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PAXTON WENTZELL CAPSTONE

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ABSTRACT:

SNOWSTORM
IN A SNOWSTORM I WAS BORN
A MIXED MEDIUM ANIMATED SHORT FILM

For the past four months I worked on this short film. I wrote the script, crafted the sets, built the characters, filmed and animated them, and edited them into this two minute piece. One of the greatest things about animation is the amount of control that one person can have over the work. I wanted to create something that was entirely me. And I feel like I did that.

Bibliography:

“Into To Animation.” UARTS PreCollege Class. UARTS PreCollege Class, Oct. 2018, Philadelphia, UARTS.


From September to November, I took animation classes at UArts. They were by far the most helpful thing to completing my capstone. The ability to talk to working animators about techniques and programs and equipment and tricks was a huge time saver. Hours and hours of research were saved with these conversations.


“The Sandman.” IMDb, Paul Berry, 1991, www.imdb.com/title/tt0105311/.

This is one of the first animated films that I saw that I really loved! The style here is gorgeous and unique. It's not hard to see why this is such a classic. The dark themes that my animation and this animation share make it easy for me to draw stylistic inspiration for their exaggerated yet simplistic spaces and designs.

Anderson, Wes, director. Fantastic Mr. Fox. Fantastic Mr. Fox, Wes Anderson, 14 Oct. 2009.


It’s hard not to love Wes Anderson. I’ve wanted to watch Fantastic Mr. Fox since I was a kid, so this was a great excuse. The animation here is lively and amazing and I found myself trying to emulate their perfect movement. Key word being “trying”


Vimeo, Jeremy Clapin, 30 Apr. 2019, vimeo.com/36824575.


Sofia Powers showed me this animated film and it was an amazing inspiration! It is so beautifully done! Most of my inspiration came from very popular films, so it is good to be able to see what can be done on a smaller scale.


Stauber, Jack. “JackStauber.” YouTube, YouTube, www.youtube.com/user/JackStauber.

I found Jack Stauber right before I started my capstone. He’s one of the reasons why I wanted to make an animation in the first place. I’ve always been a fan of mixed media. I feel like Stauber’s been doing the kinds of things that I wanted to do anyways. So, his accessible style was a great place to start. I would watch the things that he makes and try to reverse engineer the techniques to get similar effects for my own film.


Dixon, Barnaby. “Barnabydixon.” YouTube, YouTube, www.youtube.com/user/barnabydixon.


I found Barnaby Dixon around the same time as Jack Stauber. He made a stop motion animated film, Eskos, by himself when he was 19 and it is AMAZING! Age wise, he wasn’t too far away from me. I found myself pushing harder and hard to try to match the quality of what he did. Now, Dixon does puppets. His mastery of movement, even though it’s not stop motion, was extremely beneficial to study.


2fer 7

Posted by Paxton Wentzell in English 3 · Pahomov · A Band on

The Benefits of Writing and Fine Arts

Most education programs in the developed world promote writing over art. This is a given. Above the kindergarten level, educators and parents take for granted that mastering language arts is indispensable in a competitive world, whereas fine arts are deprioritized as extracurricular. In a typical American school, students are required four years of English or literature as core subjects to graduate compared to no requirements at all in fine arts. However, upon in-depth research, the ostensible differences between the two subjects dissipates. In reality, fine arts and writing actually boast the same psychological benefits because both activities promote creativity and decrease stress.

While school can be strict and regimented, Creativity is the elusive gem that most educators try to refine in their students. Instead of relying on one prescribed way to develop creativity, research has discovered that a short session of making art can be as effective as creative writing. In the articles, The Modification of Sentence Structure and Its Relationship To Subjective Judgements of Creativity in Writing[3] and Educational Research: The Art of Problem Solving[4], investigators utilized a pretest/posttest design to quantify the increase of creative ability in children after writing and making art, respectively. In the writing study, fifth graders were asked to respond to writing prompts, whereas in the art study fifty graders engaged in sketching tasks. The children were assessed on their creativity and problem-solving abilities before and after the exercise. The results showed that the children were more likely to answer questions that stumped them in the pretest after both the writing and the art exercise. Both fine arts and writing contribute to psychological well-being from a creative standpoint. One of the greatest benefits that both creative mediums possess is their stress relieving abilities. An article by the Huffington post explains how artistic expression can relieve stress and anxiety by temporarily distancing the artist from their problems.[5] A similar phenomena can be found in journal writing. An article from Harvard Health demonstrates the positive impacts that writing with emotions can have on one’s stress and experience of trauma.[6] Subjects mainly experienced a reduction in stress and anxiety. Frequently, both emotional writing and art are proposed as valid antidotes to excessive stress. This proposition is rarely disputed among the general public, yet it is not reflected in the American education. The psychological similarity between the two creative medium is only the tip of the iceberg when one examines the uncanny neurological equivalence of the two creative outlets. The fact that the visual parts of the brain are activated while drawing may seem obvious. It may be less apparent that the same “visual and image processing” in the “parieto-frontal-temporal network”[7] are engaged during writing tasks. In a study entitled fMRI study testing the Neural Correlates of Creative Writing, Shah et al. reported that writing activates parts of the right side of the brain. This improves specific memory and cognitive abilities in a person. Another study focusing on the brain differences of artists versus non artists discovered that fine artists also tend to have a “stronger right-brain presence.”[8] Furthermore, artists showed to handle a larger “cognitive load,” have better “storage and controlled attention in the memory tasks,” and can better cope with “dual tasks.”[9] This means the regular production of art exercises the brain in such a way that one’s memory, cognitive speed, and integration ability are improved just like writing was shown to do in Shah et al. Art and writing affect a subject’s neurological functions in similar ways. So what caused a shift away from the arts in education? The reason can be traced to the federal No Child Left Behind and Common Core programs, which prioritized science and math over other subjects. In LA County, for example, 1/3 of the arts teachers were let go between 2008 and 2012[1], and for half of K-5 students, art was cut all together.[2] How can a program that’s supposedly trying to make education better, do such a terrible job keeping something as strong as art? It is obvious that art is seen as something beneath other activities such as writing even though they are so similar. An programs like the No Child Left Behind and Common Core are what continue to push our culture in the ignorant direction of ignoring art. Despite these paired benefits of writing and fine arts, writing continues to be a core subject in schools and art is often pushed to the sidelines. Casual endeavors into writing and fine arts can result in a significant boost in creativity and problem solving abilities for all ages. Both subjects are effective stress relievers, and repeated practice of either creative medium results in similar brain activations and modifications. Given these facts, fine arts should be given a greater focus in schools and deserves the same respect as language arts.

Works Cited Staff, EdSource. “Effort to revive arts programs in schools gains momentum.” EdSource, edsource.org/2014/effort-to-revive-arts-programs-in-schools-gains-momentum/63507. Accessed 24 Sept. 2017. “Let’s get rid of Art Education in schools.” Danny Gregory, 5 Oct. 2016, dannygregorysblog.com/2016/04/15/lets-get-rid-of-art-education-in-schools/. Accessed 24 Sept. 2017. Maloney, Karen Blase, and B. L. Hopkins. “THE MODIFICATION OF SENTENCE STRUCTURE AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO SUBJECTIVE JUDGEMENTS OF CREATIVITY IN WRITING.” Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 27 Feb. 2013, onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1901/jaba.1973.6-425/full. Accessed 24 Sept. 2017. “Educational research: The art of problem solving.” ArtsEdSearch, www.artsedsearch.org/summaries/educational-research-the-art-of-problem-solving. Accessed 24 Sept. 2017. Frank, Priscilla. “Study Says Making Art Reduces Stress, Even If You Kind Of Suck At It.” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 16 June 2016, www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/study-says-making-art-reduces-stress_us_576183ece4b09c926cfdccac. Accessed 24 Sept. 2017. Publishing, Harvard Health. “Writing about emotions may ease stress and trauma.” Harvard Health, www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/writing-about-emotions-may-ease-stress-and-trauma. Accessed 24 Sept. 2017. Shah, Carolin, et al. “Neural correlates of creative writing: An fMRI Study.” Human Brain Mapping, Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company, 8 Dec. 2011, onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hbm.21493/full. Accessed 24 Sept. 2017. Bhattacharya, Joydeep, and Hellmuth Petsche. “Drawing on mind’s canvas: Differences in cortical integration patterns between artists and non‐artists.” Human Brain Mapping, Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company, 25 Apr. 2005, onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hbm.20104/full. Accessed 24 Sept. 2017. “Sensitivity of human EEG alpha band desynchronization to different working memory components and increasing levels of memory load.” Neuroscience Letters, Elsevier, 5 Nov. 2003, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304394003011352. Accessed 24 Sept. 2017.

Personal Essay Paxton Wentzell

Posted by Paxton Wentzell in English 3 · Pahomov · A Band on

Paxton Wentzell

Ms. Pahomov

English 11

January 3rd, 2018



Personal Essay BM 2


The world around us is always changing. On a cosmic level, comets are flying and planets are being formed. On a societal level, high-up government positions alternate parties and citizens are angered about the political climate. On a more personal level, I’m making bad decisions and I’m growing up. Or maybe it should be the other way around. It’s not like I can control the decisions that I make. I’m a teenager, I’m a growing boy, and my world is always shifting.

Last year, my world changed. I switched to a new world. Hopping through that portal to another dimension. I decided to make new relationships, completely flipping the dynamics I had with others. My dynamics would continue to switch. In this dimension, things are changing constantly. In this changing world I come across hardship after hardship. No matter how hard I try, I can’t go back to my old world. I’m stuck in this changing world and it’s only given me problems. I’m the victim here. The world started changing causing me troubles that I couldn’t control.

That doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense. It’s not like I came to a new world that’s changing all the time. All I did was change my relationships. I always lived in an ever-shifting world. I feel like there’s something that’s missing. If my changing world is giving me hardships even after I changed relationships, then it always has given me hardships from change.

Last year, my world changed. The rust covered gears just beneath the Earth’s crust started to rotate. Spinning me with them. All my friends abandoned me, isolating me and outcasting me from just about everything I did. As the gears began to crush my entire life, It took all I had not to give up. But I didn’t get crushed. I persevered. I still feel cut off, but, slowly, I’m getting back on my feet. I’m crafting new friendships and forgetting about the past and pushing back on those gears. I’m the hero here. I overcame the hardships thrust on me by the changing world.

What’s this? I’m pushing back on the gears, but I’m still running into hardships. How can that be? My world isn’t changing, so how can it still be creating problems for me? Life didn’t get any easier now that it’s not moving forward. Is there something I’m missing? If I stopped my world from changing and there is still hardship, then the problems must not be coming from the changing world.

Last year, my world changed. Of course it did, my world is always changing, but last year was different because I did something. I took advantage of my relationships with friends and I made mistake after mistake. I tried my best, but it wasn’t something I could recover from. The world did not suddenly shift, crushing me within its gears. And hardship did not follow me around every corner and across worlds. I jumped into the spinning gears on my own and I went looking for problems. I was the villain of the story. And I continue to make excuses for my actions.

What I did is not important. The point is that there is no excuse for the mistakes that I made over and over again. The world did change around me, but I will not keep blaming my problem on such a natural occurrence. With this new mindset I have begun to notice that many and most times peoples’ problems come out of their own faults and mistakes. They do not come because all of a sudden their world changed into something completely out of their control. So, why does that always seem to be the excuse. Why is it so difficult for people to accept that they are at fault and just fix themselves before they cause any more problems? This isn’t something I can answer for everyone. I’m still growing and I can only account for myself. As an individual, you should come to terms with reality and continue to use it to grow.


Animation Script



The world around us is always changing. On a cosmic level, comets are flying and planets are being formed. On a societal level, high-up government positions alternate parties and citizens are angered about the political climate. On a more personal level, I’m making bad decisions and growing up. Or maybe it should be the other way around. It’s not like I can control the decisions that I make. I’m a teenager, a growing boy, and my world is always shifting.

My world changed. All my friends abandoned me, isolating me and outcasting me from just about everything I did. It took all I had not to give up. I persevered. I still felt cut off, but, slowly, I was getting back on my feet. I began crafting new friendships and forgetting about the past. Overcoming the hardship that the changing world thrust upon me, I was the hero of my story.

Although, that isn’t completely true. As I push back on the world, resisting change, I still run into hardship. My world isn’t changing, so how can it still create problems for me? The problems I face must not be coming from the changing world.

My world changed. Of course it did, people’s worlds are always changing, but last year was different because I did something. I took advantage of my relationships with friends and I made mistake after mistake. The world did not suddenly shift, overwhelming and destroying me. I threw myself into trouble. I was the villain of my own story. And even in writing this essay, I continue to make excuses for my actions.

The details of what I did is not important. The point is that there is no excuse for the mistakes that I made over and over again. The world did change around me, but I will not keep blaming my problem on such a natural occurrence. With this new mindset I have begun to notice that many and most times peoples’ problems come out of their own faults and mistakes. They do not come because all of a sudden their world changed into something completely out of their control. I said in the beginning of this “I’m making bad decisions and growing up.” Does growth come because you make bad decisions, or is it the other way around? Does growing up lead to bad decisions that you don’t have control over?


The Benefits of Writing and Fine Arts

Posted by Paxton Wentzell in English 3 · Pahomov · A Band on


Most education programs in the developed world promote writing over art. This is a given. Above the kindergarten level, educators and parents take for granted that mastering language arts is indispensable in a competitive world, whereas fine arts are deprioritized as extracurricular. In a typical American school, students are required four years of English or literature as core subjects to graduate compared to no requirements at all in fine arts. However, upon in-depth research, the ostensible differences between the two subjects dissipates. In reality, fine arts and writing actually boast the same psychological benefits because both activities promote creativity and decrease stress.

While school can be strict and regimented, Creativity is the elusive gem that most educators try to refine in their students. Instead of relying on one prescribed way to develop creativity, research has discovered that a short session of making art can be as effective as creative writing. In the articles, The Modification of Sentence Structure and Its Relationship To Subjective Judgements of Creativity in Writing[3] and Educational Research: The Art of Problem Solving[4], investigators utilized a pretest/posttest design to quantify the increase of creative ability in children after writing and making art, respectively. In the writing study, fifth graders were asked to respond to writing prompts, whereas in the art study fifty graders engaged in sketching tasks. The children were assessed on their creativity and problem-solving abilities before and after the exercise. The results showed that the children were more likely to answer questions that stumped them in the pretest after both the writing and the art exercise. Both fine arts and writing contribute to psychological well-being from a creative standpoint.

One of the greatest benefits that both creative mediums possess is their stress relieving abilities. An article by the Huffington post explains how artistic expression can relieve stress and anxiety by temporarily distancing the artist from their problems.[5] A similar phenomena can be found in journal writing. An article from Harvard Health demonstrates the positive impacts that writing with emotions can have on one’s stress and experience of trauma.[6] Subjects mainly experienced a reduction in stress and anxiety. Frequently, both emotional writing and art are proposed as valid antidotes to excessive stress. This proposition is rarely disputed among the general public, yet it is not reflected in the American education. The psychological similarity between the two creative medium is only the tip of the iceberg when one examines the uncanny neurological equivalence of the two creative outlets.

The fact that the visual parts of the brain are activated while drawing may seem obvious. It may be less apparent that the same “visual and image processing” in the “parieto-frontal-temporal network”[7] are engaged during writing tasks. In a study entitled fMRI study testing the Neural Correlates of Creative Writing, Shah et al. reported that writing activates “a right lateralized activation pattern in bilateral hippocampi, bilateral temporal poles...and bilateral posterior cingulate cortex.” This pattern of activation improves “episodic memory retrieval, free-associative and spontaneous cognition, and semantic integration.” Another study focusing on the cortical integration differences of artists versus non artists discovered that fine artists also tend to have a “stronger right-brain presence.”[8] Furthermore, “artists showed significantly stronger delta band synchronization and alpha band desynchronization than did the non-artists,” [8] suggesting that artists can handle a larger “cognitive load,” have better “storage and controlled attention in the memory tasks,” and can better cope with “dual tasks.”[9] This means the regular production of art exercises the brain in such a way that one’s memory, cognitive speed, and integration ability are improved just like writing was shown to do in Shah et al. Art and writing affect a subject’s neurological functions in similar ways.

So what caused a shift away from the arts in education? The reason can be traced to the federal No Child Left Behind and Common Core programs, which prioritized science and math over other subjects. In LA County, for example, 1/3 of the arts teachers were let go between 2008 and 2012[1], and for half of K-5 students, art was cut all together.[2] How can a program that’s supposedly trying to make education better, do such a terrible job keeping something as strong as art? It is obvious that art is seen as something beneath other activities such as writing even though they are so similar. An programs like the No Child Left Behind and Common Core are what continue to push our culture in the ignorant direction of ignoring art.

Despite these paired benefits of  writing and fine arts, writing continues to be a core subject in schools and art is often pushed to the sidelines. Casual endeavors into writing and fine arts can result in a significant boost in creativity and problem solving abilities for all ages. Both subjects are effective stress relievers, and repeated practice of either creative medium results in similar brain activations and modifications. Given these facts, fine arts should be given a greater focus in schools and deserves the same respect as language arts.


Works Cited

  1. Staff, EdSource. “Effort to revive arts programs in schools gains momentum.” EdSource, edsource.org/2014/effort-to-revive-arts-programs-in-schools-gains-momentum/63507. Accessed 24 Sept. 2017.

  2. “Let’s get rid of Art Education in schools.” Danny Gregory, 5 Oct. 2016, dannygregorysblog.com/2016/04/15/lets-get-rid-of-art-education-in-schools/. Accessed 24 Sept. 2017.

  3. Maloney, Karen Blase, and B. L. Hopkins. “THE MODIFICATION OF SENTENCE STRUCTURE AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO SUBJECTIVE JUDGEMENTS OF CREATIVITY IN WRITING.” Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 27 Feb. 2013, onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1901/jaba.1973.6-425/full. Accessed 24 Sept. 2017.

  4. “Educational research: The art of problem solving.” ArtsEdSearch, www.artsedsearch.org/summaries/educational-research-the-art-of-problem-solving. Accessed 24 Sept. 2017.

  5. Frank, Priscilla. “Study Says Making Art Reduces Stress, Even If You Kind Of Suck At It.” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 16 June 2016, www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/study-says-making-art-reduces-stress_us_576183ece4b09c926cfdccac. Accessed 24 Sept. 2017.

  6. Publishing, Harvard Health. “Writing about emotions may ease stress and trauma.” Harvard Health, www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/writing-about-emotions-may-ease-stress-and-trauma. Accessed 24 Sept. 2017.

  7. Shah, Carolin, et al. “Neural correlates of creative writing: An fMRI Study.” Human Brain Mapping, Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company, 8 Dec. 2011, onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hbm.21493/full. Accessed 24 Sept. 2017.

  8. Bhattacharya, Joydeep, and Hellmuth Petsche. “Drawing on mind's canvas: Differences in cortical integration patterns between artists and non‐artists.” Human Brain Mapping, Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company, 25 Apr. 2005, onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hbm.20104/full. Accessed 24 Sept. 2017.

  9. “Sensitivity of human EEG alpha band desynchronization to different working memory components and increasing levels of memory load.” Neuroscience Letters, Elsevier, 5 Nov. 2003, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304394003011352. Accessed 24 Sept. 2017.

Additional Sources

  1. https://lifehacker.com/the-psychological-benefits-of-writing-regularly-1783693547

  2. https://bebrainfit.com/the-health-benefits-of-art-are-for-everyone/

  3. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0191886995002022

The Beast in Modern Religion

Posted by Paxton Wentzell in English 2 · Pahomov · E Band on

Paxton Wentzell

Ms. Pahomov

English 10

4/03/17

The Beast in Modern Religion

During a nuclear war, an evacuation plane filled with English schoolboys crash-lands on an uninhabited island. The boys attempt to govern themselves as their humanity quickly escapes them. A central theme present throughout William Golding’s 1954 Nobel Prize-Winning novel Lord of The Flies is the temperament of the Christian god. The exploration of this theme in Golding’s work spawned from The Coral Island, a 19th Century children’s book by R. M. Ballantyne that focuses on Christian ideals. Golding flipped these ideals on their heads in Lord of The Flies and introduces a mysterious, existential ‘beast’ that was manifested by a group of boys desperate for spiritual leadership. Lord of the Flies juxtaposes civilization and salvation against savagery and fear. The boys’ ready conformity to the beast shows that humans can be just as, if not more successful, when given something to fear rather than something to strive for. In the real world, religions often rely on a fearsome, vengeful god to motivate a particular set of behavior.

The uninhabited island that the boys are stranded on is a microcosm of life on Earth. On the island, as in real life, humans are left to seek their own meaning and spiritual guidance. Some guidance rests on a benevolent god while others rely on a vengeful one to shape human behavior. While on an expedition to learn more about the island, Ralph, Jack, and Simon realize that they had landed on paradise. “‘But this is a good island. We-Jack, Simon, and me-we climbed the mountain. It’s wizard. There’s food and drink, and-’ ‘Rocks-’ ‘Blue flowers-’... ‘While we’re waiting we can have a good time on this island’” (p. 34) Mother nature, repleted with all the resources needed for survival and enjoyment, represents the loving, giving god. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains that “God created everything for man, but man in turn was created to serve and love God and to offer all creation back to him” (Part 1; Section 2; Chapter 1; Article 1; Paragraph 6; Line 358) Thus, in the Catholic religion, god is a loving provider as long as humanity also demonstrates love. Yet, the boys in the novel do not follow the path of the loving, giving god. Instead, they follow the way of the Beast.

The beast is modeled after the Christian devil as evidenced by the fact that his name, The Lord of the Flies refers to Beelzebub, the devil. The chapter titles related to the Beast in Golding’s book (e.g., Beast from Water) also have parallels in The Book of Revelation (e.g., Beast from Sea). It is by this fearsome, vengeful beast that the boys are motivated to collaborate. Prior to the discovery of the beast, most of the boys merely bask in the beauty of the island. “They’re hopeless, The older ones aren’t much better. D’you see? All day I’ve been working with Simon. No one else. They’re off bathing, or eating, or playing” (p. 50) It isn’t until their fear and devotion towards the beast develop that the boys begin to create and achieve goals. For one, they manage to hunt successfully and engage in a religious sacrificial ceremony. “Jack held up the head and jammed the soft throat down on the pointed end of the stick which pierced through into the mouth...‘This head is for the beast. It’s a gift’” (p. 136-7) The beast requires sacrifices and easily manipulates the boys’ behavior by instilling fear. The Christian god has similar requirements. “Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him, On those who hope for His loving kindness, To deliver their soul from death And to keep them alive in famine” (Psalm 33:18-19) It is common find the fear of god being considered a positive trait in Abrahamic religions. A god-fearing man is trustworthy because he fears God’s wrath, whereas the Pharaoh, for example, who did not fear God was visited by calamity and ended up with his nation destroyed.

Outside of religious text, psychological studies generally agree on the power of fear to incite actions. The article, “God’s Punishment and Public Goods,” shows that fear of God does in fact lead to stronger cooperation. “Cooperation towards public goods relies on credible threats of punishment to deter cheats. However, punishing is costly, so it remains unclear who incurred the costs of enforcement in our evolutionary past. Theoretical work suggests that human cooperation may be promoted if people believe in supernatural punishment for moral transgressions.” Other studies also support the superiority of fear over other motivators. According to “Psychology Today,” “There are many things that motivate us. But the most powerful motivator of all is fear. Fear is a primal instinct that served us as cave dwellers and today. It keeps us alive.” Moreover, a meta-analysis on fear published on Sage Journals “suggests that strong fear appeals produce high levels of perceived severity and susceptibility, and are more persuasive than low or weak fear appeals.” In other words, not only is fear an effective motivator, more fear is even more effective. In terms of the Lord of the Flies, being eaten by the Beast certainly qualifies as high severity and in terms of Abrahamic religions, there is no higher stake than eternal damnation!

Another indication that Golding intends to suggest fear as the main driver for human actions is that Beast, like all emotions, is not external to the boys. Beast is actually an emotional expression of the boys. In the novel, The Lord of The Flies speaks with Simon, teaching him about the true origin and nature of the beast. “‘You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you?” (p. 143) “Simon found he was looking into a vast mouth. There was blackness within, a blackness that spread... ‘We shall do you? See? Jack and Roger and Maurice and Robert and Bill and Piggy and Ralph. Do you. See?’” (p. 144) Jack, Roger, Maurice, Robert, Bill, Piggy, Ralph and finally Simon are incorporated into the belly of the beast. Thus, the Beast, which represents fear, is manifested by the boys. The notion that the manifestation of a destructive god can be a powerful determinant of human behavior is found in Hinduism. Hinduism is a polytheistic religion with 33 deities representing various aspects of humans. The three principle deities are Brahma, the creator; Vishnu, the preserver; and Shiva, the destroyer. Shiva is the agent for change. Only when Shiva wrecks havoc to the status quo would humans change their behavior. Otherwise, Vishnu would continue to preserve. Hindus commonly greet each other with the word, “Namaste,” which translates to “I bow to the god inside of you.” In Hinduism, humans are in control of manifesting their own universe. Every object, incident, or emotion that exists is a creation of their minds, just like the Beast is a creation of the boys so that they can be led to actions that are meaningful for them.

By transporting life on earth into a small paradise island and shrinking humanity into a group of English schoolboys, William Golding cleverly implores his readers to take a step back in order to fully view human life for what it truly is. He showcases the power of fear as the superior motivator by imbuing the vengeful god found in various religions into Beast who scares the boys into action. Golding’s philosophical view of fear is supported by a plethora of psychological studies on the topic, ranging from fear of god, to fear of evil, to fear of death. The Lord of The Flies takes this negative fear and flips it into a more positive outlook on life. After all, the boys create Beast for their own survival. While keeping the ever-present and looming inevitability and uncertainty of death throughout the book, Golding does not ever imply that life is unimportant or inconsequential. In fact, he conveys the importance of life and actions during one’s lifetime because there is a constant fear of death. He suggests simply that the fear of pain or death in this lifetime is more motivating than the hope for eternal salvation.


Citations

Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. New York : Penguin, 2006.


The Holy Bible: containing the Old and New Testaments translated out of the original tongues and with the former translations diligently compared & revised. New York: American Bible Society, 1986. Print.ible: containing the Old and New Testaments translated out of the original tongues and with the former translations diligently compared & revised. New York: American Bible Society, 1986. Print.


"Catechism of the Catholic Church."Catechism of the Catholic Church. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2017.


Reardon, JoHannah, Stan Guthrie, and John Ortberg with Johannah Reardon. "What does it mean to fear God?"ChristianBibleStudies.com | Transformed by the truth. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2017.


Jackson, Frederick.Lord of the flies: notes. Toronto: Coles Pub. Co., 1979. Print.


Wise, Jeff, Rick Hanson Ph.D., and Richard Lovett. "The Most Powerful Motivator."Psychology Today. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2017.


"Sign In: Registered Users."Health Education & Behavior. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2017.


Johnson, Dominic D. P. "God's Punishment and Public Goods."SpringerLink. Springer-Verlag, n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2017.


Monastery, Kauai's Hindu. "Nine Beliefs of Hinduism." Basics of Hinduism. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Apr. 2017. <https://www.himalayanacademy.com/readlearn/basics/nine-beliefs>.
​

The Beast in Modern Religion

Posted by Paxton Wentzell on

Paxton Wentzell

Ms. Pahomov

English 10

4/03/17

The Beast in Modern Religion

During a nuclear war, an evacuation plane filled with English schoolboys crash-lands on an uninhabited island. The boys attempt to govern themselves as their humanity quickly escapes them. A central theme present throughout William Golding’s 1954 Nobel Prize-Winning novel Lord of The Flies is the temperament of the Christian god. The exploration of this theme in Golding’s work spawned from The Coral Island, a 19th Century children’s book by R. M. Ballantyne that focuses on Christian ideals. Golding flipped these ideals on their heads in Lord of The Flies and introduces a mysterious, existential ‘beast’ that was manifested by a group of boys desperate for spiritual leadership. Lord of the Flies juxtaposes civilization and salvation against savagery and fear. The boys’ ready conformity to the beast shows that humans can be just as, if not more successful, when given something to fear rather than something to strive for. In the real world, religions often rely on a fearsome, vengeful god to motivate a particular set of behavior.

The uninhabited island that the boys are stranded on is a microcosm of life on Earth. On the island, as in real life, humans are left to seek their own meaning and spiritual guidance. Some guidance rests on a benevolent god while others rely on a vengeful one to shape human behavior. While on an expedition to learn more about the island, Ralph, Jack, and Simon realize that they had landed on paradise. “‘But this is a good island. We-Jack, Simon, and me-we climbed the mountain. It’s wizard. There’s food and drink, and-’ ‘Rocks-’ ‘Blue flowers-’... ‘While we’re waiting we can have a good time on this island’” (p. 34) Mother nature, repleted with all the resources needed for survival and enjoyment, represents the loving, giving god. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains that “God created everything for man, but man in turn was created to serve and love God and to offer all creation back to him” (Part 1; Section 2; Chapter 1; Article 1; Paragraph 6; Line 358) Thus, in the Catholic religion, god is a loving provider as long as humanity also demonstrates love. Yet, the boys in the novel do not follow the path of the loving, giving god. Instead, they follow the way of the Beast.

The beast is modeled after the Christian devil as evidenced by the fact that his name, The Lord of the Flies refers to Beelzebub, the devil. The chapter titles related to the Beast in Golding’s book (e.g., Beast from Water) also have parallels in The Book of Revelation (e.g., Beast from Sea). It is by this fearsome, vengeful beast that the boys are motivated to collaborate. Prior to the discovery of the beast, most of the boys merely bask in the beauty of the island. “They’re hopeless, The older ones aren’t much better. D’you see? All day I’ve been working with Simon. No one else. They’re off bathing, or eating, or playing” (p. 50) It isn’t until their fear and devotion towards the beast develop that the boys begin to create and achieve goals. For one, they manage to hunt successfully and engage in a religious sacrificial ceremony. “Jack held up the head and jammed the soft throat down on the pointed end of the stick which pierced through into the mouth...‘This head is for the beast. It’s a gift’” (p. 136-7) The beast requires sacrifices and easily manipulates the boys’ behavior by instilling fear. The Christian god has similar requirements. “Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him, On those who hope for His loving kindness, To deliver their soul from death And to keep them alive in famine” (Psalm 33:18-19) It is common find the fear of god being considered a positive trait in Abrahamic religions. A god-fearing man is trustworthy because he fears God’s wrath, whereas the Pharaoh, for example, who did not fear God was visited by calamity and ended up with his nation destroyed.

Outside of religious text, psychological studies generally agree on the power of fear to incite actions. The article, “God’s Punishment and Public Goods,” shows that fear of God does in fact lead to stronger cooperation. “Cooperation towards public goods relies on credible threats of punishment to deter cheats. However, punishing is costly, so it remains unclear who incurred the costs of enforcement in our evolutionary past. Theoretical work suggests that human cooperation may be promoted if people believe in supernatural punishment for moral transgressions.” Other studies also support the superiority of fear over other motivators. According to “Psychology Today,” “There are many things that motivate us. But the most powerful motivator of all is fear. Fear is a primal instinct that served us as cave dwellers and today. It keeps us alive.” Moreover, a meta-analysis on fear published on Sage Journals “suggests that strong fear appeals produce high levels of perceived severity and susceptibility, and are more persuasive than low or weak fear appeals.” In other words, not only is fear an effective motivator, more fear is even more effective. In terms of the Lord of the Flies, being eaten by the Beast certainly qualifies as high severity and in terms of Abrahamic religions, there is no higher stake than eternal damnation!

Another indication that Golding intends to suggest fear as the main driver for human actions is that Beast, like all emotions, is not external to the boys. Beast is actually an emotional expression of the boys. In the novel, The Lord of The Flies speaks with Simon, teaching him about the true origin and nature of the beast. “‘You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you?” (p. 143) “Simon found he was looking into a vast mouth. There was blackness within, a blackness that spread... ‘We shall do you? See? Jack and Roger and Maurice and Robert and Bill and Piggy and Ralph. Do you. See?’” (p. 144) Jack, Roger, Maurice, Robert, Bill, Piggy, Ralph and finally Simon are incorporated into the belly of the beast. Thus, the Beast, which represents fear, is manifested by the boys. The notion that the manifestation of a destructive god can be a powerful determinant of human behavior is found in Hinduism. Hinduism is a polytheistic religion with 33 deities representing various aspects of humans. The three principle deities are Brahma, the creator; Vishnu, the preserver; and Shiva, the destroyer. Shiva is the agent for change. Only when Shiva wrecks havoc to the status quo would humans change their behavior. Otherwise, Vishnu would continue to preserve. Hindus commonly greet each other with the word, “Namaste,” which translates to “I bow to the god inside of you.” In Hinduism, humans are in control of manifesting their own universe. Every object, incident, or emotion that exists is a creation of their minds, just like the Beast is a creation of the boys so that they can be led to actions that are meaningful for them.

By transporting life on earth into a small paradise island and shrinking humanity into a group of English schoolboys, William Golding cleverly implores his readers to take a step back in order to fully view human life for what it truly is. He showcases the power of fear as the superior motivator by imbuing the vengeful god found in various religions into Beast who scares the boys into action. Golding’s philosophical view of fear is supported by a plethora of psychological studies on the topic, ranging from fear of god, to fear of evil, to fear of death. The Lord of The Flies takes this negative fear and flips it into a more positive outlook on life. After all, the boys create Beast for their own survival. While keeping the ever-present and looming inevitability and uncertainty of death throughout the book, Golding does not ever imply that life is unimportant or inconsequential. In fact, he conveys the importance of life and actions during one’s lifetime because there is a constant fear of death. He suggests simply that the fear of pain or death in this lifetime is more motivating than the hope for eternal salvation.


Citations

Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. New York : Penguin, 2006.


The Holy Bible: containing the Old and New Testaments translated out of the original tongues and with the former translations diligently compared & revised. New York: American Bible Society, 1986. Print.ible: containing the Old and New Testaments translated out of the original tongues and with the former translations diligently compared & revised. New York: American Bible Society, 1986. Print.


"Catechism of the Catholic Church."Catechism of the Catholic Church. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2017.


Reardon, JoHannah, Stan Guthrie, and John Ortberg with Johannah Reardon. "What does it mean to fear God?"ChristianBibleStudies.com | Transformed by the truth. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2017.


Jackson, Frederick.Lord of the flies: notes. Toronto: Coles Pub. Co., 1979. Print.


Wise, Jeff, Rick Hanson Ph.D., and Richard Lovett. "The Most Powerful Motivator."Psychology Today. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2017.


"Sign In: Registered Users."Health Education & Behavior. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2017.


Johnson, Dominic D. P. "God's Punishment and Public Goods."SpringerLink. Springer-Verlag, n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2017.


Monastery, Kauai's Hindu. "Nine Beliefs of Hinduism." Basics of Hinduism. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Apr. 2017. <https://www.himalayanacademy.com/readlearn/basics/nine-beliefs>.
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Portrait of a Majd

Posted by Paxton Wentzell on
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Paxton Wentzell

American, born Philadelphia. 2001-Present

Portrait of a Majd 2017

Majd painted in the style of Van Eyck

The Jason Todd Renaissance Revival (Art of The Deal) benchmark collection, 2017

DEBUTING AT SLA@CC

Portrait of a Majd depicts a cardinal of the papal states, Majd Bostani. After student artist Paxton Wentzell couldn’t get his loyal patron to send him a selfie to work off of, Majd decided to help out. As instructed by Teacher Todd, the goal of this portrait was to be inspired by the revolutionary Renaissance virtuoso Jan Van Eyck. Eyck was a 14th and 15th century Flemish and Netherlandish painter living in Bruges. Starting his career as a court painter, he used a gothic style to paint religious works centering around the Virgin Mary. He later dropped his roots and started painting realism with his secular portraits, which were his most sought after works. His techniques can be clearly seen reproduced in the posture of the subject. Majd’s arms and hands are seen dis-proportionally smaller than the rest of the body, as to bring the focus onto his face as well as serving a symbolic meaning to the subject’s profession. Van Eyck would do this with many of his portraits. In Léal Souvenir, he paints the subject holding a piece of paper to show his profession of lawyer. Eyck always painted something that symbolizes spirituality, in Paxton Wentzell’s portrait, as in Eyck’s Portrait of a Carthusian, a red door can be seen directly behind the subject. This is symbolic of the subject’s position of cardinal. The medium, oil painting, was mastered by Van Eyck and student painter, Paxton, took advantage of Eyck’s method of layering to add realistic lighting. In Portrait of a Majd the light is coming from the top left. Student painter, Wentzell, signed the canvas with the same modest message as Van Eyck, ALS IK KAN, or “As Best I Can.” The student artist even went as far as to cut his own frame and paint it the same way Jan Van Eyck would, as the frame was considered an integral part of the work at the time. Paxton painted his frame red to make it a continuation of the piece. Van Eyck would inscribe a pun on his name in greek into the frame This student artist has done the same.

Paxton's Me Poster

Posted by Paxton Wentzell in Technology - Freshman - Hull - y1 on
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For my poster I place my name in the center because that is where one's eyes will go to naturally. After underlining my name with a fencing sword, which is my favorite past time. I then surrounded my name with all of my favorite pastimes. On the top left I have the Ender's Game books, they are my favorite book series. Next to it are a Ukulele and Play Station. Under my name is; the logo for Scratch, my favorite programming site, a piano, that and the Ukulele are my favorite instruments, and finally me doing a front flip over the empire state building in front of an explosion. It represents my love of parkour. All of this is placed on top of my favorite color, Magenta.

Wentzell's Home Network

Posted by Paxton Wentzell in Technology - Freshman - Hull - y1 on
The internet sends information to my Verizon Fios box which accesses different parts of my house using the hub. My hub has four ports, two of which are not used. The first port goes to my Ethernet cable on the top floor of my house and the other goes to the router. The router is then plugged into the TV using an Ethernet cable. The TV also connects to the PS4. The router connects to about 20 devices; including phones, printers, computers, and speakers, via wireless connection. That is my home network.
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Profile Photo: Paxton Wentzell