The Therapeutic Effect of Fiction or How John Green's The Fault In Our Stars Helped Me in My Continually Grieving Of My Grandmother

    Before I get into this, I am going to say this right now, I am going to spoil The Fault in Our Stars if you have yet to read it. I am also can to say this, Cancer Sucks. It is a horrible disease that painfully kills the ones it effects. I have seen it's terrible effects on my Granny, who recently passed away from lung cancer. It is a disease that not only affects those who are inflicted with it, but the loved ones who have to take care of the one inflicted. In my case, that was my parents and my uncles. They were there everyday to take care of their mother and it was painful for them. In a weird way, it was actually more painful for me to watch my mother suffer than to actually watch my Granny wither away.  She was the one who took care of her and was always by her side. The sickness of my Granny took its toll on my mother both mentally and physically. It was so painful to watch her fight the losing battle of saving my Granny.

    I am not the only person I know who has seen the terrible effects of cancer. I have a good friend whose mother has a brain tumor and I have other friends with their own stories of cancer. Again, this all boils down to me saying Cancer Sucks.

    That is where a book I recently picked up and read (in one very emotional sitting) comes into play. That book was John Green's book The Fault In Our Stars. I initially picked up this book because I am a big fan of John Green's work on The Mental Floss website and from other various sources. Also, my social media blogs are going abuzz about this book. Anyway, I picked up this book knowing very little about its story, and being proud of myself for keeping everything in it a mystery. When I opened it, I was immediately drawn in. The main character, a 16-year-old girl with cancer that affected her lungs hit home. I know that my Granny wasn't exactly a 16-year-old girl, but she was still battling cancer. Going through her story was powerful. She was sick, and she knew she was dying. She hated being the burden on her family and she hated the boy trying to come into her life. Getting into the character Hazel Grace was eye opening in a way. I saw into a cancer patient. While I was reading it I wondered if that was what my Granny sometimes felt. That feeling of inevitability and hopelessness. It came up strong in the character. But through it all, she was loved and she was capable of loving. She was a strong character and it always reminded me of my Granny in the suffering of cancer. 

    Again, I know that their are obvious differences in the characters or my Granny and Hazel and there is no way that the loss of teenage years applies to my Granny, but there is common element of that inevitability of dying.  When I first heard of my Granny's lung cancer diagnosis, I knew that it was going to be the end of her. It hurt and being close to her, I didn't want her to go. My mom became very close to Granny, almost like a reverse of Hazel and her mother. But when I read this book, I got a glimpse into a character that I never thought about during that ordeal, and that was the character of the sufferer. I never thought about what it was like to have cancer; just that someone I loved very much had cancer. This story has helped me internally cope with the loss. Seeing into Hazel's minds let me see that the cancer patient not only knows they are going to face their inevitability, but  in a way they get to be at peace with it. They know that the more they suffer on earth, the more their loved ones suffer. In seeing those ideas, it has helped cope with her death more. I understand a little more that facing the inevitable is a good thing and that life goes on. Just like Hazel's mother planning to get her masters, my mom planned on resuming and moving on with life.

     And that is what happened. Me and my brother have gone on and tried to further our life goals. My mom and dad went on with their lives and preparing for the gift of being a grandparent. It worked out and I think that by seeing the eyes of a cancer patient in a story, I understood that my grandmothers dying from cancer is not the end of her legacy. It will live on in the endeavors of her children and grandchildren; Just like Augustus lived on in Hazel who will live on in her mother. 

    And that is a wonderful thing about fiction, whether it be books, comics, television, or video games. Fictional character take us out of the world and gives us a chance to connect with other characters in their struggles. Whether it be in seeing a new point of view as I experienced in The Fault In Our Stars or whether it be a number of other examples out there. LGBT people might have felt a special connection in seeing Buffy The Vampire Slayer introduce Willow and Tara and given those who have lost a spouse or partner an outlet when Tara got taken away from Willow. Those suffering from or had a close friend or family member who has suffered from addiction might have felt a special attachment to the Supernatural storyline that had Sam suffer from his addiction to demon blood. These characters and story has powerful potential to connect to people's specific sufferings.

   Fiction has power to be therapeutic. Seeing people suffer in a similar way that you have forms a connection. In a way, that connection that fiction forms is a bit more intimate and personal. The reason I say that is because those relations you make with non-existent characters are based on a personal interpretation. They are ones that you make the connection to in life events and because you are the one who made them, they are special to you. Though others might share a similar interpretation for that effect, it is one that still molds to your particular story. So even though other might have formed a similar special connection with the story of Hazel and Augustus, the connection I formed is personal to me. Thank you John Green for giving me this special connection with a fictional character by writing this book and because I can't say this enough, Cancer Sucks

Why the End of How I Met Your Mother Makes Sense and is Totally not a Slap in the Face to the Fans

        Recently, the long running show, How I Met Your Mother, came to an end. After 9 years, we find out the identity of the MacGuffin…. I mean the Mother. And in a move that divided the fan base, the mother was killed off and it was revealed that the whole story was Ted asking his kids if it is okay if he moved on from the mother and started dating Robin.

            Many fans cried fowl at this ending. They felt that as an audience they where cheated because Ted wasn’t happy. I am here to state that I believe that this belief is wrong. The audience were not cheated, they are just not used to such literary devices in sitcom television; two devices specifically being the use of an unreliable narrator and the use of the Macguffin. The story was framed by Future Ted in such a way to show how Robin was important to him and in a way his children. The end goal of the story was the Mother, but she was ultimately used to move the story along. The true message of the story was, even though Ted loved Tracy McConnell, He was ready to move on and Robin was the perfect woman to move on to.

            Before I delve into the narration and the use of the Macguffin further, let us look at one more factor that should be taken into account in the overall character arc of Ted and Tracy. In the 200^th episode, “How Your Mother Met Me,” it was revealed that Tracy had a boyfriend, Max, that died. It was shown that she never got over it, even breaking up with her boyfriend because she didn’t feel that Max approved of her moving on. She was plagued by a previous and out of reach love, just like Ted. Both character had a love that they could not acquire be for death or other life events.  Both characters at one point even acknowledged that their previous love hang up was the love of their life. I am not suggesting that Ted and Tracy where not in love, but I am saying that neither of them where the other’s first choice in love. They were both the other’s second chance, their other person. It is tragic, but this character arc is why Ted needs to go after Robin. In a cosmic sense, Tracy did get to be with her true love again and in the end so did Ted.

            With that tangent aside, people are still upset that the show is called “How I Met Your Mother” when it wasn’t really about the mother in the end. Well, that is what happens when you incorporate a Macguffin, a plot device used to move the story along. This really should not have been an issue that it wasn’t about the mother. Just look at the title of the show. It is all about the events that led up to that initial meeting, which all begun with meeting Robin. It is because Ted met Robin that Barney met Robin and they got married leading to that meeting at the train station. The mother was an endpoint to Ted’s Story, not the actual journey of the story.

            When we the audience see that journey to the mother, what we are seeing is not the actual events, but the events as told by Future Ted. He changes the story and recalls it in such a way to paint an emphasis on Robin. We know that Ted is capable of changing events, we have seen it predominately when he changes weed references to sandwiches. We also know that his ability to retell the story has been effected by the amount of time that has passed, as seen with him telling the story of the goat a year before the story actually took place. So when Ted is telling this story, his state of mind is not on the Mother, but on him wishing to move on. He wants to pursue Robin and it is possible that he puts Robin on a pedestal during this retelling is because he wants his kids to be okay with him moving on. So he tells the story with Robin in a bright light on her, making her the overall star of the story and not the mother.

            So before getting mad at the final of How I Met your Mother for not being a satisfying ending, look at it through these eyes. By the way of character development, the mother and Ted where each other’s second choice in love, those characters never thought of each other as the first choice in life partner, but as a backup do the a previous love that has moved on either through death or by a new marriage. When Ted does retell the story to his kids, his goal is not the actual meeting, but how Robin was a girl that meant something to him and that he is ready to move on. This story is made to give that message to the kids and was not meant to be an ending that was happy, but one of acceptance over a previous loss.

The movie wasn’t like the book and thats okay

                Every time I watch a movie based on any other medium I will always have a friend complain about how it is completely different from the original. One great example is with the new movie The Hobbit.  People complain about how there is not enough material in the source book to make it into multiple movies and how additional material will make it unfaithful. This is one of many films or television shows that people complain about not being faithful to the original. Others that I can think about at the top of my head are the Resident Evil film series, The Walking Dead T.V. series, and any movie reboots of television series.

                I get annoyed with people who make complaints about the unfaithfulness to the original. These new adaptations of stories are not supposed to be canonical retellings, but new stories in new universes based on these original characters. It is like the multiverse theory but applied to fictional worlds. In these different retellings different things happen because in that universe that is how it went down. So in the Walking Dead T.V. series, the reason that Shane lived longer than he did in the comic was because in this universe he lives this long. In fact, in some hypothetical world it is possible for Rick to have died and Shane become the main character.

                When making a new adaptation of a fictional world a new universe is created. Those universes are entitled to change the story as seen fit. The only thing that is needed to remain constant is the basic feel of the story. So next you want to say “That wasn’t like the book” think about it. Do you really just want a retelling of what you already have experienced or do you want a whole new story based on the one you are already familiar with. 

I’m Batman: The Villain Gotham Deserves.

       To celebrate the premier of my blog and the release of Dark Knight Rises on Blu-Ray, I am going to cover my favorite topic of debate, the morality of Batman. Now I love the Batman franchise and the setting of Gotham. I enjoy the several different mediums and universes created by several people. What I don’t like is when people think Batman is of high moral code.

          This debate with friends often starts off the same way, “Yeah Batman is evil and stuff because he doesn't kill the Joker.” That is a pretty weak argument on his morality; in fact I take it be a good stance on his good moral code. The big issue is his unwillingness to actually stop crime and keep it gone. He just allows villains to make a constant return.

          Batman has this issue of just stopping a criminal and placing them in Arkham just for them to escape again. At some point Batman should realize that the criminals are just going to escape again. Keep in mind that these criminals don’t just commit petty crimes; they go on full blown homicidal rampages. The body count in Gotham is probably comparable to that of several wars. Bruce Wayne has the ability to fix up Arkham in such a way that criminals don’t escape. He has the resources of building up the police department, but he doesn't do it. For the most part, he uses his role as  protector to beat up villains over and over again, then puts them into a facility in which they are going to escape, starting the cycle over again. I believe all he cares about is releasing the anger he has built up due to his parents’ death. By thwarting villains multiple times, he gets a big boost in his self. That boost happens at the expense of Gotham City though.

         Batman has some good things about him, but his moral code is very selfish. He places Gotham at danger just to fulfill his own pleasure. Of course, I could have the situation misread. Internet give me your opinion about this.

The Rise of the Nerd

                Well, here I am at the beginning of final exam week when I should be studying for my tests. As you can tell,   that is not what I am doing. Instead, I have decided to create a blog. “Why would I do that, isn’t my grade going to suffer? “ Well voice in my head, it won’t suffer because I am a confident senior who is suffering from senioritis, and my ideas for a blog are strong.

                “What is this blog about?” This blog is about applying critical thought to Nerdom and Pop Culture. I will take subjects that people love to discuss and apply my thinking and reasoning to the subject. I aim to use my experience studying philosophy to go deeper into subject. I wish to cover subjects such as the morality of Batman and if it okay to eat Pokémon. I am also going to leave comments open and encourage people to respond back to me. The aim will be to create a community of deep, critically thinking nerds that can discuss topics without them becoming forum board flame wars.

                If this sounds like a blog you wish to follow, I encourage it. I will try my hardest to not disappoint. If I do disappoint, I promise triple your money back guaranteed. So please fellow nerds, join me on this journey of over analysis and critical thinking. Let us enjoy great fandom and pick it apart. Most importantly, let us all have a good time.