Family Time

We encounter people everyday who have opinion about war, ideas on courage, thoughts on heroism.  For this week's blog, I want you to conduct a mini-interview.  You will ask two people the questions provided and then record their answers.  One of them needs to be at least 20 years older than you.  The other can be any age.  

1. How do you think war affects communities?
2.  What does it mean to have courage?
3. What makes a hero?
4. You can create the fourth question.

When you post, list your questions, the ages of those you interviewed, and then your own answers.  After you have done these ideas, explain how you see these ideas show up in your book.  Maybe, someone you interviewed answered how you thought a character might? Maybe your ideas manifest themselves in your book.  This should be a solid paragraph after you have added your interview answers.  (Keep the interview answers PG.)

Connections

You are reading either The Things They Carried or The Yellow Birds.  Each book addresses a specific war.  However, the war that is addressed is only part of the story.  There is a timelessness to these books.  They capture humanity, people, ideas, emotion.  For this week's blog, I want you to make a connection.

Choose a character or scene in the book.  Explain that character or scene very clearly using quotes to back up the description.  

• For the character think about the following: What does this person look like? How do they behave? What motivates them?  What role do they play in the text?  
• For the scene, think about the following items: What does this place look like? What happens here? How does the scene change?  

Once you have described the character or scene, you need to make a connection to something in your world that is like your character or scene.  It could be a character/scene in a movie, book, television show, someone you know (do not use name), a speaker in the song.  You will describe and explain how these two are connected. 

Your post should be about two paragraphs in length.  

War in Film

War movies abound.  They are everywhere.  What is their appeal and why do we go in flocks to see them?  I have seen many movies about war over my lifetime.  I have watched war through the news in my lifetime.  To say that film captures war is not for me to say.

This week, I want you to watch two war movie clips on YouTube.  Choose from this list of films below and then you can choose the YouTube clips you can watch.  (By can, I mean you are able to watch emotionally.)

1. Unbroken
2. Lone Survivor
3. American Sniper
4. The Hurt Locker
5. Saving Private Ryan
6. Born on the Fourth of July
7. Platoon
8. Courage Under Fire
9. Band of Brothers
10. Forrest Gump

While you are watching these clips take notes on the following things:

• What is the language of war?
• What kinds of relationships develop during war?
• What conflicts or struggles are had during war?
• How are emotions dealt with during war?

When you post, briefly describe each clip you observed.  Then choose to answer the questions above about your two clips.  After you have answer the questions, explain what this tells you about war.  You are looking at about two paragraphs.  You should cite specific details about the clips to reinforce your arguments.  

Heroes

We have been taking notes the last two weeks where we have looked closely at archetypes and how they emerge within our pop culture.  This week, we will begin the analysis of Beowulf and look at the Epic Hero.  For this post, I want you to think about the heroes in your world.

Think about the heroes you watch in movies.  Choose one hero and explain to us why this person is a hero.  Include some of the following information:

• His/her name
• Describe him/her physically
• Economic status
• Personality traits that make him/her heroic
• Do he/she have any of the following archetypes: unhealable wound, shadow, nemesis.
• What is the motivation for his/her behavior?

Be sure to be as specific as possible and be sure to really explain why your hero fits the title.  Your response should be about two paragraphs long.  Be mindful of your grammar and your spelling.  Your writing is public.