Netflix and chill- Lady Macbeth style

If Lady Macbeth had Netflix, her recommendation list would include:


Reign is a historical romance (is that even a category?) about Mary Queen of Scots in when she was living in France. Basically, Mary has been engaged to Prince Francis since they were six, but his mother, Queen Catherine doesn't want then to marry because of a prophecy predicting his death after their marriage. The show follows many different affair and love interests, political turmoil, and religious conflicts between the protestants and catholics. Lady M would watch reign because is is very applicable to the conflicts occurring during their time period. Also, Reign features Queen Catherine as a strong and manipulative female character, just like Lady M. This plays into the motif of masculinity and power between female and male characters. Also, Reign features a prophecy just like Macbeth does. This brings up the argument of whether the actions were brought about via the characters or as a result of the prophecy. Basically, Reign and Macbeth share numerous characteristics that make it suitable for Lady Macbeth to watch.


Mean Girls is another movie that Lady Macbeth would also have on her Netflix recommendations. Do I really need to summarize the plot of Mean Girls? If you haven't seen it, then you need to stop reading and watch it. Basically, Mean Girls is about the social hierarchy or high school and how Cady and her new friends want to bring down the Plastics. After much turmoil and retaliation, (spoiler alert) the whole school is eventually brought together. Lady Macbeth would watch this on Netflix because it features female leads that become very manipulative in their actions to take away power from others; however, in the end, they regret it. Sound familiar to Lady M??


As a more family friendly option, Lady M would put Mulan on her recommendation list. The basis for Mulan is that China is having a war against the Huns. Her father is drafted; however, he is too old and will not make it through the war. Mulan steps up and decides to fight instead of her father. This involves her dressing up as a man and concealing the fact that she is a woman. Lady Macbeth would watch this because she desires the power and control that a man has in her society, as shown through her "nsex me here" speech. While Mulan is 'becoming' a man for honorable reasons, and Lady M wants to become a man in order to kill someone and gain power, they both want the privileges associated with the male gender in their societies.


(I would like to preface this with the fact that I haven't seen the new season, so if I am not fully accurate/ up to date with my information, I have a good excuse)
Lady Macbeth would add The Walking Dead to her list of Netflix recommendations because she an Rick share a common characteristic. In the show, Rick and crew are battling a zombie apocalypse. His wife, Lori, is pregnant and gives birth in season three. She does not make it through the c-section that she has to have, but the baby does. For the rest of the season, Rick begins to go cray-cray with guilt. While Rick is not the one to kill her, he does begin to to exclude her and shun her toward the end of her pregnancy, which leads to built up of guilt. This also happens to Lady Macbeth. She feels extremely guilty for deaths that she has indirectly caused that she goes insane and eventually commits suicide.

Fate vs Chance vs Allie

3. Do you believe events in your life have been guided by fate or chance? Why or why not? Based on the text, what do you think Shakespeare's attitude was towards fate? Does Macbeth have any choice in his actions or was everything predetermined? Use examples from the text as your support.

Before this week, I would have said that my life has been guided by chance, but this past week and a half has completely changed my perspective and I now believe that my life has been guided by fate. Story Time:

This is because the Wednesday before last (11/11) I submitted my application to Meredith College. I LOVE MEREDITH!!! It is my first choice and it is an amazing school. Then, on the following Monday (11/16) I received a phone call saying that I had been accepted, THREE DAYS AFTER I SUBMITTED MY APPLICATION!!!!! I was both surprised and ecstatic.  After all of this excitement, there was still one more surprise. Today (11/22) I opened a letter that said I can receive $20,000 dollars per year at Meredith based on academic merit!!! This is before financial aid and other numerous scholarships I am applying for. With all of this being said, I believe that fate has influenced my good news on going to Meredith because this has happened in such a short amount of time. Basically, I am meant to go to Meredith. 

In terms of Shakespeare, I believe that he believed in fate to a certain extent. This can be shown via the witches that prophecize Macbeth becoming king. I believe that Macbeth would have become king based on the prophecy that the witches created; however, I believe that Macbeth's was in control of his own actions and that he did not need to personally kill Duncan, Banquo, attempt to kill Fleance. Essentially, Macbeth's future was predetermined, but his path leading to his future was his own choice. 

PS Happy Birthday Mrs. Genesky!!!

Freebie

Oh Uncle Vernon...

Went to to the play :)

Seven Deadly Sins

I think that the advertisement that depicts some of the deadly sins the best is the Carl's Jr. All-Natural Burger commercial. I believe that this advertisement depicts greed, lust, as well as gluttony VERY well (almost too well). This advertisement was made by Carl's Jr. fr the 2015 Superbowl.

On a small scale, this advertisement include gluttony and lust. Gluttony is shown because the actress is shown trying to shove a huge burger in her mouth and it is obviously bigger than she can eat. Lust is shown because the actress is overly sexualized because of her lack of clothes, comparison of her body to fruit, and many other sexual innuendos made throughout the 52 second clip.

On a larger scale, the idea of over sexualizing advertisements is an example of greed because in this business, the more sexy the advertisement, the more powerful the advertisement is because it draws more attention to it. The big companies are greedy and want to have all of the power so continually make the advertisements more sexy.

This advertisement was made for middle class men watching the superbowl. This is shown because Carl's Jr. is a fast food place which means that the advertisement is for the middle class. Also, it is mainly men that watch the Superbowl. Also, culturally, this advertisement is impactful to men because the stereotype is that men like women with huge boobs (check) and they like very large burgers (check), especially when women with huge boobs are eating the very large burgers (double check).

Carl's Jr. had to be very creative when laying put this commercial because the actress IS NAKED. They had to do some very creative prop usage and set usage to hide her body (even though at the end she is shown wearing a skimpy bathing sit which she did NOT have on before...). Also, the actress is shown with almost an angelic halo and in a white bathing suit at the end which adds to the sexualization that she is what every man wants.

Mass media uses language through the connection between all natural burgers and naked women and image to persuade men to buy the all natural burger by using stereotypes and popular culture of the sexualization of women along with sexual innuendos in order to deliberately manipulate the audience. (Run on sentence?? Probabily)    

Well this was a very happy and uplifting blog, wasn't it??

Ranting about my names and individuality

Names

I should probably start out this post by stating that I am a triplet. I have two brothers, Jason Lee and Ryan Taylor. I also have an older half brother named Alexander Wayne. Jason's middle name, Lee, has always been a family name on both sides of my family. Ryan's middle name, Taylor, is my Mom's maiden name. Alex's middle name is my paternal grandfather's first name.   

So, my formal name is Allison Nicole Kvasnicka. All of my brothers' names have meaning; however, my parents chose my name because they thought Allison and Nicole sounded good together. With that being said, as the only girl in my immediate family, and the only girl on my Dad's side of the family, I think my family was just happy that there was going to be another girl.

Allison. To me, this name is far to formal to fit my personality. True, it sounds good on formal documents but whenever a teacher or a substitute calls me by it, I die a little on the inside. Allison is stuffy and boring. Ew.

This is why I go by Allie (with two Ls and an IE, not a Y). Allie is more relaxed, bubbly, and fun. 

Kvasnicka. Whenever I right-click on the red squiggle that is guaranteed to appear underneath it, no suggestions show up, as if to say "I'm sorry, but is that even English or did you fall asleep on your keyboard again?". My last name is Czech (and if one more person tries to tell me I am wrong and that it is Russian I might scream). I used to hate my last name. In class, most teachers don't even try to pronounce it (just pronounce the V as a W). But I guess my last name is complex, like me. It signifies my family background and heritage as my Dad is German.

Call me old-school, but when I get married I want to change my last name. I love the idea of a hyphenated name because it shows a family joining together; however, can you imagine Kvasnicka being hyphenated with something else? Me neither. I don't think it would flow as easily.   

Individuality

Growing up as a triplet, I have strong feelings about individuality. To this day, I am not viewed as my own person. I am grouped together with my brothers. I am not Allie; however, I am The Triplets or One-of-Three. Even family members and close friends don't refer to us by individual names. My parents count us off like soldiers in a line up (ie One-of Three, Two-of-Three, Three-of -Three). Also, they joke about how if one of us were to die then they always have two others. 

I despise it when people clump my brothers and I together because our personalities are tremendously different and we coincidentally fit the oldest-middle-youngest child stereotypes very well. I am very type A, motivated, and bossy. Ryan, the middle child, is quieter and more reserved. Jason, the youngest, is loud and full of energy. We all have different interests and hobbies, further proving we should not be clumped together as one group. 

By being constantly grouped together with my brothers, it has shaped my personality is some ways. Being constantly compared to boys, I was obsessed with everything pink with dresses and sparkles in order to stand out. I also believe that one of the reasons why I am so loud is to be heard above my brothers. I always tried to stand out and the break away from my brothers.

So...I ended up ranting about a lot...oops! I could go on for days about this topic, but I guess I will save it for later as this post is already really long. Here is a picture of my brothers and I on the first day of school :) 

From left to right: Myself, Jason, Ryan

'Othering': Wing Young Huie vs Margaret Atwood

The photo by Wing Young Huie seen here on the surface contains a picture of two men in an eccentric yarn shop sometime between 2012-2013 (exact location and date are not listed). One man is crocheting and the other man is holding a sign that reads "People think I am intimidating, but when they know me I an soft inside".
Othering is used in this picture because it is implying that knitting/crocheting is only for women. This is shown by:

• The fact that it is two men in the photo and the title of this picture album is "We are the Other"-which implies that men are not knitters.crocheters. As an avid knitter myself, this is totally wrong as some of my favorite knitter friends are guys. 
•  Othering is implied in this picture through the quote listed above. It implies that only people "soft inside" can knit/crochet. (Again, so totally wrong: anybody can express themselves through the medium of soft, fuzzy yarn Thank. You. Very. Much.)

Margaret Atwood in The Handmaid's Tale uses othering multiples times throughout the book. For example:

• Her formatting of Day and Night can be viewed as different because her writing styles/content change. During the day sections Offred is more reserved in her actions and thoughts. However, at night (when Offred is usually by herself in her room) Offred is more liberal with her opinions and she includes flashbacks of the past. 
• Atwood also uses othering in because of her use of Handmaids. The handmaids are basically only useful if they are pregnant and after they give birth, the baby goes to the Commander and his Wife. It essentially takes surrogate mothers to the extreme.