Author: Offbeat Thesis

The Fall of Ted Lasso, Or: How Media Literacy is Important to Enjoying Stories

Offbeat Thesis

The internet often talks about the fall of Ted Lasso, by which they mean the perceived fall from grace of the show, especially in the third season. They mean the shift from the mostly saccharine first season to the diluted second season to the bitter third season. Think pieces and video essays around the world complain that the show lost its way. As is the entire thesis of this site, the internet is always wrong.

When I say the Fall of Ted Lasso, I don’t mean the fall of Ted Lasso. The show, Ted Lasso, is not a sitcom, a medium full of sacchrinitiy, whose conflicts are mostly misunderstandings, unusual circumstances, and cruelty. Despite the jokes, its sweet veneer, and its happy endings, it’s not necessarily accurate to call the first three seasons of Ted Lasso a comedy (technically it is, but it’s also mostly not). Those first three seasons of Ted Lasso are about the Fall of Ted Lasso, or to be more precise the downfall of Ted Lasso.

From the very beginning, the show tells the audience exactly what it’s doing and where it’s going. The very impetus for Ted Lasso to agree to go to coach for AFC Richmond in the first place is because his marriage was falling apart. His wife, Michelle, had fallen out of love with him and asked for space. While he obliged her, putting the Atlantic Ocean between them, Ted Lasso starts his journey in Ted Lasso in a hurt and confused state, trying to understand what happened to their marriage and why he can’t fix it.

Before we move on, we need to go back to the basics a little, so I can show my work. There are two main factors at play: Tragedies versus Comedies and Rise, Fall, Redemption. The first is required to understand the second, which is an observation of my own, so I’ll start at the beginning because I’d rather repeat something everyone knows for the sake of those whose education systems failed them.

Tragedies versus Comedies

Many, if not most, people are aware of the dynamic between the original use of comedy and tragedy, but not everyone is. For those unaware, in their most simplistic definitions, a comedy is the rise of the protagonist (or protagonists, but we’ll say it in the singular for the sake of this essay), often ending with a joyous celebration, where a tragedy is the fall of the protagonist, often ending in some kind of mournful observation.

While comedies are often full of joy, jokes, and banter, that’s not always the case. There is very little fun that exists within the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but under that ancient definition of comedy, that’s exactly what it is. The heroes encounter many great struggles, but in the end they overcome them to save the day, followed by a grand celebration. Even the likes of Batman Begins, which has very little humor or lightheartedness and lacks any kind of joyous celebration, is still considered a comedy in this context because it ends with a triumphant hero.

In the same way, a tragedy doesn’t need to be joyless to be a tragedy. Romeo and Juliet, which has many lighthearted moments, and at many times could be mistaken for a romantic comedy, is no less a tragedy. It ends with the dual suicide of the two star-crossed lovers, worse due to a tragic misunderstanding.

Modern American audiences do not seem to like tragedies for the most part. Plenty exist. Se7en and American Beauty are shining examples of modern American tragedies (or at minimum they’re the ones that pop to my addling Elder Millennial mind first), but the vast majority of media made for modern American audiences end on a high note. While I think that ending on a low note in Ted Lasso could have been more fitting in many ways, I don’t know if it would’ve served the story as well, and it for sure would’ve alienated the American audience it was appealing to. As a result, the denouement for Ted Lasso needed to be joyful, thus negating its position as a tragedy, even if the whole of the story was building towards tragedy.

[As a bit of an explainer, a denouement is the resolution of a story following the climax. It’s where character arcs are tied up, story arcs are resolved, events are explained, and/or the moral of the story is highlighted, among other things. The denouement precedes the conclusion and the epilogue.]

Ted Lasso otherwise follows the downfall of Ted Lasso, culminating in Ted’s “Thank You and Fuck You” monologue from the penultimate episode, “Mom City,” which is the actual climax of the series, not the final game of the season against West Ham United. Yes, at first glance it would awkwardly place the entirety of the final episode, “So Long, Farewell,” of Ted Lasso as the denouement, but it actually more accurately applies to the events of the episode, or at least the events leading up to the epilogue.

The scenes of “So Long, Farewell” play out as moments wrapping up the stories of each of the characters in Ted Lasso, as is tradition in planned series finales of shows, especially with sitcoms. What it is not is a standalone story with a distinct beginning, middle, and end. Thus, the entire final episode of the first three seasons is a denouement, whose goal is to send off all of the heroes of the story into joyful endings, thus making it a comedy, despite its climax.

In a brief summery of “So Long, Farewell,” Rebecca Welton is tempted to sell either some or all of AFC Richmond, Roy Kent and Jamie Tartt fight each other over the affection of Keeley Jones, who rejects both of them, the team performs a rendition of The Sound of Music‘s “So Long, Farewell” for Ted Lasso and Coach Beard as a farewell gift, Trent Crimm finishes his book, Nathan Shelley returns as an AFC Richmond kit man, and AFC Richmond beats West Ham United to get second in the Premier League, during which Rupert Mannion finally loses his temper and leaves the stadium in disgrace as his team is on the cusp of losing, culminating with Ted and Rebecca having an emotional farewell and Beard choosing to stay in London to be with Jane while Ted returns to Kansas City. In the epilogue, Rebecca runs into the man she met in Amsterdam after running into his daughter, she sells 49% of the team to the fans, Trent changes the name of the book from The Ted Lasso Way to The Richmond Way, Rupert is removed as West Ham’s owner, Roy becomes the new head coach of AFC Richmond, Sam is on the Nigerian national football team, Jamie reconnects with his rehabilitated father, the Believe sign is restored, Beard marries Jane Payne, and Ted is home, coaching his son’s soccer team.

Rise, Fall, Redemption

While I make no claim of being the sole person to have figured out this pattern, especially considering how prevalent it is, the one that I’ve noticed that endures is Rise, Fall, Redemption. The pattern exists at all levels of a story, and permeates throughout it. The story as a whole, each act, the individual scenes, and all of the characters have their arcs of Rise, Fall, Redemption. Even tragedies, who forgo redemption in its climax or during the denouement, still have moments of Rise, Fall, Redemption throughout.

What do I mean by Rise, Fall, Redemption? In short, the Rise is the initial improvement beginning from homeostasis, by which I mean as it existed at the beginning of the cycle; the Fall is the setback or downfall from the peak of the Rise, which is triggered by conflict, and ends below homeostasis; and the Redemption is the final improvement, which ends the cycle in an even better place than the end of the Rise. This, I know, is a very nebulous definition, but the Rise, Fall, Redemption exists at all levels of storytelling, and each character, conflict, chapter, and story has their own Rise, Fall, and Redemption, so an initial definition that is non-specific is necessary to lay the groundwork to show how it works in general before showing how the first three seasons of Ted Lasso is the Fall of Ted Lasso.

To provide a baseline example of Rise, Fall, Redemption, I’ll show how it exists in its most platonic ideal, which is in the original Star Wars trilogy. Across the original Star Wars trilogy, A New Hope is the Rise, The Empire Strikes Back is the Fall, and Return of the Jedi is the Redemption.

The homeostasis at the beginning of the trilogy is the Galactic Empire is in seemingly total control of the galaxy, with some resistance, chiefly from the Rebellion. Throughout the course of A New Hope, the primary protagonists (Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, and Han Solo) and the secondary protagonists (Chewbacca, R2D2, and C3PO) of the trilogy are collected, they mount a assault on the attacking Death Star, destroy the Death Star, and celebrate the Rebellion’s first major success against the Galactic Empire. While there are plenty of ups and downs, the trajectory of the story is upward. The story, and its characters, are on the rise.

In The Empire Strikes Back, the Rebellion suffers a major defeat where they lose their base on Hoth, Luke Skywalker leaves the Rebellion to get more training, Han Solo is betrayed by Lando Calrissian and captured in Cloud City on Bespin, Luke abandons his training with Master Yoda (who dies) to save the other protagonists, it’s revealed that Luke is actually Darth Vader’s son, and the protagonists limp off to lick their wounds, defeated. Throughout the movie, events transpire and choices are made that place the heroes of story in a much lower place than where they started. It’s true that there are some small victories, in order for them to fall below where they started, even those small victories have to be bittersweet.

In Return of the Jedi, Lando Calrissian becomes an additional secondary protagonist, Han Solo is rescued by the rest of the protagonists, the Rebellion mounts an attack on the second Death Star still in construction, Luke Skywalker faces of against Darth Vader (who is redeemed), Emperor Palpatine is defeated, and the Rebellion celebrates the eventual downfall of the Galactic Empire. The story starts at a low spot, still lower than where they began at the outset of the trilogy, but throughout the course of the movie, they’re able to generally quickly rise to new heights, achieving their ultimate goals completely. They didn’t just destroy a second Death Star, they defeated the Emperor and took down the Galactic Empire. Redemption isn’t just getting you back to where you started, but in a much better place than where you ended the Rise.

The Fall of Ted Lasso

Unlike most stories, the Rise of Ted Lasso doesn’t happen during Ted Lasso, or rather it’s more accurate to say that it wasn’t explored during the show. It’s mentioned as a part of the setup, and otherwise referenced, but it’s not fully explored. In summation, Ted Lasso led the fictional Wichita State Shockers to their first national title, as Division II championships, the first in the school’s history. He didn’t lead a good team to the ultimate end. He started with a “garbage program” and won in his very first season with the team. He even ended with a celebration in true Comedy fashion, and in the denouement he became an internet sensation.

For every Rise, there is a Fall. As pointed out earlier, Ted Lasso starts with Ted Lasso in the midst of a marriage that fell apart. They aren’t explicit with what happened, but being a head coach at the college and professional levels is incredibly time consuming all year round. There is always a training camp, somewhere to go for scouting and recruiting, some kind of combine, workouts, and some kind of game management to be had. For head coaches, and probably a lot of the coaching staff, it’s an 80 hour week all year long. Being in a relationship with someone who works that much is a lot like having a long distance relationship with someone who you live with. It’s easy to imagine how Ted and Michelle’s marriage fell apart. It’s also easy to see how as the person working that much wouldn’t necessarily be aware of a marriage falling apart as it’s happening.

That’s where Ted Lasso starts. Equal parts not quite fully understanding why his marriage is falling apart (well fallen apart, but he didn’t know that), trying to maintain a brave face, and keeping up his positive attitude, Ted Lasso braves on, doing his best to make a bad situation as good as he can. He’s not yet aware that he’s a total mess, as Sassy Collins would eventually inform him.

While not everything in Ted Lasso’s life in Ted Lasso is in a downward trajectory (as mentioned, Rise, Fall, Redemption is a cycle that exists at multiple levels throughout an entire story), Ted Lasso’s journey (as opposed to the trajectory Ted Lasso) is marred with more struggles than successes, and even those successes are often undercut by his struggles. As a prime example, in “Make Rebecca Great Again,” the night before AFC Richmond’s victory against Liverpool’s Everton FC, Ted is being pushed to sign the divorce paperwork by his soon-to-be ex-wife and her lawyer, and he ends up snapping at Nathan Shelley. After their win, the team goes out to celebrate, which is where he has his first panic attack, during Rebecca Welton’s rendition of “Let it Go.”

This isn’t to say that Ted Lasso itself isn’t as a whole more tragedy than comedy (denouement notwithstanding), as the struggles that Ted Lasso endures are at the center of Ted Lasso, but I will say that it’s a bit less clear. Ted Lasso’s story isn’t the only one that exists in Ted Lasso. Nathan Shelley’s entire arc is Rise, Fall, Redemption as perfectly partitioned by each season. Keeley Jones’ arc also perfectly maps to the three seasons of Ted Lasso. Rebecca Welton’s Fall happens en media res, where hers starts before the series starts, and her Redemption arc starts at the end of the first season, concluding with meeting the mysterious man from Amsterdam (Matthjis) in the episode, “Sunflowers.” Roy Kent’s Fall is also in progress at the beginning of Ted Lasso, shifting to Redemption when he joins the coaching staff, although his relationship with Keeley is in Rise until he breaks up with her, and is currently in Fall. Coach Beard’s primary Rise, Fall, Redemption arc happened before the events of Ted Lasso, where he and Ted became friends as special teams back-ups, his drug addiction, and eventual Redemption as becoming a permanent assistant coach and friend with Ted Lasso (although his relationship with Jane Payne is a different conversation). Each of the rest of the characters have their own Rise, Fall, Redemption arcs, existing at various points before, throughout, and after the first three seasons of Ted Lasso, but I’ve provided enough examples to establish the pattern.

To hit the highlights of Ted Lasso’s personal arc, by which I mean the things that actually have a significant impact on Ted’s life, in order to show my work properly, within the first three seasons of Ted Lasso are:

  • Ted arrives in London to coach a sport he has no experience in, in a Hail Mary effort to save his marriage on the verge of collapse, who is hired with the express effort of imploding the team (a la Major League), and is met with resentment and outright hostility by the fans, the press, and the players
  • Michelle and Henry, his wife and son, visit Ted, where Michelle eventually confesses that she no longer loves Ted, and believes she never will again, to which Ted lets her go and agrees to a divorce
  • Ted signs his divorce paperwork after being pushed by Michelle and her lawyer, as well as his first panic attack, although it ends in a night with Sassy Collins
  • The Diamond Dogs are formed in order to help Ted process his feelings about sleeping with Sassy
  • Ted and Coach Beard get in a fight about his attitude that wins and losses don’t matter
  • Dr. Sharon Fieldstone, a sports psychologist, is hired, who Ted resents, and has an adversarial relationship for a long time, although he eventually comes to respect and rely on
  • Ted falls into despair on Christmas after his attempt to have some kind of celebration via FaceTime goes awry, although Rebecca swoops in and rescues him from things getting truly dark
  • Ted suffers his second panic attack of the show, and the first in public, which is the impetus of him seeking help with Dr. Sharon
  • While getting ready to go to the funeral for Rebecca’s father, Ted has his third panic attack, where he reveals that his father committed suicide and how that impacted his life; Nathan Shelley leaks to the press that Ted has been having panic attacks, which was the real reason why he left the game earlier in the season
  • Over FaceTime, Henry casually shows Ted a gift he got from “Jake,” who is later revealed to be his former marriage counselor, Dr. Jacob Branson, which has him reeling
  • After another night of passion, Ted asks Sassy out, which she declines, explaining that he’s a total mess, later confirmed by the Diamond Dogs
  • Ted finds out Henry bullied another kid, which is antithetical to who Ted is
  • Ted goes to an American themed restaurant where he watches a Chicago Bulls game and has an epiphany, leading him to independently reinvent Total Football, which leads the team to massive success, eventually qualifying AFC Richmond to play in the (UEFA) Champions League
  • Ted finds out and Dr. Jacob is taking Michelle to Paris, where he assumes he will propose to her, which sends him into a tailspin, even enlisting Rebecca to hire him a private investigator to find out, although she eventually talks him down and Ted returns to enjoy his time with Henry
  • Ted confronts his mother in the aforementioned “Thank You and Fuck You” speech, where she tells him to move back to the US, as Henry misses Ted and needs him
  • Ted quits AFC Richmond, returns to Kansas and coaches Henry’s team.

Obviously, while not everything listed above is negative, nor is it everything that happened to Ted, but the things that truly impact Ted’s life, which is a lot different than the things he does teaching life lessons to others or helping them, when compiled, it’s hard to not see a downward trajectory. It’s hard to see the first three seasons of Ted Lasso as anything other than the Fall of Ted Lasso.

Even though there are other things that surround Ted Lasso in the show, and all of the characters and events have their own arcs, Ted Lasso is ultimately about Ted Lasso, and the tone and events of everything going on around Ted have to be in service of the about its central figure. Hence, Ted Lasso is mostly a Tragedy, which the Internet mostly didn’t get, which is why most people didn’t like it as much as they could’ve.

Enjoying the Story Being Told

There is nothing easier than being passive, and that’s just as true for consuming media as it is as anything else. Don’t get me wrong, not everything needs to be analyzed and deconstructed, Ted Lasso included. There is a ton of value in just mindlessly consuming a piece of media that makes you feel good in some way, that’s a totally fair way to consume media. However, developing strong media literacy can help you understand and appreciate what you’re consuming more, even the most mindless drivel, but that experience will always be enhanced by trying to understand the story trying to being told. Yes, even reality television.

Criticism has two definitions. The second definition, and the one that most are familiar with, is expressing negative judgement of something, someone, or actions taken. The first definition is the analysis and evaluation of the attributes of media, including literature, poems, music, movies, shows, plays, art, or just about anything that can be analyzed or evaluated.

When you apply that first principle of criticism, the goal is to find a deeper understanding of the media being engaged. It’s important to understand the artistic intent, otherwise you can’t make an effective analysis. Sometimes you can point to the artist’s own words, but all too often you have to look to the text itself, metaphorically speaking, to identify an artist’s intention. If you don’t, you risk missing the point entirely, and take away the wrong message. That’s how you have the widespread misunderstanding of “The Road Not Taken” from just about every commencement speaker ever, and along with it a message that was never intended. Or, if you want a more succinct and widely applicable example, the idiom of “a few bad apples” is a misread of the metaphor, “one bad apple ruins the whole barrel,” which is to say that the rot of even one bad actor can infect the rest of the people in a group or organization, which is why it’s important to remove the rotten “apple” in the first place.

In the case of Ted Lasso, by taking the time to analyze the actual text of the show and not just let the good vibes that the first season is using to create a contrast for the Fall of Ted Lasso wash over you, you’re better able to understand and appreciate what’s going on in the second and third seasons a whole lot more. Which isn’t to say that you necessarily need to have figured it out right away. It was no more obvious to me at first as it was to anyone else. I, too, initially dismissed the initial clues about the direction that the writers were talking us down. It wasn’t until the second season episode, “Carol of the Bells,” where Ted Lasso was on the brink of absolute despair before being rescued by Rebecca, which is some 60% of the way through the second season, when I really started to realize what they were doing.

Criticism isn’t a thing you do once and forget about it forever. It’s a thing you do throughout an entire piece of media. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a thing you have to be actively doing all the time, especially if you’re just consuming it for entertainment, but it’s wise to check in with yourself every now and then, or at minimum when it breaks your expectations. Did they fail to achieve their goals or should you reassess your expectations? The easiest way to do that is to determine whether what they’re doing now is actually in line with what they’ve always been doing, even if you didn’t realize it at first. Were the clues always there, even if you dismissed them, or is there a ton of inconsistency? If you want to go further you can, or you’d rather not then you can skip it, but if you just dismiss a piece of media just because it didn’t achieve your expectation, then you’re the one missing out.

Epilogue: The Redemption of Ted Lasso

I had begun this 7-8 page essay a bit before the start of the fourth season of Ted Lasso, where at the time of publishing the fourth episode of the fourth season, “Greyhounds’ Day Off,” just aired. So far, it’s following the Redemption stage of Ted Lasso’s story to a tee. For those interested, I suggest watching the next three seasons of Ted Lasso with that pattern in mind. It should put a ton in perspective as you’re watching it.

[Old Content] Introversion in an Extroverted World

Offbeat Thesis

Note: This is an essay I wrote a long time ago when I first considered doing Offbeat Thesis. It’s just not a reflection of the direction I’m heading towards now. Still, history is worth preserving.

This is a piece that I wrote for my Speech class four years ago. I quoted heavily from the cited websites at the bottom, but I didn’t use quotation marks and citations within the text is because it was for a speech class, and thus wasn’t necessary. I am sharing this information in my blog because I think it’s useful information for both introverts and extroverts to have. It is by no means new information, but it’s nice to have it collected in one place.

INTRODUCTION:

Attention Grabber: I am an introvert. It may not seem it, but I struggle in a society that seems to be built for extroverts. I never really liked going out and doing the same things as my extroverted friends, but when I was younger I could easily bounce back from the drain. It wasn’t until a year ago, when I went to Las Vegas for my then brother-in-law’s wedding, that I realized that, for introverts, being overstimulated is like dealing with a hangover. It wasn’t until I started doing research for this speech that I discovered that there is a physiological reason why we introverts have a tendency to recluse ourselves.

Topic: Today I will explain to you what it’s like for an introvert to live in an extrovert’s world.

Preview of the Main Points: First, I will give you some insight into the introvert’s brain, in context as opposed to the extrovert’s brain. Second, I will explain how those differences in the introvert’s brain affects how we perceive the world. Third, I will show that Western society is geared towards extroversion, and discuss how that affects the introvert.

**1st Transition: Before I show you what it’s like to live in an extroverted world, you first need to understand the biology of the introvert’s brain.

BODY:

First Point: There are physiological differences between introverts and extroverts.

1. The cerebral cortex is the outer covering of gray matter over the hemispheres. These include areas directly receiving sensory input. The association cortices are important in more complex cortical functions including memory, language, abstraction, creativity, judgement, emotion and attention. The neocortex are the more primitive areas are involved with olfaction and survival functions such as visceral and emotional reactions. The primary visual cortex projects to areas surrounding it, called the visual association areas, where signals are interpreted and form is recognized. There are additional aspects of visual function that are represented in other regions of adjacent cortex, which is necessary for color recognition and recognizing movement. There are auditory association areas surrounding the primary auditory cortex. These areas are involved in the interpretation of sound. In the dominant hemisphere the cortex surrounding the auditory cortex is required for understanding language.

2. According to German psychologist, Hans Eysenck, the behaviors of introverts and extroverts are due to differences in cortical arousal, which is the speed and amount of the brain’s activity. Compared with extroverts, introverts have naturally high cortical arousal, and may process more information per second. Additionally, scientists obtained behavioral and psychophysiological measures as participants, consisting of 16 introverts and 16 extroverts, performed a visual go/no-go task. Although no extroversion-related differences in reaction time emerged, introverts showed faster premotor processing but slower central and peripheral motor processing–as indicated by latencies of the lateralized readiness potential (LRP) and electromyographic (EMG) data, respectively–than extroverts did.

3. Research has also shown that introverts have more activity than extroverts in brain regions associated with vigilance control. Vigilance is sustained concentration, defined by the ability to maintain concentrated attention over prolonged periods of time. During this time, the person attempts to detect the appearance of a particular target stimulus. Research has linked increases in mental workload and allocation of attentional resources with increased activity in the prefrontal cortex. As such, subcortical brain regions associated with arousal play as a critical role in performance of vigilance tasks.

4. The premotor cortex is immediately anterior to the motor cortex and has many of the same connections as the motor cortex. This region receives input from the sensory association cortex as well as feedback from the basal ganglia. Electrical stimulation of this area tends to produce more complex movements and a higher stimulus intensity than the simple movements. Introverts’ premotor cortexes process external stimuli more quickly.

5. The reticular activating system ignites brain activity, which has a higher basal activity for introverts than for extroverts. Basal is the minimal level of activity. The reticular activating system emanates from the brainstem and projects upward to the cerebral cortex via the thalamus. The influence of this system can be described in behavioral terms, such as the ability to think and also the kind of thoughts we have, or it can be described in terms of brain wave activity. The reticular activating system can be described as the ignition system of the brain. It is the system, for example, that helps get your brain geared up to a higher level of activity so you can get out of bed and start your day.

**2nd Transition: Now that you understand how the introvert’s brain takes in information, I will explain how these differences cascade in an extroverted setting.

Second Point: Those physiological differences affect how introverts and extroverts experience social situations.

1. Because introverts process more information per second, if you put introverts into an environment with a lot of stimulation, such as a loud restaurant, they will become overwhelmed or overloaded, causing a sort of shut down to stop the influx of information. Because of this fact, introverts tend to avoid such active environments. Extroverts, on the other hand, are only minimally aroused, so they seek out highly stimulating environments to augment their arousal levels.

2. Increased vigilance from introverts means that introverts have heightened awareness of actions around them, thus increasing the overwhelming sensations. More recent studies indicate that vigilance is hard work, requiring the allocation of significant cognitive resources, and inducing significant levels of stress. Since an introvert is naturally taking in an overwhelming amount of sensory data coupled with an increased amount of vigilance, compared to extroverts, that overload becomes significantly more stressful.

3. The ability to process stimuli faster in the premotor cortex means that that overwhelming information that is being heightened is processed quickly. While it’s true that the premotor cortex is linked to the motor cortex, and is used largely as a means to react to instruction and planning of action, it is easy to see how a overwhelming environment that is heightened by increased vigilance that causes stress would be a burden at the part of the brain that wants to act.

4. This higher basal activity for the reticular activating system means that introverts are naturally more stimulated than extroverts. Simply put, introverts naturally have a higher idle engine than extroverts. Coupled with an engine that wants to react quickly to an overwhelming amount of sensory data that is enhanced by increased vigilance which is causing a lot of stress, it’s no wonder that introverts prefer a quiet night in than a bright, flashing, loud, and intrusive club.

**3rd Transition: Knowing what it’s like is only a small part of the picture.

Third Point: There is a natural bias towards extroverts, which creates problems for introverts

1. Researchers estimate that extroverts make up 50%-74% of the population. There is no definitive data to support any percentage, and any number would be an estimation at best. It was originally postulated that extroverts outnumbered introverts 3:1, but it wan’t until recently that number has been challenged.

2. Western culture, especially American culture, is biased towards extroverted ideals, which an extroverted ideal dominates and introversion is viewed as inferior or even pathological. As a whole, it is the omnipresent belief that the ideal self is gregarious, alpha, and comfortable in the spotlight. Western societies ideal praises oratory strength and favors the man of action over the man of contemplation. In a culture that is biased against them, introverts are pressured to at like extroverts instead of embracing their serious, often quiet, and reflective style.

3. Since social environments are geared toward extroverts, they are overwhelming to introverts.  Western culture is built towards extroverted ideals. This has bled into all facets of life, to include places of entertainment and relaxation. Bars are a great example of this simple fact, which often play imposingly loud music and have all sorts of games and distractions, all accompanied by bright lights. Music at concerts are played at deafening levels, which all too often come with an even wider assortment of flashing lights, lasers, and set pieces. These things that draw extroverts like a moth to a flame, because they require the extra external stimulation that introverts get at rest, are painful for introverts who must endure them to enjoy any piece of Western civilization.

**4th Transition: Now that we have a better understanding what it’s like to live as an introvert in an extrovert’s world, let’s review what we have discussed so far.

CONCLUSION:

Review: Today I shared with you the biology of an introvert’s brain, how an introvert’s brain processes sensory inputs, and a world that is seemingly overwhelmingly extroverted for introverts.

Ending: Now that you have a better understanding of what it’s like to be an introvert, you have a better understanding of the living hell that the Las Vegas game floor was for me. I was only on the floor when I absolutely had to be, but when I was, the flashing lights, loud sounds, and pervasive hum of conversation was simply unbearable. If I had gone when I was younger, and had the energy to withstand such a sensory onslaught, I might have enjoyed myself, even a little, but the older you get the longer it takes to recoup from attacks on the body and the brain, and the more you want to avoid things that hurt you.

Citations:

[Old Content] Why Breath of the Wild’s Princess Zelda is Actually a Positive Feminine Example

Offbeat Thesis

Note: This is an essay I wrote a long time ago when I first considered doing Offbeat Thesis. While I continue to stand by the piece, it’s not a reflection of the direction I’m heading towards now. That’s not to say I won’t write a similar piece in the future, maybe even using Zelda as the subject, but it won’t be exactly this. Still, history is worth preserving.

Ooh boy. That’s going to get people real mad real fast, but it’s not click-bait. I honestly believe it, and I hope you’ll understand why I say it by the end. Just keep an open mind and hold on to your outrage until you’ve heard me out.

A very quick background as to why this is coming now, and not over a year ago when the game came out. It’s a lot less complex than you’d think (as is often the case). When Breath of the Wild came out, I was in the last leg of my senior year of college. I tried to play some, but (despite what non-English majors will tell you) English is a no-joke major, especially in your senior year. Double that as a non-traditional student with real-world adult responsibilities. I simply didn’t have time to get engrossed in the story, and I ended up losing all the free time I had. So, over a year later, as my life has started to cool down I decided to start all over.

A Hero is Born

IMG_0178.JPGWhy do I think that Princess Zelda is a positive feminine example? Because you get to see her hero’s journey. Granted, it’s through Link, but it’s there nonetheless. We don’t just see Zelda as the powerful sorceress that she is by the start of the game. We see her from the beginning, where she lacks any confidence and is unsure of her place in the world.

This is important. Many heroes are a victim of their world and their circumstances. Luke Skywalker was the child of Darth Vader, Frodo the inheritor of the One Ring, and Don Quixote lost his grip on reality. That didn’t stop them from doing the right thing when it was their time to stand up, but it is important to remember where they started.

In fact, Zelda starts out as an even stronger character than many of her male counterparts. She knows she has the power to be the hero her people needs. It’s not that she doesn’t have the drive to be great. She just doesn’t have the confidence in herself to think she alone has the strength needed to defeat Ganon. That lack of understanding of her own strength pushes her to try to fall into the background, and use her knowledge and scientific understanding to aid in the effort to defeat Ganon.

The primary difference between her and her male counterparts isn’t so much about capacity as it is approach. While unfortunate, men are culturally driven to step out into the world without any regard for anything in front of them, where women are discouraged from seizing the reins of control. As a result, when confronted by each of their arduous tasks, the male heroes jump straight into traffic without regard, where female heroes take a more self-consious journey.

A Strength of Spirit

IMG_0603I want to get one thing out of the way. In most incarnations of Princess Zelda, she is a total bad ass. Ganon doesn’t lock her up in a tower as a part of some weird Mario/Bowser fantasy. Princess Zelda is almost categorically the most powerful person in any kingdom of Hyrule. Ganondorf locks Princess Zelda up for that exct reason. He’s afraid of her, and is very strategically removing the biggest threat first.

Do you know who Ganon is not afraid of? Link. He may fear the Master Sword, and he’s long since learned to not underestimate its weilder, but Link is only a threat in that he is routinely the one that unleashes Princess Zelda. Note that I didn’t say frees or saves. All he does is unlocks the door and stands with the sword in hand to strike the final blow to seal Ganon away again.

In most Legend of Zelda games, Princess Zelda is far more self-assured, and has a greater understanding of what’s needed. In the original Legend of Zelda title, the reason why she was kidnapped by Ganon is because she split the Triforce of Wisdom and spread it across the kingdom. That is a high level understanding of what she needed to do, and an act of extreme power. She split apart an artifact of divine power and hid it all away behind very powerful guardians.

IMG_0604Breath of the Wild‘s Princess Zelda is obviously not there for most of the memories that Link recovers. She grows little by little over time, but it’s not until the end that she gains the wisdom and understanding needed to unlock her true potential. I could see where that moment could be misconstrued as her only being able to come into her own for the sake of a man, but I don’t think that’s the way it was at all. Princess Zelda doesn’t unlock her true potential to save Link.

Watching Link fall like that helped her realize that the power she had didn’t come from some shrine, a piece of technology, or an incantation. Princess Zelda always had the strength. What she realized that it was okay to fall. That the only thing that mattered was the fight. The fight for her friends. The fight for her people. The fight against the forces of evil. The fight for everything that is good in the world.

Heroes in All Sizes

IMG_0605How does this make Princess Zelda a positive feminine role model? Because in our culture today women are more free than ever to step out into roles of power. Do we have a long way to go? Yes, but the tides are shifting quickly now. What that also means is that we need to see women at all stages of development. It’s great to see a Diana, Princess of Themyscira, who are fully actualized, and can take on the world with confidence and bravado.

It’s also important to see many different types of women, at various stages of life. If all we see is women at the prime of their power, how are young women going to know that it’s okay to try to find your way there? Is it not going to be hard to think of all great women as being perfect the first time out? What happens if they falter? They can’t look to Wonder Woman for support during struggle, but they can look to Princess Zelda and see that failure is always an option. You can always get back up. The fight is what matters most.