Blog post #9

 

  Link to TED talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/isabelle_allende_how_to_live_passionately_no_matter_your_age

This TED talk was about a passionate novelist called Isabel Allende. She writes stories of passion, love and life. In her TED talk, she talks about aging and loving who you are regardless of what age you are. She starts the talk talking about her own family and then moves on talk about great powerful women who age was not a barrier between them and making a difference in their community or the world. 

Allende's point of this talk was to open the eyes of the viewer to the importance of life and to love your body and self no matter what age you were. She mentions the idea of aging being determined by society (example: Medicare is given to people at the age of 65 years old). The age of 65 is seen as the period where the human starts aging; however, Allende argues that we start aging from the minute we are born. The only part of us that does not age is our soul and spirit. 

Allende says that we might look old but our spirit is still younger than we are. Allende mentions the things that she has gained by becoming older. She says that she has gained freedom of judgment that she does not worry about being accepted anymore. She is secure in her own skin. She does not have to please anyone other than herself. 

Next, she quotes "I’m aware that before, death was in the neighborhood. Now, it's next door, or in my house." this quote remind me of myself before the civil war in Syria. Before the war, I always thought of death being part of my far future. Death being the ending. I thought that I would not face death until 60 years. However, I realized that death was closer than I thought and life is short. As Allende said we should be passionate about our lives at whatever age we are at. 

Allende being a novelist about passion and living your life gives her credential to talk about life and how to live it. She is 76 and has great experience in life as a novelist. She has spent her life living to fulfill her wants and dreams.

The argument that Allende presents is logical because we all fear of getting old and losing interest in life and what it has to offer. Allende supports the idea of losing parts of our health as we grow older but our brains are still filled with life. She supports her argument with older women who did not allow age to defeat their passion for life and love, such as Grace Dammann, she has been in a wheelchair for 6 years after a car accident. Grace says that in her mind she is not disabled and she still is surfing in the ocean. 

The weaknesses of this argument is that life is not always as equal for everybody and sometimes we face problems that require us to be more focused and worried. Overall, Allende's argument was strong and interesting because of her being at the age of 76 and loving every part of her being. Also, the examples and quotes that she mentions make you feel more understanding and can relate to what she is arguing easily.     

Blog Post #8

Question #4:

In the movie Double Identity, each character is driven by a motive. The power of love, money and hope. Each character has his/her own wants of their actions. The movie shows how desire creates a different "you". As seen in Macbeth and Double Identity, the desire for something pushes us to do something beyond our being.

 For example, the character Walter is pushed into planning a crime with no desire but love. Walter feels bad for the daughter of the man he murders after he discovers that Barbara was part of her husband's wife's murder; however, it was too late because he had already been a part of the murder and their is no going back. When Walter tries to be a hero, he realizes how deep he has gone with his actions and what the cost of his love to Barbara was.

In the movie, there are no heroes or villeins. The characters are pushed by their motives. Walter wanted love and that love costed him lives of human beings. Also, Barbara wanted money and that desire pushed her towards her actions.

To be hero you most put people ahead of yourself. When I think of a hero, I see my mother because she symbolizes what a true hero looks like. However, in Double Identity, I do not see that kind of character who gives up his desires for the sake of others.

In conclusion, in my mind, there are no heroes in Double Identity. Only characters who are driven by their desires.