Edison's Blog

Happiness, like with most feelings, is an abstract concept that humans have created to categorize a certain intangible emotion that occurs under certain conditions. An extraterrestrial alien - who does not experience feelings in the same way humans do - could learn about happiness, understand it is a good thing to humans, and pass every exam on the biology of what happens to our bodies when we are happy, yet still never actually feel happiness. What do we need to be happy? Well, in a literal sense, we need regulation of hormones such as serotonin and dopamine in our bodies to be happy.  To answer the question correctly, I argue that humans need to have a sense of purpose for their existence. This purpose can be anything, as long as the person believes in it and operates under it. In Aldous Huxley's Brave New World , people in the lower castes are spawned and trained to not only operate on a lower societal level, but believe that they are destined to be that way. To people in the h...

Hi, I'm Edison and I'm a first-year student at Duke taking WR101 Decoding Disney.  My favorite Disney movie is probably Cars 1, but the Toy Story movies are pretty close behind. In general, I enjoy movies where animals or inanimate objects live in a human-like world and have interactions with humans, whilst still meeting the requirements of their anatomy. Disney is very good at making these kinds of movies, and I would love to do a deeper analysis of these movies throughout the course. Cars perfectly encompasses these aspects. Lightning McQueen speaks with the other cars in English, has emotions, and competes in spectator events just like humans do. While doing all of this, he and the other cars are responsible for getting their tires changed, refueling, and other car-related tasks. Beyond these amusing details, Cars also contains many thrilling, clutch moments, and a heartwarming underdog story that ties it all together into one masterpiece of a movie.