Nietzsche's Ubermensch in Relation to Lord of the Rings

           In the movie Lord of the Rings, the characters in the Middle Earth displayed both being Ubermensch material and some that did not meet those expectations. Two of the characters that did meet criteria for them to be an Ubermensch are Frodo Baggins and Arwen. The characters that did not meet the standards for an Ubermensch are Boromir and Bilbo Baggins

Frodo Baggins

           Frodo Baggins represents being worthy of an Ubermensch because he goes through "the spirit becom[ing] a lion who would conquer his freedom and be master in his own desert" and he takes the ring to "create new value." Frodo takes the ring not because he has to but because he wants to get rid of it. When he goes to the Rivendell , which is the home of the elves, and he sets the ring down. As everyone fights about it Frodo screams that he will be the one to destroy the ring. This exhibits bravery on new levels. The 9 Nazgul are after him and he still volunteers himself to take the ring even at the risk of death. Frodo then receives the line from Gandalf that "to bear the power of the ring is to be alone" which then shows Frodo going through the lions faze because the lion is his own being and has no one to guide him. At the end of the movie when Frodo and Sam get on a boat and go across the lake by themselves, Aragorn says "Frodo's fate is no longer in our hands" which represents Frodo creating a new value and going off on his own. 

.           Arwen represents being an Ubermensh because her love for Aragorn was so strong that she was willing to "create a new value" by giving up her peoples immortality. She gives him her necklace and tells him that it is hers to give away. She then proceeds to tell him that she would rather live one life with love than a thousand lives alone. This shows that she is completely willing to change the value of her people and whatever will change and happen to them.

Arwen 

Boromir 

         Boromir does not meet the criteria of being considered an Ubermensch because he does not have a strong will power. He recognizes his own misdoing by saying "then you did what I could not, I tried to take the ring from him."he is not strong enough to be around the ring and he cannot be the one that guides Frodo alone. He also attacks Frodo when he is near him with the ring. He says all these things to Frodo but he really wants the ring for himself. This is also demonstrated when everyone is in Rivendell and he tells everyone to use the power of the ring against the enemy instead of destroying it.

Bilbo Baggins 

             Bilbo Baggins does not exhibit the character traits of being an Ubermensch because he is not strong minded and not capable of not caving into the rings demands. At his birthday party, as he is leaving the Shire, he has the ring in his pocket and has a hard time giving it up. He says to Gandalf that the ring is "his own, it's mine, my precious" which he says in a memorized voice with a deepened look on his face. Bilbo is only looking out for himself and he doesn't really care about the well-being of others including his nephew Frodo. He has had the ring for  so long he doesn't know what to do without it.

The Camel, Lion, and the Child

                          "Metamorphoses of the spirit" the camel, lion, and the child are all stages that we develop and go through. What Nietzsche is trying to describe is the conscious' in humans that transforms from one to another. The camel is describing burdens and how when they get heavy a camel will kneel down(he also does this when commanded to do so) just like how humans would stop and give in to the burden that we bear and we follow to commands when given. This stage is the humans way of doing what they ought to do, not what they think they should do. The camel switches to the lion when it realizes it wants to be his own ruler and have freedom.The lion has the desire to create his own freedom and essentially will kill to get it. Lions cannot create their own values but their might is needed for their freedom. The lion learns to be responsible for himself because their is no one to guide him. A child is innocence, there is no guilt and everyday is a new day for discovery and learning. The child is forgetful and doesn't remember the burdens that he bears (like the camel does). The child is a creator of his own values and paves his own path (which the lion is striving to do. The child is a new beginning. 

The Lion overcoming the Dragon 

                           In accordance to the lion there is a dragon. The dragon believes that he is the one on top and that he is the ultimate leader for all of existences. He is against all opposing opinions. The lion however is the one who wants freedom which the dragon possesses.  The lion must destroy the dragon in order to create new values and for freedom. When he destroys the dragon this is when he realizes there is no more guiding hand of existence. The Camel, lion, and child

"There is no such thing as accident; it is fate misnamed." -Napoleon Bonaparte

"I can control my destiny, but not my fate. Destiny means there are opportunities to turn right or left, but fate is a one-way street. I believe we all have the choice as to whether we fulfil our destiny, but our fate is sealed." - Paulo Coelho

Trinity, Neo & Morpheus 

                In the movie The Matrix, the prophecies said to three of the characters about their fate. I believe that this movie shows that fate has a stronger case than free will. I believe this in moderation though. We can choose the paths and roads we go down but I believe that things happen for a reason. These roads all lead to a place we are suppose to be and we are suppose to experience. The Oracle just stated three facts about three of the characters. She didn't state how they would fulfill these things, when they would come true, and how they would...she just said that these things would happen. The Oracle said these things so that they would keep them in mind. She told them the things they needed to hear not necessarily the things that are going to happen. For example, Trinity's fate was that she was going to fall in love with the one. She didn't want to admit it at first but Neo was the person she fell in love with. She didn't expect it and she even tried to fight it but it happen. Another example of fate is when the Oracle said to Morpheus that he would find the one. He searched and searched to find the one and he thought he found them on more than one occasion. When he saw Neo he had a kind of "love at first sight moment" but it was translated into "the one at first sight." He didn't pressure Neo into this fact but he just believed in him. Neo's fate was that he had a gift but he was waiting for something. I think that this something was not another life but faith in himself. Once he believed he could he did. That to me is fate and not free will because in life their are no accidents, things happen for reasons beyond our control and for our destinies.

The Oracle telling Neo what he needed to hear

"I Think Therefore I Am"

In the Truman Show, Truman is a man whose whole entire life has been a reality show and he is finally starting to realize this fact that cameras are constantly watching his every move. This concept for the movie can relate to Descartes and his demons. These demons that Descartes possesses are there to make Descartes not know what is reality and what is fake. Truman is feeling exactly the same way. Just like Descartes he feels like he is going absolutely mental (insane) and he cannot distinguish what in his life has been actually real and what in his life has been fake. Descartes knows for certain that if he is thinking than he is real and the demon hasn't one yet. He has the famous quote "I think therefore I am" which Truman feels because he is thinking and figuring out that he has been monitored his entire life. By him thinking and figuring things out the producers (who are essentially equal to Descartes demon) wouldn't have a show and their entire industry and profit would end. They need Truman in order to survive just like the demon needs Descartes to exist so they can have something to live for and a reason that would call for them to survive. An example in the movie of this is when Truman is discovering that his life is a television show and all the people in the town are actors/actresses. At the end of the movie when Truman tries to sail away and he eventually hits a wall he is discovering that the demon cannot bother him anymore. When the voice comes out of an intercom and says that he has two options which is to stay or to leave, Truman leaves because the demon is not a burden anymore. He can now think on his own without his life being controlled which in the end makes Truman fight off his demon and making him an actually person.  Truman has been hidden the truth like the demon holds the truth from Descartes.

Truman discovering that his world has been a lie 

Plato's Allegory of the Cave

In this piece of work Plato describes a cave where there are prisoners chained to the cave wall and they can only look forward. There are two sources of light, fire that is behind them and the cave opening. They were born into the cave. There are puppeteers and the prisoners were seeing shadows of humans and of animals. One of the prisoners breaks free and goes towards the light. At first he was blinded by the light and is experiencing all this stuff he has never seen before. The cave is a way to represent life because people are seeing the truth that we are told and we never actually know if it's the truth. Some people keep things hidden from us. We never really know what's truthful unless we experience it for ourselves

                      My drawing 

Image of the Cave

Groundhog Day and Buddhism

                In Buddhism, there are Four Noble Truths that everyone must go through to achieve nirvana or become enlightened with everything that happened in their lives. The Four Noble Truths:

 1.Life is suffering

2.The Cause of Suffering

3. The Cessation of Suffering

4. Freedom from suffering is possible by practicing the Eightfold Path.

                In the movie Groundhog Day, main character Phil Connors overcomes his suffering and becomes more enlightened by the end of the movie. Connors demonstrates the Buddhist practices to finally reach a happiness and become enlighted with repeating the same day over and over again. He goes through the first noble truth by suffering through the same day over and over again. He goes through the second noble truth by craving the day to be over and have it be able to move on to the next day so the suffering can end. He goes through the third noble truth by realizing that he will be living this day for a long time, maybe even forever, so he just comes to acceptance of it. He goes  through the fourth noble truth by trying to make that day the best day of everyones life. He saves an elderly man from dying, helps cross some old ladies across the street, saves a waitress from dropping her tray and spilling food everywhere, he saves a little boy from falling down a tree, he host a big celebration for someones birthday, saves a man from chocking, he pays for a mans dinner, and he does many other things for different people. He goes through the Four Noble Truths to become enlightened and free of his situation of living the same day over and over again.                      

Groundhog Day Stages of Grief

In the movie Groundhog Day , the main character Phil goes through each of grief in the Kubler-Ross model Stages Of Grief.

1. Stage:  Denial
2. Event: Phil experiences denial when he questions people about what day it is a few days in a row and he questions everyone's motives like he can't believe it is real.
3. Explanation: This is a sign of denial because when people normally ask questions about events they already know the answer to they are trying not to believe the actual truth.

1. Stage:  Anger
2. Event: He says the weather in a mean and mocking tone. He insults the people around him.
3. Explanation: When people are anger they usually find everything around them to be bad and insulting and they can't be happy about anything.

1. Stage: Bargaining
2. Event: When Phil goes to the doctor for therapy.
3. Explanation:  This is bargaining because he doesn't believe that he is sane and wants medication and a doctor to diagnose him with something so that he won't be living the same day over and over again.

1. Stage: Depression
2. Event: Phil tries to kill himself over and over again so that he won't have to live the same day over and over again.
3. Explanation:  This is depression because when people tend to kill themselves they aren't happy with their lives and they want the pain or whatever is on their mind to end.

1. Stage: Acceptance
2. Event:  He one day wakes up happy and answers everyone's questions.
3. Explanation:  He finally comes to terms that he is going to be living this day over and over again so he makes the best of it and learns new skills and helps people who would have gotten hurt that day.

Are the Hunger Games Hobbes State of Nature?

The Cornucopia Bloodbath 

Hobbes State of Nature exist were no government, no civilization, no laws, and no common power to restrain human nature. This means there is a "war against all" where human beings constantly seek to destroy each other for power. They live brutish and nasty lives. The Hunger Games is shown as Hobbes State of Nature but it is because they are forced into this situation. 

On the surface of the Hunger Games it is shown that the intended goal is that there can only be one victor to the games. This means that out of the 24 people that are forced to participate in the games, only one can win and go back to their district. This means that they are forced to go man vs. man and against each other. They are destined from the beginning to kill each other not because they want to but because they have to in order to survive. Another example on why the Hunger Games on the surface is State of Nature is because in the very first scene when they arrive to the arena and the countdown reaches one, the tributes get killed getting weapons and food at the cornucopia. The game makers strategically put it there for the reason that they knew that it was going to be a blood bath. There is a lack of authority and each tribute is on their own which means they are going to do whatever it is they need to do to survive. A third reason why it is State of Nature is because of the game makers. They add dogs and trees to put the tributes in tough situations and to get one another to kill each other. At the end of the games Seneca creates beastly dogs to kill off the tributes. When Katniss and Peeta successfully run from the dogs, Seneca creates two more dogs to really get them. They are physically trying to kill off the tributes by making the dogs and putting them in the area.

The Game Makers manipulating the game 

            One could argue that the tributes really want to kill one another but the reason that the Hunger Games is Hobbes State of Nature is because they were forced to participate in the games and also because the game makers make everything inconvenient for them. They are the ones that really create the rules to the game and they made it so that only one person could win. They knew with only one victor others would have to die and the game makers know who they want to win so they will give them the more advantage more so than the other tributes. That's why State of Nature is only on the surface because in reality the game is being controlled by the game makers. 

Machiavelli's view on President Snow

President Snow 

Seneca Presented the Poison Berries 

Machiavelli said that it is safer to be feared than to be loved. In the Hunger Games, President Snow is feared by the people and the districts. Machiavelli would say that Snow is more feared than he is loved. This is demonstrated by the actions of Snow and how people react to him. One instance is when Snow says to Seneca “I like you , be careful” regarding the Katniss situation. Seneca is now fearful that if he messes up Snow will do something bad to him. This fear leads to the announcement that there can only be one victor even though he already changed the rules that two victors from the same district were allowed. With this announcement we can see that Snow is using fear to control his nation and the action of the people. Another example on how Snow is more feared than loved is because at the end of the movie, there were two victors, Katniss and Peeta, which is not the end result that Snow hoped for. There is a scene in the movie that shows that poison berries Katniss and Peeta were about to eat and Seneca looking at the bowl presented to him. This foreshadows the event that since Seneca messed up, Snow gave him the berries, and since Seneca fears him, he ate the berries and died.  A third example of how is he feared is by creating the Hunger Games when the revolution erupted. Every year he presents these games to each district and they do not have a choice but to participate. They fear that if they don’t, Snow will kill off the district and not provide for them. They fear him so much that they have to watch each district kill each other until there is one victor left. Machiavelli would say that President Snow is more feared than he is loved by the people and by each district. 

Comedy Promoting Values?!?

Throughout our lives we find comedy in things that we observe. One big promoter of comedy is in television and the show that pops in my head first is The Family Guy. In this show they promote terrible things that we know are wrong and that we laugh at. An example of this that came almost instantly to mind is when Peter has a maid. The maid he has is a Spanish woman that barely speaks English. As a population we know that this is stereotyping and that it's wrong and completely not true but it's hilarious because it is a wrong ideal. They promote wrong ideas to show to the community that this isn't right and that we shouldn't think that all maids are like this. Comedy benefits to the society by making controversial topics seem all one sided and wrong when the people really know the reality of it all

Family Guy

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I Am Thankful for Emma

I am thankful for my friendship with Emma Guthrie.  We have sort of the perfect friendship in my eyes.  We have deep connections and we are alike in character. We also spend a lot of time together getting to know each other than people who I talk to less frequently do. We met each other freshman year but if you ask anyone who knows the two of us you'd think we have known each other forever. We bond over common interest such as dance and traveling and we spend so much time together that you'd think we would hate each other by now. I discovered we had this perfect friendship in Ireland and Scotland when we roomed together. In fact we are both going to Spain together and we were already discussing being roommates again (aka I am the best roommate to have apparently). I know that wherever our lives lead us we will be friends forever because we have invested so much time together that giving up our friendship after high school would be devastating. Emma and I have the perfect friendship because whenever I am not in school or whenever Emma isn't in school, people will come up to us asking where they are. We are associated with each other thus we have the perfect friendship. Plus she isn't afraid to tell me how it really is and I mean I guess she's a pretty rad gal. 

Aristotle Friendships

        There are three types of friendships in this world according to Aristotle, utility, pleasantness, and the "perfect friendship".
         In utility friendship their is common ground between two people. For example, you see people become friends because they both share a love for World of Warcraft. They are only friends because they are going to gain something out of being friends which is having someone else who loves the game to play the game with you. They do not associate with one another unless it is for the sole reason to play the game. You see this friendship happen a lot on the XBOX through XBOX live. I know my brother talks to people and games with kids just for the sole reason that they both enjoy the game and that he is benefiting from it.

Utility Friendship where they benefit from only becoming friends for playing video games 

       In a pleasantness friendship the chief friendship is guided by your interest and your feelings. As you grow up your feelings change so some of these friendships won't exist any longer. For example, you often see people who were best friends in middle school are not friends in high school because they changed and they are both interested into two different things. It happened to myself where my best friend from middle school developed different interest and that was that. 

These Woman are friends because they both find yoga to be a pleasant experience 

       The third friendship described is the perfect friendship. In a perfect friendship both people are very similar in goodness and interest. They are very similar to each other. An example of this is my friendship with one of my best friends. We are very much alike and we share many interest. We reflect each other so much that our families wonder if we were separated at birth. We think the same thoughts and we do almost everything together. In Toy Story, Woody and Buzz have the perfect friendship because they bring out the best in each other and are very similar to one another and both have the same interest and goals. 

Woody and Buzz Light-year from Toy Story 

Hogwarts House Assignment

Hufflepuff Crest 

           The sorting hat can be a scary and nerving experience because no one wants to be assigned a house that they don't want to be in. The house I belong to is Hufflepuff. 

            I belong to Hufflepuff for a variety of reasons. One of these reasons is because I think I am a kind and caring person. If there is someone in need of something or something that I know I can help with I do it. For example, when at a dance competition I will help the little girls that are on the same team with me with hair or costume dilemmas when I know there mother or whomever brought them is busy helping someone else.

         I'm a patient person (most of the time) and will wait however long for someone to do something. I also work hard at everything I do and won't stop until I have achieved my fullest potential or my intended goals. 

                                              

      Everyone has a fear of death but I am not afraid of it. With this said I do not welcome it in any sense but it is just something that I do not fear. I am loyal to myself as much as I can be. In conclusion, I am a Hufflepuff and quite proud of it.  

Les Miserables and Kierkegaard

           Kierkegaard has the ethical and the aesthetic stage of life. In Les Miserable there are people who are free and there are those who are not free at all. Those in the Aesthetic stage are the two parents of Eponine, M. and Mme. Thenardier. They are two characters that by whim steal money and whatever they can find. Their impulses make them disguise themselves and sneak into places they know they are not allowed in. These two character believe they are completely free because they don't care about the girls and they do not follow the laws, they just live their lives. Those in the Ethical stage include all the French that are fighting for their freedom. They stand up for what they believe in and they also won't stop until their ultimate freedom is achieved. Jean Valjean is also a character in the ethical stage because he runs away from the law and is searching for his freedom. He is a man that would do anything to protect Cosette even though he isn't technically free. Les Miserable  is a movie and a book that represents both the ethical stage and the aesthetic stage. It is clear in this book and movie who is free and doing things based on impulse and those who are fighting for what they believe in and their freedom.

M. and Mme. Thenardier

French Revolution-ers fighting for freedom 

Using Kant without Realization

                   Immanual Kant once said that when it comes to moral choices we have conflicts between what our true desire is and what our conflict is. This can relate to real life situations that we observe and even experience in real life.
                    I, myself, can look back at a time when I demonstrated Kant's moral choices. I remember it was a Friday night and my friends wanted to go out and celebrate it being a long weekend and all, but I had to babysit. My feelings and desires were with my friends going out and having a fun time with each other. Going out with them was my desire. My duty as Kant would put it was babysitting because I told them weeks in advance that I'd babysit for them. So even though I didn't want to, I babysat that night while my friends were living up their youth and long weekend. Kant would choose in this situation that the categorical imperative   would be babysitting because I made that commitment long before my friends had their plans and I allowed the parents of the children I was watching to make plans (or respond to plans) that their friends had posed to them. If I cancelled then i would of had to have the parents cancel their plans and tell their friends whom they don't hang out with much that they wouldn't be able to go and that right there is a lot of disappointment. The highest gold was also in this situation because I had so much fun with the kids I babysat that I didn't need to go out with my friends to find my happiness.

Desire: go out with friend

Duty: babysitting

The Real World meets Aristotle

           Aristotle once characterized people into four character traits: Virtuous, Continent, Incontinent, and Vicious. These character traits can be displayed in the real world by people, television shows. and movies.

           A Virtuous character I found in the real world was my friend Steph. As we were walking towards my car to go to Dunkin' Donuts on our hour break away from dance, we came across a wallet. Steph being the honest person she is didn't even look inside the wallet but went back inside the studio to give the wallet to the front desk. She did this without hesitation and clearly let adults in the situation handle it. She did a kind act because she wanted to and because she knew it was the right thing to do. Having adults handle the situation she knew that they would have some way of handling the wallet.

            A continent character I found in the world was actually this past week. I went to five below to get some wrap so I could wrap my ankle and I saw this little boy there. He was about ten years old. He picked up a small item (I believe it was a key chain but I am not certain) and he had this guilty look on his face. So obviously he was thinking about stealing this object . He didn't notice me but he looked back at his mother than at the key chain and he was about to put it in his pocket but last minute he put it back. He did the right thing by putting it back but he had to think about the right thing to do first.

           A incontinent character I came across was Newman from Seinfeld. I personally hate this show but it was on one day after school and I couldn't found my remote so me being the lazy person I am decided to watch it. In this episode he was dropped off at a farmer's house. Now this farmer has a beautiful daughter and he tried everything to try and get with her. This results in him getting kicked out of the house. He doesn't know right from wrong so his decisions always seem like the wrong choice.

         A vicious character is The Queen of Hearts from Alice and Wonderland. She doesn't feel bad when Alice gets lost or hurt and she definitely isn't Alice's number one fan. She sends her cards after her and she doesn't feel any remorse by doing this bad act. When Alice gets put down and then runs off the Queen is anything but happy because she thinks that Alice doesn't deserve happiness and the Queen thinks that if people aren't only looking at her and worshiping her they are worthless. She takes pride in doing the bad thing.

Summer of 2014

Busy! Busy! Busy! Exactly the ways to describe my summer. My summer started off in the studio (dance) preparing to go off to nationals which happened to be a week after school let out. So basically here I was eating, living,sleeping, and dreaming about dance. Yay! When the time approached though, my team as was I, were very confident that we were going to Virginia with a mission and that mission was to make all the large studios notice 12 teenage girls. Virginia Beach was about to be taken over by a small studio from Lowell, Massachusetts and I must say we held our own. We walked out of nationals the Senior Large Group Champions of 2014. Not only did we win that we also got the highest scoring piece of the entire competition. I don't think we could have sent off our seniors in a better way. There were so many emotions that night that we all got temporary tattoos that said number one and put them on our hips to remember that moment that will always hold a place in my heart. "We may be small but we are fierce"

The day we were suppose to leave though a huge hurricane was coming our way. Most of the team left at 5am in the morning but my mother and her friend found a cheaper flight later in the day so we went to the aquarium that day to pass the time and I must say i was thoroughly  entertained until we left for the airport. Our flight was delayed for a long time and then when we finally got on a flight to Baltimore, we happened to get stuck in Maryland for about 2 more hours. Please note that 2 yrs ago when we left Virginia we also got delayed in Baltimore. Needless to say I have bad experiences and memories in that airport. But finally we made it home on the Fourth of July to rain and storms so that was a clear indication that our perfect little vacation was over.

     So here I am back in mass thinking I'm finally gonna get a break, how wrong was I. We were chosen from thousands of pieces to dance in New York at the ACE Dance Awards which is a huge deal.  This meant I was dancing with professionals in front of professionals and scouts and a lot of famous dance people. So needless to say I worked my tail off in July just so I wouldn't mess up. Here I was again living, breathing, seeing dance. When the time finally came I was a nervous wreck. I left for New York on Friday Augest 1. The ride was long but it was so worth it. I love New York with a passion and being in the city made me realize how much I want to live there. So saturday we had our performance and what a stressful and exciting day that was. Personally I was so nervous but so excited that I'm pretty sure I had this look on my face that looked like I was gonna cry.

 We had a tech rehearsal at 1 which was probably the scariest thing that has ever happened. Not only was the stage not what we expected people were rude. Dancers are not the nicest people. We were the youngest dancers in the entire competiton by at least 4 years and the looks we got were very scary. In the dance that we did we had to dive off the stage the only problem was there were stairs there and dress rehearsal was so terrible. By the time of the performance we dedicated it to our parents and out choreographer for giving us these opportunities. I can't say I remember those 12 minutes we were on stage dancing but I do remember after words that we got so many compliments and so many people saying we were taking home first place. We didn't win but just the experience alone is more than anyone else can say they've done. That Sunday when we left I was incredibly sick that all I wanted to do was curl up in my bed. That next Monday I began intensive which is a 6 day dance camp where you dance from 9am to 6pm. Then the rest of the summer when I wasn't dancing I was working on homework and watching movies and hanging out with friends. I had the perfect summer to represent the last time I'll be dancing with everyone of my "sisters" cause I may never have that opportunity again. 

Two big news stories from this summer were the Market Basket Strikes and Ferguson riot. The Market Basket riots started because the beloved CEO Arthur T. was fired. Deliveries stopped at the stores and employees refused to work until they brought him back. The stores were empty and no one could shop there even if they wanted to. These riots lasted for about 4 weeks until Arthur T. was rehired bringing the riots to a close.

Market Basket Rally

The Ferguson riots happened because Micheal Brown, a Black individual, was shot by a white cop for no reason. The community was taken aback so they started rioting and the law enforcement was taking no mercy on them. The Coast Guard got involved to resituate the problem and bring peace to the community.

Woman expressing herself at the riot