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Unfortunately, this will be my last blog post for Critical Thinking and Writing so I would like to make a recap of everything. From the beginning, I was iffy about the class, especially because of the topic. It was a very uncommon topic for CTW, only having one other class. Also, I was not sure what was meant by heroes. I  thought it would mean something like superheroes, which is/can be included. Although I forgot about policemen and firefighters as heroes, I did not think that a formulaic process would exist for heroes in literature. I thought the most interesting was judging whether or not Pierce from the sitcom Community was a hero or not in the episode “Advanced Dungeons and Dragons.” He fit all the qualifications to be a hero and yet, in my opinion, I still don’t think so. I defined the Hero Cycle as a minimum requirement so to speak. Another property that I think should be included is intention; since Pierce did not intend to make Neil feel better, he does not deserve to be a hero.

As for this quarter, I was unsure how feminism relates to heroes or quest. The topic is so controversial nowadays that it somewhat surprised me that it was included. This quarter had changed my perspective on feminism entirely. Before this quarter, although I did already agree with feminist beliefs, I would never call myself a “feminist.” Now that we’re almost done with the class, feminism has a much different meaning to me. Seeing how so many different things, like movies, TV shows, and games, have feminist beliefs within it has changed my perspective of the creativity of the creation as well as feminism in general. The fact that those movies and TV shows would have feminism indicates that it is not a joking matter. I wish that there was a third class because I want to see how else the topic of Heroes and Quest can be applied to other things but, alas, my CTW courses and my freshmen year is slowly coming to an end. I bid these blogs and two-quarter classes adieu.

While doing research for my bibliography entries, I realized how the episode “Advanced Dungeons & Dragons” from the sitcom Community directly relates to what I am researching about: games helping those facing depression. Neil had to deal with the depression from everyone calling him “Fat Neil” due to Jeff and was even on the verge of killing himself. To prevent this, Jeff and the other main Community cast members decide to play a game, Dungeons & Dragons. In theory, Dungeons and Dragons could have been replaced with anything that Fat Neil enjoyed doing. The fact that a game was chosen proves that there is some merit in claiming that there are mental benefits to playing games. What Fat Neil experienced and what most people with depression experiences is the lack of meaning to continue living. They think that the things they enjoy are too insignificant or not enough to warrant the continued suffering that they experience in their lives. That is why games like Dungeons and Dragons can be very helpful to those people. Games can provide the players a sense of accomplishment, support, and community. They can make people either once again feel like they have meaning in life or provides them a form of entertainment they deem as “willing to die for” (pun intended). 

Although this is where an “addiction” could arise, it is not a guarantee and a choice by the player. Returning back to the game may be inevitable, but it doesn’t have to be an hourly or even daily task. It can be like what Fat Neil wanted: a weekly or bi-weekly event. Regardless, if it convinces the depressed child to continue living, better alive and addicted than dead.

Since my research paper will be about how video games can help people suffering from depression, I wanted to talk about the other side for this blog. While searching for secondary sources in Omnifile, a lot of articles about how video games are bad for those with depression. Although the typical view of video games is an addictive waste of time and/or a trashcan for the money your parents worked for, most of those articles would be about how video games would create psychopaths and murderers, and I want to refute it. The video games that they mentioned would cause such a thing are anything that involves killing but more specifically, First Person Shooters. The violence and adrenaline rush from killing other players with various guns while trying to stay alive yourself apparently influences depressed children to bring such chaos to their real lives.

However, I do not see how a video game can cause someone to become a shooter or anything like that. Even if it did influence them to kill those he or she hates, it does not explain how the weapon will be obtained or how they will execute that plan. Some may argue that the game can help plan when and where to attack due to similar strategies, but a quick Google search would be not much different if not better. They are just another form of entertainment, just like violent movies but those don’t get any blame. I do agree that they can get addictive and, therefore, time-consuming, but to make such accusations that they create murderers is absurd and an excuse to reject video games.

“Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” Most people have experienced shame at some point in their lifetime, usually when you or someone you know does something clumsy or foolish. You feel as if you need to change or disassociate with the clumsy fool until he or she changes. But what if that feeling becomes harnessed as a consequence? A man named Edmond Aviv bullied his neighbor and her children for 15 years due to her children’s disabilities. Besides jail, community services, and counseling, the man was also sentenced to five hours of public shaming, holding a sign stating his wrongdoing during on busy Sunday. The fact that Aviv was being so excessively and unnecessarily rude for an entire 15 years is just completely ridiculous. Utilizing shame as a way for Aviv to learn from his action is a powerful way for him to learn how ludicrous his behavior towards his neighbors was. Shame is a very sensitive emotion; too little of it and it could have no effect but too much of it can lead to suicide. If the person does not think that their whole self-properties can be changed, then it can make him/her think that the only way to avoid the shame is through death. Otherwise, a change in behavior or thought process is all that is needed. Because of this, public shaming can arguably be more effective than jail time for reforming and punishing criminals. With each car that passes Aviv and each dirty look is given to him, he feels his misbehavior backlashing against him. Therefore, public shaming should not completely replace jail time but instead be used as an alternative (if it doesn’t break the Eighth Amendment) if deserved and/or jail time has proved to be ineffective.

Why would Marvel Universe want to associate themselves with something as “ridiculous” as feminism? They have such as successful company, so why would they risk supporting something as controversial as feminism, especially on the Captain Marvel herself, one of the most well-known female Marvel superheroes that people know? To be clear, the story of Captain Marvel may not directly be about feminism, possibly only subtle commentary about it. Captain Marvel cannot solely be centered around the beliefs of feminism since the audience would notice it, spread that information, and make Captain Marvel as controversial as feminism itself. The most likely case is that Captain Marvel has great examples of a woman showing how great women are, enough to fill in the role of a potential male superhero. Besides, by not making the comic blatantly obvious that it is about feminism, it can be seen as like a comic about Black Widow, Wonder Woman (I am aware that she is from DC Universe), or any other female superheroes. The only people who notice that support for feminism can be found within the comic are those who want to see it, the feminists. Those who are neutral or are against feminism may perceive the comic as just another female superhero comic. Overreacting and cursing about the comic because someone thought it was about feminism would be too bold and absurd of a move for how subtle it is. This way, the Marvel Universe can subtly state their stance on feminism, whether intentional or not, while not losing a good portion of their fans and profit.

During this previous weekend, I spent a lot of my time with friends playing Pokémon Go, a game that lost most of its popularity after the summer of 2016, when school started up again. That was when my current SCU friends and I also stopped playing, so why are we playing it again now? It all started when I noticed that my girlfriend, who I met at SCU, still playing the game, so I started playing again, remembering how much fun I had. This would eventually spread to a bunch of my friends. Initially, everyone just played casually, catching whatever we liked or wanted. However, we started to work together to defeat gyms, help find strong and rare Pokémon, and eventually attempt to beat raid bosses to catch legendaries. The latest being from meeting an SCU Pokémon Go community while casually playing (https://discord.gg/w7eQnST).

Now my friends and I are competing to catch the strongest Pokémon, claiming every gym they can get, and even paid real money to make those tasks easier. But why? Well, as the title of this blog suggests, competition. Meeting that community and seeing so many other strong Trainers make us want to be stronger; it convinces us to be more dedicated to the game and work harder to be one of those strong Trainers. They also make us feel justified for spending that extra hour or pay that extra dollar for the game. And, honestly, it worked. However, this was not entirely a negative impact. We were able to make new friends and form closer bonds to existing ones. My friends and I are aware of our priorities; we are not skipping classes or not doing homework just because a rare digital code appeared in a specific area. Competition is a form of entertainment, whether it be sports or games. Although its more difficult when applied to school/education, this new form of knowledge I learned can be applied to many others activities.

First of all, I do not actually believe that feminism is anything associated with hating men. It is, unfortunately, one of the negative connotations the theory has now. This first originated all the way to the events leading up to the creation and passing of the 19th Amendment, which, in short, granted women suffrage in certain elections. Unfortunately, women were still treated unequally in comparison to men. Two more waves of feminism arose from 1960s-1980s and 1980s to today. Although my knowledge of feminism is not too vast, I am aware of the “jokes” and other negative ideas people make about it. I have heard some ridiculous beliefs that radical feminists agree with in high school. One belief was that women are based on men with words such as female, woman, and history. Although I just thought it was ridiculous at the time, after pondering about it for a bit, it is quite interesting and “coincidental” that words like those have masculine related words within them, even though it involves, includes, or deals with the feminine side. Another time I was informed about feminism was during the One Love and Embrace meeting at Santa Clara University. The story was about a term mentioned within the powerpoint: intersectionality. A very qualified black woman was applying for a job but was rejected. The employer although did have female employees and black employees, he/she had no female black employees. The employer attempted to bypass racism and sexism by doing that but it did not justify it. Although some forms of feminism are ridiculous or corrupt, the fact that feminism continues to exist to this day is shocking yet understandable.

Most people think about Superman or firefighters when they think about heroes, but I think about a professional gamer. I define a hero as someone who struggled in order to become successful. Søren Bjerg is a professional League of Legends player that fits that definition. Many players want to be as skillful as him. They’d say that Søren would be their hero because of his talents. I say he’s a hero because of the struggles he endured before reaching the high point where he is now. Few can endure the same struggles he did and be as successful.

Although Søren performed academically well in middle school, his skinny body type made him an easy target for bullying by his classmates and teachers. To help endure depressions, he utilized video games as a distraction. However, his community shunned video games, so he had to keep it a secret. Søren later transferred schools, but the bullying became more physical, and he eventually lost the strength to show up to school. His depression later overwhelmed him, and he dropped out of school entirely. He talked to virtually no one other than his parents, who tried to get him back to school, but he would get overwhelmed again. The only thing he enjoyed was playing League of Legends…

Søren climbed to the top ranks and received recognition from professional players. He started to compete in tournaments to win money, which led to joining the Copenhagen Wolves team. However, he was anxious about attending events with them until his manager Deficio convinced Søren and his father that he will act as a father figure and take care of him. They placed third and qualified for the League Championship Series to play amongst the top teams in Europe. Unfortunately, Søren was unable to participate due to his age.

His team continuously lost until he could play on the team again. Søren performed exceedingly well in his first game, but his low self-esteem made him more timid about the attention. Once he learned that everyone was friendly, his anxiety went away. Although his performance next season wasn’t the best, Søren was recruited to TSM of North America. Deficio again talked to Søren not to convince him to stay but to see TSM as an opportunity to start fresh. Søren accepted and moved to America as a changed man.

 

I chose Søren due to his endurance to climb to where he is now, and I had to face a similar situation as him. I look up to him for escaping his comfort zone to transform from an antisocial nobody to an esports player for a very popular game. That drastic of a transition was definitely not easy for him. He had a glimpse of the light at the tunnel and then had it taken away briefly. Although his problems were more severe, I sometimes felt weaker than he did. My definition of heroes doesn’t require them to be perfect. In fact, flaws are what makes them real people. Therefore, I consider Søren as a hero because he never gave up. He earned and deserves his popularity. He transitioned from an unfortunate childhood to a successful adulthood. I’m not striving for any superhuman powers, not even Søren’s gaming skills, but just to receive similar opportunities and start fresh. 

Works Cited

Bjerg, Søren. “Bjergsen.” Bjergsen – With My Recent Success and Happiness, I Wanted…, 11 Feb. 2014, www.facebook.com/Bjergsen/posts/676609642362402.

Leaguepedia | League of Legends Wiki. “Bjergsen.” Leaguepedia | League of Legends Wiki, Gamepedia, 24 Sept. 2017, lol.gamepedia.com/Bjergsen.

What defines a hero? What separates the real heroes from those who just title themselves as one? If you were to ask me those questions three months, I would struggle to give definitive answers. However, after taking my Critical Thinking and Writing class, I have learned how to differentiate between what it truly means to be a hero and the casual, informal use of the word. In our classes, we looked at heroes from all types of literature and media from novels to movies to even a sitcom. We noticed that even though we looked at a wide variety of hero portrayals, they all followed two key concepts: the hero’s quest cycle and the hero ‘s journey. Either of those can show who the hero or heroes of the story are. This will help differentiate the true heroes from someone who has done a good deed. This could also unveil another, more subtle hero present in the story; there could always be more than one hero. However, anyone who follows the quest cycle or journey may not be a hero; all heroes follow the cycle and journey but not vice-versa necessarily. Someone could easily help another person unintentionally, such as Pierce from the sitcom Community. Pierce did successfully align with the quest cycle but due to his intention of hurting Neil, it disqualified him from the title of a hero. The connection we made for the things we read or watched as a child (Hunger Games and superheroes) was the most interesting; to see that we can apply it to those things amazes me and makes me wonder how people do not notice. This class changed my perspective about writing as a whole, that writing can be a formula.

 

Hero’s Quest Cycle

1. Zone of comfort
2. Wants something
3. Unfamiliar situation
4. Adapt to it
5. Set what they wanted
6. Pay a heavy price
7. Return to familiar
8. Having changed