Author: tow.8

Text Review: Driving Miss Daisy

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Driving Miss Daisy: Movie/Text Review 

The movie Driving Miss Daisy is a movie about an African American man named Hoke Colburn, who drives a wealthy white woman named Daisy Werthan. The story takes place during the time of of the freedom marches of Dr. Martine Luther King Jr. Over the course of the movie we get a glimpse into Hoke Colburn and his longing to be an “educated” and working American in order to be independent. Hoke cannot read or write, but earns his income as being a charismatic and kind taxi driver. Yet, he is stuck with no other way out then driving Miss Daisy for his form of income. During the course of the movie we see Hoke and the way that he is treated in comparison to Miss Daisy and her friends. We also learn on the opposite side of the spectrum that the only reason Miss Daisy can gain her independence as an elderly single woman is through Hoke, which creates an interesting parallel. Although the two unlikely candidates become friends in the end, there are several instances in the movie when Hoke questions why he is treated inferiorly to a white individual.

After watching this movie recently, it made me think back to Spivak’s “Can the Subaltern Speak?” The character Hoke played by Morgan Freeman, had a lot of brilliant ideas and suggestions in certain scenarios but was put down or rejected completely due to his race and the color of his skin. Miss Daisy being from the opposite side of the spectrum, as a wealthy white woman, had the final say in everything (wether it was the right or wrong answer). Further, this shows the systematic injustice of power loss just due to the color of one person’s skin. Just because Hoke was a person of color, Miss Daisy refused to listen to his ideas or give him any sort of power, creating this subaltern position for Hoke.

Even though the movie points toward serious issues Martin Luther King Jr. was protesting against, there were still often scenes in which humor was involved. I think the overall point of the movie was to get the audience to understand where each character was coming from and also show how each individual’s background created the divide between the main character’s of Hoke and Miss Daisy. I also believe the movie wanted project to the audience the feeling of being inferior as a black person to that of a white person, especially during the particular time in history in which the movie took place. All the more it brings to light and makes audiences reflect on how African Americans are being treated in today’s world.

 

Driving Miss Daisy (1989) - Rotten Tomatoes

Week 13 Context Presentation: Wakanda in Relation to African History

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After watching Marvel’s Black Panther, the take Marvel brings in displaying black culture in a major film was unprecedented. The movie focuses and takes place in a futuristic world known as Wakanda. From an outsider’s perspective it seems that Wakanda is a representative of what Africa could reach as far as advancements and society if cut off from the rest of Europe. Before the Europeans arrived in Africa, Africa had vibrant economic, social and political structures. These were severely disrupted by Europeans to create wealth for themselves. European dominance over most of Africa through the transatlantic slave trade lasted 440 years, from 1444 to 1885 (Alcott, 2008). 

  In the news, Africa is often portrayed as a third-world country with very few resources. It has even been said that “Africa has been identified as a place with endless poverty, diseases, conflict, and violence” (Jones 2018). Although in Marvel’s Black Panther, Africa, in the form of Wakanda, is displayed in a much different light. Black Panther’s vision of Wakanda is seen as a bustling metropolis of vibranium-powered futuristic skyscrapers, racing trains and soaring spaceships” (Johnson, 2018). 

Similar to the European expeditions of Africa in past history, foriegn countries in Black Panther try to exploit Wakanda for its natural resources in the form of vibranium. In one scene in particular, Klaw (a protagonist in the film), played by actor Andy Serkis, set’s a heist in order to steal artifacts from a museum that are important objects to the Wakandan people. This creates an indirect parallel to real life events, yet still hidden, under the events happening in Marvel’s fictional country of Wakanda. 

Today, Africa is still facing the effects of the European dominance and suffers from a lack of resources. Africa also suffers economically due to various reasons including lack of equal trading as well as the taxes imposed on the country. However, in Black Panther, Wakanda is thriving alone without the help of any outside sources. 

 

Works Cited

Alcott, Washington. “The Underdevelopment of Africa by Europe.” Revealing Histories, Revealing Histories, 2008, revealinghistories.org.uk/africa-the-arrival-of-europeans-and-the-transatlantic-slave-trade/articles/the-underdevelopment-of-africa-by-europe.html#:~:text=Before%20the%20Europeans%20arrived%20in,years%2C%20from%201444%20to%201885.

Johnson, Tre. “Black Panther Is a Gorgeous, Groundbreaking Celebration of Black Culture.” Vox, 23 Feb. 2018, www.vox.com/culture/2018/2/23/17028826/black-panther-wakanda-culture-marvel.

Jones, Nate. “A Brief History of Wakanda, Black Panther’s Fictional Utopia.” Vulture, 15 Feb. 2018, www.vulture.com/2018/02/black-panthers-wakanda-explained.html.

 

Diary Entry Showcase: Injustices in the educational system (specifically for teachers)

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For one of my entries, I researched on the systemic injustices occurring in the education system, specifically for teachers. One takeaway from the majority of articles I read was that teachers are not being compensated (or paid) for the amount of overtime work they put in. Many teachers in these articles felt that their monthly earned wages matched nowhere near that of what was on their paycheck. Another injustice that has recently been ignited for teachers all around the country is the need to provide their own classroom with the cleaning/safety supplies to fight against the virus Covid-19. Further, a majority of schools are not funding these necessities that include items such as masks, disinfectant wipes, hand sanitizer, etc. My personal stake in this matter is due to the fact that I have a mom who teaches in elementary school. In connecting this to both of the injustices I found, my mom, as well as other teachers, do not make nearly the salary to match the time they spend working at the school between coming in early or leaving late. This brings me to my next point in the matter. When the pandemic hit in our area, the school system only provided teachers with plexiglass barriers to protect against the virus and that is all. In return, my mom had to spend her own money from her paycheck to go out and buy extra supplies (as the ones listed above) to ensure the safety of herself as well as her students. I feel that the school and a majority of other schools have the ability to pay for these types of items, but refuse to in order to save money, instead of trying to protect and save lives. I am not saying this is true for all schools, but for the ones I was reading on the articles this was exactly the case. 

After doing more research and analysis, I found that schools never did supply the proper tools to protect teachers from the virus, rather they just increased cleaning. Schools left it up to the teachers individually and to what extremes they would go to, to protect themselves and others from the Covid virus strain (in buying masks, sanitizers, etc.) However, in a positive note, teachers are beginning to become some of the first to receive the Covid vaccine. Also, even though some so do not feel strongly about getting the vaccine, this is a step in the right direction in that they are starting to put the health and safety of teachers first. Another item that schools (who were open) made mandatory, was the mandate that all kids were to wear their masks in class.

This systematic injustice also made me think of the “One and Other” examples that we have used in this class. It seems like business and other cooperations are taking the correct steps in protecting their workers with temperature checks, plexus glass, masks and social distancing. When it comes to schools they are almost labeled as the “Other” in not just from the lack of resources needed to protect from the virus but simply staying open in general. Many schools across the country (even though many have opened back up) are still shutdown and taking the remote learning option.

 

COVID school: Online class? In person? How kids, teachers make it workTucker, David. News Journal, 15. Nov. 2020, USA Today, https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/education/2020/11/15/covid-school-online-class-teachers/6127540002/. Accessed: 17 March 2021.

 

Additional Links:

https://time.com/5883384/teachers-coronavirus/

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/teachers-spending-money-school-supplies-covid_l_5f5005d1c5b6946f3eacc5c4

**Also a good read below:

Teachers pay out-of-pocket to keep their classrooms clean of COVID-19: Teachers already spend on average $450 a year on school supplies