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The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

In the film, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, eight-year-old Bruno moves with his family to the German countryside, due to his father’s – a soldier – recent promotion. However, Bruno finds himself rather lonely, and quite literally jumps out windows to befriend his neighbor, who is trapped behind a barbed wire fence, Shmuel. Instantly, Shmuel and Bruno get along, as they are each other’s only company in a world they do not understand. Is the story told through the innocent eyes of Bruno, as he discovers not only Shmuel’s true identity but his own families, as well as the injustices occurring in his own backyard, to seemingly his own kind.

Due to their innocence and young age, Bruno and Shmuel are able to ignore the labels placed on each other by Nazi rule, and instead see themselves as their true identities, young boys with a desire to play. They are ignorant to the world of injustices occurring daily. In the beginning of the movie, Bruno is kept in the dark by his family of the ongoing devastation only miles away. Instead, he is told it is a farm, but begins to question that notion after meeting Shmuel. While Bruno is unsure if seeing Shmuel is safe or not due to their differing identities and the power of the Nazi’s reign, he decides to keep visiting him anyway. Even though Bruno’s own father is a Nazi soldier, he is able to realize the work he is doing is unjust and form his own opinions. Although Bruno and Shmuel are of very different cultural backgrounds and hold differing identities, they are able to play together as any ordinary children would. The injustice and imbalance of power between the Nazis and Jews do not exist in their universe, as time with together is an escape from the frightening real world.

Although the film primarily tells the story through Bruno’s eyes, it also includes the real-life cruelty the Nazis displayed toward the Jews. Nazis exerted all of their power over the Jews and began placing them in camps, in order to have total control of them. Here, we can relate this to Hegel’s Master Slave Dialect. The Nazis take on the role of Master, thus forcing the Jew to be the Slave. These terms are able to be applied literally here, as the Nazis torture and imprison the Jew for no rhyme or reason. This injustice is an inevitable struggle between the two as Hitler reigns.

Overall, this movie provokes the viewer to not only ask questions but do their own research on the topic as well. While watching, I was intrigued deeper into the ordinary Germans during the Holocaust and wondering if they knew the extent of the ongoing horror. By playing on the pathos side, this film appeals to a wider audience and inspires conversations of the injustice of the Holocaust, by depicting the horrific events scene-by-scene. This movie tells the sad story of two boys from very different cultural backgrounds becoming friends and defying all current political and social odds to conquer the injustice that plagues the adult.

I would like to analyze the story of a broken system, Brian Banks was an American football player who was convicted of a crime he did not do.“The system is broken.” he inspirational true story of Brian Banks, an all-American high school football star who finds his life upended when he’s wrongly convicted of a crime he didn’t commit. Despite the lack of evidence, Banks gets railroaded through a broken justice system and sentenced to a decade of prison and probation. Years later, with the support of Justin Brooks and the California Innocence Project, he fights to reclaim his life and fulfill his dreams of playing in the NFL. Therefore when a female was accused him of rape, everybody believed the women without actual evidence making the court rule against Brian.

In todays systematic system, we would see the exact same thing. We see athletes and people get accused of without sufficient evidence and just take the others person word for it because of their gender. This can relate to all of the inequalities we have analyzed this semester. Gender,Race and Religion can all be apart of how the system treats most human beings. The fact the Brian Banks had to use such a high up lawyer and had to take it to the Supreme Court, to prove his innocents until the victim confessed that it was not real. I hope in the future the type of system that we live in changes to have a better opportunity to resolve our prosecutors.

For the text review I chose to analyze the show Game of Thrones, which is also a series of books written by George R.R. Martin. It is a fictional show depicting a land comprised of 7 different kingdoms with one king who rules over all of them, and there is a constant battle of who is deserving. My main point takes events from earlier seasons of the show, but if I had to specify it would be focused on season 6. One of the main characters, Jon Snow, is a son of one of the kings but he does not have the same mother as the rest of his siblings and is considered a ‘bastard’. They are clearly portrayed in the series because instead of having the last names of their families they have an alternate one such as ‘Snow’. This show is a great example of a portrayal of the concepts we learned of ‘One’ and ‘the Other’. The ‘One’ are clearly the noble families, but Jon is considered the ‘Other’ because he is only a half sibling to his prince and princess siblings. Because of this distinguishment he is not able to have any powerful roles and chooses to join a thing known as the ‘Nights Watch’, which is a group of men at the edge of the land that protects a wall that separates the kingdoms from dangers in the north. The Nights Watch is similar to a halfway house, as prisoners and those who have been outcast are often sent there to help out. Jon becomes one of the favorite characters in the show and helps lead and become higher up in this kingdom. The show starts off with a large gap based on the heritage between the ‘One’ and ‘Other’ but as time goes on the people who were considered the ’Other’ end up being the ones that are the best suited for the important tasks and roles in the show.

For this assignment, I have chosen to review the TV series “Reign”. This series takes focus around the French court and the other European powers of the 1600’s. More specifically, the series revolves around the Queen of Scotland at the time, Mary, Queen of Scots and her romantic life. With most of the attention towards her personal life, this show was characterized as fictional. However, when you watch the diplomatic conflicts that she faces, you are taken into the very real life of a 16^th century queen battling the threat of foreign invasion, internal scrutiny and much more.

Mary’s power over Scotland was inherited from birth since their was no male heir from her father but she further solidified her place as a European power for marrying the king of France, Francis II. With their two year marriage short-lived due to Francis’ death, Mary’s power and identity were constantly questioned. Viewers are reminded early in the series of the time period present and the lack of equality between men and woman that existed then. We are reminded that men of royal blood held supreme power and the women’s power ultimately stemmed from theirs. Knowing this, you can see how Mary’s authority as a single, motherless queen was under the pressure of the whole world at the time.

Through the entirety of our class, we have discussed examples that show inequalities between people at all levels, from individual interactions to worldwide inequalities. This show yet again exemplifies an inequality that, in the scope of the entirety of the human existence, has very recently been addressed. The show not only shines light on the inequality at the level of royalty but also shows glimpses into the life of the common woman. These woman are looked at as objects and slaves with the way they are treated by almost all men of the time. I rejoice in the fact that we are long passed this period of male to female inequality, but we always have to keep in mind where we have evolved from as a society and need to recognize the ripple effects that this inequalities have in our modern society.

Text Review: Harry Potter 

 Harry Potter is known to be one of the most famous and beloved fiction series of all time. With the original storyline that comes with the magic and awe of Hogwarts, it is no wonder that it is so popular. There are however many examples of injustices or inequalities that can be related back to our main class materials. Othering is often used in the series in order to create power dynamics between the characters.  

There are two different types of Wizards at Hogwarts, the pure bloods which come from 2 wizard parents, and mud bloods that come from 1 muggle, normal, and 1 wizard parent. The purebloods often think of themselves as better than the mud bloods because they believe since their blood is ‘pure’ that they are more powerful and therefore possess more skills for leadership. This is however not true since it is just a tactic used in order to create a system of power or a class system in some way. The main pure bloods are Voldemort and the rest of his Death eaters. This group often makes plots to kill all the mud bloods as a point to ‘weed out the weak’ among the wizard population. This is where the othering is used because the more dominant pure bloods are taking over and discriminating against the others since they are different and inherently ‘weaker’. In the end the death eaters face their downfall as most power-hungry groups do but it does create a big divide in magical society for the time being. The mud bloods are made to feel less than for a reason that is both untrue and out of their control. This can relate back to all the inequalities that we have studied throughout this course since it is all about discrimination between groups that cannot control the way that they are.  

I would like to analyze the television series The Sopranos. This fictional, crime-drama series aired in the early 2000s.  The show revolved around a New Jersey crime, Italian American family, the Sopranos. A difference in power between genders as well as, mental health and how it intersects with masculinity, are two themes that are explored in this series. How traditional Italian beliefs are portrayed surrounding the issues of mental health and gender roles, give us a small insight to a differing cultural viewpoint than what we see today in the modern world.

At the beginning of the series Tony Soprano, the main character, starts to experience panic attacks as he starts to take on a more respected role in the mafia. These episodes force him to attend therapy in which he meets Dr. Jennifer Melfi. This Dr. Melfi was extremely influential in helping Tony realize his panic attacks may be a result of genetics, passed down from his father, a previously deceased mafia boss. Additionally, Tony comes to understand that he also suffers from anxiety and depression. These mental health issues do not align with what a “violent, Italian, mafia boss” is thought to be thus, makes Tony question his identity. Furthermore, mental health issues held more of a stigma in the early 2000s as well as, among traditional Italian men. Those dealing with mental health issues are seen as Other in this film and are invalidated. Although his depression and anxiety were due to genetics and obviously no fault of his o

wn, the negative stigma affected the respect given by Tony’s crew. When a rival boss found out Tony was going to see a “shrink,” word gets around, and people question his leadership abilities. Masculinity being challenged is a major themein The Sopranos. In order to regain superiority and dominance among his men, Tony exaggerates his masculinity by having affairs with various women and demonstrating extreme violence in front of his crew.In the show, infidelity with a “goomah” (mistress) is almost seen as a rite of passage when holding a position in the mafia. Wives are aware of their husbands cheating habits, however, treat it as a mafia cultural norm, and ignore it. The wives, however, could never exhibit such behavior therefore we see an unequal balance of power between the genders.

Many people know Trevor Noah as the host of The Daily Show for his wit and comedic skills, however many people know very little about apartheid in South Africa and Noah’s experience wirh it.The text I will be reviewing is Born a Crime by Trevor Noah which follows the story of Noah’s childhood in South Africa during apartheid. Apartheid began in the 1950’s shortly after South Africa gained independence causeing the native Africans in the country to live in poverty while a few white individuals took over the government and ensured that white individuals in South Africa would remain superior to all. Along with separating each person into racial classes, apartheid made it a capital offense to have a mixed child, and Noah – whose mother is a Xhosa African and father is a Swiss German – committed his first crime by being born hence the title of this memoir. Noah’s book enlightens the reader about poverty and the role it can play on a person’s life when they are treated as a subaltern who is ritualistically silenced. 

Throughout the novel there are many instances in which Noah talks about the poverty his family and him lived in and how he was the “other” in both his neighborhood and also the white citizens in the country. As a mixed child, Noah decided to identify as a black man, however it did not change the fact that whenever someone viewed Noah, he was treated as the “other” due to his differences. As a subaltern, Noah wanted nothing more but for his voice to be heard and leave the poverty his community was subjected to due to rulers who did not represent them. Noah partook in many activities such as pirating cd’s and other illegal activities in order to make some money. 

Noah was almost always treated as the odd one out and he fought hard to get out of the situation he was put in and although he did go on to have a great career as a comedian, it does not change the fact that he was “othered” due to a circumstances beyond his control, but Noah is proof that one can only be “othered” if they give that power to the “one”. 

History.com Editors. “Apartheid.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 7 Oct. 2010, www.history.com/topics/africa/apartheid.

The work that I would like to analyze is the widely known movie Avatar directed by James Cameron. The movie that came out in 2009 still shows a great majority of issues that we discussed in this course and issues that we face on a daily basis. The movie is classified as a futuristic sci-fi that portray the interaction of humans with an alien species called the Na’vi. The movie shows the livelihood of humans in a futuristic time in which humans have depleted the earth’s resources and people are only driven by greed. Showing that the main character isn’t able to fix his legs solely based on money problems. Also stating how the main characters brother dies just based on stealing his wallet. The greed goes along to which the movie presents this company trying to mine a rare ore from the planet Pandora that would make them a great amount of money.

The main character is brought to this planet to serve as a scientist and soldier picking up were his brother left off. The first concept that I could easily notice in the movie is “the one” and “the other”. When the main character Jake Sully arrives at the planet the people from the different departments expected someone like his brother and were not accepting of him at the start. During all the scenes being treated as “the other” not given the proper time or respect for him to show who he is and what he can do. From there Sully is part of the department that transfers their mind into the body of a Na’vi avatar and used with the purpose of getting intelligence. When discovered by the tribe he isn’t welcomed initially, but slowly accepted into their own culture. While the character of Sully may seem as “the other” to this tribe they are willing to break that concept and accept him differently from where humans were treating him.

The main issues that is portrayed in the movie shows how the power of information or lack thereof matters. How when new soldiers are arriving at the planet they are always under the impression that this society is dangerous. The company controlling the narrative on what every human must think of these people. Presenting that even without knowing anything about them that humans must hate this species. This concept stays true throughout the movie for the company only in it for the money. While the character of Jake Sully is able to join the tribe and learn many thing about their culture and break the stereotype created by those in charge. Leading to the conclusion that greed caused people to start war and want to control every single action. I believe that the director wanted to present how different cultures could merge and co-exist if open to it. Keeping a closeminded attitude and only focusing on oneself leads to bad character.