Month: April 2020

Text Review of “The BFG” by Roald Dahl

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The work I selected to analyze was The BFG by Roald Dahl. The BFG or Big Friendly Giant is about a friendly giant (named BFG) who lives amongst huge man eating giants. The friendly giant with his companion Sophie sets out to stop the giants from killing innocent human beings. BFG and Sophie convinced the Queen of England they needed her army’s help to stop the giants. The giants were stopped and everyone lived happily ever after.

The BFG was “othered” by his fellow giants. He identified as the runt of the group and assumed the role as the outsider. Simone de Beauvoir in The Second Sex, explains that, “ if the Other is not to regain the status of being the One, he must be submissive enough to accept this alien point of view” (Beauvoir 1). At first this is exactly what the BFG did. He assumed the role as the other and allowed the other giants to walk over him.

However, Sophie, an orphan who befriended the BFG, talked some sense into him. Sophie reminded me of Marjane’s grandmother in Persepolis. She told him wise words to help motivate him to save the humans. The BFG turned a switch like Marjane did when she shouted “I am Iranain and proud of it!” (Persepolis 200). He set out to stop the giants from all the pain and torture they have caused. 

Cultures collided when the giant met with the queen. This parallels humans coming together from different cultures. As we have learned throughout the semester, cultures colliding sometimes causes bad things to happen when people do not accept them. This luckily was not the case. The queen accepted the BFG into her palace and they formulated a plan to stop the other giants. 

I believe the author wanted us to take away several themes from the book. One of the main themes being don’t judge a book by it’s cover. This means don’t categorize a person as the other and yourself as the one. Sophie did not condemn or “other” the BFG for his speech impairment (because he never was taught) yet sought to help him in every way she could. We are all equal and deserve to be treated with respect. 

The BFG is not the best conversation starter around identity, power, and injustice but I do believe these ideas are relevant throughout the story and there is a lesson to be learned. If you have some time, I strongly encourage everyone reading this post to read or watch The BFG with these themes in mind.

Have a great summer everyone! I hope you all stay safe and healthy during these tough times.

Escaping Polygamy- A World of Othering

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Escaping Polygamy is a docuseries that follows 5 women who escaped from the Kingston polygamous organization, also known as The Order. These women have dedicated their lives to helping other individuals escape Polygamy. One of the most eye-catching aspects of this show is the portrayal of the polygamous organizations the women go up against. Between the two main cults explored in this show, I will talk about the FLDS polygamous cult.

FLDS stands for the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It’s run by Warren Jeffs (currently serving life + 20 years for statutory rape of 2 ‘spiritual wives’, ages 15 and 12) who believes to be the Prophet and the key to reaching the Celestial Kingdom. One of the biggest takeaways from this show is just how isolated members from the FLDS are, and how they do everything they possibly can to keep it that way. Members who have left the organization are referred to as Apostates and aren’t allowed back to see their families. The FLDS refers to everyone outside of the religion as Gentiles. From the FLDS perspective, they are the One and everyone else is the Other. 

The FLDS not only Others the rest of the world, but they also Other their own members. The FLDS, as per the show, is notorious for separating families and sending away family members to ‘repent’ with no explanation. This is one of the many ways the Prophet maintains his power and control over the organization. One of the episodes in this show is about a woman named Lizzy. She was deemed ‘unworthy’ by the Prophet, so her daughter was physically taken away from her and sent to live with another family. At the time of this episode, Lizzy hadn’t seen her daughter in 3 years, had no clue where she was, and Lizzy herself was sent to a house of repentance (an isolated house in the middle of nowhere) to be left alone for months. This is Othering. The show tracked Lizzy down after it was contacted by one of Lizzy’s concerned friends who had escaped. 

Now, there is another perspective to discuss here. Just like how the FLDS Others the rest of the world and their own members, this show Others the FLDS. Docuseries are typically made to educate the general public on a specific topic. I, as someone who had no prior knowledge regarding the FLDS, was taught by the show that this organization is dangerous and infringes upon basic human rights. From the perspective of the show, everyone else is the One and the FLDS is the Other. While the FLDS literally isolated their members from the rest of society, this show figuratively isolated the organization from the rest of mainstream society. 

From the FLDS Othering the rest of the world and their own members, to the show Othering the FLDS, Othering is at the root of this docuseries. After watching this show, I was able to formulate an opinion regarding the FLDS and polygamous organizations in general. But I question how much of my opinion was formed as a result of the show’s Othering and portrayal of polygamy. 

Text Review of X Men

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They are born with a genetic mutation that makes them different from the ‘average’ person, and they are hated and feared by everyone because of their differences. All of them are known as the minority, which leads to them facing social injustices. Being called the “mutants” because they are different brings on the fact that they are seen as an “other” to society because they don’t fit in with how everyone else is. They are also treated as an ‘other’ because they aren’t in a position of power even with the abilities; they are an anomaly. They fight to protect the same people that don’t want anything to do with them.

The theme of racial injustice is the most prevalent social issues intertwined in the X-Men series and can be seen in the range of mutant powers, and mutant discrimination.  The film’s purpose is to give the importance of the need to fight for peace and equality among people, and it is shown by showing the hardships of what is known to be the minority race. The film deals with a few critical components of  American history, one being the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. In class, we read King’s Letter from Birmingham, which talked about how people need to take action against the unjust laws and discrimination and not wait to have justice play in your plate.

I think the film X-Men did successfully inspire a conversation around power and injustice. The film displays who is known to be the “other” and the people that are in control. The film is based during a time of systematic persecution, which at the time many African Americans were going through. I feel Stan Lee wants us to know that racism should never be okay, and if you see something happening, you should call it out. I think he wants people to ask themself; what you would do if it were you in the same predicament?

 

 

 

References: “How Stan Lee’s X-Men Were Inspired by Real-Life Civil Rights Heroes.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, www.history.com/.amp/news/stan-lee-x-men-civil-rights-inspiration.

“The Racial Politics of X-Men.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 5 June 2011, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/between-the-lines/201106/the-racial-politics-x-men?amp.

 

 

Westworld Text Review

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Westworld is a tv show that is based on the power and intellectual science of humans. They create a place where the wealthy can interact with human-like robots and experience power, death, seduction, and mortality without real consequences. They can pay their way into a lifestyle where they cheat death but get to experience most things that would otherwise land them in jail. The humans in this arrangement have the power until one day a behavioral scientist gives the robot’s memory. This gives them the power to remember everything that’s ever happened to them in Westworld. They begin to remember and slowly rebel against humans and escape the park. This is as far as I have gotten in the show so far but I think the science and technology embedded in this show are amazing. In this show, there are many worlds the humans can visit and experience. They can join Westword, old west themed park, Asian world, a world based off of ninjas, and a few others which bring multiple identities together. There are people of all different socioeconomic and ethnic classes demonstrated among the robots so humans can experience the real world through them.  There are whores, cowboys, villains, sheriffs, and others in the Westworld. In this work, the robots are treated with no respect. They are indispensable to humans until the humans realize that they can have memory and feelings that are not controlled with a keypad. This is when the show takes a turn and the robots begin to gain power that the humans could have never foreseen. The power is a balance between human power and intellect that humans created. They were creating a world for scientific advancement that ended up being regrettable. In Westword, the humans lost control to the robots who figured out their scientific intellect and strengths.

The Hate U Give

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When choosing a topic for this assignment, I knew right away what I was going to choose. The movie “The Hate U Give” is a great movie to choose to talk about for this assignment. This movie was made in 2018 and demonstrated injustice, identity, and power. This movie is about a 16-year-old African American girl named Starr who is constantly going back and forth between two worlds which are the poor, mostly black neighborhood where she lives and the wealthy, mostly white prep school that she attends. But one night, she witnesses a fatal shooting of her childhood friend at the hands of a white police officer that changes her life forever. Starr goes through this traumatic event and tries to fight for justice for her best friend Khili. At the end of the movie, she ends up telling the world what happened and that he deserved to live even though the white officer got away with it. She is faced with the pressure from both sides of the community when trying to find her voice and to stand up for what’s right.

Throughout this movie, Starr struggles with finding her identity because of the mostly white prep school that she attends. She explains that she has to watch how she talks because she doesn’t want to come off as “ghetto” in a majority rich white school. She comes face to face with one of her white friend’s reactions and racist comments that she says about how she felt bad for the police officer, when he was in the wrong. This movie also demonstrates white privilege because the officer got away with the murder of Khalil due to being white. In one scene, Starr has a conversation with her uncle who is an officer. She asks him if Khalil was a white male, would he have told him to put his hands up or shot him right away when seeing him reach into the car and he said that he would have asked him to put his hands up because white males are less threatening then African Americans. He explains that this is why the officer shot first and asked questions later all because he was an African American male. This not only demonstrates power but also injustice. This movie is nothing but white privilege and injustice to the point that every scene would be a great example. This movie portrays Starr and Khalil as this “otherness” that De Beauvoir explains in this text. A great example of otherness in this movie is when Starr goes to school. She explains that she is treated differently than everyone else because she is black. They try to “act black” and she explains that she has to watch the way she acts and talks to not be considered ghetto. She explains at the beginning that she has to be two completely different people when it comes to school and at home. Her father also treats her white boyfriend Chris like this “other” when Starr brings him home to meet her father. This movie is a great example of everything that we have been learning in this class and I recommend seeing it because it is a great movie especially for this class. I think this director wanted the audience to take away from this movie that there is still racial injustice going on to this day due to someone’s color of skin and that we need to speak up to end racial discrimination and injustice.

Afro-Futurism

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Afro-futurism is a movement that incorporates elements of black history and culture. The purpose is to reclaim black identity through art, literature, and political resistance. It provides an alternate narrative for understanding Black experiences, often by chronicling stories and futuristic societies. The film Black Panther is an excellent example of the literary and musical movement that explores black identity, culture, and struggles through the lens of science fiction. The film takes place in Wakanda that is believed to be a poor place by the rest of the world but is secretly a vibrant part of Africa that is untouched by European colonization. The film takes steps away from what people typically stereotype Africa to be like and instead displays a society rich in Afrocentric perspectives. The film presents cultural aspects of ancient African traditions with the potential of the future where black people can restore their heritage.

Afrofuturism allows people of color to write the story from their point of view without having to be influenced by what the era we live in defines how we are. It allows for not a single story through people that haven’t experienced it, but for people to make their own story. Osborne Macharia is a Kenyan commercial photographer and digital artist that focuses his work on Afrofuturism in culture, identity, and fictional narratives. He is responsible for the artwork for the Black Panther movie. He has been named “The master at creating alternate black universes” because of all the incredible work he does on so many different projects. He bases his work on telling a different narrative about the continent than what people usually assume. His work focuses on embracing the history and present culture in futuristic works we wouldn’t often see. His work removes the negative outlook that people generally display about the continent and instead places positivity that will help people connect with other people of color to see people like them prosper.

 

References: Magazine, Contexts. “Afrofuturism and Black Panther.” Contexts, contexts.org/articles/afrofuturism-and-black-panther/.

HouseGardenSA. “A Master at Creating Alternate Black Universes.” Condé Nast House & Garden, Condé Nast House & Garden – South Africa’s Finest Decor Magazine, 4 July 2019, www.houseandgarden.co.za/design/a-master-at-creating-alternate-black-universes-28595362.

 

 

Black Panther Origins

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Before watching Black Panther, it is interesting to know its origins as a comic. With the rise of the civil rights movement in the 1960s, Marvel was under scrutiny of not having any black superheroes. African Americans wanted a superhero they could relate to. In an interview with The Comics Journal, co-creator Jack Kirby stated, “I had a lot of black readers. My first friend was a black! And here I was ignoring them because I was associating with everybody else” (Groth,1). Marvel recognized they needed to correct their faults. Thus, the Black Panther was created. 

It is most interesting to note when the Black Panther was created America was undergoing an extreme civil rights movement and racism was a part of everyday society. Creating an African superhero was extremely risky for Marvel. They could have possibly angered thousands of their readers. However, they did what was right and moved forward with the creation of the character.  Black Panther was created in 1966 and was featured in Marvel’s Fantastic 4 comic. The superhero was created by comic icons Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. This would be Marvel’s first superhero of African descent. In 1968 Black Panther joined the ranks of the Avengers, Marvel’s elite class of superheros. 

The Black Panther name was shared by a political party designed to challenge police brutality on African American people. Although the comic superhero was created before this party, people questioned if the character had any associations with them. Comic legend Stan Lee denied any correlation with the group. However, to further address this issue, Marvel changed the name of the superhero to the Black Leopard. This was short lived and in 1973 the character was named once again the Black Panther. The Black Panther comic has been created off and on ever since its creation and new Black Panther comics are still coming out today. 

Work Cited

Groth, Gary. “Jack Kirby Interview.” The Comics Journal,       www.tcj.com/jack-kirby-interview/6/.

Sanderson, Peter, and David Roach. “Black Panther.” Encyclopædia   Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 26 Apr. 2018, www.britannica.com/topic/Black-Panther-comic-book-character.

Thomas, Roy (August 2011). “Stan Lee’s Amazing Marvel Interview!”.    Alter Ego. TwoMorrows Publishing (104): 38–39.

The Costumes of Black Panther

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The Marvel film Black Panther has been widely celebrated since its release in 2018. One well-loved aspect of the movie has been its imagery, particularly the costumes! Oscar nominated Ruth E. Carter has spent over 30 years of her career as a costume designer for African American movies, including Do The Right Thing and Selma. Her work designing the costumes for Black Panther has been the subject of many interviews and articles due to its incredible detail and backstory! Because the storyline for the movie was so secretive, Carter didn’t even have the fully story before she began the 6 moth long pre-production journey of designing the costumes. She decided to take certain aspects of regions of the fictional African nation of Wakanda as inspiration to draw from cultures of actually existing African regions and countries for the costumes. She sent her team on a mission to find and source jewelry, clothes, and accessories from different parts of Africa to use as inspiration for her work. Most of the costume elements, down to even her use of color, was inspired by what they found! The deep and vibrant reds of the costumes for the Dora Milaje, the elite women warriors, were inspired be Maasai warriors, and the beading of their costumes was inspired by the Turkana and Maasia. Their leather harnesses were crafted in South Africa. While the costume for the Black Panther was mostly done by Marvel, as they design all superhero costumes, Carter added the raised, triangular silver motif, which she refers to as “the sacred geometry of Africa.” The wrap W’Kabi wears drew from Lesotho blankets. Queen Ramonda’s crown was based on hats that Zulu women wear. Carter’s inspiration was based in indigenous African culture, but she also wanted the costumes to have a futuristic feel to them. Thus she also drew on the field of Afro-Futurism in her designing! All together, Carter’s work came together to create an incredibly detailed, thorough, and beautiful set of costumes for Black Panther that brings her life work portraying Black history and culture through costume into the future.

 

Sources:

Alleyne, Allyssia. “How ‘Black Panther’ Costume Designer Ruth E. Carter Wove an Afrofuturist Fantasy.” CNN, Cable News Network, 21 Feb. 2019, www.cnn.com/style/article/black-panther-costumes-ruth-e-carter/index.html.

“Looking Marvel-Ous: Designing Costumes for ‘Black Panther’.” Public Radio International, 2AD, www.pri.org/stories/2019-02-21/looking-marvel-ous-designing-costumes-black-panther.

Ryzik, Melena. “The Afrofuturistic Designs of ‘Black Panther’.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 23 Feb. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/02/23/movies/black-panther-afrofuturism-costumes-ruth-carter.html.

Text Review of “the 100” Season 2

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Selected Work: The 100 Season 2 (TV series)

The 100 is a science fiction drama television series whose story setting is 97 years after nuclear holocaust devastated almost life on Earth. There mainly three races in season 2: Sky people who lived in a space station orbiting Earth, Ground people who are survivals on Earth after nuclear holocaust, Mountain people who locked themselves in fortress before the nuclear holocaust. Sky people have high-tech and plan to transfer from the space station to Earth. Ground people are almost primitive and brutal. Mountain people have high-tech, but they must stay in the fortress or wear suit because they cannot survive from radiation on Earth. The number of 100 stands for the 100 young criminals exiled to Earth from the space station.

The topic of the story is the conflicts between these three groups. When the 100 teenagers first come to Earth, they are attacked by Ground people because Ground peoples’ culture teaches them to kill any possible threats. In Ground peoples’ viewpoint, the 100’s identity is different from that of them. However, as de Beauvoir indicates in The Second Sex, “the other consciousness, the other ego, sets up a reciprocal claim”. Ground people are also othered by the 100 because they are brutal and primitive. After all Sky people land on Earth, they take over the lead of the 100 because they have more weapons and people. The 100 are stilled othered because they were criminals.

Mountain people arrest Ground people and extract their blood for survival and “other” them because Mountain people think Ground people are brutal and they are not the same kind of species. And the advanced technology enables Mountain people to treat Ground people as others, like de Beauvoir discusses how power relation constructs the concept of Othering. However, Mountain people initially want to make friends with Sky people because they think they all have many similarities and the same culture. The identity in their views is culture-defined.

However, when the conflicts between Sky people and Mountain people grows, Mountain people are exterminated at the end of the story by the united army of Sky people and Ground people. There are many innocent people are killed.

The story focuses on group difference. Every group has its own problem of survival and has to harm other groups in order to solve the problem. They all have “goodness” in human nature, but they have to do something “evil”. I think the author wants us to take away is: when there is no conflict, people define identity based on the number of similarities. However, when a conflict grows as a group issue or race issue, identity will be redefined. The final winner of the conflict is the one has much more power. And there will be many innocent people involved and being killed which is injustice and unavoidable.

“Yo, Is This Ableism?”

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An interesting topic that I came across when writing my diary of systemic injustices was the topic of Ableism. Ableism is probably a very foreign word to most people, but that doesn’t negate its importance. Ableism is the discrimination against individuals with disabilities (physical, intellectual, and psychiatric) based on the belief that those with typical abilities are superior. The situation that I will be referring to throughout this piece involves Isabella, a college student who is legally blind, and her service dog, O’hara. Isabella attends Curry College in Massachusetts. She recently filed a lawsuit against the college for several different situations surrounding discrimination against her due to her disability. Some of those instances include not accommodating her with proper notes or assignments during classes (because of her visual impairment she needs notes/assignments printed in large text), not allowing her service dog to accompany her to certain classes or labs despite outfitting her with proper protection, not enforcing handicap parking violations, and not fixing damaged, unsafe sidewalks.

Now most people would probably think that those are all minor things that don’t really matter, and that is ableism to the T. For someone with a disability all of those things really matter. They can make your life extremely difficult – as if it isn’t already difficult enough, and I’m about to tell you why. First of all, individuals with visual impairments need thing in larger print because they cannot see. It puts Isabella at an extreme disadvantage if she cannot see her notes or assignments. It would take her longer to complete because she has to focus all of her time and energy on trying to figure out what the text says. Sure, she could make the text larger on her own, but it would probably take her more time to do that than it would the professor. She didn’t ask to be blind, but the professor signed up for their job, and in doing so they should take on the full responsibility of being a professor, which includes accommodating those that need it. Second of all, the college would not allow Isabella’s service dog, O’hara, to accompany her to labs. This is huge because O’hara is literally Isabella’s eyes. She keeps Isabella safe, which is extremely important in a lab setting. Sure, there are potential dangers associated with having a dog in the lab, however it’s just as dangerous to have Isabella in lab without her dog. Also, Isabella was taking the proper precautions to keep O’hara safe, including outfitting her in boots, a coat, and goggles. Third of all, Isabella noticed on several occasions that the college did not enforce handicapped parking violations. While this doesn’t apply to Isabella because she cannot drive, it is still a major way that we see ableism in action. Handicapped parking is there for a reason. Those without disabilities that choose to park in those spots are potentially putting many people at a disadvantage, and they are only thinking about themselves. The fact that the college was not ticketing those that broke the rule is only enabling them to do it again, and that is unacceptable. The last thing that Isabella brought up in her lawsuit was the damaged sidewalks on her college’s campus. This not only poses a risk for Isabella, who is visually impaired, but it also poses a risk to people in wheelchairs, or other mobility issues. If a sidewalk is heavily damaged with cracks and potholes, it becomes unsafe for people with disabilities to cross. As an alternative, many times they are forced to walk on the street which comes with many risks.

With all of this being said, it begs the question – are the situations being brought up in Isabella’s lawsuit considered ableism? I definitely think so. There would be extra work involved to fix many of the issues, however I feel like it’s justified. By not taking the time to make these small adjustments, you are implying that your life and time matters more that the person with a disability. It insinuates that they are an inconvenience, and no one deserves to feel that way.

I think that ableism manifests itself due to a laziness and a lack of understanding. Very few people actually have experience interacting with individuals with disabilities, therefore they don’t understand the extent of the struggles that they go through on a day to day basis. Living as a disabled person in a world that is made for an able-bodied person is hard. They overcome so many obstacles every day the least we, as able-bodied people, could do is accommodate them. An attitude of ableism also comes from laziness. “It’s too hard to make accommodations”, “I don’t have time to do it”, “they’re the one with a disability, so they should make the changes themselves”. It’s also the reason that people without handicapped tags park in handicapped spots when they are “just running in really quick”. People with disabilities are far from lazy. They have to work their butts off to overcome their physical limitations while navigating a world that wasn’t designed for them. If we put in half of the effort that they do, to accommodate them properly, then we wouldn’t have any issues.

So, how can you create a more inclusive environment for individuals with disabilities? Park farther away at a grocery store, and don’t use the handicapped restroom stall unless you are handicapped. When you hire a new employee with a disability ask them what you can do to accommodate them. Implement disability trainings as part of your employee curriculum. As a teacher, listen to your student with a disability’s requests. Be welcoming of service dogs and don’t distract them while they are working. As a government employee, fix the sidewalks in your town and make street crossings more disability friendly. Talk to your friends and family about ableism. Do your part, speak out, and make the World more inclusive for everyone.