Author: patibandla.7

Red Rising: Text Review

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The fictional, sci-fi universe of the Red Rising book series, written by Pierce Brown, includes a discussion of cultural identity and societal inequality on a far-reaching scale. Brown’s fictional world includes human beings that have genetically evolved into different Colors, 14 to be exact, that all exist in a social hierarchy. At the top of the social scale are the Golds, a physically and mentally superior caste of humans that rule over the other colors in a ravishing display of pride and power. At the bottom of the totem pole are Reds, lowly miners that exist to act as servants and pioneers, mining the valuable chemical Helium-3 for the other Colors to use. 

The book centers around Darrow, a lowly Red miner that faces tragedy at the hands of the Gold ruling class and fights back, undergoing a surgery to become a genetically enhanced Gold. Throughout his journey, Darrow must confront the reality of a socially segregated system, and fight through the distasteful realities of a humanity separated into castes. Darrow learns to live for more, to live not for vengeance, but for a dream that he might one day see his people free. His newfound status evokes strange emotions as he struggles to retain this dream for his people on the other end of an unjust society. 

The structure of power in this story is inherently complex, as Darrow must balance his upbringing as a slave with his new status as the “master.” Darrow experiences, as de Beauvoir would describe it, a transition from “the Other” to “the One” (deBeauvoir). He must break down the injustices of his society from the position of the oppressor. In writing the Red Rising series, author Pierce Brown undoubtedly wanted to make the reader question our own society. His literature mirrors life in uncanny ways, even touching on the brutality of the police and military towards civilians of different ethnic groups. Brown wants the mistakes of his fictional society to be examined critically, to ensure that similar rifts that we see in the modern day are addressed in order to form a more equitable tomorrow. Darrow’s journey is long and arduous, but Brown wants to show us that the path to equality is never easy. However, all it takes a dream and a people willing to rise up and stand strong for what is right.

Context Presentation: Black Panther Film

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The Black Panther film, directed by Ryan Coogler, portrays themes of colonialism vs. isolationism embedded throughout the entirety of the film. The viewer is able to see the struggle Wakanda faces, while wanting to continue with isolationist national policy in order to avoid any potential conflicts with other nations. The root of this isolationism is to protect the nation of Wakanda and its people, and viewers see this often in T’Challa’s struggle when deciding what the right thing to do is: to protect his nation or protect as many refugees and struggling individuals as possible (Coogler). In all of the nations surrounding Wakanda, themes of colonialism are very real and very present. T’Challa and other Wakandan leaders fear colonialism because of the extremely valuable Vibranium that they possess; they fear being exploited by other nations for their resources and do not want to endanger any of their own citizens (Coogler). The film emphasizes how (an although fictional) nation in Africa is able to thrive and flourish without colonization taking place. Through class readings, we saw how colonization affected Okonkwo and his tribe in Things Fall Apart written by Chinua Achebe. We quickly saw how native tribemates became the subaltern after colonists arrived and began to change their entire lifestyle and culture (Achebe). This was the very concept that King T’Challa and Wakanda worked so hard to avoid. 

Another important impact of Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther film was on people of color around the world who were finally being represented in a major film (Coogler).  Jack Kirby and Stan Lee, the creators of the original Black Panther comic, explained in a 1990 interview that they decided to create this character for their youth black readers who were hardly ever represented in the media (Mattimore). I would also like to focus my context-research presentation on the historical-context and environment in which the original Black Panther comic was released. 

The Black Panther comic was released in 1966, during a time where the civil rights movement was gaining momentum, as well as the Black Power Movement (Mattimore). Stokely Carmichael was a critical leader of the Black Power Movement. He gave a moving speech at the University of California Berkeley, just a few months following the debut of the “Black Panther” (Stokely). Huey Newton and Bobby Seale then named their organization The Black Panther Party. According to the National Museum of African American History and Culture, The Black Panther Party for Self Defense was focused on promoting social change by challenging systemic injustice and the police who enabled it (“The Black Panther”). One of the main ideals of The Black Panther Party was that they did not believe that the decades of oppression against people of color could be fought against only through nonviolent protesting. Hence, the reason they named their party after self defense. 

This concept of protesting through means other than only nonviolence was also explored in Coogler’s Black Panther film. Erik Killmonger, King T’Challa’s long-lost cousin, came to Wakanda because he wanted to send Vibranium out to those who needed the tools to defend themselves. He was specifically referring to his Black brothers and sisters all around the world. King T’Challa and Wakanda as a whole philosophically believed that there was no need for unnecessary violence, and as mentioned before, also believed in isolationism. This meant that he was not looking to get involved in international affairs, especially supplying Vibranium to enable violence (Coogler).   

Ultimately, Coogler’s Black Panther film had a monumental impact on people of color because it brought to attention issues regarding colonialism and how oftentimes, history can be misconstrued when told from only one perspective. The film illustrated how Wakanda thrived and became a prosperous nation without colonialism, showing that colonialism is not necessary to develop into a flourishing nation (Coogler). The concept of colonialism is often portrayed by White writers who explain colonialism in a positive light and from their perspective only. Typically, these White writers believe that colonialism and assimilation into White cultural aspects will benefit the nation as a whole. However, both the Black Panther film and Achebe’s Things Fall Apart show that this is not the case from the perspective of those undergoing colonialism. Achebe’s Things Fall Apart was an incredibly impactful work of writing because it was written about Africa and actually written by an African individual. This work shed light on a perspective regarding colonialism that was not considered in history textbooks (Achebe). It uncovered how Africans truly felt about colonialism and how it impacted them. Achebe also showed his readers how the policy of colonialism also created “the Ones” and “the Others” as explained by de Beauvoir’s Theory of Otherness. Upon the arrival of their White counterparts, Africans immediately experienced “Othering” in the sense that they were labeled as different. White colonists labeled themselves as “the Ones” and began to use colonialism policy to attempt to culturally assimilate African individuals to resemble Caucasian culture (Beauvoir). 

Works Cited:

Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. Penguin Publishing Group, 2019.

Beauvoir, Simone de. “The Second Sex.” The Second Sex, Vintage Classic, 2015. 

The Black Panther Party: Challenging Police and Promoting Social Change. (2020, August 23). Retrieved April 01, 2021, from https://nmaahc.si.edu/blog-post/black-panther-party-challenging-police-and-promoting-social-change

Coogler, R., Cole, J. R., Feige, K., Göransson, L., Lamar, K., Berman, D., . . . Kirby, J. (Writers), & Morrison, R. (Director). (n.d.). Black panther [Video file].

Mattimore, R. (2018, February 15). The Real History Behind the Black Panther. Retrieved April 01, 2021, from https://www.history.com/news/the-real-history-behind-the-black-panther

Stokely Carmichael. (n.d.). Retrieved March 31, 2021, from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Stokely-Carmichael

 

Diary of Systemic Injustices: Meghan Markle’s Mistreatment

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This past week, I read an article published by The New York Times titled, “‘I Just Didn’t Want to Be Alive Anymore’: Meghan Says Life as Royal Made Her Suicidal”written by Mark Landler. The article discusses the interview that Oprah Winfrey conducted with Prince Harry and his wife, Duchess Meghan Markle, a woman of color. The interview was shocking to watch, revealing the systemic injustices that Meghan Markle experienced at the hands of the British monarchy.

 Meghan explained how her mental illnesses were ignored by palace officials and she did not receive the medical help that she needed at the time, causing severe depression. In addition to reading this article, I also watched the full interview Oprah Winfrey conducted with Meghan Markle. When speaking about her experiences with being denied help regarding mental illness, she revealed that the Institution could not help her because it would lead to media coverage. After this, Meghan was shocked and recognized that she was still mentally unstable. She then went to the human resources department, explaining that with her previous job, she would’ve been supported by the union to receive medical care when needed. They acknowledged that she was in an unfortunate situation, but because she was not a paid employee of the institution, there was nothing they could do to help her (Oprah). This denial of basic medical care is an aspect that anyone else in the Royal Family would ever experience. 

In addition to this, palace officials began to raise concerns regarding how dark their child’s skin complexion would be after he was born. They also made it very clear that the child of Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan would not have a royal title or financial security (Landler). At this point, after three years of mistreatment, Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan decided it was time to leave behind their royal duties and financial security to avoid the mistreatment. 

After reading the article, I was stunned to see that systemic injustices take place within the palace walls as well. I was also shocked to learn about how differently Duchess Meghan and Duchess Kate were treated and how Kate mistreated Meghan as well. Duchess Meghan revealed that Kate even drove her to tears after relentless fighting over her flower girls’ dresses (Landler). During her interview with Oprah, various magazine titles were examined that showed Duchess Meghan and Duchess Kate doing the exact same thing, but portrayed in entirely different light. For instance, when Kate would cradle her baby bump during appearances, the media portrayed it in positive light, showing excitement for the arrival of the new member of the Royal Family. However, when Meghan did the exact same thing, she was shown in a much more negative light; she was accused of drawing too much attention to herself (Oprah). 

Duchess Meghan Markle’s experiences with systemic racism relate to the concepts we discussed regarding deBeauvoir’s theory of “the One” and “the Other.” Meghan is portrayed as “the Other” in this context, where her behavior and actions are over-scrutinized to the point that she feels she cannot do anything right. To the point where she truly questions her will to live, asking herself if it is even worth it. She was clearly distinguished as “the Other” by the British Institution and palace officials who consider themselves, “the Ones.” “The Ones” continuously try to hold control over “the Other” due to their respective differences. 

-Divya Patibandla

Links: 

www.nytimes.com/2021/03/07/world/europe/oprah-interview-harry-meghan.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/07/world/europe/oprah-interview-harry-meghan.html

 

https://www.cbs.com/shows/oprah-with-meghan-and-harry-a-cbs-primetime-special/

Additional Media:

 

 

Citations:

Landler, Mark. “’I Just Didn’t Want to Be Alive Anymore’: Meghan Says Life as Royal Made Her Suicidal.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 8 Mar. 2021, www.nytimes.com/2021/03/07/world/europe/oprah-interview-harry-meghan.html. 

Oprah with Meghan and Harry: A CBS Primetime Special [Interview by 1275727956 941733689 O. Winfrey]. (n.d.). Retrieved March 27, 2021, from https://www.cbs.com/shows/oprah-with-meghan-and-harry-a-cbs-primetime-special/video/i6UW_WTQjLrEeOoObMmlwrFLTTypvuZm/cbs-presents-oprah-with-meghan-and-harry-a-primetime-.special