Author: rogovich.2

Text Review Assignment

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The film 42 is a movie that tells the story of how Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball (MLB). In the year 1946 Jackie Robinson became the first African American to become a part of the MLB. Throughout this film, the audience sees how challenging it is to be the only African American in an all white baseball league. Jackie Robinson faces severe racism throughout his life but never backs down or gives up on his goal. This directly relates to the main topics that we have covered throughout this semester as Jackie Robinson was treated poorly due to his skin color. One piece of theoretical work from this course that can be directly related to this film is de Beauvoir’s “othering” theory. This theory addresses the issue of how individuals in society are often treated as an “other” due to them being a part of a misrepresented group, such as African Americans.

Throughout the film 42, Jackie Robinson is clearly treated as an “other” because of his skin color. Jackie Robinson is forced to endure many hardships just because he is trying to accomplish his goal of playing in the MLB. Before Jackie Robinson was signed to play in the MLB there were no African Americans in the league, and they were forced to participate in a different league solely because of their skin color. Many individuals hated the idea of an African American being in the MLB and racially targeted Jackie Robinson with both violence and racist slurs. Jackie Robinson was de Beauvoir’s definition of an “other” in the MLB, making things very hard for Robinson and even at times made his life miserable. For example, Jackie Robinson would often have pitches thrown at his head by opposing teams because they wanted to let him know that African Americans were not welcomed in the MLB. In conclusion, the film 42 incorporates many of the topics that I have seen in this course and is overall a great story where de Beauvoir’s “othering” theory can be highlighted.

42 Review - IGN

Week 15 Contextual Research Presentation Regarding the Pain of Others

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Regarding the Pain of Others is an essay written by Susan Sontag that discusses images of war and some common issues with violent images. Sontag talks about how images of war are not always accurate due to them often being staged by the photographer for the purpose of creating a dramatic effect. There is a ton of violence that appears in our world that is seen through images which are often promoted by the media. Sontag analysis how images of war are often interpreted by the public and individuals that do not actually experience war other than through images. The way people understand trauma is often affected by their environment and social views. Sontag talks about how people don’t always register these violent images as being real and how the suffering of others should allow for people to reflect on their privileges.

One significant issue that Sontag addresses in her essay is that images of war are not always credible. Individuals that publish staged images of war will do something such as “create a scene — by posing bodies — and then draft a dramatic narrative to accompany the picture” (Gardner). They will do this and then advertise the image and depiction as non-fiction, fooling the public. This connects to The Danger of a Single Story by Adichie because when such an image is staged in this type of way it is done so to tell a certain story that is clearly not the truth. This can lead to a lot of controversy and even chaos as people tend to believe what they see in images even if the photographs are not proven credible. An example of this is when a Los Angeles Times photographer was found responsible for “merging two images of a British soldier and a crowd of Iraqis (in the altered image, the soldier appears to be pointing his gun at a man holding a child)” (Marlantes). As one can imagine this picture led to a lot of controversy and anger amongst the public, causing many issues.

Another idea that is a focus of Sontag’s work is the way that people interrupt images of war and trauma differently. Throughout the video “Watching Others’ Trauma” many different ways of how people view and react to seeing trauma are discussed. The video says how many of the images we see have visual narratives where we often assume a story of tragedy is related. Studies show that when people look at violent images “we continue to stare as a way to face our fears without risking immediate harm” (Page). There is clearly an attraction that humans have with images of violence, as they are constantly all over the media. In conclusion, Sontag gives very significant insight regarding images of war that allow her readers a better understanding of the overall concept.

Hansen, Claire, et al. “Where Is Marijuana Legal? A Guide to Marijuana …” U.S. News and World Report, 14 Oct. 2021, https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/where-is-marijuana-legal-a-guide-to-marijuana-legalization. Accessed 2 Dec. 2021.

Marlantes, Liz. “’Doctored’ War Photos Ignite Controversy.” ABC News, ABC News Network, 9 Aug. 2006, https://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=2288892&page=1. Accessed 2 Dec. 2021.

Page, Danielle. “The Science behind Why We Can’t Look Away from Tragedy.” NBCNews.com, NBCUniversal News Group, 28 Sept. 2017, https://www.nbcnews.com/better/health/science-behind-why-we-can-t-look-away-disasters-ncna804966. Accessed 2 Dec. 2021.

Diary of Systemic Injustices Showcase – The Homeless

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Systemic inequality against homeless people in The United States is an issue that has been apparent since the 1870s. Over the last year or so I have taken notice of the homeless population in The United States. Being in Columbus I see a large number of homeless people, especially just being on High Street over the weekends. I have also done some research on homeless people and have unfortunately read about some disturbing stories involving the homeless. One article I read talked about how college kids beat up a homeless man for pretty much no reason and the saddest thing about this is that basically, nobody cared (Ly). Personally, I have started to take notice of how the homeless are treated and have observed that they are basically seen as nothing. The homeless are often seen as part of a city that makes the area “not as nice” or “a less desirable area”. This has a very bad impact on the people that are homeless because they are not getting the help and support, they need in order to move up in society. It is very hard for homeless people to find work due to reasons like them not having a home address or not having a reliable phone number at which they can be contacted (Shay). I distinguished this as systemic injustice because the only concern people seem to have about the homeless is getting them out of their area. These people are not cared for by anyone and are seen more as an issue than as actual people that are so clearly struggling and just need some guidance. This relates to Simone de Beauvoir’s “Othering” mainly because of the way the homeless are seen by the rest of society. Just like how women are labeled as a group of lesser importance compared to the rest of society in de Beauvoir’s theoretical work; the homeless are considered second or as the “other” to the rest of the population in the United States. These individuals have no voice or platform where they can speak up against their systemic inequality, making it very difficult for there to be a change. The first thing that would need to change for this wrong to be righted is for the nation to change its perspective on homeless people and to start recognizing these people as actual people. Another thing that would need to change is for more programs to be created for the purpose of helping get the homeless on the right track and out of poverty. Overall, there will always be homeless people out there and this group deserves to be treated with respect same as any other human being.

Sources:

Haworth, Jon. “2 Teenagers Charged with Murder in Alleyway Beating Death of 63-Year-Old Homeless Man.” ABC News, ABC News Network, 1 July 2020, https://abcnews.go.com/US/teenagers-charged-murder-alleyway-beating-death-63-year/story?id=71550327.

Ly, Laura. “Two College Football Players Arraigned in Beating of Homeless Man.” CNN, 23 Apr. 2014, https://www.cnn.com/2014/04/23/justice/massachusetts-homeless-man-beating/index.html.

Shay, Kylyssa. “Why Don’t Homeless People Just Get Jobs?” Soapboxie, Soapboxie, 5 Dec. 2009, https://soapboxie.com/social-issues/why-homeless-people-dont-just-get-a-job.