Author: feng.692

Text Review—Ella Feng

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Tokyo Godfathers is a Japanese anime film that came out in 2003, directed by Satoshi Kon. It is a tragicomedy adventure film that describes the story of three homeless people trying to find the parents of an orphan they found on Christmas Eve. They named the baby “Kiyoko,” which means “pure child” in Japanese.


The three homeless characters each have distinct personalities and backgrounds. Gin is a middle-aged alcoholic man. He claims that he was a former bicyclist who can’t afford medical bills and left his sick family to die. But he was the owner of a bicycle shop who couldn’t pay off his debts from gambling and alcohol problems. He felt tremendous guilt because of his irresponsible actions. Hana is a trans woman and a former drag queen who has a caring and motherly personality. Hana used to live and work with her adopted mother who is also a trans woman in a drag bar. After attacking a rude customer who criticized her appearance, Hana then ran away. She was the first one who found the abandoned baby, although she wanted to take the baby as her own daughter because she disliked the fact of giving the baby back to her birth parents who already decided to abandon her. Later, Hana was the leading character trying to find the baby’s birth parents because she believed in a second chance. Miyuki is a young woman who is probably under 18 years ago. She left home because her policeman father was over-controlling but also who didn’t provide the care and love she needed. Miyuki left home with guilt because her anger took over her and stabbed his father with a minor injury.

This film made me relate to the Novel “Things Fall Apart” we read early because every three characters in the film had made some sins before they become homeless but contrary to the Novel, although there are proper excuses they realized their wrongdoings and tried to find redemption by taking care of the baby. The characters in the film were also considered as “the other” because they are homeless who live on the street. There is a scene in the film when many high schoolers beat up Gin without reason. They were just boring before going to a party and want to beat Gin up to have some “fun.”

There is also a beautiful scene about two different races, a black male accidentally “kidnapped” Miyuki and the baby during his mission. He took them home to his wife for their safety. The wife and Miyuki do not speak the same language but Miyuki found peace with the kind wife because she reminds her of her mother.  I can not describe the film fully in limit words. There are many other details in the film that show somewhat social injustice because of their gender and class. The film is a tragicomedy, showing the dark side of society and bringing people hope and enlightenment. I don’t want to spoil the ending because it is really worth the watch and I want to recommend it to everyone, especially when you feel down or upset by the current society full of injustice.

Diary of Systemic Injustice Showcase-Ella Feng

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From all of the systemic injustice dairies I have worked on, I decided to choose one that is a global wise growing issue as the internet has become an essential tool in our daily life and it is inevitable that more minors will start to use the internet as a communication tool at their young age.

Link: https://www.ohiolegaldefense.com/aop/columbus-sex-crime-lawyers/sexting-laws/

This is a resource link that a teacher from one of my other classes provided us regarding sexting in Ohio. As indicated in this resource, Ohio law defines sexting as an illegal act that includes taking, sending, receiving, or displaying explicit images through any kind of online communications. Even in the condition when they are both minors, they could be facing law requirements to register as sex offenders and it will stay in their criminal record. As I do more research, I found out that a minor could also be facing fourth-degree felony and even second- degree felony. Sexting law intends to protect minors. Knowing minors could be punished seriously, the law could become criminals’ weapons to control minors to cause more harm and dangers toward minors. Ohio’s sexting law is also taking away minors’ right to take pictures of themselves because it could be illegal even if adolescents take an explicit photo of themselves and keep in their camera roll. By following the sexting law, it is giving parents and other adults control on whether to report their children to the police or not. In this way, race, sex and gender could become factors that influence the possibility of minors getting reported and charged. I think Hegel’s theory of the Master and The Slave dialects can be applied to understand this issue because organizations and parents think that minors are irresponsible and immature to make decisions themselves. That’s why they believe they should have powers to control minors instead of fulfilling their human rights and desires. But if they believe minors are irresponsible and immature to make decisions, then why is the law set to punish the minors? Is it just a way to control minors like they are the Slave?

I think the laws should be more strict on punishing adults who trick minors into sending explicit images for their advantages and interests instead of punishing minors. If both parents and schools can do better in sex education on children and lead they into a proper path on sexual contexts, minors would know in what ways or situations might risk and danger them become the prey of sexual offender.

 

Context Research Presentation Week 9 – Ella Feng

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This week we will be finishing the second half of the book “The Leavers,” which explains why Polly has vanished and the inhuman condition she has suffered from deportation. She regretted and blamed herself for not trying hard enough, even though there was nothing she could do. The Leavers was written by Lisa Ko based on a true story of a mentally ill Chinese immigrant arrested in 2008 for not having a Visa in the United States.

For my presentation, I wanted to discuss and do more research on gender inequality in China back then and nowadays. Polly discovers she was pregnant, but she did not want to tell her boyfriend because she knows pregnancy will lead to a marriage that will cage her from seeking the freedom she wants. Research showed in 2000, the divorce rate in China was roughly 0.96 per 1000 and in the United States was roughly 4 per 1000. In 2019, China’s divorce rate was roughly 3.2 per 1000 and 15.7 per 1000 in the U.S. It is apparently not because Chinese couples usually end up with a happy marriage. Twenty years ago, getting a divorce in Chinese culture is something to be ashamed of, especially for women. The Chinese culture has shaped a traditional and stereotypical understanding that females have to give birth to children and take care of the whole family as housewives. Although nowadays female in China has much more freedom in pursuing their individual life as more female influencer stood up against the inequality they were facing, the discrimination toward divorced female is still a social issue that needs to be challenged.

After Polly moved to the United States, she falls in love with Leon, who is also a Chinese immigrant. When Polly asked Leon to move with her to Florida, he refused; when Polly want to go for a walk with the family, he refused. I personally think author Ko intentionally shaped Leon as a not understanding and supportive mate to symbolize typically male figures in China. In Chinese history, there has always been a preference for males and discrimination against females because males are more likely to have a higher pay job to take care of the family, and they are the ones who will carry the family name. After women are pregnant, some families will ask doctors to detect fetuses’ gender even it is no longer legal. If it is a girl, they will likely ask for an abortion and don’t care if that will dangerous the mother’s life. Moreover, some families pay more attention to nutritious male infant and the health of female infants are often neglected, resulting in the mortality rate raise for female infants.

Citations:

Dawson, Kelly. China Women Still Battling Tradition, 70 Years after Revolution, Al Jazeera, 29 Sept. 2019, www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/9/29/china-women-still-battling-tradition-70-years-after-revolution.

Feng, Jiayun. Gender Gaps in Chinese Politics and Science Are Still Massive, SupChina, 25 Aug. 2020, supchina.com/2020/08/25/gender-gaps-in-chinese-politics-and-science-are-still-massive/.

Do Women in China Face Greater Inequality than Women Elsewhere?, ChinaPower, 25 Aug. 2020, chinapower.csis.org/china-gender-inequality/.