Author: dacosta.20

Text Review Assignment– Black-ish

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ABC’s Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated comedy series “Black-ish” follows the lives of an upper-class black family living in a predominantly white community. Premiering in 2014, and still running today, the show takes a lighthearted and comedic approach to a man’s efforts to give his family a sense of cultural identity. Black-ish is a casual and enjoyable show to watch, it seamlessly includes thought-provoking conversations about race with relatable families and everyday problems. Both parents in the show have high-class and high-earning jobs, leaving them to live in a large house in a wealthy LA neighborhood. Although, this may seem disproportional to many Black families the show makes it a point to talk about this privilege.

In many ways, this show relates to the information we discussed in class. In relation to Ahmad and his thoughts about the Self and the Other, the family could be put into the category of the latter, the Other. The pilot episode has a very particular scene that stood out to me regarding this thought. The father, Dre, explains what it’s like to be one of the only black families in a white neighborhood by comparing it to a bus tour that passes by their house as the family stands outside for their amusement. Similar to the one and other there is a group seen differently in society’s eyes in comparison to the rest.

I think that the creators of this show not only wanted to get people to open their eyes to the little things that make up racial injustice and prejudice but also show the audience there isn’t just one way to be a certain race. Ask yourself if you’ve ever found yourself acting like a character in the show, black or white. “Black-ish” hopes to serve as a useful education on race relations and cultural assimilation in modern America.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mixedish-blackish-spinoff-race-communes_n_5d84ea71e4b070d468cbd40ahttps://bossip.com/1024270/race-matters-black-ish-creator-kenya-barris-claps-back-at-haters-explains-shows-purpose-and-talks-obama-43081/

Diary #5: Diversity in fashion

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Fashion magazines like Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue have a major impact on the fashion industry they are physical documentations of the most important events in fashion and have gone back decades. The fashion industry has been criticized in the past over its lack of inclusivity regarding size and appearance, pushing pictures of gorgeous skinny models and leaving out the other 99%. Yet, after the Black Lives Matter movement, many magazines started taking a second look at their decisions over the years not only regarding what they publish but their employees as well.

Fashion is a unique industry. It’s an industry that adapts and changes more frequently than most, with the ability to create new norms and influence the whole world. This power should be used for the better, not the worse. After decades of being criticized for their lack of diversity and inclusion, it’s vital for the fashion industry to represent all types of people. Normalizing inclusion in fashion today will positively impact generations to come.

Anna Wintour the editor-in-chief of US Vogue released a statement apologizing for publishing intolerant material and not doing enough to include people of color in her 32-year reign at Vogue. Although an apology is appreciated, real change is needed to make those apologies believable.  To put the systematic injustice of the fashion magazine industry into perspective Harper’s Bazaar, an internationally renowned magazine, appointed Samira Nast its first black editor-in-chief in over a century and a half, 153 years to be exact, in July of last year. As a result of systemic racism in the industry, no person of color was made editor-in-chief since Harper’s Bazaars first publication in 1867, until finally in 2020.

Vogue is often referred to as the fashion bible, a name that should not be taken lightly. If this is the magazine that anyone that wants to work in fashion looks up to then the mistakes made in 32 years are quite grave. The fashion industry is very competitive as is and a lack of diversity could dimmish a young child’s dream of working in fashion by making them think they wouldn’t belong. Although things have changed over the last few years with plus-size models and a bit more diversity, I think the fashion industry knows it can do better.

RACISM IN THE FASHION INDUSTRY

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/24/style/fashion-racism.html

https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2020/jun/10/anna-wintour-apologises-for-not-giving-space-to-black-people-at-vogue

RACISM IN THE FASHION INDUSTRY

Week 7 Context Presentation- Growing up During the Revolution

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Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi depicts the turbulent life of Marjane “Marji” living in Iran’s capital of Tehran from the late 1970s into the early 1980s. The book begins shortly after the Iranian revolution in 1979, which ended with the Shah, a British and American-supported dictator, resigning. This resulted in a rise of oppressive fundamentalists replacing the Shah and enforcing strict regimens of the people of Iran. Especially women, resulting in grave consequences “through centuries of oppression the veils and the wall enclosed women’s minds as well. Not only did they become second class citizens, but they thought of themselves as such” (Sara-Isfahani, 1980)

Marji is a young girl growing up in a chaotic world and the reader sees her innocence (and subsequential loss), curiosity, and confusion. From the beginning she struggles to adjust especially at school, starting with being separated from male classmates and forced to wear veils. The war reconfigured the gender dynamics “men vacated the civilian labor force en masse to join the army, and women were left to keep the home economy running…the regime began privileging modes of tribal masculinity and virtuous femininity in its wartime propaganda” (Smiles, 2008). She watches as her wealthy and modern parents protest the revolution doesn’t fully understand it for herself. Marji learns about her family’s history, hearing stories about how her grandfather was a price and later a communist whom the Shah removed from power, and her uncle, Anoosh, spent 9 years in prison and was only released after the Shah fell from power, her uncle later dies after Islamic fundamentalists capture him. This leads to confusion and despair in much of Marji’s life.

Marji’s story is told from childhood to young adulthood, the years which could have been considered as exciting and formative in more peaceful times, are clouded by the heightened stakes of the war, forcing Marjane to grow up swiftly. The changes in leadership and loyalties at her school anger her further, forcing her to know she must make choices for herself and not listen blindly to those surrounding her. During the war school in Iran changed, “a series of learning processes are set in motion to change the society’s values from within, starting from early childhood, and sometimes generating important ruptures between school and family” (Matti, 2014). Growing up in a time of war Marji faced confusion and a disadvantage that her parents could not begin to understand.

 

Matti, Nathalie. “Paradoxical Influence of the Islamicized School Education in Iran since the 1980s on Performance.” Journal of Persianate Studies, vol. 7, no. 1, 2014, pp. 107–123., https://doi.org/10.1163/18747167-12341266.

Satrapi. 2000. The Complete Persepolis.‎ Pantheon.

Safa-Isfahani, Kaveh. “Female-Centered World Views in Iranian Culture: Symbolic Representations of Sexuality in Dramatic Games.” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, vol. 6, no. 1, 1980, pp. 33–53., https://doi.org/10.1086/493774.

Smiles, Sarah. “On the Margins: Women, National Boundaries, and Conflict in Saddam’s Iraq.” Identities, vol. 15, no. 3, 2008, pp. 271–296., https://doi.org/10.1080/10702890802073241.