Sunday, September 9, 2012
Response to Course Material 1
When I first started reading Foster's How to Read Literature Like a Professor, I wasn't expecting it to be the most interesting of books. For obvious reasons it's not the type of book that you can't put down once you start reading it, however, I did learn a great deal from it. Specifically, picking out symbols and what not out of literature and pop culture was much easier and I realized there are a lot of significant things in books and movies that I had missed before reading Foster's book. When doing the Foster presentation assignment, I chose to use Titanic for my slide on "If she comes up, it's baptism". Before, I did not make a connection between Rose wading in the Atlantic and her becoming a new person once she gets back on land until Foster told me so. I was content with the ending of Titanic before I was aware of this, but recognizing her "baptism" makes it all the more meaningful. Now, I am trying to be more aware of all the things Foster told his readers to keep an eye out for. For example, when I sat down to watch "The Proposal", a silly romantic comedy, I realized that this movie also includes a baptism of a character. Because this movie is meant to be a funny feel-good movie I did not except there to be symbols or the like to be prominent but now that I know what to look for and they seem to be everywhere.
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You do a really good job at showing how you applied what Foster taught you, however, I would suggest that you also talk about the other activities we have done thus far. Writing about everything that we have done will be helpful come time for the AP exam as it will help refresh your memory. I find what you said about "The Proposal" interesting, but could you elaborate on what the symbols and baptism are? I am trying to remember "The Proposal" but I cannot think of a baptism so it would be great if you could explain. In addition I would give an example of how Rose from the "Titanic" used to act and then how she acts after her baptism, just so people who haven't seen the "Titanic" can see the transformation.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Caroline's thought to add more of what we did. How do Foster's ideas relate to other things that we have done in class? Has reading Foster aided in any of the close reading practice we have don in class? What about the powerpoints, do Foster's ideas tie into anything that we learned with those? It will be very helpful come time for the test. But, your examples are really good! They do need more detail though. The examples you use are easy to understand and provide a strong reference to the idea found in Foster's book. When talking about the Titanic, there are several places that Rose could have gone through baptism. The one that sticks outs to me is after she rescues Jack from being handcuffed to the pole. She has to go under the water to get the key to escape, after this Rose seems much different. She seems stronger and more independent. Was this the example you were talking about or were you talking about the very end of the movie?
ReplyDeleteUnless the other things we did (Harvey, terms test, prezis, et cetera) had no effect on you, I'd mention 'em. Also, maybe give an example of a Foster-inspired realization that wasn't a baptism. Biblical allusions are common enough. Unless, of course, you thought the baptism thing was the coolest or only noteworthy part.
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