Deeper inside Hell

Last week, the class went over canto 14 through 28. The cantos mostly cover circle 8 of Dante's Hell. I presented Canto 19, which is about the simonists. Simoninsts are sinners who practice an act of paying to receive sacraments, including those for ordination to a office or other position in the hierarchy of a church. I went first of Tuesday. The punishment for sinners in canto 19 is being upside-down, their head covered by rocks and burning fire with the oil dripping from their legs. The punishment fits the sin well since the hole resembles baptismal font and oil represents the holy water that had been misused. Also the canto has many allusions to Jason of Maccabees, and Constantine. I was too nervous to mention all I've researched but I think I did okay.

(an image of the visual I drew)

Right after my turn, Ellie B. went and presented canto 20 which is a canto about diviners and magicians. It was interesting how Dante put the magicians in same/lower part of hell as simonists. Magicians in dictionary terms can be just someone who guess what card you picked. The magicians in the canto is more of prophets who dare to see the future. The sinners have their twisted backward and have to walk. Their heads are twisted because in their lifetime they tried so hard foreseeing other's futures they can only look what they've walked before, the past. As Ellie B. said, I agree that Dante really comes up with clever ideas. Creating different sins/punishments for all 34 cantos will be pretty hard. However as I go deep inside the Inferno, I believe Dante's Hell should not be and will not be the standard hell for everyone. Most of the classmates agree that Dante's punishments are too cruel. It makes me wonder if anyone's not in hell.

Heresy and Suicides

Last week, students did a presentation on Dante's inferno. They did Canto 9 through Canto 13. Canto 9 was Heresy. The girl who presented did a great job in relating the sin and the punishment. Heresy is a sin committed by people who thinks their souls are linked to their bodies. The sinners were burnt alive in their life-time and in the hell, they have to sit forever in burning tombs. The visual she presented was a concentration camp. She said the world outside the concentration camp is bad but in the concentration camp is even worse. Since Canto 9 takes place in the border of Wall of Dis, she illustrated inside of Wall of Dis as a concentration camp.

Canto 13 was done by Allison S. The sin was suicide. Although she didn't agree with the punishment, she did a great job explaining the sin and the punishment. People who committed suicides are turned into trees and they get tortured by harpies, a bird-like monster. People who committed suicides are turned into trees because they treated themselves badly by killing themselves. The sinners lose control of their bodies which they have abandoned in their life time. Allison's visual is also very well made. She made a tree with a face in it and she placed garbage and cut scars to represent how the sinners are being treated horribly.

(an image of Canto 13)

Dante's Inferno

Last week in class, I learned about Alighieri Dante's novel, Inferno. Dante is an Italian poet who lived in fourteenth century. In his poem(or novel), he talks about sins and punishments of hell and also people who are in it. Although there are some sins that doesn't apply anymore but most of the sins are reasonable. In big picture hell is divided into nine circles. (1. Limbo 2. Lust 3. Gluttony 4. Prodigality 5. Wrath 6. Heresy 7. Violence 8. Fraud 9. Treachery) It reflects the levels of sins of Dante.

(an image of model of hell in the Inferno)

I got canto (chapter) 19 to do the project on. Canto 19 is about Simony which is sins for who sold religious pardons (tickets for redemption). Dante meets Pope Nicholas III who is known for his corruption. Canto 19 illustrates how church was corrupted back in 1300's. Also It portraits Dante's conflict against the Pope.

Posters Posters Posters!

Last week, my class spent the whole week about the Tragic Hero Posters as we did as a project. The films discussed included I am Legend and The Great Gatsby.

(image of the Great Gatsby)

(image of I am Legend)

The tragic hero of the film, The Great Gatsby, is Jay Gatsby. The group did great job in pointing out the symbolism. I really loved their poster and also the group did excellent job in describing Gatsby's status, hubris, and fall. Gatsby is a wealthy man who throws a party every week. He's love to Daisy is his hubris and eventually gets killed by Wilson, the husband of the women Daisy kills in a car accident. 

The second film is I am Legend. The groups didn't do as well as the Great Gatsby group, however since I have watched I am Legend, I was interested in it. I always thought Robert Neville was a hero, not a tragic hero. Although Neville dies in the movie, he sacrifices himself to save Anna and Ethan. However after listening to the presentation, although I believe the hubris of Neville is weak, I learned that Neville is a tragic hero. 

I had fun and learned a lot from the presentations. Also I am surprised how Greek cycle of tragic hero fits perfectly in modern-day movies. 

What is Hell?

 

(common images of hell)

Hell is commonly known as a place where sinners' souls go after their death. It's described as a hot and cruel place. I don't believe in hell, but if I had my hell it will portrait what one fears the most so they can regret and suffer forever without forgiveness. To get out of my hell someone has to rescue them from hell; but it's impossible because no one can save other unless they're out of hell and no one can leave the hell without someone come to their hell and rescue them. The purpose of hell is so that sinners can regret what they've done wrong in their lifetime. Sinners will first think someone will come and rescue them and as time pass, they'll acknowledge how cruel and awful they had been because no one comes and rescue them. They'll finally get out from hell when they realize there's no hope for them.

1. I personally don't believe in hell nor heaven and if there is a hell, I think every human being should go to hell because it's very hard to tell if one is evil or not in most of cases. If a baby unintentionally kills its mother while giving birth, someone may consider that baby as an evil creature who killed its mother and to other it's not. Thus to be fairest, I believe if one's been hated(not unlike, hate with passion. Hated so much that if someone had chance to kill him/her, they will) more than loved, they should go to hell.

2.The punishment will differ depending on what the sinner hates/ fears the most. In modern model of hell, people are distributed into different hell depending on their sins. I believe to meet the purpose of hell, to punish the sinners, it's better if sinners are distributed by their biggest fears. For instance, a serial killer may not be afraid of physical punishment and may fear spiders the most. The serial killer will go to hell full of lethal spiders and will get touched by spider everyday.

3. My hell will have all things I hate and fear. My greatest fears are pain. I fear anything that gives me pain thus my hell will be full of natural disasters, people firing guns at each other, and my dog being left behind.

4. The way to escape my hell is when the sinners experienced the worst fear and sorrow that they would rather want to die. When they fell like there's no point of living and regret what they've done they'll get their brains washed and will reincarnate as a bug or an ant. They'll never enter the heaven. Second way to escape from hell is if someone comes and saves them from the hell but this is impossible because of the reasons discussed above.

5. My symbol for hell will look likebecause they think there'll be an end in their hell but it never ends.

6. A person who obviously has more haters than lovers is Adolf Hitler. He may have been loved by the Nazis but most of the population hates him.

Footsteps of Christopher Mccandless

Last week, my group and I finished our tragic hero poster. The poster has white footprints in a black background. the footprints are bright on top and it gets darker as it goes down. It represents Mccandless tragic journey. Also the poster has Mccandless's nickname, "Alex Supertramp" made of pelt. It has a very nature-like theme. Also we have flies around the poster to resemble the scene where the meat Supertramp catches rot. Lastly we got Supertramps diary and the potato flower that kills him.

(an image of Christopher Mccandless)

The poster looks great. It followed the theme and met the requirement completely. Since my part if "hummartia" or hubris of the movie I picked two photos about it. Both photos are about Supertramp leaving or abandoning something he has got. First photo is when Supertramp writes his nickname, Alexander Supertramp, in the mirror. In the second photo Supertramp abandons his car and burns the money. 

(photo one that I chose)

(photo two that I chose)

Tragic Hero: Into the Wild

Last week, Natalie, Alison, Daisy, and I decided to watch Into the Wild for our tragic hero project. I'd never heard of the movie so first I had trouble discussing how to illustrate the poster. Today, I just finished the movie while my rest of the family is watching the Super Bowl. Into the Wild is a true-based story about a young man named Christopher Jordan Mccandless. He calls himself Alexander Supertramp in most of the movie. Alex is a boy who hates the society he's living in and believes his freedom and happiness resides in the deep woods in Alaska. So after graduating college, he goes on a trip heading Alaska. I personally hate traveling and love technology so I had hard time relating myself to Alex.

Alex inspires number of people he meets during his journey which proves his traits of a hero. However since Alex is a tragic hero he falls down to the abyss and never returns (I'm trying to save the details for my essay). When I first read the plot summary of the movie (to understand what rest of my groups is discussing about), I thought it was a movie about how society is bad and people should all go back to nature. I was quiet surprised how the film ended. Most of the people when there's a film comparing the modern society and the nature tends to think nature is incomparably better than the modern society. This film tells although society seems cruel and unfair human has to live with relationships with other human. I really enjoyed this film.