A Block Criminology - So let's talk about Batman and the impact the cartoon has on youth and socialization. From a symbolic interactionist perspective, media creates and spreads symbols that become the basis for our shared understanding of society. These symbols can influence children's perceptions of reality, their self-image, and their understanding of their roles within society. So how does Batman: The Animated Series fit in here? During any given era, comic books (and cartoons) reflect the dominant social issues of the time. The battles that superheroes engage in are windows that allow us to peer out toward the broader struggles and anxieties facing society...like crime (and its nature).
From Rotten, Vile, and Depraved! Depictions of Criminality in Superhero Cartoons by Lisa A. Kort-Butler
Television is a primary venue through which deviant behavior is socially constructed, as well as a medium through which cultural images about crime and criminality are disseminated and reinforced. Mediated images, meanings, and representations are central in defining criminality and social control (Ferrell 1999:396). Moreover, as they construct crime and control as social problems and political issues, the media also construct them as entertainment. The constructions of criminality in superhero cartoons are consistent with the formulation of criminality present in other forms of mainstream media marketed to adults [like in Law & Order, or other crime drama serials]. Early messages about crime, criminals, and criminality are thus reinforced by later messages about who does crime and why they do it.In general three broad explanations were offered for criminality in cartoons [like Batman: The Animated Series]...First, much criminal activity centers on greed. Second, criminals are aware of right and wrong but pursue crime to meet their own self-interests. Third, criminals are different from law-abiding people. Even if they are flawed or evil, criminals are rational and therefore culpable actors.
Why Batman: The Animated Series Is The Definitive Depiction Of The Dark Knight And His Villains Take a read of a very fine review of the Two Face episodes that we watched on Siskoid's Blog of Geekery (lots of good commentary on the Gothic nature of the storytelling like the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson; the Phantom of the Opera, by Gaston Leroux; Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, by Mary Shelley; and The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, by Victor Hugo). To help, you could also read “The Monster Is Never the Monster”: Gothic Fiction and Otherness.
Here's my question of you:
Is the monster a perpetrator of crime, or is it a victim of crime? Think about Harvey Dent/Two Face. Is he to be feared or to be pitied? Is he a monster or is he human? Must there be a dichotomy? Is he both? If so...by extension are criminals to be feared or to be pitied? Are they a monster or human? Must there be a dichotomy? Can they be both? How does the Two Face episodes from the Batman: The Animated Series try to answer this?
Now, I'm not blaming Batman: The Animated Series for the ails of modern society and for the prevailing attitudes towards crime and criminals however...From New Trends in Psychology Violence, The Effect of Cartoons on the Child’s Emotional Development and from Aggression and Violent Behaviour Cartoon violence and aggression in youth but are you aware of the Batman Effect? The Batman Effect: Harnessing the Power of Imaginative Play in Child Development
The stories in the cartoon matter ultimately, because they construct and reconstruct our social reality regarding crime, criminality, and crime control in society
So today we'll do a Think-Pair-Share activity. I'd like you to make a list of real and fictional heroes. Who is your favourite hero and why? What are their good qualities? What are their faults? Do they have a dark side? Partner up and share and then we'll reveal what we think as a class.
B Block Legal Studies - To help with yesterday's post...An NCR verdict does not mean an accused is free to go. It is not the same as an acquittal. Anyone found NCR has their case diverted to a provincial or territorial review board and Review boards assess each case once a year. In a landmark ruling in 1999 (Winko v. British Columbia Forensic Psychiatric Institute), the Supreme Court said that unless an NCR accused poses a significant threat to the safety of the public, they must be discharged. Even so, slightly more than half of all NCR cases lead to some form of detention, according to data from Canada’s Department of Justice.
The National Trajectory Project studied NCR cases in the three most populous provinces in 2015 and found about 84 per cent of accused were men, and on average were 36 years old. Half of the accused had a high school diploma, more than three-quarters were single and 10 per cent were homeless; two-thirds were Canadian born, nearly three per cent had aboriginal status. Before being declared NCR, 72 per cent of accused had at least one previous psychiatric hospitalization and half had a previous criminal conviction or NCR finding. The most common medical diagnosis among the NCR cases was a psychotic spectrum disorder, such as schizophrenia.
You should be deep in the discussion section of your first legal memo today. They are due a week from today and I hope you use your time efficiently. Please ask for help if you need it.
Use the planning questions above and these questions to help write a city description.
- What basic information should people know about your city (such as the name, population, age, and location)?
- What is important to know about your city’s physical components (landmarks, parks, and recreation areas) and infrastructure (transportation, energy, waste disposal, pollution control)?
- What services (such as police, fire, medical, education) does your city offer?
- What features make your city innovative and unique?
- What did you learn about urban planning and city design (leadership, resource allocation, population satisfaction, trade, taxation and alternative sources of funding, city planning, services, and perception of politicians)?
D Block Physical Geography - Today we'll look at atmospheric moisture, humidity, and the four atmospheric mechanisms that cool a parcel of air to its dew point & cause precipitation (orographic, convectional, frontal, and radiative cooling).
We might watch the BBC Documentary "The Weather: Wet" or others above. You will need to complete three questions from your Geosystems Core textbook.
- What is humidity? How is it related to the energy present in the atmosphere? To our personal comfort and how we perceive apparent temperatures (use pages 90-93 of the Geosystems Core text).
- What are the basic forms of clouds? Using Figure 4.16, describe how the basic cloud forms vary with altitude (use pages 96-97 of the Geosystems Core text).
- What type of cloud is fog? List and define the principal types of fog (use page 98 of the Geosystems Core text).
Envrionment Canada: Weather Courtenay
Today's Fit...
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