There's 104 days of summer vacation And school comes along just to end it So the annual problem for our generation Is Narrative Collapse

     As I start to complete my excessive amount of homework, Phineas and Ferb’s never ending summer sounds so amazing right now. However, after reading Present Shock, I realized that Phineas and Ferb is an amazing example of a Narrative Collapse as well. Rushkoff explains our first symptom of Present Shock with the concept of Narrative Collapse, a metanarrative that does not make sense. In today’s digital world, we are constantly accessing information and there are no valuable stories that help in our search for meaning. Seinfeld, Friends, The Simpsons, Family Guy, South Park, The Office also tell a linear story with a beginning, a middle and an end. We live in an era of “storyless TV.” Seinfeld is about “nothing.” Reality TV is another example of storyless TV. Present shock deconstructs the narratives that give life meaning and purpose. Deconstructed in this style, the animated comedy-musical television series, Phineas and Ferb looses its ability to tell stories over time. The linear narrative structure had been abused by television’s storytellers that it stopped working, on younger people who were raised in the more interactive media environment. As a whole, Phineas and Ferb is not a complete story, and each episode can exist on its own.

Phineas Flynn and his stepbrother Ferb Fletcher are on summer vacation and every episode is a new day of summer. Their controlling sister, Candace attempts to show their ridiculous projects and inventions to their mother. The show has a standard plot system and an additional plot that features their pet, Perry the Platypus working as a spy for OWCA (the Organization Without a Cool Acronym), to defeat Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz, a mad scientist driven by a need to assert his evilness. The two plots eventually overlap at the end of the show, erasing the boys' project before Candace can show it to their mother, which occurs every episode resulting in a continuous pattern throughout the series.  The series is also known for its musical numbers, which have appeared in almost every episode since the first season. Phineas and Ferb is now the longest running Disney Channel Original Series.  On May 7, 2015, it was officially announced that the series has wrapped up after four seasons, and the final hour-long episode titled "Phineas and Ferb: Last Day of Summer" would premiere on June 12, 2015 on Disney XD.

     The episodes of Phineas and Ferb follow a pattern. First, Phineas gets an idea for a project, and he says, "Ferb, I know what we're gonna do today!" Then, Perry escapes using hidden tunnels, to a secret underground base. Then, a chatacter says, "Hey, where's Perry?" Major Monogram tells Perry that “Doctor Doofenshmirtz is up to something; find out what it is, and stop it!" Candace finds out what the boys are doing, and tries to tell Mom. Perry breaks into the office of Doofenschmirtz Evil Inc. Doofenschmirtz traps Perry and explains his evil plan. Perry escapes the trap and they fight. When Mom comes home, all evidence of their project is gone because of Doofenschmirtz's device. Doofenschmirtz then says, "Curse you Perry the Platypus!"

The show also has pop-cultural references.  We cannot tell traditional stories because we no longer live within ancient Aristotelian narratives with their beginnings, middles, and ends. Technology killed narrative because we do not have to watch commercials or entire shows. We are experiencing a Narrative Collapse because we could turn on any part of a Phineas and Ferb episode and we do not have to wait for the plot to unfold due to the plot line's unpredictability.

     Phineas and Ferb is a postmodern, presentist narrative. As Rushkoff states, in our modern stories, “Characters must learn how their universes work. Narrativity is replaced by something more like putting together a puzzle by making connections and recognizing patterns.” (Rushkoff 37). Candace struggles to catch her brothers, but her proof is always absent by the time her mom gets home. Rushkoff explains postnarrative storytelling when he states, “There is plot—there are many plots—but there is no overarching story, no end. There are so many plots, in fact, that an ending tying everything up seems inconceivable, even beside the point,” (Rushkoff 41). Phineas and Ferb have multiple scenarios that occur in the same sequence of events, but when the season tried to end the show on the “last day of summer”, the episode was unimaginable since Phineas and Ferb’s ending was pointless. Plus, Disney XD will always play reruns of their old summer days! (thank god) Therefore, Phineas and Ferb will “always be on” and I will always be envious of their never ending summer.

Rushkoff, Douglass. Present Shock: When Everything Happens Now. New York: Penguin, 2013. Nook.

A Moveable Gluten Free Feast!

In Ernest Hemingway’s autobiography, A Moveable Feast, first person point of view allows the reader to visualize Hemingway’s judgments of other characters, and learn about Hemingway’s life through his own reflections. Occasionally when he explains the setting, Hemingway tends to speak in the second person. Hemingway’s writing style includes a comedic and satirical tone. His supplementing humor is effective while reading about his life and encounters with other characters because the situational and verbal irony hold the reader’s interest. Hemingway addresses the characters in a humorous way and expresses his opinion of the characters without thinking before he speaks. The comical style is demonstrated when he describes Fitzgerald, “Scott was a man then who looked like a boy with a face between handsome and pretty. He had very fair wavy hair, a high forehead, excited eyes and a delicate long-lipped Irish mouth that, on a girl, would have been the mouth of a beauty. His chin was well built and he had good ears and a handsome, almost beautiful, unmarked nose. This should not have added up to a pretty face, but that came from the coloring, the very fair hair and the mouth. The mouth worried you until you knew him and then it worried you more,” (Hemmingway 231). When his good friend, Fitzgerald is ill from alcohol addiction, Hemingway believes that Fitzgerald is acting crazy and does not behave in a serious manner. His use of comedic tone throughout the novel adds layers of meaning even when he discusses serious events.

In addition to Hemingway’s effective use of an amusing tone, his style and narrative structure add layers of connotation. Hemingway confuses the reader and his writing style excludes important details from the novel. He does not specify character’s names and leaves out important plot points forcing the reader to use their imagination or to comprehend his stories at a deeper level. Hemingway also uses the seasons as a treatment of time. Spring is portrayed as the best time of life and fall is depicted as a sad time of his career. Hemingway explains the seasons and how they affect life when he states, “But you knew there would always be the spring, as you knew the river would flow again after it was frozen. When the cold rains kept on and killed the spring, it was as though a young person had died for no reason,” (Hemmingway 45). The novel is an example of form following content because the story line is structured based on the seasons and his most important memories, resulting in a confusing plot.

In AP Language, we are learning to understand a writer’s purpose, audience, subject, and genre and how they affect expository, analytical, and argumentative compositions. Hemmingway is efficient at painting a picture and helping the reader visualize scenes and characters. He uses satire, hyperboles, and polysyndetons to emphasize his own thoughts. He focuses on writing a novel has meaning and is worth the read. Throughout his writing career, Hemingway meets various writers that inspire him to create new techniques, such as confusing the reader and encouraging them to use their imagination. 

Work Cited

Hemingway, Ernest.  A Moveable Feast. New York: Scribner, 2009. Print.