Progress Notes

I have begun to gather resources from the library, and a couple from the Academic Search Complete database. Speaking of the database, it's definitely something with which I have a love-hate relationship; I love having so much information at my fingertips, but the damn site is the most non-user-friendly thing I've had to deal with in a while.

I've gotten two physical books from the library. One is titled "Disability in Film and Literature" by Nicole Markotic, and the other is a psychology book titled "Physical Disability and Human Behavior" by James W. McDaniel. I'm unsure if the latter will be too technical, but we will see! I've already bookmarked a couple of sections.

Besides that, I watched the first Iron Man movie the other day to get a little background on the characters. If I have the time (which I never do,) I might watch the third movie as well, but I hear it's not as good as the others.


That's all for now, since I have to get back to reading a chapter for organic chemistry.

My critical model

I am feeling like I have a better hold on what my critical model is. I had to read over the packet a couple times, but I finally got it after discussing it with my mom and reading it out loud. I usually learn best from discussion, so I'm glad to have people to listen.

I think what I was getting caught up in before was getting the medical and social model confused. Once I learned the social model was less about the actual disability itself and more about how people react to one, I started making progress.

I'm also thinking that I will have to research more on shame theory, since it is intertwined in the scenes I will be choosing from Iron Man 2. Specifically with Tony Stark, either shame/withdraw, or shame/avoidance.

Iron Man 2

I've decided to choose Iron Man 2 for my movie, and I will use a disabilities study approach. I decided a few days ago, and I think my main idea will work well. I want to explore if Tony's own ego comes as more of a detriment than his actual acquired disability. It can be argued that his ego and his confidence is what brought him so far in life, but I think it is in spite of it that he does succeed. Even his confidence isn't really confidence; it is insecurity.

In that case, I could summarize a little better by saying Tony's insecurity is more harmful to him than his actual medical condition.

I'll flesh this out better once I complete my draft, hopefully tonight.

Maybe instead of drag racing, you could try getting medical help, Tony.

Until then, cheers.

My film and my approach

After class today I talked with my teacher about the different options for my research paper. I've narrowed my choices down to three movies, with a strong lead on one. They are Zoolander, Iron Man 2, and Chicago.

If I decide to do Zoolander and the corresponding shame criticism, I think I could find a lot of material for that.  I might, instead of shame, do a masculinist study on how the main characters do not see themselves as being anything less than men.

For Iron Man 2, I would do a disabilities study on how Iron Man refuses to see himself as disabled, and how that ultimately hinders him more.  Or alternatively, I could talk about how revealing a disability affects relationships, and Tony's fear of that reveal.

Chicago is my third option, but just as a fall back. I think I'm good to go with either of my first two options, though.

I'm watching Zoolander tonight with my mom. I'll report back when I've watched Iron Man 2.

New blog title (because the first one was dumb)

I've decided that for whatever reason, I really hate the first blog name I used!  So now I've had time to think, and I've come up with something better.  Since this class is using films as a point of analysis, I'm going to change the name of one of my favorite movies (For a Few Dollars More, starring Clint Eastwood) to suit the title.  Welcome to For a Few Points More, since the blogger site gives 10 points extra credit.

First Post!

Hello, my name is Sabrina Lau. This is a pretty dry first post, but I hope you'll understand. I am currently taking English 102, and have created this blog to document my adventures in it. The blog's title is "Concernedly Confident," because I am "concerned" with how confident I am at the beginning of this semester. We will see if I am just confident that I'm concerned by the end, if that makes sense. 

This semester I'll be doing six projects for this class, and am looking forward to them. I don't expect them to be easy, but I know good things come with difficulty. 

Here's to a good start. 

Even though I don't drink, cheers!