For my third passion post, I will be talking about Captain America! Captain America has become a popular and beloved character over the years after appearing in comics in 1941 and after making his debut on the big screen in 2011. Captain America quickly became one of the most iconic comic book characters ever due to his boy scout personality and patriotic values. When Captain America debuted in 1941, he was seen to be fighting the Axis Powers in his adventures, which is expected since he made his debut in the middle of World War II. After the war, the Captain America comics were discontinued but were eventually revived in 1964. 

Captain America’s outfit’s primary inspiration is the American flag, which includes red gloves and boots, a primary blue suit, with a big white star on his chest and stripes on his stomach area. Cap’s iconic indestructible shield also has stripes and a star on it as well. As you can probably tell, no one loves America as much as Captain America.

However, “Captain America” is just an alter ego. Steve Rogers was a young, small man from Brooklyn, New York that joined the US military. Steve Rogers was also really frail and sickly-looking and was eventually injected by an experimental serum that made him peak human perfection that improved every physical aspect of his body, and therefore, Captain America was born. The serum was called the “Super Soldier Serum” and it also aided the Allied Powers in their fight against the Axis Powers during World War II. After Rogers became Captain America and fought along side the Allied Powers, Cap was suspended in ice and was revived decades later in the present day. After reemerging from being “asleep” in the ice for years, he struggled adjusting to present day norms, but despite that, his golden personality and loyalty to others kept him (and presumably others) afloat and Steve eventually went on to continue to fight for what he believed in with The Avengers.

Captain America became a huge symbol for Patriotism and American values. Not only is his costume a huge symbol but his personality and character are as well. Throughout the existence of Captain America, we often see him putting his country before himself. We also see him being kind to everyone and treating everyone equal despite the differences that they have. Captain America’s debut during World War II could be seen as a sign of propaganda due to the time period he first appeared in. Captain America’s comics in the 1940s main purpose was not only for entertainment but to spread and promote patriotism since we were at war at the time. War propaganda was also extremely popular at the time so having a comic book super hero that’s main attribute was patriotism was a very interesting move. One of the most popular Captain America comics portrays Captain America punching Hitler in the face, although this comic debuted at the height of World War II, it remains popular to this very day.

In Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), Rogers fights along side the Allied Powers to defeat the Axis Powers & HYDRA. The film itself revolves around war and fighting and throughout the film, you see Rogers constantly putting his life on the line for his country and for others. For instance, before he received the Super Soldier Serum, he jumps onto a grenade that he thinks is going to explode in order to protect the other soldiers that are around him. By the end of Captain America: Civil War (2016), Rogers is a fugitive of the United States but still continues to fight for what he believes in and on the side of the United States well into Avengers: Infinity War (2018). Captain America’s golden personality and attitude also influences his relationships with others and his decisions. Over time, Cap is seen as a natural born leader and overall kind and respectable person, which are traits that are and always have been heavily valued in society.

 

Joke of the week: “Wanna hear a funny joke about paper? Ah nevermind… its pretty TEARable.”

In my previous blog post, I was originally considering the shift from Creationism to Evolution and the shift of the importance of the advocacy of climate change. After a few days of thinking, I’ve decided to write about bipartisanship in our current political system ahead of the primaries in a few months and the 2020 Presidential Election next November.

Political parties in the United States have a habit of always changing and challenging each other over time due to critical elections, new ideas, and divisive topics. Today, Democrats and Republicans alike are borderline radical and stand their ground on their beliefs. Over the last decade, bipartisanship significantly decreased due to disdain that has grown continuously over the past few decades. Ever since the birth of our nation in 1776, there has always been a distinct separation of ideas, which eventually led to the emergence of political parties. Despite the diversity of ideas, the political parties had always proved to find common ground between their ideas. Based on the graph above, there was a lack of resistance for the shift away from bipartisanship, which is a direct consequence of the radicalization of Democrat and Republican beliefs. Resistance for bipartisanship nowadays is not a top priority for either of the parties, both parties have an “I’m always right” mindset which negatively effects the country as a whole because Congress can’t get much passed. Bipartisanship significantly decreased in the 1980s and the 1990s and has gotten worse since then, which could be seen in the graph. As I mentioned before, the radicalization of ideas and disdain each party had for one another grew significantly over time, some might even say that it started because of the Civil Rights Era (a liberal era) and/or the Reagan Presidency (a conservative era).

Bipartisanship, or lack thereof, has shown to negatively effect the people of the United States. Congress constantly goes back and forth and are very strong on their opinions, which leads to the slowing of legislation getting passed. The majority party in both chambers (The House of Representatives and the Senate) have more of a “I’m 100% right and their 100% wrong” which ultimately leads to the decrease of the parties to find common ground on certain issues. This also leads to the constant slander against each other and led to the creation of the hostile and toxic political climate that we’re currently in.

Paradigm shifts are known as a significant change within a society-shared assumption. My two ideas for my paradigm shifts are the modern evolutionary theory and climate change.

Evolution came about in the mid/late 1800s by being a theory discovered by Charles Darwin. Evolution was seen as an alternative to Creationism and was quite unpopular at first. Since its discovery in the 1850s, more and more experiments and discoveries supported and continues to support the overall idea of evolution. Because of this, the theory of evolution became more popular due to its believability that stems from technology advancement and experiments that support they theory. The theory of evolution is not only believed/supported by scientists and the scientific community but also has the support of the Catholic Church. Pope Francis came out in support of evolution in 2014 by stating, “Evolution in nature is not inconsistent with the notion of creation, because evolution requires the creation of beings that evolve.” The shift from creationism to evolution comes from the overwhelming support for the theory of evolution that has drastically increased since its discovery 150 years ago.

One of the biggest topics in modern society is the idea of climate change. The advocacy for climate change in the United States began in the 1990s and has drastically increased since then and the importance and the protection of our environment has increased as well. Many people around the world see climate change as a ticking time bomb that we can prevent from exploding. Advocates are currently and have been pushing for society to be more environmental friendly because there are things we can change in order to prevent climate change from getting to a point where we simply cannot help prevent it. For example, reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emissions that comes from our cars by either walking or carpooling. This shift occurred because after climate change was recognized to be a huge problem, society began to see the effects such as, droughts, Arctic ice caps melting, and sea levels rising.

Black Panther was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1966 amidst the Civil Rights Era. As you would probably assume, he was one of the few black characters in popular comic books. Black Panther has been known by Marvel Comic fans for years but prior to 2016, he hasn’t yet appeared in the MCU. In the Spring of 2016, Captain America: Civil War was released and was film that introduced a few new characters into the Marvel Cinematic Universe (or MCU). One of the characters being Prince T’Challa or who is also known as, Black Panther. T’Challa’s chemistry with the other characters and when he took on the Black Panther persona really drew people in. After T’Challa was introduced into the MCU, people were wondering when the next time he was going to be featured, and then Marvel Studios announced that Black Panther will get a solo movie.

The excitement from fans when it was announced that Black Panther was getting his own movie grew as time got closer and closer to the release date. Another factor that made Black Panther popular was the fact that it was going to be the first MCU film to have a black lead and a majority black cast. This drew tons of support from the black community because it’s not everyday that we see a black majority cast in a popular movie franchise. At times, black people sometimes feel as if they aren’t as represented on the movie scale. It was also known that this film would take place in the fictional African country of Wakanda, which is a technology advanced country that is centuries ahead of the rest of world due to Vibranium which is the strongest metal on the planet. Having Wakanda being featured as a technology advanced African country was a breath of fresh air for many people because the media consistently portrays Africa as extremely underdeveloped. As expected, tons of support also comes with some criticism. A group of people, the same group of people that later on criticized Captain Marvel, criticized Black Panther for following the “SWJ agenda”.

Black Panther was seen as a pretty big milestone for not only the black community but for everyone as a whole. It’s not common for popular movies and TV shows to have a black lead and even a majority black cast. It can be said that Black Panther is even seen as inspirational, it shows people (mainly little kids) that no matter what you look like, anyone can be a hero. Growing up, I didn’t have many characters to look at and say “oh wow they look just like me!” Now, I see how my younger cousins see Black Panther and how happy they are to have a popular hero that looks like them.

 

Comparing both President Barack Obama’s Farewell Address and Shepard Fairey’s We the People posters may seem a bit odd due to them being two completely different things, a speech and a series of posters. Despite what it may seem, there are plenty of similarities on the lines of their overall theme, rhetorical analysis, and how both appeal to the audience. Conversely, there are also plenty of differences when it comes to these as well.

The common theme both President Obama’s Farewell Address and Shepard Fairey’s posters share, is one of unity and hope. Both of these civic artifacts debuted roughly around the same time, and during that time the overall political climate was extremely hostile and divisive due to a messy and brutal Presidential election that ended with Donald Trump being its victor. Although they both take aim at the idea of unity in Trump’s America, they do it in different ways. President Obama lays down his hopes for the future and support the overarching idea for his speech in a more subtle and civil way, which is obvious due to his high position. Despite his apparent opportunity to bash President-elect Donald Trump, he did not and even went along and mentioned Donald Trump once throughout his speech. Shepard Fairey’s posters took a more head-on approach when it comes to supporting the overarching the main idea. When explaining the posters, Fairey stated the intent of the posters was to bring attention to the demographics that are seen as the most vulnerable in Trump’s America. He also goes on to explain that they were intended to be released in time for the Women’s March in Washington DC following Donald Trump’s Inauguration.

Both civic artifacts also strongly appeal to the audience but in different ways. President Obama’s Farewell Address uses strong diction and the rhetorical appeals (ethos, pathos, logos) in his speech, while Fairey uses imagery and repetition to get his point across. As I previously stated, both of these artifacts debuted during the same time period which goes hand-in-hand with how the audience interpreted them. During this time, some people felt hopeless and were worried for the Trump Administration. These rhetorical devices worked and helped achieve the goal of offering hope and pushing for unity amidst the political chaos.