposed to its nature. I feel the most competitive when I engage in an activity where I am/seen as the underdog. I often feel it is boring to be at the very top in life. An example of this might be in school. In high school, my very first report card was disappointing. I think my average was somewhere in the high 70s. I was mad because I scored a low mark when others around me scored higher ones. This trend continued for 2 years until the start of my third year where I was sick of being seen as someone who’d always be below others. I made myself a vow at that point that I would rise to the top no matter what and I would show those around me that I am just as capable as they are, if not more so.
Hence, my journey of intense studying began and I could probably tell you I was more competitive in that 1 year than I’d been throughout my whole life. And gradually, my marks did improve and my competitiveness carried into my fourth year where I still continued to prove my capability. And in my fifth year (my last year), I had finally stepped onto the level that I had strived for. I held a 90 average which was probably a mark in top 10 percentile of the grade and I can only say I managed to get there because of my competitiveness when all the stakes were pushed against me. I was only able to be competitive because I felt looked down upon by others. Therefore, it wasn’t the specific situation that triggered my competitiveness, but the realization that I was pushed against a wall with no where to run. Or in other words, I was only able to be competitive because I was the underdog in my situation. I felt if I didn’t improve myself, people would rip me apart and the only way for me to survive in my environment was if I took the fight to those who knocked me down.
But my story does not end. In my fifth year, although I finally managed to shine above many, I was not as competitive anymore. I had finally achieved what I desired, and I proved what I had to prove. At that point of my high school career, I no longer felt like I was an underdog. Instead, I was in some ways a champion. I no longer felt threatened by those around me, and I felt I had nothing more to prove. Hence, my competitive nature toned down during that year. This story is to just illustrate a point that I hate being looked upon. When I am at the bottom, I look at my situation as a fight for my life. I took my frustration as a source of my competitiveness to defend myself or else I will be taken over.
But also, in some ways, I like being the underdog. I like being pushed against the wall because I am presented with a challenge. I like working my way to the top because you have to endure a lot. You need to push your mind to its limits in all aspects, literally, if you want to truly succeed. But when I succeed, I am very happy. I’m not particularly happy with what I achieved, but more so with the way I went about doing it. I’m happy with knowing the fact that even when I was presented with insane obstacles, I was still able to persevere when I could have given up. Knowing that lets me know that I’ve grown as a person, and that is the ultimate achievement.
To be honest, I don’t really enjoy being at the top. It feels like there is no longer anywhere for me to go or anything for me to prove. In fact, I don’t feel at ease when I don’t have anything to prove. I like being the underdog because I am pressured to success; and the stress makes me feel alive.
This is the final post in the Childhood through Cartoons series dealing with Disney’s Mulan. Mulan always sticks as the first Disney movie I watched. It is my favourite Disney movie, and I literally watched it so many times as a kid that I can’t even count. I won’t go on a mega rant like I did last time, but I will point out some of the main things Mulan manages to do.
The first obvious lesson that I must point out in this film is the idea of sex and gender. Mulan is not a boy that embarks on a journey, but a young woman. The movie is highly sexist towards gender roles, portraying women as quiet, polite, refined, etc. To make a long story short, the gender roles are clearly defined and boundaries are set for them. Mulan comes into the picture and proves to everyone around her that a girl can be even better than a man. Obviously, having a female character overthrow obstacles and bury a whole army under snow are feats that children can draw some form of respect for girls in their entourage. However, the idea of having an apparent traditional female main character acting like a male would is a very smart idea because it pushes against the barriers of gender stereotypes.
In our century, children are brought up very stereotypically. If the child is a male, then he must behave as society would expect of him; and vice versa if the child is a female. Mulan is a female that is constantly urged by the people around her at the beginning of the film to appear as a female of traditional Chinese culture. She stumbles and does not seem to be able to conform to the gender stereotypes and children are introduced to the concept of “gender”. Children, and in fact, grown ups too, are not usually able to differentiate between the “sex” and “gender”. Sex is male or female, depending on the genitals of that person. Gender on the other hand, comprises of the values of being masculine, or feminine. Being masculine does not mean you must necessarily be a man in sex. You can be a woman, and still be masculine, which is what Mulan is. She does not become a man to embark on her adventure (she only alters her physical appearance), but she embraces her masculinity. From what children can learn from this idea is women and men are fully capable of acting outside of gender barriers. The hidden message that is to be drawn by children is they should be free to act their own way and not conform their masculinity/femininity. It’s obvious that children aren’t (shouldn’t be) able to understand clearly the message of sex and gender at such a young age, but they should get inspired that we aren’t obliged to act a certain because of our sex.
There are some really great messages throughout the film such as never giving up, persevering, believing in oneself. To sum all these themes up in one gigantic lesson is: believe in your duty, and follow your heart. This is one of those generic messages often seen in pretty much any film. But, to emphasize, having a female hero dominate feats that the males have trouble accomplishing speaks volume to children. I mean, she takes down a whole army by herself. As children see her succeed from obstacle to obstacle with the mindset that she must fight on to preserve her family’s honour, they learn that they must persevere just as much as Mulan did in life. Overall, it’s a common theme, but it still provides a good source of motivation for children.
I can’t exactly think of a “favourite scene” when I watch this movie, but I do believe the most important one is at the end of the movie when Mulan returns home presenting her father with gifts as a sign of honour to her family. However, her father says he does not care about the gifts and is only overjoyed to have his daughter back. This scene’s always stuck out to me the most in this movie. It teaches children that whatever obstacle they encounter; they always have the support of their families behind them. This scene helps reinforce that this movie is not about one’s duty, but about family. Mulan tries to become someone she isn’t to preserve the honour of her family. Then, she joins the army for the sake of her family. And finally, she returns home safety to her family. Mulan’s father throws away the gifts she brings him in order to embrace her, because his house’s honour is nothing without his loved one. He makes it clear that it isn’t about one’s successes that make a family, but the bonds that hold every member together. In the end of the day, children see that their families want what’s best for them.
Hello there, in the past 2 weeks I’ve been nominated for 2 blogging awards: the Versatile Blogger Award and the Liebster Award. Instead of doing a post separately for each award nomination, I will merge the two into one.
Versatile Blogger Award:
I would like to give a big thank you to The Summer Goddess Book of Shadows . I didn’t know blogging awards existed so I am quite excited to receive a nomination! (I will provide a section on my thoughts regarding blogging awards at the end of this post.)
Eleven Questions I have for those I have nominated:
1. What does blogging mean to you?
2. What do you consider to be the most influential thing/figure, in a teenager’s lives?
3. Are you masculine, or feminine?
4. Do we need to not be over dependent on technology?
5. Money or morals?
6. Would you give money to a beggar on streets?
7. Why do you think stereotypes are so prominent in the world?
8. Explain in a few sentences what you would do if you were king of the world?
9. What is your favourite catchphrase?
10. What is your favourite type of music?
11. What is your favourite type of food?
Here are 7 (or 11) things about myself:
1. I speak 3 languages fluently. (with additional dialects)
2. I love sushi.
3. I love going through stress because it makes me feel alive in a way.
4. I hate being criticized, but I appreciate it because I’m given a chance to improve myself.
5. I love to cook.
6. I like to inspire/motivate people.
7. I like to see myself as a sturdy oak.
8. I do not like Facebook.
9. Sometimes I try too hard to be nice and end up being taken advantage of.
10. I like ranting.
11. I dislike songs with lyrics. I prefer classical/orchestral/post-rock(a bit)/light hip hop instrumentals or jazz.
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My thoughts on these awards:
As I mentioned earlier, I had no idea blogging awards even existed. When I found out I won these awards, I was pretty excited. Who doesn’t like to win stuff? But when I read a bit about what each award was about, I realized their significance. Blogging is all about community. Every blogger makes up a part of that community. However, not every blogger knows each other. These awards give a chance for bloggers to discover other writers and help share their material. When you nominate someone for a blogging award, you acknowledge their material is interesting. Every new blog that is nominated helps develop familiarity among the blogging community. These awards help bring together readers/writers from all around the world because blogging helps generate emotions in people when they read someone else’s experience they can connect with. So, by accepting these awards, I don’t see myself gaining a status of achievement; instead, I feel that I’m helping to spread material that might change someone else’s life in the future. Once again, a big thank you to those of you who nominated me.
Here is part 2 of the Childhood through Cartoons series dealing with Batman. This post turned out to be 3 times longer than what I had wanted it to be. However, I realized my last post could have used more detail to highlight my main points.
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
Batman was my favourite character of all time as a kid, and still is today. There are many adaptations of the Batman character, therefore I will be focusing on the 90s’ Batman Animated Series, and more in particular its’ movie adaptation “The Mask of the Phantasm” (MOTP). MOTP is a film that explores the origin of the character and in my opinion stays true to the Batman character: a man who must put his own happiness aside for the greater good of those who are innocent and preyed on by evil.
The storyline and feel to the movie is dark and mature for a movie made for children at the time of its release. The story tells the story of how Batman’s past love, Andrea Beaumont, re-enters his life as a criminal (known as the Phantasm) seeking revenge for the death of her father. Batman must put this case to rest while dealing with The Joker. The action is great and all, but the shining moments of this film are the flashbacks that explore Bruce’s psychology and past life with Andrea.
Through Bruce’s flashbacks, we see him 10 years younger, ready to finally do justice in the world. At this point, he has not become “Batman” yet, as he is only starting out his fighting career. At this moment, he meets Andrea in his parent’s graveyard, who is visiting her mother’s grave. As the flashbacks progress, we see Bruce trying his hardest to realize his vow to his parents that he would protect the innocent. However, his constant interactions with Andrea show us that he is falling in love with her. It is around this point of the story where children are introduced to the theme of duality. We see Bruce struggle to balance out his love life with his promise to his parents as he is unsure which road to take. Part of Bruce wants to pursue a relationship with Andrea while another part of him wants only revenge. He is unsure of himself, and he utters to Alfred: “I can’t have it both ways. It has to be one or the other.” Bruce cannot fight crime nightly while still needing to spend time with a family waiting for him to come home. The children are shown the struggles of the main protagonist to choose between 2 alternatives. Children are usually given whatever they ask for, and Bruce’s struggle teaches them that adulthood holds hardships. The deeper meaning of Bruce’s words, however, highlights his two internal personalities fighting for control; as one cannot truly exist with the other. There is the Bruce Wayne personality who wants to just lead a normal life, and the Batman personality who wants to overtake him. Children are shown that life is a fight for control within. Pretty dark lesson to be taught to a child that only wants to see Batman punish bad guys, but it gets darker from here.
Another significant theme is “family”. When Bruce Wayne first meets Andrea’s dad, her dad echoes: “Family is everything.” This line in the movie does two things. The first thing it does is obviously tell children how having a family is important. The second thing it does is teach children that without family, one will face darkness. Andrea’s dad complicates the choice that Bruce Wayne must make. Andrea represents family and happiness, while Bruce represents solitude and revenge. Bruce is troubled by Mr. Beaumont’s words because a life with Andrea would mean putting family ahead of revenge. Andrea is happy at the meeting between the three because she is the image of happiness thanks to having a family. Bruce is troubled because he must choose between the family he wants, and the family he once had. Mr. Beaumont’s words clarify to Bruce and to the audience that one can either go for a life of happiness, or a life of solitude. In many cartoons that try to promote the idea of family, they usually show happiness within a family. In MOTP however, it explores the negative consequences of not having a proper family, which causes children to appreciate having a family.
The greatest line of the movie is echoed when Bruce goes to his parents graveyard after he desperately decides he wants to be with Andrea. (Shown below) He kneels in front of their graves and begs: “Please…I need it to be different now. I know I made a promise, but I didn’t see this coming. I didn’t count on being happy.” This confession demonstrates the ultimate struggle of a man who must choose between his apparent destiny and what he yearns for. Do we all follow a path laid out for us because of obligation, or can we take control of our own destiny and go for what we truly want in life? The scene holds great importance because not only do children feel compelled to show compassion, but they are also reassured that it is not wrong for them to follow their own path in life. Bruce ultimately makes a choice that his happiness is more important than his obligations, and this is a valuable lesson for children to grasp. Bordering on the sidelines of all this reassurance, however, is the ultimate lesson to be drawn from the movie: sacrifice. This is the first scene in the set of Bruce’s flashbacks where children are formally introduced to the idea of sacrifice. Bruce’s choice for happiness caused him to sacrifice his vow that he made a long time ago to his parents. However, the main idea of this scene is to reassure the viewers about controlling one’s own destiny, and the idea of sacrifice is explored in more detail later on.
Another scene that holds great significance is the scene where Bruce becomes Batman for the first time, or better known as the birth of Batman (Shown below). Andrea is forced to leave Bruce and he feels he has lost his only chance at a normal life. As a result, he decides to become Batman, now that his happiness is out of the picture. This scene does not really teach as much as it warns the viewers. As Alfred gives Bruce the mask, he is stunned at what he sees and is only able to utter: “My God…”. Alfred is not taken back because the first glimpse of Batman is physically scary. Instead, Alfred fears for the man underneath the mask. Alfred is scared because the birth of Batman caused the death of Bruce Wayne; the same Bruce Wayne who was taken care of since childhood by Alfred. Alfred is scared by what Bruce has become. The scene serves as a warning to children to exhibit control in life, or else the consequences will prove to be destructive. There’s no lesson to be learned here other than offering children a glimpse of the fall of a man whose been driven to the edge; a possible outcome for anyone who is not cautious enough in real life.
Bruce’s transformation also addresses another point: it’s never too late to correct our past choices. Earlier, in Bruce’s plea to his parents, he makes a choice and the viewers become convinced it’s not wrong to pursue what they yearn for. However, could they ever go back on their choices if they are to regret them later on? The birth of Batman teaches us that it is never too late to correct what was done in the past. Bruce made a choice to pursue happiness, and it failed. However, he was still able to become what he promised his parents he would be. This completes the idea of free-will in life explored earlier on in the film: one is free to sacrifice and choose as one desires, but may also correct past mistakes.
The theme of sacrifice pervades the final scenes of the film when Batman finds out the Phantasm is actually Andrea. He unravels the reason why she has become a criminal and realizes the Joker is responsible for both their pains. Andrea is a tortured soul. She has also sacrificed her love for Bruce into order to become the Phantasm and seek revenge. She willingly puts her love aside to fight for something she believes is greater, much like Bruce. Bruce also realizes at this point that he cannot make things work anymore with Andrea. There is no more possibility of a future for the two because the two do not believe in the same thing. Bruce can’t be with Andrea because she has become a criminal; the very thing Bruce lives to fight. Bruce and Andrea have both chosen the road of vengeance, but the former refuses to kill while the latter does. Bruce does not believe in killing and cannot possibly pursue anything with Andrea. He must sacrifice any chance of being with his love because she has turned into what he fights against.
Ironically, the scene takes place in the “World of the Future” amusement park which has been destroyed. Bruce and Andrea once went to the same amusement park when the two were dating and now they must fully depart from each other in the same place. The movie does more than simply teach lessons; it brings out the emotions from the viewers. Throughout the film, we see little good things happen between the two main characters. The “World of the Future” was supposed to symbolise a future that both Bruce and Andrea could walk together into. Having their final confrontation take place in the same, but ravaged, setting informs us that their future together is no more. Children learn that sacrifices are absolutely necessary in life and nothing goes as planned. They will come to a point where they will have to make a choice, and their choices will carry heavy consequences.
After dishing out so many advanced themes and messages to children in a tragic and overall depressing storyline, the movie manages to end on a more accepting note by introducing the concept of forgiveness (or at least semi-forgiveness). At the very end of the movie, both Joker and Batman are worn out from battling each other. Andrea appears again to claim the Joker. Batman makes a plea to Andrea to not take Joker away, for he is sure she will kill her father’s murderer. However, Andrea does not listen and bids farewell. We later learn that Andrea is still alive, as well as the Joker. We aren’t informed what happened exactly, but we can speculate that Andrea finally let go of her vengeance and did not kill the Joker just as Bruce asked of her.
At this point, it is logical to ask: why should Joker live after tearing up the lives of both Bruce and Andrea from the start? It only seems fitting that he dies to pay for what he’s done. The movie does a great job of acting on emotion. At the end of the movie, we want nothing more than to see Joker suffer. Children want to see Joker suffer as much as they may love his jokes because of how much he’s tortured both Bruce and Andrea. Batman is able to semi-forgive Joker because of morals alone. He does not believe in killing and only in punishing. However, Andrea’s act of semi-forgiveness offers light to the viewers.
Children aren’t given what they want or might expect in this film, and are instead taught to accept the tragedies that unfolded as they were. Rationally speaking, Andrea should have killed the Joker because of her vow to avenge her father. However, she manages to let the Joker go because she listens to Bruce’s plea to stop pursuing vengeance. Perhaps she gives up her chance to kill her father’s murderer because she still loves Bruce and understands he does not want to see her become bent on destruction alone. However, the reason he lets Joker stay alive is not because she forgives him; she forgives herself. She realizes the importance of Bruce’s plea to stop killing. She believes that Bruce is right and shouldn’t kill to free herself from pain. Her actions show to children that forgiving the unforgivable for a greater cause and what we believe in is true strength in the end. She is the very definition of a character that children can aspire to be; she teaches us to accept our feelings and not use it as a sign of motivation to destroy. While she does kill in the beginning, she is able to turn over a new leaf in the end which once again whispers to us that it is never too late to correct our past mistakes. It may not be the easiest thing to do, but it’s the right thing. The ending is tragic, and totally depressing. No one really wins in this ending, unlike other movies made for children. But Andrea’s act of forgiveness and acceptance, accompanied with Bruce’s knowledge that Andrea is still alive helps reassure children that their heroes of the film turned out alright in the end. It is a bitter way to wrap up the film, but is slightly mellow in its own way.
That concludes my analysis for MOTP. If you haven’t watched this film yet, I strongly urge you to. If you are a Batman fan, then you must watch it. As a side note, I’d like to thank Geekvolution from Youtube for reviewing this film and confirming some of the ideas that I’ve talked about. Part 3 will be out soon and will deal with Disney’s “Mulan”.
