My name is Mitchell Stanford and I’m from Austin, Texas. I came to New York to study Strategic Design and Management, a broadly applicable business degree. The first time I realized my talent had been inside was when I was three or four, playing with my grandfather’s art supplies, Last year, I started designing and making clothes for the annual fashion show that is hosted by the fine arts high school I attended. This ultimately solidified my interest in art and specifically design. In one semester at Parsons, I have discovered new technologies and methods of writing and creating art. My transformed understanding of art has revamped my creativity and helped me grow into a more knowledgeable creator.
In my Studio course, we made a zine that addressed a social issue within a movie of our choice. My zine was narrated by a boy named Chuckie, who defended Spider-Man as a hero and not a vigilante. For the design aspect, I had previously made a zine and found that taking up the entire space was a successful design decision. I used Photoshop to turn my hand drawings into digitized designs and Indesign to make the booklet’s final layout. Using programs like these inspires me to keep designing and creating. For the content of the book, I had to research more about Spider-Man’s hero arc. In later Spider-Man movies, he does possess greater and unlimited power, but in the movie I watched, he had just acquired his powers and used them only for good. I told this story of the zine in the present setting of the movie to argue his heroism. I feel that the most successful part of the zine was that it relayed as a comic book, which was my intent.
When translating the material in the zine to a complete research paper, I had to tweak my argument: I couldn’t debate whether Spider-Man is a hero or vigilante. Instead, I wrote about how power can be used in many ways; whether it is for good or bad depends on who exercises it and their objectives. To supplement my position, I included how masculinity is a factor for how rulers run their government. I pointed to the definition of a hero from the Romantic Era, information about the lifecycle of a hero, and an excerpt discussing complex masculinities. From my research, I learned that superheroes and leaders alike possess more traditional masculine qualities and their behavior is based on their intrinsic character.
During my research, I stumbled upon an interesting article about how Spider-Man 2 was a movie made in response to the 9/11 attacks. Due to the scope of my research, I did not delve into this topic, but I am interested in exploring Spider-Man 2 and other Blockbuster films that were made in response to other important contemporary events. Movies are huge undertakings that often have a larger meaning than the plot, so it is important to be able to research and understand the complexity of the meanings of these productions. Through using the library and Writing Center for help, I learned how to use The New School’s resources for better researching methods.