Monstrosity versus Humanity: An American Definition By: Sheandra Jackson
Mar 11, 2016
Monstrosity versus Humanity: An American Definition
Table of Contents
Analytical Cover Letter ....................................................................................................................1
Quality Comparison .........................................................................................................................4
Least Successful Essay… ………...............…….. ..............................................................4
Most Successful Essay .........................................................................................................8
“What’s the Difference?” ...................................................................................................12
Revision Samples ...........................................................................................................................13
Least Successful Essay (with markup) ..............................................................................13
Least Successful Essay (final) ...........................................................................................17
Most Successful Essay (with markup) ...............................................................................21
Most Successful Essay (final) ............................................................................................25
Free Choice Essay (with markup) ......................................................................................29
Free Choice Essay (final) ...................................................................................................34
Page 1
April 30, 2012 Karen Redding Assistant Professor, English/Reading Gainesville State College Oconee Campus 206 Oconee Classroom 1201 Bishop Farms Parkway Watkinsville, GA 30677 Dear Professor Redding, My name is Sheandra Jackson. As I look back at assignments from beginning to end, I can see the progress and improvements I have made in English 1102, not only as a writer, but as a student as well. In this portfolio are pieces of my writing that I have done over the semester. I thought the class was difficult at first, and even thought about dropping your class. I am so happy I decided to stay because I have learned so much by staying. My confident level in my writing skills as grown so much over the semester by being in your class. My portfolio will show evidence of the improvements and progress that I have accomplished as a writer. I started to write paper just to get by, and developed into a writer, who learned how to write well thought pieces of work. In English 1102, I learned how to take my writing to a whole new level. You taught me in English 1102 to write about different topics, revise more effectively, and pay more attention. Your thirty-eight picky rules help me create a well develop and clear paper. Although my pieces are far from perfect, my portfolio will show the hard work I have put into your class. I have used my editing skill that I have improved over the semester to improve some of the pieces I have done in the beginning of the semester. My least successful essay was “Monsters: American Culture is to Blame”. This paper expresses that American culture influences the idea of monsters. The problems I faced with this paper were including unnecessary words and phrases, confusing sentences, commas, punctuations, awkward word choice, and the picky rules. I failed to proof read this paper, which caused most of my problems with grammar errors, and the picky rules. My first mistake I made was failing to develop a detailed thesis statement. I think that a thesis statement is very important because it states the main focus of the paper. Before I changed my thesis statement it stated, “according to articles “Monsters and the Moral Imagination” by Stephen Asma and “Human Artifice and the Science Fiction Film” by J.P. Telotte, Americans films, books, and television shows influence Americans’ association or responses with monsters” (Jackson, Paper 1). I notice I am missing my main point of my paper in my thesis statement, which is Americans question themselves as humans. My thesis statement should have stated “according to articles “Monsters and the Moral Imagination” by Stephen Asma and “Human Artifice and the Science Fiction Film” by J.P. Telotte, Americans’ films, books, and television shows influence Americans’ to question themselves as human. In this paper, I struggled with picky rule number twenty-eight. I included the words “how” and “why” a lot throughout the paper. I should never use “how” or “why” in a non-question sentence. Although this paper was not perfect, I did a very good job getting my point across, and including interesting points. This paper made me realize that I was using a template to write my papers because I used the same format in previous papers from other
Page 2
courses. In my portfolio, you will notice the changes I made by carefully proof reading my papers before turning it in. My most successful essay was “Contrasting Points Cannot Get Any Better Than This”. This paper focused on the directors’ talent in No Country for Old Men, to use light in order to portray the contrast between good and evil, weakness and strength, and control versus powerless. Overall, I feel as though paper was done very well. I do not like the title of this paper because I feel as though it could be more creative and direct. For example, “The Power of Light Can Portray so Many Perspectives’” would be a better title for this paper. In this paper I have the same common errors that I had in the least successful paper, but there is less errors in this paper. The common errors included unnecessary words and phrases, confusing sentences, awkward choice of words, and the picky rules. I believe those errors were cause because of my failure to proof read my paper, and trying to stretch my paper to make it longer in length. For example, I stated “the Coen brothers made this choice of lighting to portray Llewleyn’s weakness and tiredness from the chase, so the directors use dark lighting,” instead of just shorting it to say“ the Coen brothers use dark lighting choice shows Llewelyn’s weakness and tiredness from being chase” (Jackson & Masters, Paper 2). As I looked over this paper I notice that I did not completely develop and connect some ideas clearly to my thesis statement. In my portfolio, I have also included a piece of work from a previous course. The name of this essay is “Difficult School Experiences: Social Education”. This essay was about how personal experience affects school experiences. Overall, this paper was solid work, but I failed to proof read my paper once again. I think this paper would have been an A if I corrected my grammar mistakes. The grammar was the biggest problem in this essay. My grammar errors included comma splice, forgetting to add commas, and leaving out words. I left a lot of words out in sentences in this paper. I had a lot of confusing sentences included in this essay. This is proof that I did not reread my paper before I turned to it in. A great example would be this sentence, “for future situations, I have learned that my family is not always the best choice to turn to for academic problems, instead should turn to counselors”. You can see in this sentence that there is a comma splice, and I left out words. I corrected it with this sentence, “for future situations, I have learned that turning to my family is not always the best choice to turn to for academic problems, but instead I should turn to counselors”. The new sentence shows that I have learned a lot from this paper. I correct my paper by rereading my essay multiple times spotting out the grammar mistakes and correcting each and every one. I did show growth this semester by being in your class this semester. With all this improvement and progress, I am still far from being a perfect writer. I am aware that my pieces this semester still need work done to them. I need serious help with grammar issues, I need to take my time to proof read, and revise my pieces before turning them in. In all of my papers, I struggled with grammar issues and proof reading. I also added unnecessary word, phrases, and information in all of my pieces. I know I have improved overall in your class by looking at my graded work. My grades have improved, in the beginning I was receiving grades of seventies, and by the end of class I was receiving grades of nineties. I didn’t expect to receive one-hundreds because my work is far from prefect, but I did at least improve. I think I am fully capable of receiving an A in your class, but I think I got too comfortable with doing just enough to pass. English 1102 have made me realize how important it is to proof read my work. I think the experience in your class
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had done much more than improve my writing, but it has improved my experience as a college student as well. I am so much more confident with my writing skills because I know if I really try that I can get a really good grade. I am so happy to see my improvements that I have made over the semester. I think I did very good job showing my creativity as a writer, and taking the time to explore different topics. Thank you for taking the time to read my portfolio. I have enjoyed your class. Sincerely, Sheandra Jackson
Page 4
Sheandra Jackson
English 1102/ Redding
Paper 1
31 January 2012
Monsters: American Culture is to Blame
American monster films, books, and television shows influences and shape
Americans’ creativity, imagination, and increases interest in science. The discussion of monsters
can be vice versa because monsters influence American culture, and American culture influences
monsters. Historically, monsters have always been apart of American culture. Throughout
history, Americans have changed stories around in details to keep them more appealing and
modern. American monster films, books, and television shows influences monsters because
human artifice keeps Americans interested in science fiction films. Monster films, books, and
television shows influence Americans to question themselves as humans. Americans begun to
realize the only difference between them and monsters are their appearances. In the articles,
“Monsters and the Moral Imagination” by Stephen Asma and “Human Artifice and the Science
Fiction Film” by J.P. Telotte exposed why monsters exist in our modern culture and why they
still exist passed American ancestors. According to articles “Monsters and the Moral
Imagination” by Stephen Asma and “Human Artifice and the Science Fiction Film” by J.P.
Telotte, American films, books, and television shows influence Americans’ association or
responses with monsters.
In the article, “Human Artifice and the Science Fiction Film”, the author, J.P.
Telotte, discusses how human creativity and science fiction film influence each other. J.P.
Telotte also describes how humans are affected by science fiction film. The article shows how
Page 5
science fiction films increase human interest and attitude towards science. The author begins his
paper by basically stating the most recent important films have the same theme or recurring
subject, which is "the potential doubling of the human body"(Telotte). The exact word the
Telotte used was "motif". A doubling of the body would be considered a monster in modern
films, books, and television shows. These recent films increased American interest in science
because it influences human cloning. Throughout the article, Telotte is trying to get across that
Americans films influence Americans to question what make them human. Americans begin to
evaluate not only the world, but also others and themselves. American films influence Americans
to look at life from the outside in, and see that there is no difference between Americans and
monsters beyond their appearance.
In the article, “Monsters and the Moral Imagination”, the author, Stephen T. Asma
draws attention to the morals of pass and current concepts behind the monster theme. The article
is an attempt to define cultural interest in monsters in the 21st century. Monster stories influence
individual's thoughts in certain situation that may never happen. For an example, the movie I am
Legend directed by Francis Lawrence and starting Will Smith is a situation that will never
happen. In the movie, everyone was affected then later became vampires. Will Smith’s character
was the only survivor, and he tried to find other humans who could have possibly survived. The
movie seemed real because Americans could relate to how Will Smith character made them feel,
so it caused Americans to believe the situation could happen. “What has caused this increase in
the monster culture? Why are so many Americans interested in monster stories and movies”
(Asma)? Currently, there could be many possible answers to the two questions above. For
example, "maybe it's social anxiety in the post 9/11 decade, or the conflict in Iraq" (Asma).
There is no exact answer to the questions because every American is not the same. "We are
Page 6
vulnerable to both the inner and the outer forces" (Asma). Americans are addicted to monster
movies because they can relate to the characters in the movies. Americans are different, for what
one might consider a monster others may not. "Monsters are a part of our attempt to envision the
good life or at least the secure life"(Asma). This quote is a good example that explains why
monsters influence American culture.
The two articles explain why monsters are an important part of American culture, such as
films, books, and television shows. Monsters influence so much more than fear in a human
beings, they influence Americans creativity and interest in science. American creativity keeps
Americans interested in monster films, books, and television shows. Americans are consistently
coming up with new ideas of monsters to replace other monsters. For example, The Hulk film is
a modern remake of Frankenstein film. The two articles “Monsters and the Moral Imagination”
by Stephen Asma and “Human Artifice and the "Science Fiction Film” by J.P. Telotte, are eye
openers that reveal American films, books, and television shows influence Americans’
association or responses with monsters.
Page 7
Word Cited
Asma, Stephen. “Monsters and the Moral Imagination”. 25 October 2009. Print.
Telotte, J.P. “Human Artifice and the Science Fiction Film”. Film Quarterly, Vol. 36. No. 3
Spring 1983: 44-51. Web. 17 January 2012
Page 8
Jamee Masters & Sheandra Jackson
English 1102/ Redding
Paper 2
28 February 2012
Contrasting Points Can Not Get Any Better Then This
Directors of No Country for Old Men, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen are Academy Award
winners for Best Directing Oscars. The directors used their talent in this violent and mayhem
film, No Country for Old Men to create a thrill, suspenseful, and tense mood. In No Country for
Old Men, the Coens use lighting in order to portray the contrast between good and evil, and weak
and strong, and control and no control.
The Coen brothers use the contrast of lighting to show the contrast between weak and
strong. At first glance, Llewelyn can barley seen in the darkness in this particular scene. The
newly arrive Mexicans began to chase Llewlyn, the lighting starts off dark and then gradually
brighten as the sun begins to rise. The lighting of the scene at this time is coming from the truck
chasing Llewelyn. The Coen brothers made this choice of lighting to portray Llewelyn’s
weakness and tiredness from the chase, so the directors use dark lighting. He is running for his
life. As the scene begins to brighten, Llewelyn becomes able to get further away from the
Mexican drug dealers. By the end of the scene, the directors show the fully risen sun, so
Llewelyn can be seen in the natural sunlight showing anger, fear, and triumph after shooting the
dog. At this point of the scene, the Coens use bright lighting to portray Llewelyn finding his
inner strength Llewelyn’s personality heightens to a stronger level after shooting the dog, which
explains the brightness of the scene.
Page 9
During the same scene, the Coens use light and dark to show good and evil.At first, the
Coens make it difficult to pin point whether Llewelyn portrays an evil or good character. The
raising and falling of the sun causes eerie long shadows of Llewelyn. The Coens use the eerie
shadows to give Llewelyn both evil and good character lighting. At the end of the scene, the
directors shows who Llewelyn portrays, after he murders the dog because he was being nice by
going to the desert to bring one of the drug dealers water.
The Coens use several scenes where light to dark establishes a sense of strength and
weakness. The scene where Llewelyn crosses the Mexican border at night shows his lack of
strength because the setting appears pitch black except for the hint of the street lamps barely
showing the dark crimson blood exuding from his body. His injury sustained by Chigurh causes
him to vomit next to the barely lit streetlight, which demonstrates darkness as Llewelyn
dangerously tries to get away from Chigurh. In the next shot, the rising of the sun shows strength
because Llewelyn survives yet again after appearing half dead near a church in Mexico. The
Coens show the sun rising to portray that Llewelyn is not fully recovered from his injuries. The
directors use darkness to symbolize weakness, loneliness, and fear.
The Coen brothers use lighting to show the contrast good and evil in the scene where
Chigurh blows up the pharmacy. In this scene, the natural illumination shows his expression as
being angry, vengeful and in pain from the battle with Llewelyn. The scene appears bright to
portray Chigurh, the evil person as being strong. The Coens also use this scene to demonstrate
the horror and fear portrayed from the customers in the pharmacy.
In No Country for Old Men, the Coens use bright lighting to portray a sense of power and
control. The Coens use bright sunlit lighting in the Sheriff scene to show the strength,
empowerment, and control the Sheriff has, and his intelligence is displayed by watching his
Page 10
expressions on his face while he analyzes what has happened and showing the details of all the
dead bodies lying on the ground. The sheriff was able to find evidence in the bright light, which
provides evidence of the bright scene. The harsh desert lighting casts shadows off of the
people.The reason the Coens choose the harsh lighting on the dead people is to show they were
“the bad guys”. The Coens use the bight lighting of the sun to show that the sheriff was in
control and was the “good guy” trying to figure out what happened in this desert and continuing
the search for Chigurh.
In the shoot out scene, the Coens use gave little lighting visual to Anton Chigurh, who
shows emotionless, demonic, and immoral characteristics. The directors make it harder to see
Chigurh in the shoot out, so Chigurh is easier to slip away in the distance. The use of street
lighting casting on Llewellyn is important because it displays the concern on Lewelyn’s face
while hiding beside the car in the dark away from Anton, the killing machine. The Coens choice
of soft lighting giving off from the streetlights allows focusing on certain details. For example,
the trail of blood from Anton can be seen with great detail with the help of the streetlights. The
directors did this to make the where about of Anton difficult to figure out.
In conclusion, the Coens use of natural lighting, and the details of street lighting brought
out the realism in the movie, and set the mood of the film. The directors compelling
cinematography and emphasis on the use of shadowing, light, and dark contrast to depict the
despair in the characters emotions to give this movie the perfect atmosphere. They use the light
and darkness to increase the suspense, and represents good and evil that takes place in each
character. “The cinematography is the heart the art of telling a story using light and dark”
(Antagony and Ecstasy).
Page 11
What’s the Difference?
For my most successful essay, I chose “Contrasting Points Can Not Get Any Better Than
This.” This essay was over the film “No Country for Old Men.” My essay cover the directors
approach to use light in order to portray the contrast between good and evil, weakness and
strength, and control and powerless. I explained how the directors used natural lighting, dim
lighting, bright lighting, and darkness to portray different qualities of the characters. I used
different scenes from the film as examples, in which the directors use lighting in different
perspectives. My essay covered the reason why the directors choose their choice of lighting and
what they were trying to portray in each character.
My least successful essay was “Monster: American Culture is to Blame.” In this essay I
compared two articles finding a common topic among the two in order to write this essay. In this
essay I wanted to prove that the audiences of American films, books, and television shows
influence the responses to monsters forcing them to question themselves as human beings. I used
the articles “Monsters and the Moral Imagination” by Stephen Asma and “Human Artifice and
the Science Fiction Film” by J.P. Telotte, as an example of why we should blame American
films, books, and television show for the affects that monsters have on Americans. I also used
modern examples of films like Hulk, I am Legend, and I-Robot.
Comparing these two essays, I realize why my most successful paper was much better
than my least successful paper. My grades were not that much of a different. I scored three points
higher on my most successful essay. The main differences in my essays were my thesis
statements. My most successful essay had the strongest thesis statement. The thesis statement
was well developed and creative. I struggled more with grammar in my most successful essay,
but I struggled more with the thirty-eight picky rules in my least successful essay. I think I did
Page 12
better on my most successful essay because I constantly tied my ideas to my thesis statement
making it the stronger and well-developed essay.
Page 13
Sheandra Jackson
English 1102/ Redding
Paper 1
31 January 2012
Monsters: American Culture is to Blame
American monster films, books, and television shows influences and shape Americans’
creativity, imagination, and increases interest in science. The question is whether monsters influence
Americans or if Americans influence monsters? The discussion of monsters can be vice versa because
monsters influence American culture, and American culture influences monsters. Historically, monsters
started long ago in have always been apart of American culture with book like Beowulf and
Frankenstein. Throughout history, Americans have changed stories around in details to keep them more
appealing and modern. For example, The Hulk is a modern version of the story of
Frankenstein. American monster films, books, and television shows influences monsters because
human artifice keeps Americans interested in science fiction films. In other words, Americans’ creativity
keeps them interested in science fiction films. Monster films, books, and television shows influence
Americans to question themselves as humans. Americans begun to realize the only difference between
them and monsters are their appearances. In the articles, “Monsters and the Moral Imagination” by
Stephen Asma and “Human Artifice and the Science Fiction Film” by J.P. Telotte exposed why reasons
monsters exist in our modern culture and the reasonswhy they still exist passed American ancestors.
According to articles “Monsters and the Moral Imagination” by Stephen Asma and “Human Artifice and
the Science Fiction Film” by J.P. Telotte, Americans’ films, books, and television shows influence their
audience to respond by questioning themselves as humansAmericans’ association or responses with
monsters.
Formatted: Left: 1", Right: 1"
Formatted: Indent: First line: 0.5"
Formatted: Font: Italic
Formatted: Font: Italic
Comment [SJ1]: I made a very good point here. I want my readers to question themselves as they read my paper.
Comment [SJ2]: Picky Rule # 28 was my biggest problem writing this paper!
Page 14
In theTo begin with article, article, “Human Artifice and the Science Fiction Film”, the
author, J.P. Telotte, discusses the fact that how human creativity and science fiction film influence each
other. J.P. Telotte also describes howexplains the influences of science fiction film affect humans.
humans are affected by science fiction film. The article Telotte shows howbelieves science fiction films
increase human interest and attitude towards science. The author begins his paper by basically stating
the most recent important films have the same theme or recurring subject, which is "the potential
doubling of the human body"(Telotte). The exact word the Telotte used was "motif". A doubling of the
body would be considered a monster in modern films, books, and television shows because clones are
beyond society’s’ definition of “normal”. . These recent films increased American interest in science
because it influences human cloning. Telotte believes that American film influence their audiences to
question what make them human. Throughout the article, Telotte is trying to get across that Americans
films influence Americans to question what make them human. Americans The audiences begin to
evaluate not only the world, but also others and themselves. American films influence Americans
audiences to look at life from the outside in, and see that there is no difference between Americans and
monsters beyond their appearance.
In theTo put in differently, article, “Monsters and the Moral Imagination”, the author, Stephen
T. Asma draws attention to the morals of pass and current concepts behind the monster theme. The
article is an attempt to define cultural interest in monsters in the 21st century. Monster stories influences
an e individual's thoughts in certain situation that may never happen.make believe situations. For an
example, the movie I am Legend directed by Francis Lawrence and starting Will Smith is a situationan
example of a that film that will never happen. In the movie, everyone was infected affected then later
became vampires. Will Smith’s character was the only survivor, and he tried to find other humans who
could have possibly survived. The movie seemed real because Americans could relate to the feeling of
Comment [SJ3]: I wanted to rewrite this sentence to take out picky rule number 28.
Comment [SJ4]: I think this sounds a lot better than what I had the first time.
Comment [SJ5]: I took out the sentence because it was not important. This the sentence was an attempt to make the paper a little longer.
Comment [SJ6]: This is an example of my failure to proof read my papers.
Page 15
being scared that the how Will Smith character Will Smith played made them feel, so it caused
Americans to believe the situation could happen. The audiences were forced to ask themselves these two
questions “wWhat has caused this increase in the monster culture and? wWhy are so many Americans
interested in monster stories and movies” (Asma), which made them question themselves as being
human.? Currently, there could be many possible answers to the two questions above. For example,
"maybe it's social anxiety in the post 9/11 decade, or the conflict in Iraq" (Asma). There is no exact
answer to the questions because every American is not the same. Every audience member has a different
perspective of monsters, so an exact answer to these question would be impossible. Asma explains
science fiction films influence audiences because, “w"We are vulnerable to both the inner and the outer
forces" (Asma). For example, Americans audiences are addicted to monster movies because they can
relate to the characters in the movies. Americans are different, forNot all audience members are the
same, for what one might consider a monster others may not. "Monsters are a part of our attempt to
envision the good life or at least the secure life"(Asma). This quote is a good example that explains why
monsters influence American culture.
Comparing the two articles I found that both article are very similar. They both explain why
monsters are an important part of American culture, such as films, books, and television shows.
Monsters influence so much more than fear in a human beings, they influence Americans creativity and
interest in science. American creativity keeps Americans interested in monster films, books, and
television shows. Americans are consistently coming up with new ideas of monsters to replace other
monsters. For example, The Hulk film is a modern remake of Frankenstein film. The two articles
“Monsters and the Moral Imagination” by Stephen Asma and “Human Artifice and the "Science Fiction
Film” by J.P. Telotte, are eye openers that reveal American films, books, and television shows influence
Americans’ association or responses with monsters.
Comment [SJ7]: I fixed the dropped quote by adding who is speaking and why it matter.
Page 16
Word Cited
Asma, Stephen. “Monsters and the Moral Imagination”. 25 October 2009. Print.
Telotte, J.P. “Human Artifice and the Science Fiction Film”. Film Quarterly, Vol. 36. No. 3
Spring 1983: 44-51. Web. 17 January 2012
Page 17
Sheandra Jackson
English 1102/ Redding
Paper 1
31 January 2012
Monsters: American Culture is to Blame
American monster films, books, and television shows influences and shape Americans’
creativity, imagination, and increases interest in science. The question is whether monsters influence
Americans or if Americans influence monsters? Historically, monsters started long ago in American
culture with book like Beowulf and Frankenstein. Throughout history, Americans have changed stories
around in details to keep them more appealing and modern. For example, The Hulk is a modern version
of the story of Frankenstein. American monster films, books, and television shows influences monsters
because human artifice keeps Americans interested in science fiction films. In other words, Americans’
creativity keeps them interested in science fiction films. Monster films, books, and television shows
influence Americans to question themselves as humans. Americans begun to realize the only difference
between them and monsters are their appearances. In the articles, “Monsters and the Moral Imagination”
by Stephen Asma and “Human Artifice and the Science Fiction Film” by J.P. Telotte exposed reasons
monsters exist in our modern culture and the reasons they still exist passed American ancestors.
According to articles “Monsters and the Moral Imagination” by Stephen Asma and “Human Artifice and
the Science Fiction Film” by J.P. Telotte, Americans’ films, books, and television shows influence their
audience to respond by questioning themselves as humans.
To begin with, article, “Human Artifice and the Science Fiction Film”, J.P. Telotte,
discusses the fact that human creativity and science fiction film influence each other. J.P. Telotte
explains the influences of science fiction film affect humans. Telotte believes science fiction films
Page 18
increase human interest and attitude towards science. The author begins his paper by stating the most
recent important films have the same theme or recurring subject, which is "the potential doubling of the
human body"(Telotte). A doubling of the body would be considered a monster in modern films, books,
and television shows because clones are beyond society’s’ definition of “normal”. . These recent films
increased American interest in science because it influences human cloning. Telotte believes that
American film influence their audiences to question what make them human. The audiences begin to
evaluate not only the world, but also others and themselves. American films influence audiences to look
at life from the outside in, and see that there is no difference between Americans and monsters beyond
their appearance.
To put in differently, article, “Monsters and the Moral Imagination”, the author, Stephen T.
Asma draws attention to the morals of pass and current concepts behind the monster theme. The article
is an attempt to define cultural interest in monsters in the 21st century. Monster stories influences an
individual's thoughts in make believe situations. For an example, the movie I am Legend directed by
Francis Lawrence and starting Will Smith is an example of that film that will never happen. In the
movie, everyone was infected then later became vampires. Will Smith’s character was the only survivor,
and he tried to find other humans who could have possibly survived. The movie seemed real because
Americans could relate to the feeling of being scared that the character Will Smith played made them
feel, so it caused Americans to believe the situation could happen. The audiences were forced to ask
themselves these two questions “what has caused this increase in the monster culture, and why are so
many Americans interested in monster stories and movies” (Asma), and that made them question
themselves as being human. Currently, there could be many possible answers to the two questions
above. For example, "maybe it's social anxiety in the post 9/11 decade, or the conflict in Iraq" (Asma).
Every audience member has a different perspective of monsters, so an exact answer to these questions
Page 19
would be impossible. Asma explains science fiction films influence audiences because, “we are
vulnerable to both the inner and the outer forces" (Asma). For example, audiences are addicted to
monster movies because they can relate to the characters in the movies. Not all audience members are
the same, for what one might consider a monster others may not. "Monsters are a part of our attempt to
envision the good life or at least the secure life"(Asma). This quote is a good example that explains why
monsters influence American culture.
Comparing the two articles, I found that both article are very similar. They both explain why
monsters are an important part of American culture, such as films, books, and television shows.
Monsters influence so much more than fear in a human beings, they influence Americans creativity and
interest in science. American creativity keeps Americans interested in monster films, books, and
television shows. Americans are consistently coming up with new ideas of monsters to replace other
monsters. For example, The Hulk film is a modern remake of Frankenstein film. The two articles
“Monsters and the Moral Imagination” by Stephen Asma and “Human Artifice and the "Science Fiction
Film” by J.P. Telotte, are eye openers that reveal American films, books, and television shows influence
Americans’ association or responses with monsters.
Page 20
Word Cited
Asma, Stephen. “Monsters and the Moral Imagination”. 25 October 2009. Print.
Telotte, J.P. “Human Artifice and the Science Fiction Film”. Film Quarterly, Vol. 36. No. 3
Spring 1983: 44-51. Web. 17 January 2012
Page 21
Formatted: Right, Right: 0.25"
Jamee Masters & Sheandra Jackson
English 1102/ Redding
Paper 2
28 February 2012 The Power of Light Can Portray so Many Perspectives
The Contrasting Points Can Not Get Any Better Then This
dDirectors of No Country for Old Men, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen are Academy Award winners
for Best Directing Oscars.The directors used their talent in this violent and mayhem-filled film, No
Country for Old Men to create a thrill, suspenseful, and tense mood. In No Country for Old Men, the
Coens use lighting in order to portray the contrast between good and evil, and weakness and
strengthong, and control and no controland powerless.
On the contrary, the Coen brothers use a very interesting way to portray the contrast between
weakness and strength. the The Coens use the source of light in the film to represent the weakness and
strength of characters. contrast of lighting to show the contrast between weak and strong. At first glance,
Llewelyn can barley is barley seen in the darkness in this particular scene. The newly arrive Mexicans
began to chase Llewlyn in to the break of dawn as the sun began to rise. , the lighting starts off dark and
then gradually brighten as the sun begins to rise. The lighting of the scene at this time is coming from
the truck chasing Llewelyn. The Coen brothers use the dark lighting choice to show Llewelyn’s as being weak and tired from being chase made this choice of lighting to portray Llewelyn’s weakness
and tiredness from the chase, so the directors use dark lighting. He is running for his life. As the scene
begins to brighten, Llewelyn becomes able to gets further away from the Mexican drug dealers. By the
end of the scene, the directors show the fully risen sun, so Llewelyn can be seen in the natural sunlight
showing anger, fear, and triumph after shooting the dog. At this point in of the scene, the Coens use
Comment [SJ1]: Off to a very good start!Comment [SJ2]: Thesis statement is very interesting.
Comment [SJ3]: I love this sentence.
Page 22
Formatted: Right, Right: 0.25"
bright lighting to portray Llewelyn finding his inner strength. Llewelyn’s personality heightens to a
stronger level gains confident after shooting the dog, which explains the brightness of the scene.
During the same scene, the Coens use light and dark to show good and evil. At first, the Coens
make it difficult to pin point whether Llewelyn portrays an evil or good character. The raising and
falling of the sun causes eerie long shadows of Llewelyn. The Coens use the eerie shadows to give
Llewelyn both evil and good character lighting. At the end of the scene, the directors shows bright
lighting as who Llewelyn goes to save his wife from the people chasing him after he shot the dog.
portrays, after he murders the dog because he was being nice by going to the desert to bring one
of the drug dealers water.
In the same way, the Coens use several scenes where light to dark establishes a sense of strength
and weakness. The scene where Llewelyn crosses the Mexican border at night shows his lack of strength
because the setting appears pitch black except for the hint of the street lamps barely showing the dark
crimson blood exuding from his body. His injury sustained caused by Chigurh causes him to vomit next
to the barely lit streetlight, which demonstrates darkness as Llewelyn dangerously tries to get away from
Chigurh. In the next shot, the rising of the sun shows strength because Llewelyn survives yet again after
appearing half dead near a church in Mexico. The Coens show the sun rising to portray that Llewelyn
Llewelyn during dawn rather than a fully lit scene to portray is notLlewleyn is not fully recovered from
his injuries. The reasons the directors use darkness this choice because they wanted to symbolize
weakness, loneliness, and fear.
With good intentions, tThe Coen brothers use lighting to show the contrast good and evil in the
scene where Chigurh blows up the pharmacy. In this scene, the natural illumination shows his
expression as being angry, vengeful and in pain from the battle with Llewelyn. The Coens use natural
lighting in this scene to portray Chigurh as being the victim because Llwelyn hurt him. The scene also
Comment [SJ4]: Great transitional phrase.
Page 23
Formatted: Right, Right: 0.25"
appears bright to portray Chigurh, the evil person as being strong because he is able to get the supplies
he needs by blowing a car up.. The Coens also use this scene to demonstrate the horror and fear
portrayed from the customers in the pharmacy.
In No Country for Old Men, the Coens use bright lighting to portray a sense of power and
control. The Coens use bright sunlit lighting in the Sheriff scene to show the strength, empowerment,
and control the Sheriff has, and his intelligence is displayed by watching his expressions on his face
while he analyzes what has happened and showing the details of all the dead bodies lying on the ground.
The sheriff was able to find evidence in the bright light, which provides evidence of the bright scene.The
harsh desert lighting casts shadows off of the people. The reason the Coens choose the harsh lighting on
the dead people is to show they were “the bad guys”. The harsh lighting provided shadows on the dead
bodies portraying them as being evil because the dead people were drug dealers. The Coens use the
bight lighting of the sun to show that the sheriff was in control and was the “good guy” trying to figure
out what happened in this desert and continuing the search for Chigurh.
In the shoot out scene, the Coens use gave little lighting visual to Anton Chigurh, who shows
emotionless, demonic, and immoral characteristics. The directors make it harder to see Chigurh in the
shoot out, so Chigurh is easier to slip away in the distancecould lose Llwelyn. The use of street lighting
casting on Llewelyn is important because it displays the concern on Lewelyn’s face while hiding beside
the car in the dark away from Anton, the killing machine. The Coens choice of soft lighting giving off
from the streetlights allows focusing on certain details. For example, the trail of blood from Anton
Chigurh can be seen with great detail with the help of the streetlights. The directors did this to make the
where about of Anton Chigurh difficult to figure out. This is important because the use of the streetlight
and the soft lighting in this dark scene portrayed Chigurh as the one who is weak and helpless at this
point in the film.
Page 24
Formatted: Right, Right: 0.25"
In conclusionContrasting, the Coens use of natural lighting, and the details of street lighting, we
found that lighting in this film brought out the realism in the movie, and set the mood of the film. The
directors compelling cinematography and emphasis on the use of shadowing, light, and dark contrast to
depict the despair in the characters emotions to give this movie the perfect atmosphere. They use the
light and darkness to increase the suspense, and represents good and evil that takes place in each
character..“The cinematography is the heart the art of telling a story using light and dark” (Antagony and
Ecstasy).
. Word Cited No County for Old Men. Directors Ethan Coen & Joel Coen. Perf. Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Barden, &Josh Brolin. Miramax, 2007. Film Formatted: Centered
Formatted: Indent: First line: 0.5"
Page 25
Jamee Masters & Sheandra Jackson
English 1102/ Redding
Paper 2
28 February 2012 The Power of Light Can Portray so Many Perspectives
The directors of No Country for Old Men, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen are Academy Award
winners for Best Directing The directors used their talent in this violent and mayhem-filled film, No
Country for Old Men to create a suspenseful, and tense mood. In No Country for Old Men, the Coens
use lighting in order to portray the contrast between good and evil, weakness and strength, and control
and powerless.
On the contrary, the Coen brothers use a very interesting way to portray the contrast between
weakness and strength. The Coens use the source of light in the film to represent the weakness and
strength of characters. At first glance, Llewelyn is barley seen in the darkness in this particular scene.
The newly arrive Mexicans began to chase Llewlyn in to the break of dawn as the sun began to rise. The
lighting of the scene at this time is coming from the truck chasing Llewelyn. The Coen brothers use the dark lighting choice to show Llewelyn’s as being weak and tired from being chase He is running for
his life. As the scene begins to brighten, Llewelyn gets further away from the Mexican drug dealers. By
the end of the scene, the directors show the fully risen sun, so Llewelyn can be seen in the natural
sunlight showing anger, fear, and triumph after shooting the dog. At this point in the scene, the Coens
use bright lighting to portray Llewelyn finding his inner strength. Llewelyn’s personality gains confident
after shooting the dog, which explains the brightness of the scene.
During the same scene, the Coens use light and dark to show good and evil. At first, the Coens
make it difficult to pin point whether Llewelyn portrays an evil or good character. The raising and
Page 26
falling of the sun causes eerie long shadows of Llewelyn. The Coens use the eerie shadows to give
Llewelyn both evil and good character lighting. At the end of the scene, the directors shows bright
lighting as Llewelyn goes to save his wife from the people chasing him after he shot the dog.
In the same way, the Coens use several scenes where light to dark establishes a sense of strength
and weakness. The scene where Llewelyn crosses the Mexican border at night shows his lack of strength
because the setting appears pitch black except for the hint of the street lamps barely showing the dark
crimson blood exuding from his body. His injury caused by Chigurh causes him to vomit next to the
barely lit streetlight, which demonstrates darkness as Llewelyn dangerously tries to get away from
Chigurh. In the next shot, the rising of the sun shows strength because Llewelyn survives yet again after
appearing half dead near a church in Mexico. The Coens show Llewelyn during dawn rather than a fully
lit scene to portray Llewleyn is not fully recovered from his injuries. The reasons the directors use this
choice because they wanted to symbolize weakness, loneliness, and fear.
With good intentions, the Coen brothers use lighting to show the contrast good and evil in the
scene where Chigurh blows up the pharmacy. In this scene, the natural illumination shows his
expression as being angry, vengeful and in pain from the battle with Llewelyn. The Coens use natural
lighting in this scene to portray Chigurh as being the victim because Llwelyn hurt him. The scene also
appears bright to portray Chigurh, the evil person as being strong because he is able to get the supplies
he needs by blowing a car up.
In No Country for Old Men, the Coens use bright lighting to portray a sense of power and
control. The Coens use bright sunlit lighting in the Sheriff scene to show the strength, empowerment,
and control the Sheriff has, and his intelligence is displayed by watching his expressions on his face
while he analyzes what has happened and showing the details of all the dead bodies lying on the ground.
The harsh desert lighting casts shadows off of the people. The reason the Coens choose the harsh
Page 27
lighting on the dead people is to show they were “the bad guys”. The harsh lighting provided shadows
on the dead bodies portraying them as being evil because the dead people were drug dealers. The Coens
use the bight lighting of the sun to show that the sheriff was in control and was the “good guy” trying to
figure out what happened in this desert and continuing the search for Chigurh.
In the shoot out scene, the Coens use gave little lighting visual to Anton Chigurh, who shows
emotionless, demonic, and immoral characteristics. The directors make it harder to see Chigurh in the
shoot out, so Chigurh could lose Llwelyn. The use of street lighting casting on Llewelyn is important
because it displays the concern on Lewelyn’s face while hiding beside the car in the dark away from
Anton, the killing machine. The Coens choice of soft lighting giving off from the streetlights allows
focusing on certain details. For example, the trail of blood from Chigurh can be seen with great detail
with the help of the streetlights. The directors did this to make the where about of Chigurh difficult to
figure out. This is important because the use of the streetlight and the soft lighting in this dark scene
portrayed Chigurh as the one who is weak and helpless at this point in the film.
Contrasting the Coens use of natural lighting, and the details of street lighting, we found that lighting in
this film brought out the realism in the movie, and set the mood of the film. The directors compelling
cinematography and emphasis on the use of shadowing, light, and dark contrast to depict the despair in
the characters emotions to give this movie the perfect atmosphere. They use the light and darkness to
increase the suspense, and represents good and evil that takes place in each character. .
Page 28
Word Cited No County for Old Men. Directors Ethan Coen & Joel Coen. Perf. Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Barden, &Josh Brolin. Miramax, 2007. Film
Page 29
Sheandra Jackson
Professor Horton
English 1101
03 November 2011
Difficult School Experiences: Social Education
Louis Menand, author of the article “Live and Learn,” observed the differences between
college students who attend public university versus college students who attend private
institutions. After Louis Menand was fired from the private institution, he got a job at a public
university. While working at the public university he noticed, “Many of these Students were the
first in their family to attend college, and any distractions they had were not social. Many of
them worked, and some had complicated family responsibilities.” After reading the quote, I
reflected on the increasing number of college students being the first to attend college in their
families, and how this might affect their college experience. In particular, the quote made me
focus on my experience as being the first member of my family to attend college. I believe being
the first person in a family to attend college affects that person successfulness in college. Being
the first member in my family to attend college, I can’t always depend on my family to help me
in difficult situations, dealinglike dealing with academics problems. For example, I can’t come
to any of my family members with academic problems because they do not have any experience
to lend advice.
School has always been an important part of my life. I have always been an advance, well
prepared, and honor roll student. I have never failed a class, attended in school suspension, or
been expelled from school. My life as a student took a turn for the worse with the devastating
death of my grandmother. My grandmother and I had a very close bond, and her death impacted
Page 30
my work at school dramatically. My grades grades senior year began to drop because my life
seemed to be at pause, while yet everything around me was still going on. I did not know how to
handle the death of my grandmother, and deal with my academics at the same time. At this time
of my high school education, I was taking very difficult college-level classes, including
advanced economics, advanced statistics, and advanced chemistry. Being in an emotional wreck,
I refused to attend school., which madeThis made me fall behind in my classes because I missed
class lessons, chapters, projects, and major tests. I realized I need help because I had no
motivation to get my academics grades where I need them to be. For future situations, I have
learned that my family is not always the best choice to turn to for academic problems, but instead
I should turn to counselors.
I am lucky to have people in my family available to help me with the death of my
grandmother. My family helped me more emotionally than academically. They could not help
me academically because no one in my family had been through any educational experience to
know what I was going through, in order to give me any academic advice. My mother had gotten
pregnant with me at a very young age, and because of that she decided to dropped out high
school her freshman year. She attempted to return to high school only to drop out again her
sophomore year due to the fact because she was pregnant with my brother. She did not return to
school afterwards. My father, aunts, and uncles dropped out of high school because of negative
influences. Many of them got involved into drugs, gang banging, and hanging out in the streets.
My families helped with me more emotionally by helping me cope with the death of my
grandmother. They helped me accept the death. My family helped me express the feelings I had
built inside. I am very grateful for the their help I received emotionally, but I needed help
Page 31
academically. I knew eventually I would get over my grandmother death, but I only get one
chance to walk across the stage to get my diploma with my graduating class.
The person I turned to in order to help me academically was my school guidance
counselor. Going back to school was difficult for me without wanting to give up. I was very far
behind in my classes, and I missed a lot of important information that played a big part in my
grades. I missed research projects, midterm testing, and notes from class sessions. My guidance
counselor gave me a call one afternoon, and we had a deep conversation about my future
educational goals. That conversation we had that day encouraged me to go back to school. After
that conversation on the phone, I meet with my guidance counselor at least twice a week to
discuss how well my academics were going. We discussed not only how to raise my academic
status to a level that would qualify me to graduate, but also how to raise my grades to qualify for
the Hope Scholarship. My guidance counselor encouraged me to talk to my teacher, and let them
know what going on in my life. It was difficult finding tutors to help with catch up with my
school work, but somehow my guidance counselor when went over and beyond to find someone
to help me.
It may come surprising to people that I had turn to my school guidance counselor for help
academically from somethingfor something that evolved from a family issue, but my
grandmother death turned into an academic issue because it affected my academics goals. It
made me realize, we as people chose different people for different situations. I need my family’s
help emotionally because I was down, angry, and borderline depressed with the death of my
grandmother. My family was the right choice to help deal with the emotional aspect because I
was not the only person to lose someone special special because everyone in my family lost the
same person. We all shared our emotions, and were able to give advice and encourage one
Page 32
another to help cope with the death. The academic aspect was not perfect choice for me to
choose my family. From the For academic aspect help, my school reached out to me. I am
grateful that my guidance counselor reached out to me because if it was not for her, I probably
would not have succeeded as much as I have in continuing my education. I had giving up with
school, and said it was not possible for me to catch up with a passing grade of at least a C. My
guidance counselor was beneficial with helping me with my academics help was beneficial
because she had experience, and training with dealing with these types of circumstances.
What an experience to finish my high school education? I was able to get though the
tough moment with the help of my guidance counselor. Even now as a college student, I am
seeking help of a guidance counselor at school. I am having trouble with keeping up my
academic performance because of family issues. My family can’t help me because at some extent
they are the problem. The problem is beginning to affect my academics at an early stage of my
college career. Now that I am a college student, my school work is more intense, so I have no
room to mess up. My life at home places a lot of pressure on my shoulders. I have to work a lot
in order to make enough money to provide for my family as well as , and do all of doing my
school work. The situation is causing me a lot of stress. Once again, I am turning to a guidance
counselor for help. The quote in Louis Menand article, “Many of these Students were the first in
their family to attend college, and any distractions they had were not social. Many of them
worked, and some had complicated family responsibilities,” helped me come to the conclusion
that some issuesthe issues I deal with its ok for me to cause me to reach out for help. With me
being the first person in my family to attend college, academically my family could not help me
and I am ok okay with that.
Comment [GSC1]: This sentence was confusing. To correct it I took out some of the words, and make it a simple and easier sentence to read.
Page 33
Word Cited
Menand, Louis. “Live and Learn.” The New Yorker Magazine. The New Yorker Company, 6
June 2011. Web. 23 October 2011
Formatted: Centered
Formatted: Indent: First line: 0"
Formatted: Left, Indent: First line: 0"
Page 34
Sheandra Jackson
Professor Horton
English 1101
03 November 2011
Difficult School Experiences: Social Education
Louis Menand, author of the article “Live and Learn,” observed the differences between
college students who attend public university versus college students who attend private
institutions. After Louis Menand was fired from the private institution, he got a job at a public
university. While working at the public university he noticed, “Many of these Students were the
first in their family to attend college, and any distractions they had were not social. Many of
them worked, and some had complicated family responsibilities.” After reading the quote, I
reflected on the increasing number of college students being the first to attend college in their
families, and how this might affect their college experience. In particular, the quote made me
focus on my experience as being the first member of my family to attend college. I believe being
the first person in a family to attend college affects that person successfulness in college. Being
the first member in my family to attend college, I can’t always depend on my family to help me
in difficult situations, like dealing with academics problems. For example, I can’t come to any of
my family members with academic problems because they do not have any experience to lend
advice.
School has always been an important part of my life. I have always been an advance, well
prepared, and honor roll student. I have never failed a class, attended in school suspension, or
been expelled from school. My life as a student took a turn for the worse with the devastating
death of my grandmother. My grandmother and I had a very close bond, and her death impacted
Page 35
my work at school dramatically. My grades senior year began to drop because my life seemed to
be at pause, yet everything around me was still going on. I did not know how to handle the death
of my grandmother, and deal with my academics at the same time. At this time of my high
school education, I was taking very difficult college-level classes, including advanced
economics, advanced statistics, and advanced chemistry. Being in an emotional wreck, I refused
to attend school. This made me fall behind in my classes because I missed class lessons,
chapters, projects, and major tests. I realized I need help because I had no motivation to get my
academics grades where I need them to be. For future situations, I have learned that my family is
not always the best choice to turn to for academic problems, but instead I should turn to
counselors.
I am lucky to have people in my family available to help me with the death of my
grandmother. My family helped me more emotionally than academically. They could not help
me academically because no one in my family had been through any educational experience to
know what I was going through, in order to give me any academic advice. My mother had gotten
pregnant with me at a very young age, and because of that she decided to dropped out high
school her freshman year. She attempted to return to high school only to drop out again her
sophomore year because she was pregnant with my brother. She did not return to school
afterwards. My father, aunts, and uncles dropped out of high school because of negative
influences. Many of them got involved into drugs, gang banging, and hanging out in the streets.
My families helped me more emotionally by helping me cope with the death of my grandmother.
They helped me accept the death. My family helped me express the feelings I had built inside. I
am very grateful for their help I received emotionally, but I needed help academically. I knew
Page 36
eventually I would get over my grandmother death, but I only get one chance to walk across the
stage to get my diploma with my graduating class.
The person I turned to in order to help me academically was my school guidance
counselor. Going back to school was difficult for me without wanting to give up. I was very far
behind in my classes, and I missed a lot of important information that played a big part in my
grades. I missed research projects, midterm testing, and notes from class sessions. My guidance
counselor gave me a call one afternoon, and we had a conversation about my future educational
goals. That conversation we had that day encouraged me to go back to school. After that
conversation on the phone, I meet with my guidance counselor at least twice a week to discuss
how well my academics were going. We discussed not only how to raise my academic status to a
level that would qualify me to graduate, but also how to raise my grades to qualify for the Hope
Scholarship. My guidance counselor encouraged me to talk to my teacher, and let them know
what going on in my life. It was difficult finding tutors to help with catch up with my school
work, but somehow my guidance counselor went over and beyond to find someone to help me.
It may come surprising to people that I had turn to my school guidance counselor for help
academically for something that evolved from a family issue, but my grandmother death turned
into an academic issue because it affected my academics goals. It made me realize, we as people
chose different people for different situations. I need my family’s help emotionally because I was
down, angry, and borderline depressed with the death of my grandmother. My family was the
right choice to help deal with the emotional aspect because I was not the only person to lose
someone special because everyone in my family lost the same person. We all shared our
emotions, and were able to give advice and encourage one another to help cope with the death.
The academic aspect was not perfect choice for me to choose my family. For academic help, my
Page 37
school reached out to me. I am grateful that my guidance counselor reached out to me because if
it was not for her, I probably would not have succeeded as much as I have in continuing my
education. I had giving up with school, and said it was not possible for me to catch up with a
passing grade of at least a C. My guidance counselor help was beneficial because she had
experience, and training with dealing with these types of circumstances.
What an experience to finish my high school education? I was able to get though the
tough moment with the help of my guidance counselor. Even now as a college student, I am
seeking help of a guidance counselor at school. I am having trouble with keeping up my
academic performance because of family issues. My family can’t help me because at some extent
they are the problem. The problem is beginning to affect my academics at an early stage of my
college career. Now that I am a college student, my school work is more intense, so I have no
room to mess up. My life at home places a lot of pressure on my shoulders. I have to work a lot
in order to make enough money to provide for my family, and do all of my school work. The
situation is causing me a lot of stress. Once again, I am turning to a guidance counselor for help.
The quote in Louis Menand article, “Many of these Students were the first in their family to
attend college, and any distractions they had were not social. Many of them worked, and some
had complicated family responsibilities,” helped me come to the conclusion that the issues I deal
with cause me to reach out for help. With me being the first person in my family to attend
college, academically my family could not help me and I am okay with that.