Tutorial 1: Mind Mapping Vigilantes (Assignment 1: Exploration on Archetypes)

Here's our task given for our first tutorial (taken from the main contextual studies blog):

"1st Question

• What are the issues you're trying to tackle in this world? 
• How do you choose to tackle this issue? 
• Ex: rapist, how do you tackle this issue?
• What are your limitations and strengths? 

2nd Question

• Talk about your issues 
• How issues can shape a person?
• What are the solutions to rectify it?

What do you understand by:

• Hero archetype 
• Anti-hero archetype 
• Villain 

Are they all just a global misconception? Write an entry in your E-journal and bring your mind map to class."

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Some quick notescribbles I did during class last week using the UPad app:

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So, to start off I will  list down some issues I am trying to tackle in this world. Most of these relate to personal issues, but these issues that affect many other people too, some of which may lead to depression, the inability to perform, and in more severe cases, even suicide. All heavy topics here, but I feel that it all starts from little issues building up. If we can prevent things from happening on a smaller scale before it gets more out of hand, we wouldn't have to deal with serious issues such as teenage suicide and so on.

Also what I've noticed from listing out these issues are that they mostly pertain to psychological issues. But never underestimate the power of your thoughts. "Mind over matter", as the saying goes; albeit cliche, more often than not proves to be true. Placebos, self-fulfilling prophecies and the Law of Attraction are just some examples of the mind being stronger than the body.

At this point I still am not sure which direction I'm going, or what my "big issue that I'm trying to tackle" is. Perhaps this all pertains to matters of the mind? Negative mental issues, maybe. Alright, let's try going with that.

As to how to tackle these issues, I think the solution is simple, yet difficult to execute: counter negative thoughts with positive ones!

I feel strongly about feelings of inadequacy because it is an issue I tackle with almost every day. I feel like I'm surrounded by smart and pretty and talented people. People better than me. And I'm sure I'm not the only one who struggles with this.

In social psychology we learned about upward and downward social comparison. To explain this, think of a leaderboard. There are rankings from who's the "best" to who's the "worst". Upward social comparison is comparing yourself with those better than you (higher up the leaderboard). This can lead to either two things: you get motivated to push yourself further, or you feel overwhelmed by how much better everyone else is than you. Downward social comparison, on the other hand, is comparing yourself with those "worse" than you. More often than not, you'd feel a little better about yourself after that.

In reality, there is no "leaderboard" of life. There are too many aspects you can compare yourself to, and there are too many variables that determines that someone is "better" than the other person. Everyone is different and goes at their own pace, so trying to compare yourself to other people is sort of pointless. Especially if you don't react positively towards it. Some people like the adrenaline rush of competition, and that's fine. But to feel pressured by it is a really crippling feeling.

Again, it's a solution that seems easy to do, but actually isn't really. There's some sort of logical fallacy in that thinking that I'm still trying to figure out and get out of. There are many ways to rectify psychological issues, in fact. They can be as simple as calming your thoughts or meditating/praying, to elaborate solutions such as seeing a therapist or taking prescribed pills.

The funny thing is, your strength and your limitation in this case is entirely your thoughts, and how you choose to think about things. Once you've changed your thoughts, your environment and actions will change as well, whether for better or worse.

Issues can definitely shape a person. The things they go through with, and how they deal with it make them who they are. As an only child, I find it interesting how two siblings, although raised by the same parenting style and taught the same principles, can still end up having such different personalities. I suppose that's where the old Nature vs. Nurture debate comes in, but I won't go too much into that. I just think that the way you were brought up and the issues you face (nurture) effects how you already are in the first place (nurture).

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There's this one cool site I've been reading from time to time. It's called tvtropes.org, a site where lots of stereotypes and archetypes are listed, complete with examples from tv shows, movies, games, and sometimes even real life.

Not surprisingly, this site already has full articles on the three archetypes: The Hero, The Anti-Hero (plus the varying types of them), and The Villain.

Task 2: Why Do We Need Vigilantes? (Assignment 1: Exploration on Archetypes)

Vigilantes, by definition is "an individual or group who undertakes law enforcement without legal authority". In other words, they punish crime when laws are inadequate, or rather when they feel like they can do what the law cannot.

Another synonym for “vigilante” is also “avenger”, so Marvel’s Avengers can definitely be considered as vigilantes, all of them fighting to avenge a cause. In fact, most superheroes from comic books can be considered as vigilantes.

Comparing the two famous superheroes, Batman and Superman, for example. It’s interesting to see how the two are different, where Batman puts on a mask to hide his “true identity”, donning his bat costume and transforming from regular billionaire Bruce Wayne to dark knight Batman. Clark Kent, on the other hand, takes off his disguise to /show/ his true identity instead, Kal-El from the planet Kryptonite, a.k.a Superman.

The thing that both of these superheroes, and vigilantes in general, have in common is that they represent a symbol of hope to the masses. In this postmodern era where the government and “The Man” is not all trusted by everyone, vigilantes provide a source of hope by protecting their city where the government or other forces of authorities fail to provide. This stems from the concept that people always need something to fall back to, whether it’s a set of rules, a concept, or a form of authority.

Even in real life, vigilantes exist. They can be considered as unsung heroes, since you don't usually hear about them in the news. It's just that fiction takes it to a whole new level with superheroes.

When it comes to the question of whether the law enforcement is doing their job or even doing it right, it depends. However effective the law enforcement may be, I think that vigilantes would still exist as long as there's someone out there who thinks they can do better than the cops.

One movie example of this phenomenon can be seen in the movie, Kick Ass (2010).

I noticed that the whole concept of avenging and revenging is mostly adopted by Western cultures, due to the fact that they do not rely on religion to guide their life. They think that it is up to them to take matters into their own hands instead of allowing Karma, God or some other divine intervention or earthly authority to take care of things. Something to think about!

Task 1: Contextual Metaphors (Assignment 1: Reviewing Literature)

The book I chose to analyse is The Lorax by Dr. Seuss. which was later adapted into the 2012 version of the movie of the same title. Just because it's a children's book doesn't mean it doesn't have contextual metaphors to analyse! The book can actually be viewed online, in this video:



Some contextual metaphors I have found are as follows: