Rough Draft

Sam Jenkins

Professor Burton

English 295

6/3/2012

“…a resistless, and almost frantic, impulse urged me forward; I seemed to have lost all soul or sensation but for this one pursuit (Shelley, 34).”

My eyes were burning, my head was spinning slightly. Should I just go to bed? No, this needs to be done. It has to look good. You can do it, Sam. I’m hungry, but I can’t eat. Redo a few more shots. Cut the music five more times. Wonder why I put so much effort into this.

Such is the state I found myself in while creating my video, “Creation Clash”. The point of this video was to be a clear, concise, creative presentation of my idea for my research paper. But, the creative part of it got a little out of hand. Looking back at it now, I probably was identical to Victor Frankenstein. I took the body parts of various ideas and fused them together, feverishly, obsessively working on a grueling project that (minimally) taxed my health. The video itself turned out a fairly monsterous mess, in terms of how much confusion and frustration it brought to those who watched it.

However, this experience could be considered a microcosm of my subject. Just as I created a video that turned out in a way I hadn’t wanted, so we could see that the Internet itself is a creation out of control. Put in the terms of Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, I will be exploring the concept of the Internet as a monster.

The Analogy

"In the beginning...", Sam created a minipaper.

This picture is to get your attention. 

Some people like to think that Frankenstein's monster didn't disappear and achieve his own end. In fact, you can still feel his presence everywhere, from social media to cereal boxes and the musical stage. Similar to Frankenstein's monster, what we create and put on the internet can often take a life of it's own. The internet could be compared to a laboratory. Everyone in it is tinkering in the corners of the room, taking bits and pieces of each other's ideas and sometimes setting their creations loose to see what kind of response it receives. In artistic expression, even though someone might be certifiably insane, their creation can still be appreciated as art. The internet is being used as an outlet of expression in ways that no one had ever dreamed possible. How it is that we are supposed to appreciate those things created on the internet?

We can appreciate creations of others, especially on the internet by how relatable they are to ourselves, and through the creation's applicability to a greater audience.

Frankensources!

I've never smelled frankincense. But I bet it doesn't smell better than sweet victory! Specifically, this one. Here are some of the oh-so-scholarly things I've been reading in order to back up my "tweethis" (a thesis statement in 140 characters, give or take). As Captain Walden (perhaps) once said, "We have our heading". Okay, I'm pretty sure Jack Sparrow said that.
Anyway, here are the lines I've been thinking along.

Tweethis: What we create and put on the internet can often take on a life of it's own, like #Frankenstein's monster. The thing we wonder is whether our creations are inherently good or inherently destructive.

God said, "Let there be light", and then there was...a blog post.

"Mary Shelley's Frankenstein: Creation, Frustration, Fragmentation, Abomination" by Devon Anderson of Brown University, has some thought-provoking questions. I sought to answer a few of them below. Click here to see what he wrote.

Q: "Are acts of creation inherently fragmenting? Does the creator always become what he or she creates?"

A: My first gut response to these questions is no. Art, literature, etc, can be created without being emotionally attached to it. "A work of art in no way resembles the man who made it or the method by which it was made;" When I was in 8th grade, I wrote a sad, angry poem, speaking to a boy that had slighted me (cute, eh?). In reality, no boy had hurt my feelings other than maybe pushing me off a swing, but the poem was fun to write. My loving parents were concerned about the dark nature of the poem, and that's when I realized that when writing, you can portray yourself in whatever way you wish. If we apply this to online creation, we see many places where this is true. People create avatars, profiles, and entire alternate realities pretending to be a different person. Recently I came across a website that is the IM conversations between a man and his cat. The possibilities of creations living lives separate from that of their creators are certainly great.

More scary stuff.

It is hard sometimes to put content on the internet. As they tell you in all those internet safety lessons, once something is on the internet, it's there FOREVER. And people may like it (i.e., your friend that gets your jokes and your mom/grandma), or they may send you hate comments for as long as it's posted. But that's the thing about the internet. It isn't really a place for only passive consuming. The ability to create and share instantaneously is an opportunity unique to our day and age. So why not take advantage of it? Answer: IT'S SCARY.

A rough sketch.

Allrighty kids, sit back with a handful of your favorite nuts and berries and get ready to take a gander at some of the main differences between today's "Frankenstein" and Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein's monster", narrated by yours truly. I'm sure you're thrilled to bits.

"SHE'S ALIIIIIIIVE!"

When I say "Frankenstein", very few people picture the cover of Mary Shelley's novel. We picture the bolted, green-tinged monster that everyone knows and loves.  Why why why why?! This is not the monster I see! My monster-not green, is athletic, and certainly more intelligent that this one. Most people's monster is monosyllabic, childish, and either a purely evil killing machine or a misguided, misunderstood lover. The change that Frankenstein's monster has undergone over the years is something I'd like to dig deeper into. But let me tell you, I ain't writing a research paper. I need to flex my creative muscles, and ya'll are invited to the gun show (art show?).

Let me be honest, my dad helped me with all my school projects (A+ projects, every single one. My dad is a creative GENIUS). But I'm bound and determined to look at Frankenstein in a way the no one has before.

My genius father (and my adorable brother).

If you have any ideas or suggestions, all would be appreciated! (PLEASE).

Monsterous thoughts.

First, I'm going to ask for a little forgiveness here. My last post essentially claimed that Facebook= a bunch of kids that only want attention and reassurance to nurse their narcissism.

Now, I would like to quote my English 295 professor: "Be careful about answering narcissism with judgmentalism. You have a nearly magical way of constantly knowing about and being able serve the needs of 100s of your friends. It's worth looking past a lot of fluff and junk. Those are real people on the other end of those computers, and all of us are figuring out the new media and not always using them for the best."
So, I'm sorry for being so negative, friends. Like Professor Burton said, "...all of us are figuring out the new media and not always using them for the best." Lesson = learned. Give me the gold star!

And of course, just like in real life, sometimes you have to apply your lessons right away, like with this article.

Don't you like me???

This post brought to you by: Jen. You should check out her blog and the my fellow classmates' here. They say good stuff!
In her post, Jen talked about how addicted to Facebook people are nowadays, and how public everything is.
I'm not going to lie here and say that I am not. I love Facebook. I love creeping on people and that satisfied feeling when your picture/status gets a lot of likes. I don't update as much as some people, and I usually try to stick to general, need-to-know info most of the time. However, I'm not always good.
Take this picture, for example.I put it up approximately 20 minutes after Carley and I finished our last finals. I could have taken my much-needed nap right then. Or started the enormous amount of packing and cleaning that had to be done. Instead, I called Carley over and we took this (adorable) picture and put it straight on Facebook.

"These are our we're-so-happy-to-be done-with-finals-we-could-cry faces. Thank goodness."

"It's a form of terrorism."

So said my English 231 professor, last semester. What he was referring to had nothing to do with planes, bombs, or underwear, but rather, the correction of grammar mistakes. Do you remember that grade school teacher that didn't let you go until you used the specific code wording, "May I go to the bathroom?" I do. Her name was Ms.Kaminski, whose name will live on in my memory and will also be associated with making us eat crackers without dropping crumbs on the floor (not humanly possible!). Anyway, this isn't a rant about past grade school teachers, but it is some of my thoughts on the internet grammar phenomenon that has been prevalent the past few years.

"I shall commit my thoughts to paper..." Or blog.

Chapter 2 of Writing About Literature in the Digital Age was one that stuck out to me like the iconic bolts jutting from movie-Frankenstein's neck (I'm sorry, I can't help but use Frankenstein references now). This chapter, in particular the subsections of Blogging Benefit: Process over Product and Writing More, connected with me. Like any other student, I tend to write my papers all in one go, usually at ridiculous hours of the night, hoping that my feverish brain will produce some viable content. It's an uncomfortable process. It's a dreaded process. Very few want to write long papers on things that do not interest them. However, with blogging, one can receive "a comfort level, a habit-- even an identity  as a writer."* The true benefit from this is the blog posts, once added up, "create an ample supply of less developed ideas that can readily become more developed:" This especially struck a chord with me, considering my weakness with underdeveloped ideas. In addition, the "process- rather than product- oriented" way of writing is intriguing to me, seeing that I'm always reaching to that fill up that cursed last page assigned, rather than focusing on the ideas that go into the paper. I'm excited to use electronic media to access and toy with different ideas.

*All quotes come from Writing About Literature in the Digital Age by Gideon Burton et. al.

Frankenstein!

Anyone that knows me, knows I HATE scary things. Scary movies = eyes closed for approximately 1 hr., 35 mins. The Halloween store = A 5 minute sprint to grab everything I need and get out. Even those cheesy Goosebumps books had me skittering to the other side of the room. So, why in the name of Santa Claus would I enjoy Frankenstein? Frankenstein is THE horror novel, Sam! I know, I know.  Here are some of my reasons.

1) It's not what I thought it was. It was a nice surprise, even. I was expecting something along the lines of all the movies I'd seen (which was a silly assumption, considering that movies made on books are hardly ever good). But instead I got a novel that considered aspects of human nature that made me question my own definition of what it is to be human, and other things as well.
2) It's layered. I like onions, cakes and books with more than one layer of story and meaning. It is a book that can trigger something new in your mind each time, as I've found with Frankenstein.
3) Probably the biggest reason, is it's out of my normal comfort range. I'm all about stories with happy endings, granted that it's preceded by a little trouble. In Frankenstein, you don't even know who the hero is, much less the villian. And like a good ol' Bill Shakespeare tragedy, pretty much everyone dies. Heroes don't die in "nice" stories. Or Disney movies.

In any event, I've decided I'll be makin' some sense of Frankenstein.

"We never do what we wish when we wish it." -Mary Shelley

Okay, I'll admit it. I was the kid that always took a cookie from the cookie jar. If I wanted something (usually, a food item. I wasn't planning jewlery heists here) I would sneak into the fridge or the cupboard and retrieve the desired item. My parents would ask all the kids who ate the last piece of cake or the leftovers from their fancy dinner. Hint: it was never me. Even though my parents caught on and now I have cut back on my food frauds, I do tend to enjoy what I like to call "collaboration" when it comes to schoolwork. Just so you know: I am NOT cheating, plagarizing, etc.  But I do like to pick the brains of others for insights, ideas, feedback, etc. It helps solidify and change my own ideas. This is why I like the BYU-Idaho learning model, which consists of:
1) Prepare
-Individually and with others
2) Teach One Another
-Many brains are better than one!
3) Ponder and Prove
-Think it over, and then run with it.

And this will ultimately result in self-directed learning, a big part of my English 295 class this semester. Mary Shelley's quote goes along with this. We won't get anywhere if we sit here wishing. I wouldn't have gotten yummy treats if I hadn't gotten up to the cupboard and gotten them, right? Which I think is one of the main reasons I have this blog. It's to get my ideas out, so in return, other's can help me with their own.