Literary Speculation

Margot Atwood wrote a book called Oryx and crake. It is a post-apocalyptic story, but most are told in flashbacks. It is speculative because of its futuristic setting and dystopian world. However, it also fits in the sci-fi genre because if the hybrid animals and people. It also falls in the romance genre because Jimmy loves Oryx and it caught in a love triangle with crake.

If this novel didn't have a mix of all these genres then the story would not be as interesting. Without the love element, the story would be survival and that would be a little boring.

Afro-Futurism

My story for the week is "Brother from another Planet" by John Sayles. It was created in 1984 when the major of the culture was white. I found it interesting that there were not a lot of whites in this story. One of the cultural perspectives are even though our main character is from another planet, he still has that fear that people of color have of the white police. That's still a cultural issue today. Walking down the streets of New York, he got to experience different cultures that are not white. For example, when he was taking fruit from her store, she tried to speak to him in her language thinking he would understand her. He didn't understand especially when she called the cops and he knew to be afraid. Even though he wasn't from this planet, he learned that people of his color are treated very differently.

Cyberpunk

The name of the story "Johnny Mnemonic" by William Gibson and it was published in 1981. The setting of this story is 2021. This story plot has been told over and over. You have good guys and bad guys and you have one guy caught in the middle. His job is a data trafficker and for us trafficking his a negative meaning to it. For example, sex trafficking or drug trafficking.

The altered reality is very futuristic even though it's just 2 years away.  For example, The city just looks like a regular city but the technology has his impressions of what technology would have looked like. But in reality, is over the top. The thing that alters reality the most is that Johnny has a giant computer storage in his head. But if he didn't have that in his head, then it would be just like any other story.

The Fiction of Ideas

In The Drowned Giant by J.G. Ballard, A dead giant washed up on shore on a regular town. At first, the townspeople were very curious and were hesitant about going to see what it was, but then they gradually got more curious to the point where they got the courage to got up close to it. The story gets weird when the dead giant has been there for a while and the townspeople begin to feel like it just normal. The Narrator goes to see it every now and then and he begins to notice that some of the body parts from the giant are gone.

The writer is exploring mind experiments through the idea of messing with what we think is normal. For example, at the end of the story, he sees the giant's body parts scattered around town and everyone is just ok with that, which is definitely not normal.

An implication of this idea for today is first-person shooter video games. When these types of games first came out and younger kids started getting curious and wanting to play these games, parents freaked out because it was not normal for a kid to shoot people. Years have past and its become normal for kids to play these types of games, but its not normal. Even though it's become second nature to many kids to play these violent games, it still doesn't make it age appropriate.

Space Opera

In Firefly By Joss Whedon, a sci-fi story is created with all the elements of the American western movies of the last century. The cast is a group of renegades and misfits who end up calling there spaceship their home. They are sort of like guns for hire from back in the 19th century wild west days.  Just like the old space operas, these stories are good vs. evil. But the good guys all have demons from there past. It reminds you of the old gunfire who becomes a sheriff after a life of crime. My favorite element of this story is the humor and that was missing from the stories of the old west. In many of the episodes, the characters in trouble and have to shoot there way out. During all of this chaos, they become like a family.

Contemporary Urban Fantasy

Neal Gaiman wrote Anansi Boys in 2005 and it considers a modern myth about the children of West African and Carribean gods. The story is a combination of realism and fantasy with some romance, comedy and supernatural stuff is thrown in to make it interesting. When the story begins, the narrator tells us that songs were what caused the creation of the world and one of the gods sang a song to create every part. Songs are magic and play an important part in the life of the main character Charlie.

Like most myths, things don't always work out the way they're supposed to. When Charlie was a boy and living in a magical world, he broke a magic ball in a neighbor's yard. To punish him, the neighbor split him into two boys. Spider got all the bad qualities and Charlie got all the good and kind ones. But Charlie doesn't remember any of this and has no idea he comes from a magical family. In order to return to the world, Spider can step through a picture but Charlie has to be sent back from a god.  Spider lives up to his bad reputation and Charlie wishes he could send him but, but I think Charlie really knew he had a connection with Spider.

The story is full of symbols and metaphors just like myths of ancient times. The animals are the avatars of the ancient gods just like Zeus used to take human form. They all face problems. For example, the birds won't leave Spider alone because he owes something to the bird woman. The most interesting symbol is when Charlie begins to sing and he sings the story of this novel. I think myths that combined reality today with magical elements make the story better for readers today because we can connect with them.

The Novel of Spritual Education

The Harry Potter prequel is only 800 words so its hard to get many complex issues out of it. However, since I know the Harry Potter stories, I can put together some ideas. Harry's father James and Sirius Black are teenagers and friends. They are in an alley and have been stopped by the cops. There very sassy to the cops. This same attitude can be seen by Harry and his friends in the novels. I don't think they mean to be offensive, but the magic kids do seem to feel superior to non-magic people. However, when danger approaches, there schooling kicked in because the struggle of good over evil is at the heart of there education and maybe the bases of there spiritual ideas.