Kolda The Girl Who Turned Into a Bed

Upon reading "The Girl Who Turned Into a Bed" the first time, it seemed innocent. It's a story about a girl who picked a flower and then morphed into a bed. Her skin turned to cotton, and her organs turned into springs. If a kid read this, he or she would be creeped out and see nothing beyond the story of a girl turning into a bed. But we are adults.

Clearly, there is a message beyond the obvious. As she becomes a bed, she loses her humanity. She is an object that is used to sleep on. She has no choice, or opinion, or personality. She cannot move. Tim Burton is commenting on the way girls grow up in a society such as our own. They may be innocently picking pussy willow, or other things that girls do that they think is innocent (Like treating themselves as objects for the opposite sex to use). But after a while, these girls become unaware of what they are becoming. The use of the bed in this poem is symbolic of women who are used as sexual objects. Just like a bed, these women cannot practice using choice, opinion, or show personalty because they are put in a position where showing humanity is unnecessary.

The picture of the girl in the story shows no signs of alarm as she transitions into a bed. Perhaps she has been conditioned by society to think that turning into a bed is normal or that girls are supposed to turn into beds. Whatever the case, nothing was done to stop the transition. Clearly she, nor the narrator wanted to keep her from transitioning. The narrator's attitude was at first surprise and terror, but in the end he did not want to help her because he got something out of it. And that is the unfortunate attitude of society towards women who allow themselves to be used.

Kolda Mardi Gras

          Muses was the first real Mardi Gras parade I had ever attended, and it was AWESOME! I had to learn the rules though. I yelled for a shoe half the night until I learned that the shoes were only given out to men. And only the tall men got them. My favorite part about the parade though (apart from all the free toys) was watching the dancers in the marching bands. I could definitely tell that a lot of hard work and planning was put into that parade. In Austin, where I’m from, I don’t think anyone notices Mardi Gras, so I was amazed to see how much is invested in it in New Orleans.

          I think the tradition is very cool. Mardi Gras is the day before Lent, which is a season of fasting in which meat and other luxury foods are not to be eaten. And why let all that food sit out for a month and go bad? Solution: eat everything. Other solution: party hardy. That is why it is called “Mardi Gras,” which means, “Fat Tuesday.”

          It is also important that Mardi Gras is a religious celebration. The holiday is meant to be fun and full of happiness, which makes it a mistake to claim that it is a day full of sin. It is simply a day to be as decadent as possible in preparation for Lent, and it is celebrated everywhere around the world where there are Catholics. I can’t believe I lived my whole life without it.

          Here is a picture of me next to a horse in the Krewe d’Etat parade. I figured out that if you’re in the middle of the parade route, you are more likely to catch stuff and get cool pictures because everyone else crowds at the beginning and end of the parade. Also, avoid standing next to children and tall people. They get all the best toys. I find it helpful to dance violently so that no one wants to get in your space and the people on the floats are more likely to notice you. However, if a toy falls on the ground between you and a small child, don’t be that guy and pick it up. Pretend you don’t see it so the kid thinks he’s being sneaky and quick when he gets to it first.

          And that is what I learned at Mardi Gras. 

Kolda Edward Scissorhands

            Edward finds himself in a magical land that at first seems ideal and perfect, but just like in any fairy tale there is a danger to it. The people he so desperately wants to fit in with are not as perfect and good as he thinks. We see their twisted kind of morality when the family he is staying with tries to teach him the right thing to do if he were to find unclaimed money, which is to turn it into the police. But Edward and Kim agree that the nicer thing to do would be to share it with loved ones.

            The ethics of the people in the neighborhood rely heavily in a set of rules, and anyone who breaks those rules is seen as weird, crazy, or evil. Edward of course is an outsider who learned a different set of rules. In the flashback of Edward’s creator teaching him etiquette, he is learning the nice thing to do rather than what his fake family says is “right”. One of the only other characters besides Edward and Kim who is able to live beyond the boundaries of these rules is the loony religious lady. The rest of the neighborhood women refuse to interact with her because she is not like them, and she operates I an entirely different code of ethics.

            What we see in this colorful fairy tale land is that just because everything may look perfect on the outside, that doesn’t mean people can’t still be empty on the inside. Edward travels there to find completeness, but these people are equally as incomplete. None of the ladies who show him affection can offer him love, and none of them receive it from their husbands who all leave for work at the same time, dressed the same way, and who return in a single file line of cars expecting a perfect home made meal when they get home.

            When Edward finds completeness, he finds it in Kim who is not a part of the club either. The danger of Suburbia is that everyone who seeks completeness by being accepted into it will become even emptier because they are surrounded by fake love.

Kolda Batman Returns

a penguin examining an abandoned egg

             Batman and Penguin are similar in that they are unsure of their identities; Penguin because he was born of humans but raised by penguins, and Batman because he is a man and a shadow. Both characters are alienated, living away from society in underground lairs. They both lost their parents at a young age. Their difference is that a street thug took Bruce’s parents away from him, causing him to react negatively toward all crime in Gotham. Penguin on the other hand, was abandoned by his parents, which caused him to be bitter towards all people in society and take revenge on Gotham itself.

            This is how Penguin became a danger to Gotham. Because his parents of all people, who are supposed to love him, abused Penguin, he develops a mistrust of all seemingly good people. By kidnapping the children of Gotham while their parents are at a party, in a way he is getting revenge on his own parents while also on the city which allowed such a thing to happen to him.

            While Penguin became a threat to the city, Batman became its protector. As a child, Bruce Wayne knew love. His parents did not willingly abandon him; they were taken away from him. As an adult, he was dissatisfied with the amount of crooks out there that might be taking other children’s parents away, and so his motives were much different than those of Penguin.

            Batman was the first to suspect that Penguin was not a good guy, possibly because he was able to see past the heartbreaking abandonment story, having also been raised without his parents. The rest of Gotham may have been enchanted by his sad story, but they became blinded by it and failed to see that he had other motives. This also has a lot to do with how the media portrayed Penguin, highlighting his sad Penguin story and leaving out the real story.