Demosthenes & Locke

Demosthenes: Demosthenes was a great orator and statesmen. The first time he made a public speech it was a disaster. Fortunately for him, he met an actor who taught him how to talk and perform in front of crowds and  his speeches were somewhat powerful and could've even got him killed. For example, one of his speeches were on how Athens were corrupt when he himself was an Athenian. His speeches were always out there, direct and certainly caused a lot of attention. In this instance, I definitely think that Valentine's character is somewhat similar to the actual Demosthenes. Valentine's Demosthenes talks of anti-Russian campaigns to try take their power. Her scripts are also somewhat paranoid and played on xenophobic fear, worrying all the more readers and forced them against the treaty as she points out that they are vulnerable and they need to fix America's defense to help protect them against a Russian invasion.

John Locke: Locke was considered one Britain's greatest ever empiricists (Empiricism is a theory of knowledge that debates with which opposes other theories known in topics such as rationalism or historicism). Peter's character Locke took on the role of an empiricist on the nets to try to put doubt in the minds of other people by saying that the pact was good, but putting forward more ideas for it, almost pointing out fundamental problems with it, his theology on the topic making sense and giving him power. He was also given power by answering Demosthenes questions and debating with him/her.


The views that Peter and Valentine take on the nets are opposite ones so that they can debate points and instill fear and doubt in other people. Fear is the key element in trying to persuade people to see their points. It debating with each, they're indirectly agreeing to disagree in that they are always pointing problems with the   pacts, letting it be known new ones were needed to be put in place. As this allowed fear to spread through people, their voices and opinions became significantly stronger as they created more doubt in the pacts and as they were the ones to point out the fundamental problems with the pacts and gain influence in the process, they would be the ones to place new pacts and that is how Peter came to power.

Technological Advance

Monday 30/5: Technological Advance

1. How is technology a key element in the advancement of the plot? Technology is a key point in the advancement of the plot because it helped the story come along and make sense in that Peter would never have gone to power if not for the nets, Graff wouldn't be able to get Valentine to help Ender if not for the Rocket/Starship that took him back to Earth and Ender might have died against the buggers if it wasn't done by simulation conditions, but realistic effects (he could hit them but he was thousands of Kms away and viewed the battle by camera).
2. List important technological elements of the story.

• Nets
• Monitors
• Simulators
• Starships/Rockets
• Battleships
• Zero Gravity room
• Desks
• Freeze gun
• Games room
• Doctor Device
• Interstellar travel
• Videos

3. Take that list and label whether you think that this technology is good or bad. You can have them in both lists.

Now answer these questions using your examples: I think all these pieces of technology were essential in the storyline's progression. Without the Starships, Spaceships and Rockets, Graff couldn't have gone back to Earth and no new planets could've been discovered or occupied.

1. Do you think that the story presents technological advance as being positive or negative? Positive because the technology is mostly used properly, for training, saving the world, communicating with family and for politics
2. What part do humans play in this advancement of technology? In this advancement of technology, the part humans play is is large because most of the upgrades in space technology, whilst copied from the buggers' designs, are human creations
3. Do they drive the advancement or are the victims? Humans drive the advancement of technology in that it helped save their planet, strengthen and colonize new planets and take control of the galaxy by defeating the buggers.

Ender's game quiz chapters 1-7

Ender's Game Quiz Chapters 1-7

1. What person is the narrative told in? The narrative is told in 3rd person
2. What is a 'Third'? A 'Third' is a child that is the third born in the family
3. What game does Peter want to play with Ender? Peter wants to play 'Astronauts and Buggers' with Ender
4. What are two reasons why Ender doesn't want to go to battle school? Ender doesn't want to go to battle school because he'll miss Valentine and he's worried about fighting the buggers and going somewhere totally new and unknown to him
5. What type of irony is used when the audience knows more than the characters? The Irony is that the very knowledge we know his the opposite of what Ender thinks he is.
6. How does Graff treat Ender when he first gets to battle school? When Ender first goes to battle school, Graff treats him like he's better than all the other students to make them jealous. In doing so, Ender is isolated and is made tougher because of it
7. Who is Ender's room leader at battle school? Ender's room leader at battle school is Anderson.
8. What happens when Ender goes to the games room for the first time? When Ender first goes into the games room, he learns how to move about in gravity and helps a lot of the other students get it right too
9. Who is Bernard and what is Ender's relationship to him? Bernard is another kid in Ender's unit and his relationship with Ender is that Bernard regularly bullies him and turns everyone against him
10. What role is Alai voted in to? What role does he now play for the group? Alai is voted unit leader, a Sergent, and his role for the group is that he brings everyone together because the whole unit respect him.
11. What mistake does Ender make immediately upon joining Salamander Army? The mistake Ender makes is to disobey an order from a Sergent, Bonzo
    What happens to Ender in the battle against Condor that gets him recognition? In the battle against Condor, Bonzo who is Ender's Sergent gets him to come in half way during the battle so he can't lose the fight but instead doesn't get shot and scores more points than anyone that day as a result.

Science Fiction Assignment

MONDAY, MAY 2, 2011

Researching the Science Fiction Genre

Science Fiction Genre

Research Assignment

1.    Origins

Trace the development of the sci-fi genre. Explain where the genre came from. What did it grow from? Consider the role of other genres which had a direct or indirect influence on the development of sci-fi? Examples to consider include: westerns, horror, the heroes’ journey, other? (100words)

The first ever science fiction film is thought to be, "La voyage dans la moon," which is French for trip to the moon. It was directed, written, produced and acted out by Georges Méliés, an expert in special effects. 

He also made the first ever horror movie a few years before called, "Le Manoir du Diable"  - the house of the devil - themes of which he used in science fiction movies. At that, it can be said that science fiction was made  off horror as the first ever science fiction movie was based on horror. 

2.    

    Categories (500 words)

Science fiction can be broken up into a number of sub-categories. Identify and explain the various sub-categories and the features which make each distinguishable. Give examples of texts you are familiar with which may represent these sub-categories.

Science fiction, (sci-fi), can be broken up in to the following sub-categories: fantasy, laws of nature, future, outer space, time travel, robots and most commonly aliens, so Science fiction can be a very broad theme.

Fantasy: fantasy is a catagorie based on imagination. Science Fiction too is based on imagination in that isn't really such thing as aliens, etc that has been proven. Therefore, a lot science fiction can go into the catagorie Fantasy.

Laws of nature: Laws of nature are scientific generalizations which are based on observations of physical behavior. Sci-fi movies often go against the laws of nature, creating eeyrie creatures, super-humans, or just "freaks of nature," the laws of nature having a big influence on this. So Sci-fi can also go into the catagorie of laws of nature.

Future: Future is a/the place of which things are yet to happen. As no-one can accurately predict the future and what will happen, it's an open theme to explore and create stories around, something oftenly done my Sci-fi writers.

Outer-space: Outer-space is the fabrication of everything outside Earth. As no-one really knows acurately ALL of outer space and what's there, it's not hard to guess and write about what could be there and base a movie on it. E.g. Transformers is a movie about other world's around the universe occupied by fight robots the size of buildings that transform into everything from utes to fighter jets.

Time travel: time travel is the concept of going to a place of where things are yet to happen, (future), or a place of where they have already happened, (past). As going into the past and doing damage there can alter the world of current and future, its a good theme to base movies on as it is likewise future where no-one knows what will happen there.

Robots: robots are humans that are made of metals, circuits and many artifcial parts to create metal servents to serve humans, often used in movies. E.g., transformers where they are out-of-space fighting machines that we can't control and half want to destroye us and the other want to protect us; iRobot where robots serve to protect us, but are rising up against us in an attempt to take over.

Aliens: perhaps the most commonly used and worried about as to whether or not it is or isn't real is aliens. No one knows whether there are other races out there in other planets, galaxies, or universes, making veiwers interested on perhaps seeing an opinion. Some of the most famous alien series are predator, alien and alien vs. predator series. This series shows two forms of life other than us: the predators who fight for honour and to protect only their race and the aliens who will kill anything to eat and survive.

The hero's journey: the hero's journey is the transition the hero goes through from the person at the beggining of the movie to the hero he lives/dies as at the end. Almost all movies use this theme.

To conclude, Sci-fi covers all the facts human science can't predict, thus creating themes and suspense that it alone can give making interesting to watch.

3.  

           Conventions (500 words)

Explain in detail the conventions of the science fiction genre. The conventions should also include those frequently borrowed from other genres ie the heroic journey, horror, etc.

In science fiction movies, many borrowed themes are used to help make them more interesting. For example, in dinotopia, dinosaurs are still living on one small island, the last place in the world they can be found. It is a simliar story/situation with Jarrasic Park. These fall under the theme Science fiction, but it uses a lot of fantasy in this case in that dinosaurs are extinct, and yet here they are walking on small islands unknown to anyone but it's occupants.

Other themes scince fiction use are Mythology

Mythology: mythology is some examples of the early science fiction in that it’s unrealistic, against the forces of nature and unexplainable stories such as the Minotaur: a man who defeated a bull and picked up its characteristics, looks, etc. and started killing people.

Science: In 1818, science started proving religion wrong, E.g. the Earth was proven to revolve around the sun and not be the centre of the universe when religion had being saying for thousands of years that the universe revolved around the sun. 

Science fiction:

·        Military Sci-Fi: based on war for example transformers, Avatar, (which could also be considered space opera which is science fiction based larger scale worlds and planets), Star Wars, (also space opera), etc.

·        Hard and soft: Hard is based a lot on science fiction is like predicting the future, E.g. 2012. Soft science fiction is more just talking about the people, story, characters, heroes, etc. These are the two main themes.

Conventions of science fiction:

·        Space, Future, world being destroyed, aliens, robots or any super technology are all conventions that could label a movie as Science Fiction. E.g. Avatar: Jake Sully makes Avatar a soft science movie about his life as he goes through the story and transition of becoming a Navi.

·        Science fiction can make us consider what we’re doing now will affect the world 10, 20 years down the track such as back to the future. It can also evolve technology E.g. 30 years ago there were fingerprint DNA doors, now they really exist.

·        Science fiction shows us how technology can make us careless. For example in iRobot, technology does everything for humans and their lives get easier and easier until they get problems they don’t know how to fix. Sci-fi lets us think about how to use/fix things. For example, we all have laptops but can’t fix them when they break. The atomic bomb is an example of technology ahead of its time

·        Science fiction lets us play around with ideas and think, “what if,” to maybe create new things.

Ender's game publish

Ender's game was first published in Great Britain by Century Hutchinson in 1985. This changes my perspective of the book a little in that when I first red it, I thought that it wouldn't be a good book because it didn't have all these huge titles and awards, not knowing that the age of the book itself was the main factor there: that because it was published so long ago, there was little chance it would've received an award. Otherwise, my perspective is still the same despite the fact that it's an old book that was published almost twice my age ago because its set in the future with no exact date given. Therefore, the themes, the concepts, characters, adventures and setting are just as relevant as if the book were published today. It simply means that the author, Orson Scott Card, had a bit  less material to work with and thus had done an OK job.

The style and sophistication of the first chapter, is done quite cleverly now that I've finished the book and know what the the characters were talking about which was done deliberately to leave gaps for the readers to fill to try to guess what is happening in the story and get up to date with what is going on. It isn't till the book is finished that you know and understand most of what is happening and even then, it sets up a sequel.

What we expected of first chapter:
Orientation, main character, characterisation, setting, plot

What we read:
Conversation (dialogue), un-named characters, unknown third, lots of 'gaps' in detail, 'chosen one,' 'saving the world.'

The effect::
Sparse information which activates reader, draws them in, creates suspense/mystery, labels untold war/enemy/important

Language: (words, sentences)
Young adults, middle complication/sophistication.
First sentence: repetition
First word: "I've" - informal, simple language
Verbs: Watched, Listened, Tell, (active verbs). "Is" and "have" (inactive verbs) - state of being verb

Soldiers = action (^^^verbs ^^^), tells us this will be an active story will stuff happening: saving world, testing boy, fighting buggers.

3rd person narrator ----> knows Ender's thoughts
omniscient - all thoughts of characters
Limited - thoughts of 1 characters
Short sentences - active sentences

Ender's game Questions Chapter 1

• (pg1) Strange that the first chapter is called ‘Third’

1. What can you tell about the story through the use of two different fonts? The first font is used for the conversations that Colonel Graff has with his peers about the fate of Ender and is always at the beginning of the chapter to set up the rest of the chapter. The second font is for what happens to/with Ender, usually leading on from Graff's conversation.
2. What person is the narrative told in? The narrative is told in 3rd person

• We learn about a ‘special’ family. 

1. What is the goal of the speakers at the start of the book? Their goal is to turn Ender into an army general to command a fleet of space ships to fight of alien buggers in order to save the world. 
2. What are they watching and what do they decide about their subject? What type of irony is used by the audience having more information than the main character? They decide that he, (Ender), is 'The One,' to fight the buggers and the irony is that Ender thinks they simply picked him for battle school to be cruel, when they're trying to save the world and he's the person who's going to do it.
3. What is interesting about the surname of the title character? What does it say about his role in the story? He's sir name is Wiggin and that actually says little about his role as a character in this story
4. What perspective is the narration for the other section of the opening chapter (not the starting bit)? The perspective is second person.
5. “Sometimes lies were more dependable than the truth.” (2) What is a possible central theme of the book? A possible theme is deceit because all through, Graff is hardening Ender and being cruel to him, but not telling him why so he can control Ender. 
6. What does the title ‘Monitor’ represent to the other boys? It represents weakness in him to the other boys and so they go out of their way to persecute and pursue him. 
7. (5) What connotations does Ender being a ‘third’ have? It suggests that Ender is a child too many in the day and age that the book is set in
8. What does Ender know about his intelligence in regards to the other boys? He knows that he is a literal child genius and the other kids are normal
9. (7) What does Ender do to the bullies? Ender scares off the bullies by making an example of their leader, Stilson. After having knocked him out and injured him, the other bullies want nothing to do with him

• The narrator is sympathetic to Ender: ‘This would not have a happy ending. So Ender decided that he would not be the unhappiest at the end.’

1. (8) While Ender seems emotionally stable on the exterior how would you describe his emotional state on the inside? On the inside, Ender is depressed and barely holding back tears and is worried that he has turned into Peter. 
2. How has the perspective of the narration changed in this statement: ‘I am just like Peter. Take my monitor away; and I am just like Peter.’ What does this imply about Peter? Peter is a child genius too, but he uses his intelligence to fool his parents and teachers and get away with doing terrible things to Ender and others such as skinning squirrels alive, all the while everyone else loves him, except Ender and their sister Valentine.