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The movie I want to share is “The Hate U Give.” This movie, released in 2018, is a movie focusing on racial issues and police brutality. The 16-year-old black female protagonist Starr Carter went to a party one night and met her childhood best friend Khalil. After the party, the latter took her home. The two were stopped by a policeman on the road. Khalil was forced to get out of the car. The police shot Khalil with the comb in his hand. The matter quickly became national headlines. Khalil was described as a “thug, drug dealer” and the police did not seem to be interested in investigating. A group of protesters took to the streets and turned the block where Starr lived into a war zone. Everyone tried to figure out what happened, but the only one who knew the truth was Starr. She did a lot of interviews to try to make Khalil innocent. What she said will determine the police Whether to go to jail or to be acquitted.

One of the scenes that impressed me the most in this movie was the dialogue between Starr and her police uncle. The uncle said “So if I think I see a gun, I don’t hesitate. I shoot.” Then Starr asked her uncle “And it was a white man wearing a suit, driving a Mercedes?” Uncle replied, “I’ d say,’put your hands up’. “This conversation gave me a great shock because his police uncle is also a black man. I think that the development of movies at this time is no longer a purely racial issue but a link between police violence and racial issues. In the movie, the police regard themselves and the white people as “One” and the black people as “Other”. At the end of the movie, when Starr’s younger brother, who is less than ten years old, raised his gun at the gang boss, people realized that this hatred was passed down from generation to generation. Just as the Japanese writer Keigo Higashino once said, “No matter how ugly prejudice, its appearance is never meant to exist.” People should not spread this hatred to their next generations. This idea has always been reflected in movies.

Image reference: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FThe_Hate_U_Give_(film)&psig=AOvVaw3WU9ww1CdRbC_NAAvRO74H&ust=1607302408290000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCIDKv56SuO0CFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD

If you’re looking for a book to challenge the conventions of storytelling and offer a hefty yet important thematic statement, Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse 5 is for you. Slaughterhouse 5 follows its protagonist, Billy Pilgrim, through the eyes of Kurt Vonnegut himself, as he describes Billy’s fictionalized experience (and at times, Vonnegut’s real one) fighting, and inevitably getting captured by the Nazis during the second World War. When Pilgrim later finds himself abducted by a race of technologically advanced aliens “unbound” from time, meaning they experience all of time at once, the line differentiating what is real and what is in Pilgrim’s imagination becomes blurred, if not completely dismissed. Are the ‘Tralfamadorians’ real, and is their ability to view their lives outside of a chronological order just an extraterrestrial super-power, or is Vonnegut simply alluding to the way post-traumatic stress disorder can cause its victims to enter dissociative states and experience flashbacks? The book deals heavily with themes of gender and socioeconomic power dynamics, war, post-traumatic stress disorder, and nationalism. Vonnegut emphasizes his commentary on power and injustice through his depiction of the relationships between the English and American prisoners and German prison guards in Schlachthof V (Slaughterhouse 5), the camp where Billy is imprisoned in the novel and Vonnegut was imprisoned in real life. He makes a point to portray all of the soldiers from each country as lost men, forgoing the honorable and valiant depiction typically made in most media, instead telling the story framed in a way so that the audience can see these men have no real issue with each other, but rather that their government and countries have simply sent them into war. Towards the end of the novel, these themes are driven home once again, when the deadly bombing of Dresden kills not only German soldiers, but civilians and American prisoners all the same. How does their national identity really define them, when they find themselves indistinguishable from each other in the decimated ashes of the city? Ultimately, Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse 5 is a classic, and its fusion of historical and science fiction is unflinching in its critiques of imperialism, war, and injustice.

I would like to analyze Grey’s Anatomy, which is a television series. This show has been airing for 17 seasons now, and has addressed a lot of social issues in its duration. As a background to what the show is about, Grey’s Anatomy is a fictional drama that follows interns and surgeons daily lives, both in and out of the hospital. Though the show includes the personal lives of the characters, the majority of the show takes place in the Seattle hospital where they work. I cannot review all 17 seasons, so I will be focusing on a certain episode of season 6 that has many social issues intertwined in its plot. 

In an episode of season 6, Dr. Richard Weber recalls a case from when he was an intern, along with Dr. Ellis Grey. Both Richard and Ellis faced adversity as they tried to become surgeons, which is shown in this episode. Richard, a black man, and Ellis, a white woman, were both told by their attending surgeon that they were lucky to even be working there, and in years prior, they would not have been allowed in the program. Belonging to minority groups gave them extra obstacles in an already difficult environment. The process of becoming a surgeon is strenuous, and they had added stresses of overcoming stereotypes. These stereotypes, as portrayed from many years ago in the flashback, still are seen in modern times. As we have discussed throughout this class, racism is an issue in American inside and outside the workplace. Society still “others” them in certain scenarios, and they still face discrimination on a daily basis. Women also still face these stereotypes as well, especially in the medical field. There is a comment in this episode about how Ellis should be a nurse, not a surgeon. Women are frequently mistaken for nurses in this show, as they are in the real world. Women are often put in a box as to what careers they can and should have, and they are taken less seriously. The way Richard and Ellis are treated relative to their white male counterparts shows the underlying prejudice that often occurs in America, specifically in the medical field. 

The third example of a social issue in this episode comes from the case Richard and Ellis work on. The hospital gets a patient who presents with symptoms that make the two of them believe he may have had, what was called at the time of the flashback “Gay-Related Immune Deficiency”, and is now referred to as AIDS. When Richard and Ellis brought this up to the patient, he was very upset and saw it as an accusation. Homosexually was not an accepted thing at the time, and he threatened to tell their attending surgeon and even said he would sue them. He refused to be treated, but eventually came back with extremely worsened symptoms, and he asked them to help him. The attending surgeon was very upset with the two interns, and told them the man was a lost cause, as they did not know how to treat him. People of this time did not understand the disease, and most did not accept gay people. Though on probation, Richard and Ellis decide to help this man, because they know what it is like to not be taken seriously due to something they cannot control, and they vowed to help people as doctors. They decided to risk everything and do a secret surgery in hopes of saving the man, because that was what they thought was the right thing to do. 

Through this episode you see three people interacting fighting different stereotype battles: race, gender, and sexuality. They can relate on the level that they are overlooked and mistreated, but in a way, you can see that none of them will fully grasp what the other is going through. For example, though Richard believed in Ellis as a person and doctor, he subconsciously treated her differently because she was a woman. On their way into the operating room, Richard told Ellis not to go in because she had a daughter and they were unsure about how the disease spread. She told him that being a mother “did not make her inept”. Race, gender, and sexuality have always been an issue in America, and this episode shows how those stereotypes come into play on a day-to-day basis

For my Text Review assignment, I chose to examine the show, “The Boys”. The show takes place in a universe where individuals with superpowers are recognized as heroes. However, unlike most superhero shows, these individuals are often arrogant and abuse their powers for completely wrong reasons. Typically, ending up doing way more harm to people than good. A company by the name of Vought created a team of premier superheroes, called the Seven which are very publicized and are celebrities. Another group of regular citizens, called “The Boys” looks to take down Vought/The Seven and expose all of their corruption. The leader of The Boys, Billy Butcher, has a vendetta against the main superhero of the Seven, Homelander, due to raping his wife and making her vanish. All the members of The Boys have a similar story of egregious abuse of power by the superheroes, usually resulting in death.

The Boys (Billy Butcher far right)                   Vought’s Seven (Homelander middle)

I chose this show because it was much different than typical Marvel superhero movies. I believe The Boys is the true reality of how superheroes may really act if they really existed. In many ways, The Seven view the typical citizen as “Other” and only put on a fake smile when required to by Vought. The Seven can quite literally do nearly anything they want with little to no repercussions. The superheroes are meant to bring justice, but instead, poison the universe by creating more problems. Homelander is the epitome of self-divulged and egotistic. Rather than protect people and do good, he does harm. All he truly wants is to always be loved and in the spotlight while fantasizing (and often actually doing) bringing harm onto others. This brings me to my question: if superheroes do exist do you think they would be all good or leaning more towards the abuse of power like the Seven? I also wonder, can superheroes like Homelander even still be considered heroes at that point, or are they more of a villain now? At what point does someone cross the line of the hero to the villain or vice versa? Much like Adichie’s, “The Danger of a Single Story”, the public typically only receives one side of the story from Vought. There is always an excuse for why the superheroes mess up. That is where The Boys come into play, trying to tell a different side of the superhero story while exposing all the corruption and abuse of power that really goes on.

Hey guys!

For the text review assignment I wanted to take a look at the movie Borat from 2006. This movie is a kind of raunchy comedy, but I think it relates back to this class with some of the ideals portrayed. The movie is about a reporter, Borat, from Khazikstan, a fictional country, and follows his journey to the U.S. During this movie there is a lot of irony in his interactions with people, and also kind of a criticism of the United States as well. The character Borat interacts with many politicians and political figures in the U.S, and the results of these interactions are satirical. These politicians reveal their beliefs and ideals in these scenes, so it is ultimately criticizing the U.S for injustices such as racism and sexism. This movie also displays injustice with the way that Borat treats and interacts with women. He speaks about the women in his village like incest and rape are okay, and actually even celebrated in this place of Khazikstan. This relates back to our class in many ways but I think the most would be the concept of “othering”, and also how we talked in week 10 with migration. As far as the week of migration, it relates back to the movie because Borat was treated very differently than any other American would be walking on the street, but if you watch the movie it is understandable because of the way he acts. However, these scenes still depict the mistreatment of migrants. Boratrelates to the concept of “othering” in many ways as well. Since he went to America to make this documentary, Borat is treated as the “other” by his own people in Khazikstan due to the fact that they all hate America. Furthermore, he is also “othered” by just about every person he interacts with in America due to his actions. In the ways he speaks it is very offensive to the person receiving the comments. Overall this is not a typical movie to be talked about in a college humanities class, but if you look at the messages depicted in the movie it can be related back easily. Would definitely recommend watching!

Hey guys, for this text review assignment I would like to introduce a movie to you. The movie is called A Clockwork Orange, directed by Stanley Kubrick. This movie includes violence and pornographic, and delinquency. To put in briefly, this movie shows how a villain loses his rights and is abandoned by the society, eventually being controlled by authority.

The main character Alex is a terrible villain at the beginning part of this movie, with three fellow villains. They commit commit crimes like beating up innocent people, fighting, breaking into people’s houses, and rape. Alex is outrageous and despotic, which lets his fellows dislike him. Later in a crime, which is Alex last crime before his tragedy, his fellows set him up, resulting in Alex being caught by police. Because of the crimes he committed, he then receives psychiatry, to be specific, electroshock therapy. The treatment is overwhelmingly successful, after the treatment, he feels sick when he has evil thoughts. This is when his tragedy begins, he goes back to his home after the treatment, and he finds out that his family cast aside him, having no place for him in home. His fellows who committed crimes with him are police officers after he finished treatment. His fellows hate him, and beat heat up violently. Alex has nowhere to go, he goes to a house that he broke into before, and the victim accepts him because the crime causes mental problem to the victim. However, the victim starts to torture him. Alex cannot take this, and he jumps out of the place, hurting his brain. Fortunately, or unfortunately, this brain injury causes his treatment invalid, so he returns to what he was like at the beginning. The government always uses Alex as a propaganda after his treatment. After Alex’s brain injury, the government decides to control Alex, so Alex becomes a clockwork doll.

Alex’s delinquency at first makes him hubris. However, he receives what he deserves. Sadly, his family and society abandon him. People treat him so bad that he cannot find a place for himself. After his treatment, he is the worst guy in society. The guy who Alex bullied before bullies him. I can see the difference in their identities before and after Alex treatment. The most shocking part for me is that his fellows become police officers. Obviously, at this point, his fellows have absolute power over him. They almost beat Alex up to death. I believe that Alex’s inner world collapses at this point, and I am sure that Alex realizes everyone abandoned him.

Though as a super villain, Alex gets the punishment that he deserves, people treat him so bad which is definitely beyond what he deserves. This story is a tragedy for sure, especially that Alex is completely controlled and becomes a doll, which is a parallel to the name of the movie, A Clockwork Orange.

Images are from:

https://www.britannica.com/topic/A-Clockwork-Orange-novel

https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/stanley-kubrick-films-screened-a-clockwork-orange-site-a3980511.html

I chose to watch the movie The Help for this assignment. This movie was set in the 1960’s in Jackson, Mississippi where racism was still very prevalent and there was still segregation everywhere. The movie is about black housemaids named Minny and Abileen who worked for mean and hateful white families and were treated badly. They were paid less than $1 an hour to do basically everything around the house including raising the children and they were treated like property. A white educated young woman named Skeeter was the only one that treated them with respect and she began writing a book about their stories as housemaids. Many housemaids were hesitant to participate because they were scared that they would be arrested or beaten but when many of them did participate, the book was published and was a huge hit and changed the way many people saw the housemaids.

I chose this movie for this assignment because it shows the concept of the One and the Other very well. The white families were the ‘one’ and the black housemaids were the ‘other’. They were treated like property and they knew that there was nothing that they could do about it because their voice was never heard. In the movie, the worst housewife was named Hilly and she told all of the other wives that they should not let their housemaid use the same bathroom as them because she said they were disgusting and that they had diseases. They were dehumanized and not treated as people, only referred to as “the help”. There was a huge difference in the socioeconomic status of the white families and the black housemaids, the white families were all very rich but the black housemaids were poor and were paid below minimum wage. Hilly also accused Abileen of stealing at the end of the movie even though they both knew that that was not true but no one would believe Abileen over a rich white woman like Hilly because of the power that she held. This movie was a great example of this concept because it really showed how bad that these housemaids were treated and how they did not even try to say something because they knew that their voice would not be heard until a woman like Skeeter went against the status quo to tell their side of the story.

Movie Poster

The Help is a period drama film based on Kathryn Stockett’s 2009 novel of the same name, written and directed by Tate Taylor, and features an ensemble cast including Bryce Dallas Howard, Octavia Spencer, Jessica Chastain, Allison Janney, Emma Stone, and Viola Davis. The film is set in Jackson, Mississippi during the 1960’s where Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan, a young white woman and aspiring journalist, returns home after graduating from university. The film focuses on her relationship with two black maids, Minny and Aibileen. Determined to become a legitimate writer and journalist, Skeeter decides to write a book from the point of view of the maids, ultimately exposing the racism they face as they work for rich white families.

During a luncheon hosted by Hilly Holbrook, the women socialize and play card games, addressing the issues they have with their maids, often referring to them as “the help,” including Hilly’s insistence on installing separate bathrooms outside her house for fear of the diseases that the ‘disgusting’ black individuals might have. With the significant differences in socioeconomic status, Hilly and the other housewives have power and control over the maids. In addition, the white women could easily influence and manipulate certain instances, such as when Hilly lied about the reason for Minny’s dismissal and why she should not be employed elsewhere. These powerful interactions are detrimental and discriminatory towards the black individuals who work tirelessly to try to take care of their own families.

The concepts of the “one” and the “other” are heavily demonstrated in this film. The white individuals were considered the “one” and the black individuals were the “other.” The film emphasized the power dynamics and relationships between the two races. Those labeled as an “other” are inferior to those of higher importance; the “one.” The severity of being an “other” is depicted when the maids are emotionally abused and ostracized by their bosses on a daily basis. The mistreatment and enslavement of the black individuals by Hilly and the other white community members showcased the racial injustices that commonly occurred in those days.

Minny and Aibileen find support in their community, faith, and in solidarity with the other maids as they reclaim their dignity as women, as workers and as entirely human members of the larger Jackson community. Both realize they have important stories to tell and authentic voices that must be heard. The Help is about the empowerment of individuals as wells as social justice. It is a moving story depicting dehumanization in an extremely racist culture but also shows the ability to move beyond the unjust structures of society and to proclaim the value of every human being.

Aibileen and Mae Mobley