A Block Physical Geography - Today we'll continue looking at mid-latitude cyclones, specifically the vertically developed thunderstorms along a cold front and see what kinds of damage they can do. I'll show you a few quick videos of hail and lightning to see how they form and then we'll watch the Lightning episode of Raging Planet.
While the Raging Planet video is on, you'll need to work on:
- What constitutes a thunderstorm? What type of cloud is involved? What type of air masses would you expect in an area of thunderstorms in North America? (Geosystems Core p.110)
- Lightning and thunder are powerful phenomena in nature. Briefly describe how they develop (Geosystems Core p. 110)
Also:
Don't forget that every day we are going to start by looking at the synoptic forecast along with weather maps.
B Block Criminology - So let's talk about Batman and the impact the cartoon has on youth and socialization.
Today we finish Batman the Animated Series "Two Face Part II" then we'll try to make sense of what messages it tries to pass on to its audience (remember it's children), what the episode says of crime and what mass media theory we can use to explain how the creators (Bruce Timm and Eric Radomski) and writers (Alan Burnett and Randy Rogel) presented their ideas.
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 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.
Today's Fit...
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