‘The Avengers’ and the Difficulties of Teamwork

Marvel Comics has essentially gotten the attention of about every comic and movie fan to the point where fans are willing to stay in the theater after the movie to see the anticipated end-credit scenes, which are barely one minute long. The anticipation of movies experienced by Marvel fans makes a lot of sense, considering that Marvel Studios has created countless of blockbuster films that have been seen all over the world. But with The Avengers: Age of Ultron approaching to theaters in less than a month, it is always nice to consider how far Marvel has come since the start of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Before fans should consider waiting in line for weeks to see the new installment, everyone should reflect back to 2012, when The Avengers changed cinematic history forever.

The Avengers, directed by Joss Whedon and starring Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, and Samuel L. Jackson, starts off with an opening scene of S.H.I.E.L.D. discovering the Tesseract, a device used to travel from Asgard to Earth. As the scientists were researching the device, Loki, Thor’s adopted brother, appeared from the Tesseract and denounced his plan to take over the Earth. Loki effortlessly escapes and in order to protect the Earth from Loki, Nick Fury, director of S.H.I.E.L.D., assembles a team of superheroes known as the Avengers.

As the team of superheroes meet each other for the first time, things don’t run as smoothly as everyone had thought. Various ideas and opinions start to cause the teammates to conflict with one another, which makes their cooperation difficult in the beginning. Disagreements start to arise, specifically from Steve Rogers and Tony Stark, but it all had to eventually be settled due to the fact that the safety of Earth was on the line. Like the whole audience would expect, the Avengers made peace with one another and saved the Earth from extraterrestrial beings.

Even with all the exciting special-effects and action-sequences, The Avengers was still able to focus on the idea that the process of teamwork is no walk in the park. Even when they were able to join forces to stop Loki, the disagreements that they had put their team at stake on several occasions.

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What is the subtext?

The subtext is about how the overall idea of teamwork is not as effortless as it may seem.

What makes teamwork effective? Is it the cooperation? Is it the trust? Both of these factors are extremely important when it comes to establishing teamwork, but it doesn’t make it any less difficult. What The Avengers was able to successfully establish was the idea that teamwork can have its ups and downs, but the downside is usually overlooked. The major flaw that caused the teamwork of the Avengers to falter at times in the film was because of each individual’s high levels of self-importance. Each Avenger was already doing well before the team got together and had already made a name for themselves; but when a group of talented individuals who were often times self-centered came together, disagreements are nothing but expected. The issue of self-importance experienced by each team member made their cooperation difficult because they all thought they were better than one another. They all eventually settled their differences by developing the mentality of, “Not what the Avengers can do for you, but what you can do for the Avengers,” which helped them work as a team. Their cooperation took time, but the end result was still beneficial for the team; and let’s be honest, the process of cooperating with one another was probably more difficult than battling extraterrestrial beings.

As the fans continue to countdown to the release of The Avengers: Age of Ultron, they shouldn’t forget to consider the difficulties of teamwork that was focused in The Avengers. Instead of believing the preconceived notion that teamwork is effortless, reflect on the idea that the process of teamwork is difficult and requires patience and time more than anything; but this should motivate people. Situations turn out better if people put the time into it and the same thing goes for teamwork. The film was all about learning to cooperate with one another and if the Avengers were able to do so, just about anyone else can, too.

‘The Normal Heart’ and the HIV/AIDS Crisis

The Normal Heart, featured as a television film on HBO, certainly knows how to make their audience constantly reach for the tissue box while watching this film, but it is much more than a tragic love story. With the help of the cast and crew, specifically Mark Ruffalo, Matt Bomer, Jim Parsons, and Julia Roberts, the film was able to accurately depict the gay activist movement during the HIV/AIDS crisis between 1981 and 1984. The combination of a love story and the retelling of a major world epidemic was what made this film a heartfelt and memorable experience for all movie-goers, but at the same time, it was able to teach the audience a thing or two about the dreadful way the world treated a minority group as they were battling a life-threatening disease.

The movie centers around an openly gay writer from New York, Ned Weeks, who struggles to form an intimate relationship in the beginning due to the fact that he hasn’t found a connection to anyone in particular. As the film progresses, Ned eventually meets Felix Turner, a New York Times reporter, who he just couldn’t end up falling in love with. Ned and Felix were a perfect fit for one another, like the pieces of a puzzle, but their happiness was tested as the HIV/AIDS epidemic made way into their lives. Many of their closest friends from the gay community were becoming ill and dying to the disease that no one had a good understanding of. As more patients with the disease ended up dead, the media and the government refused to bring this to the public’s attention, so Ned creates an advocacy organization called Gay Men’s Health Crisis in order to show public awareness and raise money for research. The goal of getting the media to cover a story on this crisis and seeking research funds from the government proves to be extremely difficult, but no one chooses to give up. The gay rights activist movement seems to be the only thing Ned is concerned about, but Felix eventually becomes ill with HIV/AIDS. Few months past and the illness evidently becomes unbearable for Felix emotionally and mentally and physically. Ned is with Felix every step of the way during his treatment, but the both will have to accept the fact that the probability of survival starts to seem unlikely for Felix.

The HIV/AIDS epidemic that the characters faced and Felix’s life at stake was a true test of their perseverance during a nationwide crisis. Numerous of people decided to persevere, whereas some others decided not to. The positive mindset that makes perseverance possible is quite hard to attain in this situation, especially given the fact that an unknown disease was taking away thousands and thousands of lives, but it is not entirely impossible.

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What are the consequences of persevering or not? As the audience were able to understand the emotional and physical toll that several of the characters experienced due to HIV/AIDS, the sight of Felix Turner becoming ill as the movie progressed was what made this film upsetting at some times. Felix showed extreme weight-loss and lesions started to form all over his skin. He went through chemo after chemo even though the outcome was pretty obvious because he wanted to persevere not just for himself, but for Ned as well. The sight of their friends dying due to the disease was extremely traumatic for the both of them, so in order to keep Ned’s sense of mind at peace, he would have to try and fight the disease for as long as he could. As painful of a situation they were in, the two became closer in a more profound way due to their perseverance. Ned and Felix both confessed their love for one another and how the cherished memories of being with one another was everything they could have wished for. The consequences of both of their perseverance during Felix’s illness of course resulted in a major loss of a life, but it did also have some positives, such as the happiness of Ned and Felix being together. Their road to perseverance supports the idea that even if a situation has a negative outcome, positive consequences can still be formed and might in fact be cherished in their lives dearly.

Although the audience was able to watch the perseverance that Felix and Ned went through together, the film also depicted the struggles of the gay activist movement during the HIV/AIDS crisis. As the epidemic claimed more and more lives, the gay community worked with one another to raise awareness so that the government would bring this to the public’s attention. The process of doing so was extremely difficult because the government only brought awareness to this epidemic years after when it was first noted. Even with the struggle to raise awareness and research funds, the community was being treated terribly for who they were, mostly from the homophobic protestors, and they started to suspect that the reason why no one would help them during this outbreak was because they were living in a world where being straight was a majority and anyone who wasn’t would face hatred. The way the community was being treated made their public awareness for HIV/AIDS ten times more difficult, but they still chose to persevere. Several people might ask the question, “how was there any positive consequences due to their perseverance?” and the answer is that post HIV/AIDS support groups were formed and more research for the treatment was produced and all of this was to ensure a much more brighter and safer future for the LGBT community compared to the decision of not choosing to persevere.

Peggy Carter: “We Can Do It!”

Filled with amazing action sequences, dynamic characters, and feminist concepts, Agent Carter is a show that has clearly outdone itself. With a show that respectfully represents a strong and intelligent woman as its main character who isn’t afraid to call out on the sexists beliefs made by men, what more can the audience ask for?

Set in 1946 after Captain America: The First Avenger, Agent Carter focuses on Agent Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) and her struggles of finding purpose for herself after World War II, recovering from her lost of Steve Rogers (aka Captain America), and being a woman in the 1940s. After World War II came to an end, Carter joined the S.S.R. (Strategic Scientific Reserve), but instead of working out on the field like she use to, she is now stuck doing basic office work. When this dull routine couldn’t seem to get any worse, she has to tolerate the sexist environment of her workplace. But as she is working for the S.S.R., she is secretly helping her long-time friend, Howard Stark, prove his innocence of supplying deadly weapons in the black market.

With the chaos at work and the dead-ends of her private investigation, the greatest external conflict that she confronts all the time is sexism. She already had a million things on her mind and it became obvious that the consistent sexist comments were not making her job easier; this is when she realized that something had to be done about it.

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How do stories alter preconceived ideas?

Before the last couple of episodes that led to the season finale, the peers at Carter’s workplace thought very poorly of her, which shouldn’t be a big surprise since this was set during the 1940s and during this time, men’s view on women were just intolerable and unpleasant. Her male coworkers merely thought of her as the damsel in distress or the secretary that slept with everyone, but Carter was about to give them a big surprise. Carter was in fact a highly-trained agent during World War II and was later part of the establishment of S.H.I.E.L.D., which seems nothing similar to the description that her coworkers gave her. Even though with her talents as an agent, the awful comments that were made about her were due to sexism and it had the ability to cloud her coworker’s judgment on women.

When Carter told her coworkers of her private investigations and what she was actually capable of, they were all in shock. Her stories of fighting alongside Captain America on operative missions were way beyond the basic preconceived ideas made by her male coworkers; but it was able to alter their beliefs of what Peggy Carter and all women were capable of. Carter represented how women were able to be strong physically and mentally, as well as the idea that women shouldn’t have to conform to society’s views on what it meant to be a woman.

The point of Carter’s story is that it was able to alter the preconceived ideas made about women during the 1940s. Her goal was to alter the idea that all women were only capable of cleaning and cooking and taking care of her husband and children. Her story of being a highly-trained agent and the fact that she one time took out a team of S.S.R. agents all by herself and beat up a guy with only a stapler, was about to change all of that. Because of the importance of her story and what it meant to other women who went through the same struggles as her, men would not only learn to respect and acknowledge a woman’s capabilities, but it also encouraged women to believe that they were capable of great things, even if society discouraged them.

‘Fight Club’ and the Insignificance of Social Classes

I already broke the first two rules of Fight Club, but this film analysis has to start off somehow.

Fight Club is about the narrator (Edward Norton), an average office worker, who goes through the everyday life of a regular working class citizen. He lives alone in his Ikea-furnished apartment and his uneventful life seems to get the best of him. When things couldn’t get any worse, he discovered that he had insomnia and realized that the only way for him to get some sleep was to go to support groups, where he eventually met Marla Singer (Helena Bonham Carter), a woman who also goes to support groups in order to feel better about herself. As obscure as the relationship between the narrator and Marla may seem, the narrator runs into Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt), a man with a compelling personality who sells soap for a living. The two eventually spend more time together and their discussions mostly involved Tyler explaining to the narrator about the way society viewed men and the flaws of social classes. It might be an understatement to say that Tyler changed his life, being that they both created Fight Club where men beat each other up a couple of times a week and also Project Mayhem, a group of men who perform acts of vandalism as a way of protesting against corporate businesses. As chaos follows wherever the narrator goes, he begins to lose his mind due to the insomnia and also has to accept the fact that Tyler Durden might not be who he thought he was.

The movie, directed by David Fincher and adapted from the novel written by Chuck Palahniuk, is still considered a cult favorite novel and film today, but it wasn’t very successful when it was first released in 1999. Film critics completely criticized this movie for being a bad influence and it failed in the box office as well. Even though with the rough start, Fight Club eventually became a movie that everyone just couldn’t stop quoting from and it became so popular that fans started to create their own fight clubs. As this movie became more widespread, some people still thought that this film was just an excuse for men to continuously punch each other throughout the whole movie, but this is merely a surface-level interpretation of the film. The true fans that love the movie and book can all agree that Fight Club is much more than just testosterone-filled fights, but is actually about the struggles of working class men in society.

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What is the subtext?

The subtext is about how social class should not have the ability to define a person, specifically for working class men.

Everyday, working class men go through the same routine: get out of bed, go to work, go back home again. As if their situation can’t get any worse, society expects them to be the ‘drones’ of society; men who work in office jobs and barely make enough money to live off of, but are still expected to attain America’s values of money and possessions. A person’s social class has become so relevant that it now has the ability to define a person’s self-worth, instead of individualism. The expectations of having a nice car and house is just about what every working class man fears, but is there a way for them to feel reassured that all of this does not actually matter? The answer is all in Fight Club.

The purpose of Fight Club was to give working class men the opportunity to feel free and alive in all the ways that they couldn’t when working at their day jobs. Although Fight Club allowed them to gain physical strength, Tyler taught his ideas and concepts through Project Mayhem. The main idea that Tyler stressed the most was that the amount of money a person made or the stuff that they owned would never define them compared to their self-fulfillment and physical strength. He believed that society raised men to fit in their own predetermined social classes, but the goal is to actually not fit into any of them. Instead of emphasizing on one’s possessions, the objective is to gain mental and physical strength, as well as the understanding of society’s true intentions. Another concept to keep in mind is that physical possessions can not be a replacement for self-fulfillment, however, that is what a lot of people do. Although money and physical possessions are valued by social classes in society, it would only be a temporary feeling of self-worth, whereas the improvement of body and mind can go a long way.

I am Jack’s dissatisfaction with social classes. I am Jack’s need of self-fulfillment. I am Jack’s admiration for Fight Club. 

‘Gone Girl’ and Media Perception

David Fincher has done it again. His previous films, such as Fight Club, Zodiac, The Social Network, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo proved to be his greatest hits, but his newest film, Gone Girl, has clearly outdone itself. With his ever-so-crisp cinematography and vivid story-telling, Gone Girl is an intriguing and memorable film that will have the audience on the edge of their seats. Although David Fincher did a phenomenal job of portraying the story to the big screens, Gillian Flynn definitely deserves credit for the success of this film. Being an author of two other bestselling books, Dark Places and Sharp Objects, Flynn is no amateur when it comes to writing. What makes the novel, Gone Girl, so unique is that it explores the different perspectives of the two main characters throughout the book, which made the film adaptation all the more fascinating. Last but not least, the actors, Rosamund Pike and Ben Affleck, definitely gave the best performances in their entire careers. The cast and crew were the building-blocks to this film, however, the story and the messages that it was able to convey were the heart of Gone Girl.

Gone Girl focuses on an ordinary married couple, Nick and Amy Dunne, who live in a small town in Missouri and were recently about to celebrate their five year anniversary. When Nick goes home to see his wife, he notices that she is gone and later calls the police, who confirm it to be a disappearance. As the search for Amy Dunne continues throughout the movie, the audience learns about how Nick and Amy weren’t actually the perfect couple that everyone thought they were; Nick was cheating on Amy with one of his students and Nick hit Amy on one occasion. The Dunne’s also struggle financially and the two seem to grow distant from each other because of the fake identity they presented to one another the first time they met. As the proof of Nick’s affair made its way into the media and his calm demeanor towards his wife’s disappearance made a bad impression, the public starts to ask the question, “Did Nick Dunne murder his wife?”

Although the film contained beautiful cinematography and a story that will have a lasting impression on just about anyone, the subtext related to media perception is what makes this movie distinct compared to its competitors in 2014. With the movie’s other subtexts touching on the ideas of marriage and gender roles, the topic of media perception was an interesting factor in telling the Dunne’s story in a different perspective.

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What is the subtext?

The subtext of the film is about how the media can easily and quickly influence our judgement on certain topics and people when we might not even know the true story.

As Nick Dunne struggles with the disappearance of his missing wife and the media frenzy constantly outside his door, Amy Dunne was actually alive and well. Amy had in fact staged her own disappearance in her home to make it seem as if Nick was the one responsible. Before Amy had supposedly gone missing, she found out that Nick was having an affair, so as an act of revenge, she created a scheme to make it seem like he murdered her. Although her plan was in fact quite solid, the public only suspected Nick Dunne for her murder because of the way the two of them were presented in the media. Nick was portrayed as the cheating husband who has no concern about his wife’s disappearance, whereas Amy was portrayed as the innocent wife and victim of a horrible man. As soon as she realized that the media had the ability to easily and quickly alter people’s judgements, she used it to her advantage. The media was able to create public identities of Amy and Nick that everyone quickly believed in, even though they were false. Amy just had to sit back and watch as the world grew to despise Nick Dunne, whereas the public gave her all of the support and sympathy she needed.

The whole idea of the public creating judgements based on very little information about Nick and Amy Dunne clearly shows the problem of media perception in real life. Everyday, someone somewhere is reading an article online or watching a news report on a certain situation and the time it takes for someone to fully believe in something they have read or saw is quite astonishing. People have a tendency to make quick judgements on specific topics that were covered in the media when there might not be actual proof that the information they encountered is actually true. In many ways, the media and Amy Dunne have a lot in common; they are able to influence people’s judgement by using information that is not always true, but instead stories that strike our interests. As our attention is being given to the media, they can feed us all the false information they want and we would still believe them.

Gone Girl should make us rethink on how quickly we decide to judge someone or a story just because the media featured it. So before we make any rash decisions or judgements, consider the possibility that the media is merely showing us a story that will get our attention and provoke our emotions, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that it has all of the right information.

Why ‘Fresh Off The Boat’ Does Justice For the Asian Community

The media is a great means of communication and has the ability to influence the way people think all over the world, but to be honest, the media has plenty of imperfections that need to be addressed. The one issue that I will be addressing is the reoccurring lack of representation for people of color (POC) in media. Although this problem has improved over the years, I can’t help but notice the serious lack of Asian representation in American media. As an Asian-American who spends way too much time watching television, I can’t help but wonder if the media is ever going to portray more Asian characters in movies and TV shows.  I have been troubled with this thought for a couple of years now and I started to doubt if the media was ever going to make progress, but recently, I have found a reason to regain hope.

Fresh Off the Boat (based off of a memoir written by Eddie Huang) is a new comedy series currently airing on ABC and is the first American TV show to feature a full Asian cast in twenty years. The show takes place in the 1990’s and focuses on a Taiwanese-Chinese family, who moved from their home in DC’s Chinatown to a suburban neighborhood in Orlando, Florida. The father, Louis Huang (Randall Park) made the decision to move to Orlando in order to fulfill his dream of opening a Western-themed restaurant, but it doesn’t mean that everyone else is excited to move to Florida. The main character, Eddie Huang (Hudson Yang), is a hip-hop loving, 12-year-old boy, which makes him rather eccentric when compared to his two brothers, Emery Huang (Forrest Wheeler) and Evan Huang (Ian Chen). Emery and Evan have an easy time adapting to their new schools and neighborhood community, but Eddie on the other hand, has a difficult time fitting in with his peers. But Eddie isn’t the only one who is struggling to adjust. The matriarch of the show, Jessica Huang (Constance Wu), worries over the success of the restaurant and the well-being of her children, but also struggles to adapt and understand white culture. The whole family is trying to make their new lives in Orlando a great experience, but it is sometimes hard to so when met with racial slurs, stereotypical comments, and the overall disadvantages of being Asian in a dominant white society.

Fresh Off the Boat definitely does justice for the Asian community because it finally gave Asian-Americans something to relate to in the media. In the couple of episodes that have aired, the Asian-American audience can relate to multiple scenarios that have been depicted, such as being made fun of for bringing ‘unique’ Asian foods to school or the stereotyped comments being made from peers. Although this may seem a bit depressing, it can be looked at in a positive aspect because an American TV show has finally addressed the problem of the way some people treat and view Asians. The main intention of the show was to give the Asian community something to relate to in the media, but the goal was to also alter the preconceived ideas that were formed due to lack of knowledge on Asian cultures.

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How do stories alter preconceived ideas?

Because of the media’s lack of Asian representation, American society has probably indulged itself in our stereotypes; for example, television shows, such as Family Guy and South Park, have left an impression of stereotyping racial minorities. People don’t realize that the media can play a major factor when it comes to influencing certain ideas and concepts, so when shows promote the use of racial stereotypes, it can actually have a bad impact on a person’s preconceived ideas about racial minorities. But Fresh Off the Boat is about to change all of that.

What makes this show a breath of fresh air is that it is undoing and altering the preconceived ideas that have been made about Asian cultures due to the media’s lack of knowledge. The show explores the Huang’s perspective on white culture and society, whereas the over-used method used in other shows, focuses on a white person’s perspective on a certain ethnicity. The reason why the Huang’s perspective of the community around them is so important is because it truly depicts how Asian-Americans would react to a heavily influenced white society in America. This perspective can hopefully alter the preconceived idea that the Asian stereotypes promoted in media are merely comical and mean no harm by the truth that Asian-Americans will not tolerate racist comments and that we are much more than how the stereotypes depicts us. The story of the Huang family in the show was able to alter the media’s preconceived ideas on Asian-Americans because it depicted real-life scenarios that many Asian families went through while adjusting to America.

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The great thing about Fresh Off the Boat is that it can open more doors for Asian-American actors in the entertainment industry, which would then lead to better POC representation in media. This proves that it takes just one step towards improvement to result in more positive outcomes, which is why the show is so valued by Asian-Americans. Fresh Off the Boat was able to give the Asian community a voice in media that we’ve never had before and by looking at this progress, the journey for us has only just begun.

How ‘Birdman’ Revealed the Flaws of Being in the Entertainment Industry

The movie Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) was a big hit at The Oscars last Sunday, winning a total of four Oscars (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Cinematography) and its success should be no big surprise. The popularity of this film seems to be growing by the minute and it makes sense because it features the talented director, Alejandro González Iñárritu, and stars incredibly brilliant actors, such as Michael Keaton, Edward Norton, and Emma Stone. The amazing cast and crew were able to create an entertaining and yet thought-provoking film for movie-goers, which was most likely due to its original plot and cinematography, but most importantly, the messages and subtexts it was able to convey.

Birdman centers around a washed-up actor, Riggan Thomson, who use to be famous for playing a superhero by the name of Birdman. After years of one too many Hollywood superhero films, he decided to call quits. Years later, he becomes a struggling actor who is trying to rebuild his public image as an ‘artist,’ by producing and starring in his own play on Broadway. As the play reaches its opening night, the production of the play seems to slowly fall apart, such as problems with the cast and crew and ticket sales. When things couldn’t get any worse in Thomson’s career, he starts to experience multiple mental breakdowns and struggles to find his sense of purpose in the world. As he is struggling with his internal conflicts, he battles against his external conflicts as well, which in this case are putting up with a pretentious method actor, Mike Shiner, repairing the relationship between his daughter, Sam Thomson, and dealing with the fact that the media is constantly judging everything that he does.

As the story plays out, the audience is able to recognize the meta story being told about the Hollywood industry and what it really means to be an actor, which explains why it’s such a popular movie. The amount of subtexts that are being conveyed in the movie are quite overwhelming, but the one that is about to be mentioned is the most critical to the film.

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What is the subtext?

The subtext of the film is about the struggle that actors and celebrities face in order to remain relevant in the entertainment industry.

Riggan Thomson’s main struggle throughout the movie is his need to maintain his public image as an actor, because believe it or not, this is what the public expects from him. The reason why Thomson became such a big name in the entertainment industry in the first place was because of his famous role as Birdman. A result from Thomson’s well-known superhero character was that the public would assume that that was the only kind of movie he should appear in; big blockbuster action films. Critics started to mock him for not being a ‘real actor;’ which are artists who challenge themselves by not appearing in successful movies budget-wise, but instead, in indie films that were meaningful and thought-provoking. Because of the constant hate he was receiving, Thomson declined the offer of starring in Birdman 4 and decided to create his own indie projects. But even after his attempts of trying to become a ‘real actor,’ the critics ridiculed him for trying to be someone that he wasn’t and for also being another typical Hollywood actor. Thomson at this point had no idea what to do and realized that he could never meet the demands from the critics.

The obstacles that Thomson faces throughout the film is something that can completely relate to actors and celebrities in real life and what they do in order to remain relevant in the entertainment industry. Actors constantly go through the repeating process of being ridiculed and mocked for every decision that they make and basically have to conform to the media’s perceptions or else they would continue to receive hate. An actor’s public image is constantly being poked at at all times because if their career is perhaps not doing so well, they get mocked for it and same goes for when their career is actually successful. The ability for actors to find peace with the public and the media is quite impossible because critics will always find a way to judge them.

What the movie Birdman does so successfully is that they were able to expose the pressure that critics and the overall public put on actors and celebrities. The pressure that these celebrities face is something that people usually overlook, but hopefully this film can alter their perception on movie stardom and the entertainment industry.

Oswald Cobblepot: Walking Alone In The Dark

Everyone needs a little bit of crazy in their lives, which is probably the reason why so many fans just can’t get enough of Oswald Cobblepot. In the new TV series from FOX, Gotham, Oswald Cobblepot (Robin Lord Taylor) started out as umbrella man for the night club owner, Fish Mooney (Jada Pinkett Smith), who taught him everything that he needed to know about the criminal underworld. After gaining knowledge about the famous mafia families located in Gotham City, he decided to someday become a character that everyone respected and yet feared. To achieve his new goal, he created schemes in order to manipulate the two biggest mafias, so that he would eventually become the most powerful man in Gotham.

In the most recent episodes of Gotham, it was revealed that Oswald Cobblepot was able to overthrow Fish Mooney, which allowed him to become a step closer to gaining power. With Mooney’s night club in need of a new owner, Oswald decided to make it his own, in hopes that it would gain him higher standards. Oswald was able to turn two notorious mafia families against each other and his schemes were only successful because of his grit that allowed him to pull through difficult situations. Now that all of his hard work has paid off, he has to reflect on the consequences of his perseverance.

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What are the consequences of persevering?

Oswald Cobblepot’s only intention is to become the man that everyone thinks of when they hear about Gotham and the only way for him to reach his goal is to manipulate the people around him when they least expect it. Not only did Oswald have to manipulate others, but he also had to deal with the numerous violent crimes that happened in Gotham on a daily basis. Because he was involved with multiple mafia families and gangs, he was always in harms way and almost died in countless situations. His dream of becoming the most powerful man in Gotham was no walk in the park, but he was able to last this long because of his perseverance. As things eventually started to get better for Oswald, he began to ponder the idea if he’s walking alone in the dark.

For example, on the opening day of Oswald’s new night club, he went to meet Jim Gordon (Ben Mckenzie), a new recruit in the Gotham City Police Department (who is probably the only character with a moral compass), so that he could give him an invitation. Because Jim saved Oswald’s life once, Oswald jumps at any opportunity to repay his debt, but Jim decided to keep his distance. When Oswald learned about this, he was upset because he really believed that he and Jim could have been great friends. Later that day at the opening event of Oswald’s club, only a handful of people arrived, which made him wonder if this had to do with his new role in Gotham.

The consequence of Oswald’s schemes to become Gotham’s new leader is that his journey to the top will have to be done alone. His road to success will have to be solo due to his actions in order to become the man that everyone will fear; his perseverance consisted of manipulating others and the outcome of this was that no one wanted to congratulate or share his success. As people started to understand his true intentions, they either kept their distance or despised him. He is basically walking alone in the dark, but he brought this entirely on himself. Knowing that it’s Oswald Cobblepot, he wouldn’t change anything if he had the opportunity to, but that doesn’t stop him from questioning his actions. There will always be consequences to one’s actions, but it’s up to them to decide whether the positive or negative outcomes will effect them. So far, as the audience can tell, Oswald is still motivated by his desires, which means he has accepted his fate. Whether he will eventually correct his mistakes or continue to scam others, we don’t know. It’s still too early in the season for the audience to figure out his intentions, but if we all know one thing, it’s that Oswald Cobblepot has a knack for being unpredictable.