Lady Macbuffy: A Netflix Queue

1. Buffy the Vampire Slayer

No one loves a powerful female lead more than Lady Macbeth so when she heard about Buffy she immediately added it and Angel to her list. As with anyone who watches the show, it became an instant favorite of hers. She came for Buffy, but stayed for Willow. In Willow she saw a younger version of herself, a strong, powerful woman who takes crap from no man.

2. Charmed

Three sisters, who are witches. Sound familiar to anyone else? Of course Lady M is down for a prophecy anytime, anywhere, but she'd like to know a little more about this whole magic thing she's getting herself into. When the 4th sister was introduced in Charmed Lady Macbeth couldn't help but wonder if she was a little weird herself.

   

3. Grey's Anatomy

Crazy didn't just hit Lady Macbeth like a train, there was a period before she went bonkers where she knew she was going insane. So in an attempt to self-diagnose she started watching Grey's. If she wasn't crazy before all of the blood and the drama might just have pushed her over the edge.

4. Marco Polo

While stumbling through the many options on Netflix Lady M stumbled upon this Netflix original gem. Marco Polo a historical drama about Marco Polo in the Mongolian empire in the court of Kublai Khan the founder of the Yuan dynasty. While watching this 1 season hit Lady Macbeth noticed something intriguing, it was her life. The most interesting character was not a man but instead Empress Chabi, the wife to the Khan. Not only was she just as demanding as Lady Macbeth she also uses the power of suggestion to "encourage" her husband to maintain the crown through murder. 

Witch-slapped: Macbeth's fall from grace

2. "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." - Lord Acton To what extent would Shakespeare agree with this statement? Use the play and your own experience as your support.

I feel that Shakespeare would completely agree with Lord Acton's words, especially in the context of Macbeth. Although most of the plot is based around the theme of the supernatural, there is much to be said about power and the role corruption plays in how it is gained and used in Macbeth. Macbeth's initial power is gained through his own choices when he becomes the Thane of Cawdor by defeating the man who previously held that title when he was revealed as a traitor. But after he hears the prophecy given by the weird sisters and hears of the power that he will have he is changed. In having been given even a little power Macbeth is influenced to kill King Duncan, this is the first evidence of corruption. He is influenced by Lady Macbeth who is the one being corrupt when she hears of the power she can gain through her husband (herein lies another argument about whether women are more easily corrupted than men). 

Once Macbeth has murdered Duncan there is no turning back for him. As the King Macbeth has absolute power and it is evident that he is willing to do anything to keep it. This is the exact type of absolute corruption that Lord Acton speaks of. Macbeth goes so far as to kill his best friend and uses his power to rationalize doing so. Before talking to the murderers he will convince to execute his plan, Macbeth says to himself "Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown/And put a barren scepter in my grip/.../For Banquo’s issue have I filed my mind/For them the gracious Duncan have I murdered/ Put rancors in the vessel of my peace/ Only for them; and mine eternal jewel/ Given to the common enemy of man,/ To make them kings, the seed of Banquo kings!/ Rather than so, come fate into the list/ And champion me to th' utterance." Because Macbeth knows that he will not keep his power and pass it on to a child he fears that everything that he has done has been for Banquo and his children. He knows that fate is playing a role and that it is Banquo's sons destiny to become Kings just as it was his he is willing to challenge it to keep his power for himself even if that means killing Banquo and Fleance. 

Freebie

This is my freebie for the first semester!

What's in a name?: Victoria Elizabeth (Wordless-ish blog)

Part 1

Haha, well...

Names aren't all they're cracked up to be.

Victoria is the Spanish word for victory!

I like that my middle name is the same as my mother's and also has religious significance.

I was named after...

            The nurse who took care of my mom while she was in labor. Thank God for her otherwise my name would have been Ashley. Yikes!!!



Named after royalty.



So I'm basically a Queen.



Where's...



the...



lie?



Who doesn't love the queen?!?



Being asked what my secret is on the regular does get quite annoying.



If I did you wouldn't know ;)




I just don't believe people only started calling me this last year.



I hated it at first.



Like a lot.



But now I love it so much.



On occasion I've also been referred to as Sicky Vicky...

Part 2



Yep pretty much.



Sometimes the struggle is too real.



True but opposite for me.



Is it just me or???



Don't we all sometimes or all the time.

I usually find that the two parts of me that struggle the most are the person I am at home or when I'm alone, the individual, and the person I am in public or at school, part of a larger group. At school I try my best to look presentable and be the person I aspire to be to the world, but at home I am completely different. I am very focused, outgoing, and energetic while I'm in public or around my peers in school but when I am at home I lack all of the qualities people know me and like me for. Sometimes it is a struggle to maintain the two because I do like to be alone and sometimes absolutely despise people, but other times the only thing I want to do is be in the presence of someone even if there is nothing to say.

"Othering" in The Handmaid's Tale & Wing Young Huies's University Avenue Project

Wing Young Huie 2007-2010

The first thing I noticed in this picture were the messages written on the boards. The messages, "People say I'm an uh-oh Oreo (white girl that acts black) because I'm not your typical "white girl" " and "Because I use big words people call me an Oreo, but yet I have always lived in the hood!", contrast each other so much that it is hard to disregard them. After reading the messages I noticed the girls' clothing, the photo is in black and white so their outfits stand out more so than they would if it was in color. The white girl is wearing all white and carrying a black purse and the black girl is wearing black and dark gray and carrying a white purse. The colors that they are wearing contrast from their messages but in the same way that what they are saying does. This photo shows the weight given to stereotypes based on race and how if an individual is to go against them they are "othered". The stereotypes that are imposed upon us as a society impact us all heavily and negatively, but minorities receive the brunt of it. The messages that both girls have written enforce the negativity of stereotypes against blacks. For example, giving a name to a white person that "acts black" is saying that "acting black", if there is such a thing, using the word "uh-oh" to describe them is reinforcing the stereotypes that all black people are innately bad and the message on the black girl's board does the same. The use of "big words" is not some privilege limited to white people and living in the hood is not a life only reserved for blacks and other minorities. The black girl's message also shows her trying to fit into her stereotype by saying that she's not an Oreo because of the fact that she lives in the hood and whereas the white girl's message shows her wanting to break out of her stereotype of being a typical "white girl". 

Both Atwood and Huie use color as a means of "othering". Atwood uses colors throughout The Handmaid's Tale to separate women from each other and as well as symbolically. Red, in the way that she uses it for the Handmaids' dresses, hints to fertility and the menstrual cycle but is also ironic because red is the color of passion yet Handmaids are in no way allowed to be passionate and stripped of the normal facets of human sexuality. Atwood also uses green, the color of the Marthas' dresses, to symbolize the jealousy the Marthas feel towards the Handmaids for their ability to bear children. Huie uses the colors black and white as a means of separating races. In all of the pictures from the University Avenue project he uses combinations of black and white photography, minorities, and messages written on chalk boards to portray "othering". In my chosen photograph this is exemplified because of the contrasting messages written on the chalk boards as well as the clothes both girls are wearing. The messages themselves contrast due to the problems each girl faces and the clothes do because of the style of photography Huie chose to use. Because he uses no color in this and many other of the photographs from this series the issues of "othering" he succeeds in portraying are stripped down to their deepest roots, black vs. white and good vs. bad. Although the images show other minorities as well as blacks the particular stereotypes against blacks are illuminated.