So I haven’t gotten around to adding this show to my list of fangirling, but this is a show I thought was just fantastic.
My friend actually got me interested, and once I started watching, I just couldn’t stop.
Why did they only have three season? It was amazingly well done in presenting the characters, the backstories, and the issues they face. This should have kept going.
Why?
Anyways, let’s move on.
So this episode comes at the very end of the first season. Having been rejected into joining the Justice League, they have their own group, Young Justice, that consists of Superboy (Superman’s clone): M’gann/Megan as Miss Martian (John the Martin Manhuter’s niece); Artemis (Green Arrow’s niece); Dick Grayson’s Robin/Nightwing (Batman’s protogeé); Wally West as Kid Flash (the Flash’s nephew); and Kaldur’ahm’s Aqualad (Aqua Man’s sidekick).
The team work hard to prove their worth; showing that are more than secondary characters. There is also secrets, betrayal, love; and a lot more twists and turns that make this series solid.
Most Romantic Moment: I Knew and I Didn’t Care
**Spoiler Warning**
So Megan has been blackmailed by a villain into doing her bidding or else it will be revealed as to what she really looks like. You see, on Mars there is serious racism between the Green and White martians. Megan was born as a White Martian, and not gonna lie is pretty terrifying. She’s always hated how she looks,
As she has the power to change her appearance all the way down to a cellular level, when she comes to Earth she pretends to be a green martian and copies the form of an actress she admired.
But when this secret threatens the group, she decides to reveal all, but is terrified that they will have the same disgust as those on her home planet.
However, when she reveals her true form; her boyfriend Superboy and the others don’t care. In fact Superboy has known all along, even before they were a couple, and it never mattered to him.
Aw! How sweet!
And to make it even cuter. In an earlier episode, Image, Megan lies about how she looks and Superboy told her then he didn’t care.
He knew then, but never let on: letting Megan reveal herself when she was ready. How sweet!
When it came to look for a Best-Seller to put on the list I decided to start first with 1916, as that book would be celebrating its 100th anniversary.
But I didn’t see any I was a very big fan of so I went to 1926. Nothing there as well.
I decided I would then check 1936 and if I couldn’t find a book I was a fan of I would try 1896, then 1886, then 1876, and then go back to 1946 and on and on until I finally found something.
However, I stopped at 1936 with Gone With the Wind.
Gone With the Wind was published in 1936 and at time sold 176,000 copies. It was a best seller in 1936 and 1937, winning the Pulitzer Prize in 1937, and by 1938 sold a million copies. In 1939 the film came out and the book sold two million copies.
My first introduction to Gone With the Wind was when I first watched the film when a friend and I were going through AFI’s list of the best films. We made it to #15 before we became too busy and haven’t finished doing it since.
Oh well.
Anyways, I watched it and thought the movie was really good. The cinematography was absolutely stunning, it was full of good quotes, and Clark Gable was just amazing as Rhett Butler (funny thing is Margaret Mitchell didn’t want him as she thought he wasn’t handsome enough to be Rhett).
I didn’t care for Scarlett as I thought she was a…
And thought she was just horrible, not Vivian Leigh’s performance but her.
Then three years later, as it was on my reading list, I decided to read it, borrowing my mother’s copy. And when I read it I was amazed at how it was a truly fantastic book!
And I believe that everyone should read it at least once.
So the book is a huge epic! It follows the Irish O’Hara clan from the father’s immigration into the new world and settling in the South, the radical changes from the Antebellum period, to the Civil War, and the Reconstruction era. At the heart of all this chaos is the story of the beautiful, ruthless Scarlett ‘O’ Hara and the dashing soldier of fortune, Rhett Butler.
So let’s list off why one should read this book:
A) Shows How the Irish were Viewed in America
So we start off with Gerald O’Hara, head of the clan. Back in Ireland he was a part of a Catholic Emancipation group, like the Ribbonmen or such and ends up having to flee because of his political activities. He comes to America and isn’t always treated very nicely, as the Irish weren’t. Often they were made fun off, not allowed in certain areas, and thought to be taking over jobs. He starts working in his brother’s store but what he really wants is land, the very land that was denied him back in Ireland as no Catholic Irish could ever own anything.
He eventually wins a plantation in a poker game and spends a long time building it up and having it be one of the richest ones in the area. He then decides to marry, but while these Southern families enjoy his wealth and propsperity; none could ever think of marrying their daughter to an Irish immigrant who’s family is unknown. The only thing for him to do is try to find a woman somewhere else, as he returns to his brother for help in finding a bride.
Yes, most don’t realize this but the wealthy South wanted to be like the old manors of Europe. Be the master of the land with pure bloodlines of other wealthy families, not bringing any low class in, and very racist against any that weren’t established in their group. This kind of racism against the Irish and Catholics went much farther than the South and was seen all over the country. Many times Irishmen and women had the lowest class jobs, found it hard to get land and keep it, and found themselves competing against African Americans who would work for lower wages (in the North). While Gerald O’Hara does extremely well, a lot of Irish weren’t able to ever reach that, especially in the South at this time.
B) Scarlet O’Hara
Scarlett is a Southern women in the Antebellum period and has very little schooling. All that is expected of her is to marry well and have plenty of children. But Scarlet has always felt different and out of touch with the time she lives in.
She is extremely intelligent and has great business acumen. In fact it is often remarked that if her brain had been born into a boy she would have been able to go far.
Scarlet doesn’t have life easy either. With the Civil War she finds herself becoming a nurse, a midwife, and eventually has to take on the plantation or risk starvation. Because of those experiences it makes her hard, as with the book we see how she is constantly worried if things will turn out alright, if they can make it, or if they will be back to starvation; everyone looking at her to take care of everything.
That is an incredible burden to be laid on a teenager (as she is about 17 or 18), let alone one who’s education was “how to look her prettiest”. She becomes tough because if she doesn’t, none of them will survive.
When the home is attacked, she defends it shooting the deserter and protecting the home and people.
Now she does steal her sister’s boyfriend, so she has faults, but she does it because she has foresight none of the others do. He has a hardware store, but when Scarlet takes over she also creates a lumber mill, triples the money, and is able to provide for everyone. Even though she accomplishes all this everyone still tells her she isn’t being a lady, running businesses and doing better than her husband. They try to convince her to stop, but she keeps on doing it. Using her “ladies mind” which contains a powerful way with numbers.
She continues to be this strong, forceful woman throughout the rest of the novel; even though she does make a lot of bad personal decisions. Still, for a woman in the 1800s to have her own business, earn her own money, choose who she will marry (several times), is pretty awesome! She is a powerhouse of a character.
C) Not as Racist as People Think
People had slaves and if a book mentions it, that is not racist. In fact in this book the slaves aren’t really shown to be stupid, slow, or other clichés; except Lettie who is mentally disabled (something we understand more now than we did then). There is the house slave who didn’t want to work in the fields, but being a house slave was seen as better than an outdoor slave and slaves on the inside often treated the field slaves as being lower class.
In fact this book isn’t racist to African Americans, but points out racism and hypocrisy that African Americans faced from those who were trying to free them. It is often remarked that while the North wanted the Southern slaves to be free, that did not mean they actually wanted to work with those freed slaves or have them near. There were plenty of racist people living in the North fighting for African American rights, but if they were near an African American they would still treat them cruelly. Mitchell points this out when the new Republicans brought in by Reconstruction say they would never have an African American nanny their children as they have “diseases” and “uncouth ways”. In fact they would much rather ship over an Irish immigrant than ever let their child be touched by someone black.
What jerks
Many say that Mitchell started this “Mamie” stereotype creating a myth that all Africans were pleased with being slaves; which Mitchell does not do. Like The Help, which by the way everyone loved and praised, she shows that because the nannies lived in the house and raised the children they sometimes became like family. It didn’t happen with everyone, but in this case Mamie was a mother to Scarlet more than her own mother.
Also people are all different and have their own views, even if they live in the same area. Mitchell presents a look at the many ways people regarded slavery; indifferent as Scarlet, necessary as Mr. O’Hara; and how some treat African Americans rudely, cruelly, or like family.
D) The Person You Love are Not Always True
Scarlet is in love with Ashley Wilkes, but they could never marry as her blood (Irish) is too inferior for the Wilkes family. He is to marry none other than his cousin, but instead of flat out saying that to Scarlett, Ashley likes how this beautiful woman who everyone wants loves him and leads Scarlett on, trying to make sure her “flames of love kept burning” because it made him feel good. He was such a jerk and a coward! I mean we’ve all had guys like that who say “they would make the commitment”, but their life isn’t quite together yet. They haven’t reached their plans. And then when you try to move on, they always snag you back, bemoaning that if only things were different; trying to get you to wait for them.
They get their poisonious hook into you and keep you.
My friend was in the snare of a guy like Ashley for three years. He would go on about how they couldn’t be together, she deserved someone better; but as soon as she started to move on or see other people he would pop in about how much he cared about her. Constantly stringing her along in this cycle.
Thankfully she finally realized it or she would have been like Scarlett constantly pining after something she thought she needed when the real prize laid before her. It is horrible, and this book really teaches you the errors of being stuck on someones hook.
E) Stop Looking to the Past
Like most people, Scarlett gets stuck in the past. All she can do is think of Ashley and wish of Ashley.
How many of us have had a broken heart and instead of realizing how that person wasn’t right and deciding to move on, we cling to the past dreaming, wishing hoping. How many of us waste our time like Scarlett?
Scarlett was so consumed with her dreams and thoughts of the past that she was blind to the person who really loved her, that if she had only let her dream of Ashley die and stop mooning about him she would have seen how much better Rhett was for her.
F) Never Be afraid to Say How You Feel
Everyone talks about Scarlett’s blindness and how she was unable to see what she has but you know who was a real coward? Rhett! Rhett never told her he loved her until the very end. Maybe if he had not been so afraid to admit his real feelings and told her the truth about how he felt instead of distancing himself for the fear of her breaking his heart or lording over him, then they might have had a chance at true happiness.
Yes it can be hard to be vulnerable, or share your heart with others. Things can go very wrong of the person doesn’t care. But they can go just as bad of you say nothing and let the person you love pass you on by.
G) Hold On to Tomorrow
As Little orphan Annie says, “So you got to hang on ’til tomorrow, come what may!” Even after all she’s been through, Scarlett has an optimism that seems to go against everything else about her. She has faith that in tomorrow things can change. Life is hard now but in the flip of a dime it could turn out better. This kind of optimism we should instill in our life as well. Anything could happen tomorrow, don’t give up as things can get better.
Today’s carol is O Little Town of Bethlehem. Phillip Brooks visited Bethlehem in 1865 and three years later wrote the poem, asking his organist Lewis Redner to write the music.
“As Christmas of 1868 approached, Mr. Brooks told me that he had written a simple little carol for the Christmas Sunday-school service, and he asked me to write the tune to it. The simple music was written in great haste and under great pressure. We were to practice it on the following Sunday. Mr. Brooks came to me on Friday, and said, ‘Redner, have you ground out that music yet to “O Little Town of Bethlehem”? I replied, ‘No,’ but that he should have it by Sunday. On the Saturday night previous my brain was all confused about the tune. I thought more about my Sunday-school lesson than I did about the music. But I was roused from sleep late in the night hearing an angel-strain whispering in my ear, and seizing a piece of music paper I jotted down the treble of the tune as we now have it, and on Sunday morning before going to church I filled in the harmony. Neither Mr. Brooks nor I ever thought the carol or the music to it would live beyond that Christmas of 1868.”
Amazing. Now it is famous and such a part of the festive year. My favorite version is the Nat King Cole one.
So it is time for our annual animated film. Every year I have picked at least one for my Valentine’s Day countdown. The previous years I have done Shrek 2, Anastasia, & Hercules /Up.
I know a lot of people don’t like Pocahontas because it is not accurate, is based on a story that might be a lie, the characters were not the right age, etc. Well I don’t care!
I think Pocahontas is not only one of Disney’s best films, one of the most beautifully animated films, but one of the most poignant race relations stories. In here we see the good and bad of two very different races; and how most of issues develop from miscommunication and fear.
Pocahontas is the chieftain’s daughter, but unlike how her father wishes; she has a bit of an unruly and unsettled spirit. Her father would like her to marry the best warrior, Kocoum, but Pocahontas wonders if that really is the best life for her.
Which way should I choose?
Everything changes when the English settle the colony of Jamestown, and Pocahontas befriends one of the sailors, John Smith. The two learn a lot about each other, and fall in love, but they must keep everything a secret.
When a Kocoum is killed on accident, John Smith takes the blame and is sentenced to die.
What can Pocahontas do?
Most Romantic Moment: No Greater Love to Lay Down One’s Life
This most romantic moment for me comes at the very end of the film. Dawn has come and John Smith has been brought out to be killed. As the know this will mean war with the colonists they are prepared for the following battle. The colonists are lead by the evil Governor Ratcliffe who has been just waiting for an excuse to attack the Native Americans, they arrive at the execution site ready to slaughter the Natives with their guns.
Pocahontas will not let him die and runs to him; throwing herself on his body to protect him, and die alongside him if necessary.
Noooooooooo!!!!!!!
This is a huge act because Pocahontas has no idea how her father would react. She already has tried to speak to him, but he would not listen only thinking of revenge. She has no idea if her act will stop her father, or if he will be so bent on his path, and spurned on by his men, that he won’t hesitate and kill her.
Besides that, anytime a person is willing to die for one they love is truly amazing. Just the fact that she was willing to die for him, really shows her love and strength of character.
From “I Am the Night-Color Me Black”, The Twilight Zone
This year I decided to honor Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday by devoting a post to the ideals that he stood for and tried to bring across America. Hatred of others needs to stop.
I love this quote, because so often people forget that racism, bigotry, and prejudice crosses all boundaries; color, age, sexual orientation, gender, etc. And these things should not be tolerated.
We may never be able to eradicate these things from the world, but if we all try to stand against we can make a difference, no matter how small that difference may be.
This is like the only film that ever makes me almost cry. You see I hardly ever cry, hardly ever.
It always drives my friends nuts that I don’t cry at films or TV shows, they are always like “do you have a heart?”
Well yes I do, and the one Disney film that really gets me is Remember the Titans.
Remember the Titans is a film based on the true story of story of an African American coach Herman Boone (Denzel Washington), as he tries to bring together a racially divided team at the T. C. Williams High School in 1971 Virginia. I think it is one of the best Disney films, Sports films, and films based on a true story ever made.
So the film is about a town that going to have an integrated school, of which many of the students (black and white) don’t agree with. Coach Boone is putting together a football team, and won’t stand for having anyone think they are better than another because of the color of their skin. He takes them away to train before school starts, and by doing so is able to stop the division and form a cohesive group. They however face a lot of challenges when they get back as people in the town don’t approve. In the end, all the team members are able to work through their own judgements, issues, and racism; fulling bonding and being life-long friends.
So the part that always tears me up comes near the end of the film. Gerry (white), the team captain, and Julius (black) have become best bros. Gerry’s girlfriend doesn’t approve of this and gives both the cold shoulder. As she doesn’t want to hang with him, and Julius is taking out his girlfriend, Gerry decides to go cruising around town. Unfortunately, he doesn’t pay attention to where he is going and crashes.
We see him in the hospital where it is discovered that he can never play that kind of football again as the injury to his legs are too massive. The whole team goes to see him, with Julius trying to get in, but the nurse won’t let him as only family is allowed. Gerry stops her by saying:
“[Julius visits Gerry in the hospital]
Nurse: Only kin’s allowed in here.
Bertier: Alice, are you blind? Don’t you see the family resemblance? That’s my brother.”
janeaustenrunsmylife 