Story Lab: Ted Talks

For today, I pursued the Story Lab route. The two videos that I watched, were The danger of a single story by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Imaginary friends and real-world consequences by OU's own Jennifer Barnes. I really enjoyed watching these videos, especially the one by one of OU's own professors. Her talked stimulated me to think about the potential downfalls of forming fictional relationships.

In the talk Imaginary friends and real-world consequences, Professor Barnes talks about how people develop relationships with fictional characters that they see on TV, read in a newspaper, or in books like Harry Potter. She even went on to state that as an overall society, we have spent just as much, or even more time reading about these people compared to the time since the dawn of man. This blew my mind! She went on to express that we form these types of fake relationships because in some ways they can help boost our self-esteem and confidence. Another stat that she presented also bothered me. When comparing the grief felt by people losing one of their favorite fictional friends to a distant acquaintance; people were more grieved by the loss of a fictional character! Therefore, this made me wonder about the potential consequences of becoming too close to something that isn't even real.   

In the talk, The danger of a single story Chimamanda talks about stories in her life of how she has been affected by "single stories." She goes on to explain that as individuals when we do not read all the stories that are present, we can become somewhat narrow-minded in our views. For example, she told a story of how she gave a talk at a university where a student mentioned to her his apologies of how "all the men in Africa are abusive and he knew this from reading one story." She responded by saying "she has read the book American Psycho, and she was sorry that all middle-aged white men in America are killers." We as people must not downplay anyone, culture, or society as one thing. If we do, that is what they will become in the eyes of the youth.

Be Creative: Wikipedia 

Reading Notes: Battle Between Rama and Ravana, Part D

The Three stories that I read today are Rama Attacks by Sister Nivedita, Battle of Rama and Ravana by Sister Nivedita, and Ravana's Death by Donald A. Mackenzie. I picked these three stories because I believe they tie into together very nicely. In the first story, Rama Attacks, Rama has set off on a journey to fight Ravana and win back Sita. There is a great big war with animals and Rama is beating Ravana's armies pretty badly. Therefore, Ravana knowing he is losing the war tries to deceive Sita by saying Rama has lost the war and is dead. Therefore, Sita is heartbroken and wants to die. However, Ravana's general walks in and tells Ravana that he is needed for war. Sita now knows that it was a trick. In the next story, Battle of Rama and Ravana, there is an epic battle between Rama and Ravana. Rama uses his bow and shoots off a whole bunch of Ravana's head, but they keep growing back... Ravana uses one of his weapons that had a face with fangs and shot fire out of his mouth. In the last story, Rama finally defeats Ravana by using a fiery weapon that Brahma created to protect gods. Rama shoots it Ravana's heart and kills him. Therefore, Rama wins the wars is welcomed into the city. He wins back Sita. 

I believe I can tie this into my previous story with Thor, Loki, and Hela. I will definitely be focusing on the deception that Ravana uses on Sita. However, it will be with Loki. I may also use the weapons that were utilized in the war. I can go off on a side story of how Thor came into contact with Brahma and obtained this great weapon that kills Ravana (Brahmashtra).  I may also add a twist to the end. 

Rama vs. Ravana: Wikimedia 

Reading Notes: The Rainy Seasons, Part C

For this weeks reading in Part C of the Ramayana, I will be focusing more on the story The Rainy Seasons by Romesh Dutt and Arthur William Ryder. Rama has already figured out that Sita is missing (because Ravana has kidnapped her). A new king is also set into term (Sugriva) who is willing to help Rama. However, Rama cannot go and talk to him because it is the "rainy season." Therefore, Rama must follow the terms of his exile and wait for the rainy season to end in order to enter a city.

In this story, Rama essentially opens a door to his fears and anguish of losing the love of his life. He goes on and spills his feelings for a couple of verses. I will be focusing on this the most. I may talk from the perspective of Sita and have her do the same as Rama. I will also be relating the story back to the one I wrote last week.

Rainy Seasons: Public Domain Pictures