“Love, Simon” is the not-so-PG story of Simon, a Junior in high school who is being blackmailed for his most important secret: that he is gay. His secret is too important to him, especially since his emails to another closeted gay kid at his, Blue, that he built an intimate relationship with are being used to blackmail him. Now Simon must do whatever it takes to make sure his blackmailer gets whatever he wants so his and Blue’s secret stays hidden.
Identity plays a major role in the reasons that Simon’s secret is so important to him. Simon’s true identity is one that he keeps a secret because of the way his parents react whenever there is a change in his life and because his revelation of his identity would ruin his relationship with Blue. There’s a duality in his identity; one identity that he shows to the world and one that he shows only to Blue. This reminds me slightly of the way that Marji in “Persepolis” told the man in the bar that she was French, and not Iranian, but Marji didn’t conceal her identity to the whole world, just to that one person, which is the exact opposite of what Simon does for the majority of the movie.
Power is also another dynamis portrayed between Simon and the blackmailer, Martin, because Martin holds power over Simon with his knowledge of Simon’s identity. Martin uses this information because he wants Simon to help him get the girl he likes that Simon just so happens to be friends with. This can be equated to what Hegel describes in his dialectic and that Martin is the “master” who has made Simon into his “slave”.
There is also injustice against sexuality directed towards Simon because Martin has a brother that is gay, so he must know to some extent what that would be like for Simon, but he still has the nerve to blackmail Simon with that sensitive information to get a girl. Also living in a suburb near Atlanta, Simon describes that people are still not open to gay people in general. He shows that there are only a couple openly gay students at his school, but they are not treated fairly and are called very derogatory names by other students.
The movie was very effective in showing us that the power that one’s identity really holds over a person and how people are so quick to abuse the power that they have over people for their own gain. One question to take away is what aspect of your identity holds this kind of power over you and to what extent would you go to ensure that this power is never held over you?
Simon and Blue when they finally accept their identities and find each other.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hi, everyone. Welcome. And thank you for joining today. We will be discussing everyday examples of
discrimination. More specifically, focusing on examples of racial and gender injustices that have been
experienced or witnessed either in daily life or in the media. I will be looking at examples that I’ve
witnessed personally, and that my colleague has witnessed personally to start. One instance is that my
mother called me to catch up one day on our lives as I’m not home right now. And I asked her about her
day at work, and she told me that someone mispronounced her name in a meeting she was in, and she
did not do anything to correct the person because of the sheer amount of times that she had previously
tried. I thought that this was not fair to her to have someone care. So little about their colleague, that
they couldn’t correctly pronounce their name, because that is a sort of respect for them. Speaker 1 (00:48):
That is being overlooked by this mere act. What do you think of this example and how do you think my
mother could have? Or what do you think my cut, my mother could have done in order to prevent this
determinant, this discrimination against herself? Speaker 2 (01:38):
I think that no matter how many times the coworker, like mispronounces your mother’s name, I think
that she should definitely still correct them because it’s way better to say something. Then it just take
things complacently. Like, um, my little brother, um, when he was in elementary school, um, his name’s
spelled weird and people would call him Vishvi his name is actually pronounced “Vish-va”, but he was
always like too scared or just like something like that. And he never like ended, ended up correcting
anyone. So everyone in the school would refer to him as Vishvi, even though that wasn’t his name and
that wasn’t helping, he said his name at home. So I definitely think she should have corrected him. And
how would you in that situation have reacted, um, and felt about somebody mispronouncing your
name. How would you have felt about your name being degraded in this, in this way. Speaker 1 (02:35):
Personally, I feel that I would not have done the same thing that your brother or my mother would have
done because of the lack of respect that I would feel by not having my name pronounced, to pronounce
correctly, to me, especially the, the sheer amount of times that it has happened. And I would relate this
to speed back and that both of these could be deemed as being the sub altered in a way. And that,
because they have been determined as the being the subaltern and they have to rise above their given
circumstances and speak for what they deserve, because that’s the definition of what that means. Also, I
would say that in the example of my mother, um, it’s an example of intersectionality because of her race
and her gender. And because both of those were being discriminated against in a sense because her
colleague made her feel inferior by ignoring her, probably because she is a woman. And even more
specifically, because she’s a woman of color, another idea, or another injustice that I have seen more
generally is in that of the media, the media does not accurately represent, um, Asia or Asian cultures,
specifically South Asian culture, because that is what I’m most familiar with specifically. The show
“Never Have I Ever” is a good start in having shows that are relatable to more people, especially Indian
Americans than just the majority of people that live in the United States, because there are more types
of people that live here and their stories should be shared as well as those of the majority so that they
can feel as though that they’re being, they’re being represented and also show other groups of people
what it’s like in a different culture. But the show is an issue because it does not accurately represent the
general South Asian experience and the United States in the United States because of the discrepancies
and unrealistic storyline, I will be showing, um, or I will be playing a clip of the video of the show. Speaker 3 (04:11):
Hey God, it’s Devi Vishvakumar, your favorite Hindu girl in the San Fernando Valley. What’s a-poppin?
It’s the first day of school. And I thought we should have a check-in. I think we can all agree that last year
sucked for a number of reasons. So I thought of a few ways you guys can make it up to me. One, I’d like
to be invited to a party with alcohol and hard drugs. I’m not going to do… Speaker 1 (04:34):
Right off the bat. The way that she is talking to the Gods would be seen by somebody who is also Indian
American, or just Indian in general, as disrespectful and not accurate in the way that we would be going
about praying to our Gods. Also the way that she asks for very illegal things is also another thing that
shows that our values are not being looked at properly in media. To continue the clip, Speaker 3 (05:08):
The opportunity to say no cocaine for me. Thanks. I’m good too. I’d love for my arm here at the now I
know it’s an Indian thing, but my form looked like the frigging floor of a barber shop. Speaker 1 (05:20):
This example is also an issue because they show, it shows that, um, Indian Americans or Indians in
general are, um, thought of as being more hairy. And even though this is most, most times a correct
assumption, it is very stereotypical and it doesn’t accurately represent the way that people want to be
portrayed through media. It doesn’t accurately show how, um, how people feel towards these. And it it’s
almost degrading in a way, Speaker 3 (05:57):
Lastly, most importantly, I really, really like a boyfriend, but not a nerd from one of my AP classes, like a
guy from sports team. He can be dumb. I don’t care. I just want it to be stone-cold hottie who could rock
me all night long. Speaker 1 (06:12):
Lastly, in this clip, she says that she wants a stone-cold Hottie that could rock her all night. That to me is
disrespectful on so many different levels. And the writers of the show did not accurately or at all think
about what they, what putting that little clip could be to somebody who doesn’t feel the same way as
she does, or somebody that is like her, but doesn’t share these values because they’re unrealistic and
not accurate towards the South Asian or Indian, um, experience in the United States after watching
these or after listening to these codes Prachi, have you seen any examples of representation of Asians or
any groups in general that are similar to this? Speaker 2 (07:14):
Um, yeah. Um, another TV show that I feel like might not have represented Indians in the best light was,
um, the big bang theory, um, on the show, there’s a character named Raj and he was in, he was an
Indian. And, um, my biggest problem with him was just like how he talked like his accent was like, it was
just like, um, misrepresentative of like how Indian people with Indian accents actually do talk. I feel like
it was, they were just like trying to make fun of us. And I just didn’t appreciate that. Also, he was just
like, his job was very stereotypical of an Indian. He was like the super smart scientist. Um, his dad on the
show actually was also a pretty stereotypically Indian guy. He was a doctor and I feel like when a lot of
people think about what, um, Indian people do when they get older, a lot of people probably think
about them becoming doctors. I just felt like they could have done more to portray the South Indian and
just like the Indian population in general, a lot better than they did on that show. Speaker 1 (08:04):
That’s a very good example. This also relates to something we were talking about in class with the story
that we read. Um, and I can see how the stereotypes portrayed around Raj from the Big Bang Theory
can be related to another character named Changez that we have, we had previously learned about in
that he is exotic and different, so he is seen as being an other. And although it’s not that his friends or
his acquaintances are seeing him in a menacing or threatening way, it shows that he’s still different. And
he is, um, he almost does not fit into the group because of his differences. Speaker 1 (08:51):
A lot of people on media need to change these stereotypes and give these stereotypical narratives, um,
a more accurate representation. This can be changed by giving more people, creative rights over scripts
and such, especially to, in these cases, Indian American script writers, because they have personal
experiences that they can use to relate to other people on the same level as them and the same, they
share the same experiences as them, and also use accurate, um, ideas to, um, show the show, our
culture and values to other people on, um, in, in other, in other groups that are not South Asian.
Specifically having these conversations with our friends who watch these shows and ask us about if this
is what Indian people do is, Oh, another good way to try and change this narrative of Indian people,
being a certain way. And the stereotypes involved with being South Asian and change the narrative at
home where it hits the most because it’s already in people’s minds. And the next generation has to fix
these issues to be more accurate as time goes on because it’s a slow process, but bias is always present
in this world and we definitely need to do better to work against discrimination. So I thank you Prachi
for coming and talking to me about discrimination and injustices faced on our daily lives. Speaker 2 (10:33):
No, it was no problem. I had a lot of fun here today. I thank you for telling me about all of these
interesting facts. Speaker 1 (10:40):
Thanks again. We’ll see you next time.
I watched the Vice Presidential Debate, which I thought was very interesting in terms of issues involving systemic injustice. I watched the back half of the debate, but I got to hear the response to one question that was about the case of Breonna Taylor. Kamala Harris pointed out that during the first Presidential Debate that President Trump was not willing to condemn white supremacists, which I believe is a major systemic injustice in itself. Mike Pence replied to this by saying that what happened to Breonna Taylor and George Floyd were tragedies, but they don’t justify “rioting and looting”, although there has been a lot of data suggesting otherwise. The same thing happened when Pence was asked about the Corona Virus response, the Climate Change Crisis, and the President basically saying that science is wrong. The ignorance and unwillingness to look at facts is a major systemic injustice in my opinion. The President and the Vice President are trying to downplay and undermine the facts involving major issues that disproportionately affect more people of color. I think that there has been a lot of lying and downplaying from the Trump Administration about the severity of the Corona Virus, climate change, and racial injustice and I think that had they tried to acknowledge these properly, there could have possibly been some better situation right now.
Kamala Harris and Mike Pence in the First Vice Presidential Debate.
I also saw the way that Harris was being treated differently by Pence because she is a woman. Pence interrupted Harris multiple times and tried to silence her, but Harris was able to assert her equality to Pence by telling him that she is “speaking”, essentially telling him that she had just as much of a right to speak as he does. This was a major thing in fighting gender inequality and the fact that everything is catered in favor towards the male population. Her assertion of power in this example shows that she was able to overcome herself as being the “Other” and identifying herself as being equal to Pence. The main thing that I learned from the debate is that ignorance is another form of systemic injustice and it is ridiculous to me that the leaders of this country are so ignorant to facts presented to them.
Alabama, Spring 1965 was a polarizing time of racism and equal rights in the United States with the severe segregation faced by African Americans living in Alabama. For this week’s readings, John Lewis’ March: Book 1 and Martin Luther King Jr’s “Letter From A Birmingham Jail”, the setting in both these pieces sets up the significant timeline with the “March” on Selma feeding into the cataclysmic “Letter” by MLK in a few months.
In January of 1965, MLK decided that Selma, Alabama would be the ideal location for his national protest when seven out of eight blacks were disenfranchised after extensive literacy tests, making the voter population 99 percent white voters. However, in February, after the ban of literacy tests, in nearby Marion, Alabama, police responded violently to a protest and shot twenty-six year old Jimmie Lee Jackson while he was protecting his mother. His death was a major push to plan a march from Selma to Montgomery.
The governor of Alabama along with the police force and state troopers set up a barricade on the Edmund Pettus Bridge to stop the march. Six hundred protestors set out on their path on Sunday, March 7th, towards Montgomery. Crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge, the protestors met the barricade and were told to disperse. John Lewis was at the head of the march, remembering the protestors weren’t going to back down and were going to continue to stand their ground. Lewis recalls getting down to pray when he was attacked by a trooper, and the attacks on the protestors continued; the event later referred to as “Bloody Sunday”. Protests in solidarity with the Selma marchers broke out throughout the country, followed by four thousand people joining MLK in Selma two weeks after Bloody Sunday and marching successfully to the Alabama State Capitol.
MLK later led a “Good Friday Demonstration” on April 12th without an official permit, where he was arrested. His friend was able to get a copy of the Birmingham Newspaper, where religious leaders had condemned him and his demonstration. In confinement, King was able to write his famous “Letter From A Birmingham Jail”.
The chain of events in Alabama, Spring 1965 was a key part in moving the Civil Rights Movement forward. The readings for this week will directly include these significant events in more detail to understand the activism of John Lewis and Martin Luther King Jr.
