ESSAY--Draft 1

A trope is a familiar thing of element that is repeated in different ways and used over and over. For example; every story is a story about good versus evil, in its simplest form. Any movie, book, play, TV show that you have viewed, has a villain, and a hero, the good guy, and the bad guy; a reoccurring theme, used over and over through the ages. There are different types of tropes, like the one we are studying in class, the revelation trope. The revelation trope is elements of a revelation that occur repeatedly. The revelation trope has 8 key elements starting with the ignorant masses. The ignorant masses are the people who are easily manipulated, or molded to be what you make them, they will believe anything. An example is high school kids, our teachers mold us, they fill our brains with information, and we believe what they say without question. The second element is an unacceptable or oppressive situation in which people are harmed. The third element is the prophet, the revealer, the "good guy"; the one who tries to share a message, the fourth element. The fifth element is the prophet connects the dots in a new way. The sixth is that the prophet also offers their vision of a "redeemed" world. The seventh is that there is opposition to the message; these people are usually considered "villains". The eighth and last element is the occurrence of drama.
In Foxfire Angelina Jolie's character chides a group of girls for letting a teacher sexually harass them, and tells them that if they just stand by, then they are just as bad as the teacher himself. 
The message is that the girls "are the assholes" and that they can fight back if they stand up to him together. In the matrix Morphius opens Neo's eye to the fact that he has never actually lived, he has been inside his head own head his whole life. That the world he "lives" in is something created to cover up the real world. So basically a revealer comes and alters how a person or how people see the world. The prophet offers you a vision, something new, something different, and you have to make a choice to give up everything you know, and take a walk on the wild side sometimes. Like in the Matrix Neo has to choose between the red pill and the blue pill, between seeing the world as it really is and going back to his “normal” life as it was before. I would choose the red pill, the one that takes Neo into reality, because he has been wondering what the matrix is for so long, and now he has the chance to find out what it is, and for me, getting the answer to something that seems unanswerable is without doubt the way I would go. I know they say curiosity killed the cat, but I can’t help it, I’d just be desperate to learn the answer, to see something new, to have a change, to get away from my robotic lifestyle. When Neo takes the red pill he is symbolically reborn into the real world, he breaks our of the embryonic sack, then is transported down the birth canal. Revelation removes the cover up that hides the truth about something. And in this case the revelation is that Neo has been living in a fake world all his life, he’s never actually used his body before, and now in the real world, he sees that no one is free in either world, even though Morphius keeps saying that they are free now. Cypher says that even in the real world they are trapped because they have to wear crappy clothes, sleep on hard beds, eat bad food, and hide from the Agents, so they are never really free.
I wouldn’t give up any revelations even if I could. Everything is an experience, something you learn from, something that opens your eyes. Even though I sometimes say I wish I could change the past, I never can really say what about the past I would actually change, so I guess in the end I’m just happy with the way my life is going, even if there have been bad parts, the bad parts bring about something good later. But while I don’t actively seek revelations, I would definitely be open to any that came my way.
After watching the Matrix I started thinking about my own life, about how this could all be fake, about how I never really know what is a dream and what is my reality. I mean if you think about it, how do we know for sure that we are not asleep when we are "awake", or awake when we are "asleep". What it the real reality, and what kind of reality do we live in? When we make a revelation, do we ever stop to think when we started to take notice of this occurrence? And when we do make a revelation, does it really make a difference in how we go about living our daily lives, the way it seems to in the movies?
I've realized that you can't go through life trying to be better than everyone else. You are who you are no matter how much you try to be someone else, and only you can satisfy yourself because no one knows you better than you do. I've also started to try and live more the way I want to live, and more according to what makes me happiest, like going out with my friends on the weekends. This doesn't necessarily make me more successful, but he makes me happy and it satisfies me to be doing what I want to do. I want to experience as much as I can get my hands on because I will only be the age I am now, once, so I want to take advantage of each moment. 

My revelation theory would be that we are not aware enough of each other of nature or our surroundings. We take so much for granted, like Central Park is a huge GREEN SPOT in the CENTER of the city and most people feel like it's just supposed to be there, like we never really appreciate it. But think how much we'd miss it if it disappeared. And as children we are constantly reminded not to talk to strangers. I understand that yeah some people are creepy. But not everyone is, so as adults no one talks to each other, no one touches anyone else if possible, unless they know each other. But why? I've had a few interesting conversations with strangers, and after the conversations I feel a little happier, like I feel satisfied, maybe it's just because I am I guess "addicted" to meeting new people. I'm always up for my friends bringing their friends because it broadens my horizons, and can open new doors, and can also introduce me to more new people, even if I only ever see these people once, it's still fun to just get to know someone new.