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One of my favorite shows to watch is the TV show Criminal Minds. This show follows the group of skilled criminal profilers who work for the FBI as members of the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU). They use behavioral analysis and profiling to investigate criminals and find perpetrators. One of the biggest themes of criminal minds would be that it primarily focuses on the backgrounds of the victims and the criminals and not actually on the crime itself, which before this show was considered unusual. The BAU travels all around the country solving different crimes and catching different criminals. One episode that has always stood out to me was “Strange Fruit”. In this episode the team discovers skeletons of human bodies in the backyard of an African American family, Charles and Tina Johnson, the home they have lived in for 35 years. The team initially thinks the Johnson’s son, Lyle, is guilty because he ran when the police showed up to the house. The BAU brings in all three member of the family for questioning.  Agent Rossi takes the father, Charles Johnson, in for questioning where he finds out the history of racism that he has had on his shoulders. Charles starts out by telling Rossi that he is “disappointed” in his sons gender, meaning that since he was an African American teenage boy he would get stopped and abused more than if he was an African American girl. Tech analyst Penelope Garcia, finds out that when he was a teenager, Charles Johnson was accused of raping a white teenage girl. When other white boys in the neighborhood had heard about this they took young Charles and they beat him and castrated him for the alleged offense. The murders that happened in 1973 were of the men who were involved in the attack of Charles, he wanted to seek revenge for what they did to him. But there were men that were involved in the abuse of Charles that had died earlier on of natural causes, but Charles still wanted revenge on them and their families. So in 2003 he targets the daughters of the men he was unable to seek revenge on. He beat all of his victims to death, mutilated them and buried the bodies in the backyard. This episode is actually very difficult to watch because of the injustice that Charles faced during his teenage years and probably his later years as well. He was abused and tortured because he is an African American man living in Virginia, and that built up rage led him to do brutal things to his victims. I feel like this episode kind of twists and turns with who is “The One” and who is “The Other”. In the beginning of the episode the other was supposed to be Lyle Johnson, because he ran from the police and was thought to be guilty of the murders. Then as Charles tells the story of his life he is thought to be the other because of the racism is experienced throughout his life.

Text Review Assignment

I chose to review the TV series Criminal Minds for this text review assignment. Criminal Minds is a large series about a group of people from the FBI, specifically in the behavioral analysis unit, who find serial killers based on their behaviors. I chose this series because the team from the BAU is always working with serial killers from all walks of life from many different states/countries. Although there are many episodes in this series, they almost always include some sort of injustice or power distance in every episode.

The first example I would like to touch on is an episode where a member of the BAU, special agent Derek Morgan, was convited of murder because of his racial background. Derek went back to his home city, Chicago, to visit his mother and sisters. A couple days into his visit, he got a knock on the front door from a white police officer who had a warrant to arrest Derek for the murder of young boys in his neighborhood. The police officer arrested Derek mainly because he “profiled” it was a black male. Derek claimed the only reason why he was arrested is because the police officer had always been racist towards people in his community and didn’t like how Derek was doing well with his life. This shows a toxic power dynamic that could be related back to the “one” and the “other.” In this case, Derek Morgan would be considered the “other” because although he was given opportunities to make his career out of his life, he had to overcome obstacles that others did not. He is the “other” because the white police chief looked down on him even though he didn’t commit the crime and was fully capable of being in the FBI. The police chief would be considered the “one” because he likes to have people under him and have the control. He thought he was superior to the people he was patrolling in the city of Chicago. Overall, these types of characters show an unfair power dynamic that could be related back to the “one” and the “other.”

Over the last decade, the prejudices displayed by law enforcement towards African Americans have caused a great deal of pain and suffering towards people of this community. Earlier this week, Derek Chauvin was held accountable for killing George Floyd. For the first time in Minnesota history, a white police officer was charged for killing someone of color. It is a shame that the verdict left many surprised. This nefariousness played out by the police system has been mentioned frequently in music. For this assignment, I will be deconstructing one of my favorite albums, Cilvia Demo by Isaiah Rashad. Cilvia Demo is a loose concept album that, according to Rashad, sums up his emotional struggle from his teenage to adolescent years. The project is characterized by its personal themes such as substance abuse, fatherhood, coming of age, and police brutality. The foundation of the project revolves around the crookedness the system has constructed within the African American community, and the implications of being black in the 20^th century. The third song off the album, “R.I.P. Kevin Miller” mentions that the police are hunting people of color. Relations between the African American community and law enforcement are extremely tense, and the issue has become more publicized than ever before. By the time this song was released, the world had already witnessed the infamous deaths of Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, and other unarmed African Americans. The next track, “Ronnie Drake”, describes the dodging of ongoing policies that everyone in Rashad’s community is targeted by. Constant police surveillance makes it difficult to go about day-to-day life as a black individual judged from stereotypical perspectives and bias. As we wrap up the semester, a common theme that I gravitated towards is how systems of power are intertwined with individual identities and experiences. The purpose of Cilvia Demo is to paint the picture of young man struggling to find peace within a racially discriminated community. The idea of the underrepresented “Other” can be drawn as a theme throughout the album as well, as voicelessness is extremely apparent in communities that face discrimination. Cilvia Demo will go down as one of my favorite works of music throughout my lifetime due to the impact it has left on the music industry and society.

The film Hidden Figures is set in the 1960’s during which racial segregation was still heavily in place. People of different races did not mingle, did not share the same spaces, and were seen as having very different lives. Within the film, these rules start to bend, starting with three very intelligent Black women working for NASA. While working for NASA, they worked on computing numbers in order to help compete with Russia in putting a man in space. Throughout the film, Catherine, among her two best friends, fight against racial injustice in order to do their jobs effectively and prove they belong. Although the film is heavily related to the topic of racial injustice, there are also many instances of gender inequality and injustice within the film as well. There was a point where Catherine was not allowed in meetings, not only because of her race, but her gender as well.

Hidden Figures displays multiple comparisons to lessons related to the coursework from this class, the main relation is the concept of the One and the Other. There are several different aspects shown in this film regarding this concept, the first could be that the Black characters could be depicted as the ‘Other’ and the white as the ‘One’. Throughout the film, the white characters acted superior to the Black characters and showed hated when they wanted equal opportunities as them. Through the whole film, the white characters were the leaders in charge. Another example of this lesson would be of gender, males would be the ‘One’ as females would be the ‘other’. In the film, it was predominately male characters in the roles of power and when a female wanted to be an engineer, disregarding the fact of her race, they said it wouldn’t be possible because she was a female.

This film raises many questions for me, and I think the creator of Hidden Figures wants you to walk away from the film feeling empowered from this film. I think the creator wants you to reflect on your life and how you live your life much like how our diary of systemic injustices challenge us to look at the world, to make sure you are respecting all humans regardless of race, gender, age, etc. The film makes you wonder how diversity has changed throughout the years and I’m very curious to see how the world will continue to change throughout the years. How do you think the world will be in the next few years in regard to diversity? The next decade?

The novel State of Wonder, by Ann Patchett, is a compelling novel that’ll stir up a lot of questions for readers.  The main character, Marina Singh, is sent to Brazil to investigate the progression of Dr. Swenson’s malaria drug, as well as the death of a coworker.  What Marina finds instead is a confusion of ethics, morality, and humanity that forces her to consider her own positions and ask the readers to do the same.  When Marina makes it into the Amazon, she is shocked to find out that doctor Swenson is not only working on a Malaria drug but is working on a fertility drug that is causing the women of the Lakashi tribe to have children into their seventies. Marina faces struggles with the ethical and moral questions that arise from doing research on native cultures.  These women are poked and prodded daily to help researchers understand this wonder.  Marina recognizes that if they were back in America everything they are doing would be unethical.  Marina’s time with the Lakashi tribe teaches her that sometimes medical interventions should not be used to improve on nature, and that simply because something can be done, doesn’t mean it should be.  

Marina is the daughter of a white mother and an Indian father.  As someone with darker skin living in Minnesota, she is often asked, “Where are you from?”  While in Brazil, a country she has no connection to, she feels more included due to the color of her skin.  Her darker skin enabled her to pass for Brazilian, allowing her to avoid the question, “Where are you from?”  This reminded me of the concept of othering.  Due to Marina’s darker complexion, people see her as being “other” and don’t believe that she is American.

 Later in the book, white tourists confuse Marina as one of the Jinta Indians.  They take photos of her and want her to dance like the other tribe members. After this experience, Marina notices the considerable impact tourism has on the behavior of the tribe, the tribe members cater to the tourist, making trinkets and crafts, and transforming their traditional ceremonial dances into public entertainment.  Rather than having an authentic encounter with another culture, these tourists are given what they want, a spectacle, and a few exotic pictures they can show to their friends back home.  It seems that Marina and Jamaica Kincaid have similar feelings towards tourists.  Kincaid too feels that tourists are ignorant to the lives of natives.  Overall, the novel does a great job at bringing up instances of injustice, causing the reader to evaluate their morals.

In the movie Legally Blonde, we meet a girl by the name of Elle Woods, she is blonde and beautiful, she is also a fashion major and a sorority girl. At the time of her enrolling in college she was dating a guy by the name of Warner, he was pursuing to be a politician and go to Harvard Law School. As Elle and her boyfriend went out to dinner one night, he broke up with her because he believed “she wasn’t serious enough” about the life he wanted in college. Elle later believed she could win her boyfriend back if she pursued a career in law, she earned a 179 on the LSAT and got accepted into Harvard. At the end of the movie, Elle worked on a case, sent the defendant to jail and Warner asked to get back together. After Elle realized her worth and what she could accomplish, she rejected him.

Throughout the whole movie, Elle Woods was overcoming stereotypes made for women trying to pursue careers where it was male dominant. Not only was she criticized due to her looks and blonde hair, but people also just truly didn’t believe she could accomplish high levels of education. Her own father in the movie tried to talk her out of it by saying law school is a place for people who are “boring, ugly and serious.”

I chose this movie not only because it relates to me personally, as I am pursuing a career in law but because this related great with one of our class materials. One of the materials we read in class was “Can the Subaltern Speak?”, we see throughout that reading the author touches on how women will never be on the same level or seen the same next to a man. Whether that is in society or in a work setting, the movie Legally Blonde relates to that reading so well. One of the famous lines of the movie was when Elle ran into her ex-boyfriend in the Harvard school halls and Warner asks if she’s here to see him, she responds, “No I go here,” Warner responds to her with remarks like “You go where?, You got into Harvard Law?”. Elle responds with the famous line, “What? Like it’s hard?”. That scene is a clear representation of how Elle’s ex-boyfriend believed she would never even make it into a school that he got into because she was never on the same level that he was, when in reality she was and broke many stereotypes. This movie is a great example to young women that no matter what someone tells you or how many times you get told you can’t do something, you most certainly can.

The novel by Indian author Aravind Adiga tells the story of the Indian social class system and how Indian society affects the choices one makes. The book takes place during an interesting time as India is one of the fastest growing economies and the novel excellently captures the demographics of a society where the people and infrastructure are rapidly changing. The White Tiger is an exciting read that includes many surprising events which distinguish the plot from existing stereotypes about Indian society.

The story is told from the perspective of a cab driver, Balram, who finds himself working for an Indian-American couple and gets a taste of what life abroad is like. Balram comes to learn that the husband is extremely corrupt and has a number of side deals with several of India’s top politicians. Balram sees his opportunity to leave his former life behind and find success for himself. The novel follows his journey as he starts a taxi company called White Tiger Drivers.

After reading Interpreter of the Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri, I was instantly reminded of this novel. Even though the plot points differ, the context of both the stories are very similar: they both feature an Indian-American couple and an Indian taxi driver and part of the stories are dedicated to illustrating the differences between the two cultures. Both texts also illustrate the concept of ‘othering’. In Interpreter of the Maladies, the taxi driver, Mr.Kapasi’s view tends to be overshadowed by the couple he is working for seemingly because of his social status. Similarly, in The White Tiger, Balram’s point of view is undermined by the people he works for. The novel also extends this to include all people of India’s working class as a group that is overshadowed by the rest of society and the novel aims to reclaim their voice.

Get Out is a 2017 horror/ psychological thriller directed by Jordan Peele. The plot involves Chris Washington an African American photographer who prepares to meet his girlfriend’s family at their house. His girlfriend Rose who is white has been dating Chris for a couple of months and the parents of Rose don’t know that Chris is African American. When Chris meets the parents of Rose, the mother is a psychiatrist and the father is a neurosurgeon. Chris notices the family have black servants in their secluded wooded house.  Chris soon realizes the sinister secrets of the Armitage family. Jordan Peele brings together a film with many twists and turns but hints at many key important messages like race, slavery, and labor.

Symbolism I noticed that the movie connected with the ideas of race. In the beginning of the movie Chris and Rose hit a deer on the way to Roses parents’ house. Chris notices it and feels remorse for it.  When they arrive at Roses parents’ home the parents act different towards the thought of killing of deer’s.  The father mentions the deer’s taking over their land and the only way to stop is to kill them. As we learn later in the film the family doesn’t just hunt animals, but Chris and other African Americans that Rose brings home.

Another symbol was slavery in the film. We know in history that many slaves were sold through auction. There would be bidders deciding which slave to choose for their property. In the film, there is a huge photo of Chris where the crowd bids on Chris. Jordan Peele does this to compare the Armitage family to slave owners. The showing of the past and how its seen in the present in society is depicted in this part of the film.

Spivak’s “Can the subaltern Speak”, is another connection you can take from the film. There were many examples, but one most prominently was Walter and Georgina in the film. They were the laborers to the Armitage family and was a connection to the oppression and inequality of African Americans. They weren’t able to speak for themselves since they were in a trance by the mother controlling them and their actions. This action is connected to many slaves in history who couldn’t speak for themselves and were controlled by slave owners. It was also a motif nod to the upper class choosing lower class individuals. Overall, Jordan Peele the director of Get Out brings many different ideas, symbols, motifs that tell a deeper and darker meaning onto the big screen for viewers to watch.