I do believe my writing has improved since the beginning of
the semester. I’ve always been told that I do well at writing, but the more I write,
the better I am. Practice definitely helps, and I like having different
teachers for English classes to see different opinions on my writing and their
different writing styles and techniques that I can learn. I also believe my
researching skills have improved as well. I did a lot of research for this
film; trying to find articles and books that related to the film as well as
shame and script theory. The research was difficult at times and a lot of work,
but my use of the library catalogs and using reliable sources has improved.
Slice of Life
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
My Experience in Eng102
This English class has been very different from any other
English class I’ve taken. I have never written a paper on a film before, and I had
never heard of the critical models before either. It was new to me to be
focusing so strongly on just one thing: the final paper. In most of my other
classes, there were much more papers or assignments, while this one just mainly
focused on the film paper. I really enjoyed writing the paper though, even
though now I can’t watch Thor without trying to analyze everything. But that’s
okay, I think now I have a different view and respect for the film now that I caught
things while analyzing that I didn’t see in my previous viewings of the movie.
I also liked just focusing on one major project. We had other little projects
along the way, but they were all tied to the film paper, and I think that was
very helpful.
Loki and Thor's shame events
It is evident in the film that Loki wants to be king over
Thor, and he believes the only reason he is not is because he was born a frost
giant. It’s important to notice that Loki is present during Thor’s major shame
event: when his father banishes him from Asgard and sends him to Earth. You can
see the satisfaction on Loki’s face once Thor is banished. Then, Loki appears
in the police station where Thor is being held on Earth, and tells Thor of
their father’s “death” and basically blames Thor for everything that has gone
wrong without saying so. At this point when Loki says these things to Thor, I believe
this is when Thor starts to mature. He is accepting that his banishment is his
fault, and blames himself for his father’s death.
Why I chose Thor and Shame Theory
Originally, I had chosen Thor and Shame theory because of
the one scene that stuck out in my head: when he is banished from Asgard. I
thought it would be an easy paper since that scene is clearly a shame event. I
decided to keep my film choice after I had re-watched Thor while having the shame
theory knowledge I had gained through brief research. I was surprised at how
many other shame events occur in the film, and how crucial they are to the
characters in the film. I also was interested in doing shame theory because in
our critical model packet, it says that shame events are so major because they
control all other emotions, which I didn’t realize until I actually saw a shame
event in the film and the reactions of the characters.
Thor's character after experiencing shame
I thought that Thor’s experience with shame had definitely
improved his character, which proved my thesis correct. He did display the
script theory, and he did regain his pride back, but his pride was at a more
reasonable, respectable level than before. By the end of the film, he wasn’t so
arrogant, and his father told him that he had made him proud, and that he will
be a great king one day. I think the shame in his banishment had eventually
brought a sense of maturity to Thor’s character, which made his decisions on
Earth more wise and helpful.
My feelings on shame theory
I am happy that I decided to do my paper based off of shame
theory. I was interested in seeing how shame controls all of the other emotions
humans have. I also enjoyed learning how a person’s character is not based off
of the shame event itself, but mostly how they react to it. I wasn’t aware
before that there are four scripts in shame theory that people use to cope with
shame to gain back their pride: Avoidance, Withdrawal, Attack Other and Attack
Self. I didn’t realize what an importance pride has in humans, and what depths
we will go to in order to gain that pride back.
Thor and the script theory
After watching Thor, I picked two of the scripts in the
script theory that I thought he best displayed. I believe he definitely
portrayed attack other. He wanted to attack the frost giants when they attack
Asgard, and he blamed his father for his banishment rather than himself. I
think he also displayed some avoidance. When he arrived on Earth, he acted as
if he was still royalty, although no one on Earth knew who he was. He didn’t
tell them of his banishment, and he referred to himself as “the son of the king”
and “mighty.” I think Thor also had a great increase in emotional maturity
throughout the film.
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