Antihero

Candles in the Shadow – Why the Antihero Fascinates
by George A. Miu

Traditional heroes are difficult to embrace in a modern world that is filled with oft-conflicting motivations and complex social structures. We have difficulty understanding the knight in shining armor, who is almost never beset by moral uncertainty or self-doubt, and would much rather relate to the intrinsically-flawed-yet-well-intentioned protagonist. Such a character, most often dubbed an “antihero”, is faced with the very human task of meandering through their destiny while winning over the affection of the grand impartial observer (namely – the reader).

Yet, one must not limit one’s perception to the realm of good; antiheroes can be evil, too. Whether or not this is their defining feature is up to the environment in which they reside and the actions they choose to execute. But all antiheroes are fundamentally tainted creatures, whether it be by virtue of a murky past or characteristics such as bitterness, sarcasm or cynicism (or, if you’re lucky, all of the above). The point is that, in becoming acquainted with an antihero, we begin to sympathize with the cruel nature of reality, where nothing is proclaimed to be “wholly good” or “wholly evil” without eliciting a myriad of “what if” scenarios.

The murky-past facet is arguably more powerful, due to its instantaneous ability to provoke soul-searching and reflection in those who are subjected to its portrayal. We are naturally drawn to ponder sudden deaths, lost loves or traumatic events while others around us are doing the same; but when we are faced with the prospect of spending the entirety of a book or movie with a brooding, bitter hero, the game changes. Their losses become ours, and the syndrome is reciprocated when we associate the antihero with our own failures and tribulations.

Lo and behold, the antihero becomes a dyad of sorts, where the incontrovertible fact in our lives is merged with the mystery and drama of the rigid, fictionalized past. Slowly, as the story proceeds, the epicenter of this strange fusion becomes increasingly blurred, until we become the antihero, and the antihero becomes us. And then, something miraculous happens…

At what should, in all honesty, be the most depressing point of our empathetic experience, we begin to feel relief. Our shortcomings are no longer ours alone to bear, and we feel a sense of camaraderie with another soul that, previously, had exacted our pity. We are simultaneously accompanied on a journey of our weaknesses, and give our invaluable companionship in return. Suddenly, it does not matter that the antihero never existed, and that their fate was set in stone long before we were made aware of it. The audience and the flawed character partake in the abstract exchange of experiences, which all conscious minds can then translate into concrete, palpable virtues and actions.

All of this is testament to our ability to detach from the constraints of our own condition, and inhabit a hypothetical plane. All of this is therefore testament to our humanity.

Reality

Reality: A Personal Case Study
by Neal R. Karski

Thus, I shall what I’ve started with the first personal case study of destiny. In this piece, Part 2, I will provide you, keen observers, with my analysis of the concept of reality. Note that this post reflects the thoughts of an individual, that is myself, and does not represent any absolute truths or proven facts [just to clear things up].

Every day, we take the steps we haven’t pursued before. We look carefully in the mirror at the inherent face, the clothes we wear and we attempt to describe the feelings and emotions we experience. And every day, they are different. We hear the chirping birds, glance at the blooming plants and talk to our close ones. But is everything that we do real? Or does your imagination play a part in our perception: creating what we see, hear, feel. Does the adjective of “real” even relate to reality?

I often question reality; its existence, laws, complexity. One way, I can say that I, myself, have the power to create what’s real through the works of my mind. But the other way, every person that manages to think and take footsteps on this planet has a right to dispute my statement and say that he or she is the one that creates reality. So therefore, is reality split? Is it an individual concept that belongs to each and every human being? Or is reality a universal notion that transcends beyond our understanding? At times, it seems to me that we’re trapped in a world, where everything appears apparent, but the underlying laws works in mysterious ways to alter this equilibrium and our perception of the continuing reality. That’s when we lose touch. We ask ourselves – Is this real?

Questions. Questions. Questions. I pardon each and every one of you, as this post is filled with them, yet like many of you I seek the answers [whether through writing or other means]. I’m a curious learner of the unexplainable, the sought after, the forbidden.

Now, we must ask ourselves… if it’s not real, then is it unreal, surreal or fake? What is the opposite of reality? And does it exist? I am not capable of fully comprehending the realm beyond reality where world is like a dream, or my imagination. Wait! Dreams, imagination and engendered thoughts. It may seem to us that those elements are the elements beyond reality, thus we would label anti-reality as something that is shared commonly by human beings, where more than one person can experience the event or interaction and take away from it. So does reality urge experience? And the surreal is purely an individual concept? I guess we’ll never know, eh?

God Bless.

The Inherent Racism

The Inherent Racism
by George A. Miu

NOTE: This is not a racist piece. It is a tongue-in-cheek piece. If you think being offended on behalf of these issues makes you more humane and upstanding, do not read on! If you are often the last to laugh, or cannot elicit a chuckle to save your life, please shut down your browser. Thanks.

It’s about time we admitted it. Certain prejudices are wired into the human brain; it is widely considered abnormal to lack any sort of a bias towards one race or another, the article I have attached to the end of the post suggests.

Here’s my little game: give a young girl or boy two pictures: one of a black boy, the other of a white one. Ask them: “Who is the naughty boy?” and watch them point to the child that does not belong to their race. According to my little article, the overwhelming majority of children seem to think more highly of their race.

Well that’s a relief. We have scoured the psychological terrain in young’uns and discovered that, on a deep, existential level, blacks and whites consistently accuse one another of being naughty. I could’ve gotten my favorite Chicago panhandler (a fine gentleman by the name of Jake, who opens doors for cab passengers by the Metra LaSalle Street Station) to attest to the same thing. Of course, Jake puts it a little differently:

“They look at me like I got some … infectious disease,” he tells me wisely.

In all honesty, you’re more likely to catch something terrible off those filthy hand-rails you so religiously use at all the CTA stops. But it doesn’t stop people from giving the African-American Jake a huge detour. In his turn, Jake accuses the white man of unthinkable crimes with every other breath. So it goes.

On a more troubling note, I must confess that I have seen many of my friends utter a lot of racially-charged nonsense, only to go out the next day and pretend to treat everyone the same, irrespective of skin color. The real problem is that children overhear and subconsciously understand the biases of their elders without necessarily being exposed to unprintable language. That, in addition to the natural tendency to profile by race, results in an incorrigible attitude that will not fade with time.

The Earth spins on its axis, still. White people will still fear nameless, faceless, very very black people are out to steal their stereos (or iPods, more appropriately). Black people will still assume that the corporate suit-clad white man is secretly supportive of the KKK and against affirmative action, while Hispanics will entertain the notion that blacks and whites alike are conspiring to build a wall around this country. Of course, all of these people will drop these phantasms as soon as they walk out of their front doors, only to revisit them late at night, before drifting into the eventual half-remembered dream.

http://www.livescience.com/culture/sexism-racism-social-stereotypes-100412.html

Destiny

Personal Case Study: Destiny
by Neal R. Karski

I was really intrigued by the two recent films “Shutter Island” and “Inception,” in which Leonardo DiCaprio showed masterful acting skills and presented to us many questions that we ask ourselves every day. I managed to dig up a couple of the underlying themes from those movies, both very captivating and at times perplexing. The following piece will address my personal case study of destiny, whereas Part II will entail the matter of reality. Take a quick read.

Destiny is a concept driven by each and every human being. Therefore, it is subjective. One may believe that he or she is does have full control of his or her destiny, or rather share this belief with the moral perspective of God’s omnipotence. Whatever the case, the concept is puzzling to philosophers, theologians and professionals in the health sciences, because it protrudes many layers of core questions. Destiny may or may not be. For some of us, destiny may not exist – it happens to be the present moment that really counts. But how do we formulate what really counts in our lives and relate it to the notion of where we are destined to go… or end up?

I often question destiny when the times are bad or my life has taken on a temporarily-declining direction. I ask myself and God: “Is this a part of my destiny?” – the necessary piece or component of where I’m headed or the person I’m going to become one day. Humans change, largely influenced by other people with whom they interact or cross paths with, and they are significantly affected by plethora of events. Therefore, it is logical to conclude that at every step [of change] our destiny is liable to change, as well. This can be negated if our destiny has been pre-determined, whether by a higher intelligence, such as God, or unconsciously, ourselves. The latter I’ve managed to think about quite thoroughly. It is possible, yet vague, that in our neonate development and childhood we condition ourselves to take certain paths… who knows. The moral outlook also brings up questions such as: Under what conditions has my destiny been pre-determined? Can I change my destiny in any ways? How do I reach salvation? Can destiny be affected by the steps of change? And the most difficult question… What really is destiny?

Since this is my personal case study of the notion of destiny, I will put forth my own definition.

Destiny is a concept that cannot be fully conceived by any human being. We can ask questions and seek answers, but certainty cannot be reached [until we have perished, and maybe not even then]. Destiny is a feeling of my own presence at the point of location and time, and assurance that I’m going forward; I’m progressing toward a more wise, more successful, happier I. I don’t know whether it is my intrinsic destiny, but that feeling leads me to believe [even if foolishly] that I am destined to do outstanding things for myself and altruistically for others. We are all destined to live the life we have, and if everything happens for a reason, the past, the present and the future will collide.

The Decline of Literature in the 21st Century

The Decline of Literature – Case Study: Twilight
by George A. Miu

The world is full of e-books, Kindles and good old-fashioned tomes; everywhere you turn, it seems the advertising realm is alight with means to improving one’s connection with the act of reading. Ironically, the quality of published literature is decreasing, and books no longer have the captivating power that propels societies and inspires generations.

Now that we got the incendiary, generic introduction out of the way, yours truly needs to silence Twilight fans. Okay. Twilight is not high-quality. It does not propel our society; it degrades it. It does not inspire generations. It deludes them. A morbid love-triangle between a vampire, a werewolf and a girl that is eerily reminiscent of the author’s own character is uninspired at best.

Do not call it fantasy. We don’t want JRR Tolkien rolling in his grave.
Do not call it gothic. Edgar Allan Poe is gonna need a drink from his next adventure if you do.
Do not call it a modern novel. Joyce Carol Oates might shift uncomfortably on the couch she’s inhabited for the past two decades.

Twilight has come to symbolize all of the things that we do not want to happen. It is a mere product of the hype machines that dominate our consciousness; it is aimed primarily at an audience too young or too uneducated to distinguish good literature from bad literature. Twilight, as a saga, is an incoherent cacophony of clichés, repeated ad absurdum. Oh – and don’t think I haven’t read the books, because I have (ashamed though I am of it). But if I ever hear anyone talk about Edward’s Adonis-like physique or tortured warm brown eyes … I’ll defecate a brick.

Back to literature, now. The problem we are facing these days is that we have no concrete, well-understood, systematic method of classifying today’s works, in terms of schools of literature. I mean – let’s face it. Modernism was great. Postmodernism was a little unoriginal, but interesting. Post-postmodernism is a joke. You’re telling me that the most talented minds in prose and poetry have not figured out a new major movement
since the late 19^th century? All we get is offshoots. But you can’t feed absurdist pieces to the masses forever, unless you want anarchy to reign. And if it did, the anarchists would be the first to get eaten, anyway.

Oops – I digress yet again. This particular piece has no structure or continuity. Isn’t it annoying? If it is, then that’s because I wrote it in such way so as to reflect the sheer nonsense of post-postmodernism. If you are a literary critic, and happen to be reading this, tell your fellow well-read drinking buddies to get to work coming up with a movement that is not called post-post-postmodernism, and might actually provide a halfway decent guideline for the upcoming generations to abide by. If you are reading this and are not a literary critic (as is most likely), then go off and read some James Joyce or something. There’s nothing to see here in 2010.