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For this Text Review, I chose a film called Hidden Figures, about an extraordinary set of women who achieved goals and pursued passions that at the time would have been deemed impossible for women of their race. The film is about 3 black women, Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson, who all work at NASA around the same time as the space race was going on where NASA was attempting to send John Glenn into orbit. At the time, the civil rights act was still not enacted, meaning the attitude of most of their colleagues were still very biased against them and they had challenges blocking their goals that today would be seen as violations of human rights.

These are true stories of women who overcame the greatest of obstacles surrounding things that they had no control over, like their race and gender. The best relationship from this course that I can relate to this film is the idea of “power” that was held by all of the white men, and some women, who worked around these women. For instance, the character Katherine Johnson had the job of calculating trajectories for the ship used in sending John Glenn into space, however her job was made so difficult because not only was she not allowed to work in the same space as the other calculists, but something so small as using the bathroom was a challenge as the only “colored” bathroom was located so far away from her workspace that she would have to essentially disappear for 30 minutes or more just to relieve herself, making it look as though she was neglecting her work. She possessed no power to change the challenges that made her job difficult, making it tough to show how devout she was to her work, because she was historically the best mathematician that NASA had on staff at the time. Another character, Mary Jackson, wanted to study to become an aerospace engineer, however, was not allowed to attend college courses to do so solely because of the color of her skin. She had to fight for her right to attend these classes in local courts, essentially fighting for the “power” that any person should inalienably possess.

This film poses questions relating to how we as a society perpetuate injustices that are so obviously unfair based upon the events of the film that actually took place, and how we can use the power we have as individuals to prop up those in society who might not possess as much power as us.

The pictures below show the actresses in the film versus their real life counterparts:

Toni Morrison’s Beloved is set after the American Civil War and readers follow the journey of a family of former slaves trying to make their own lives after being freed. While they face many hurdles along the way, they have one big issue facing them– their house is haunted by a malevolent spirit of a dead child. 

The main character, Sethe, has lived in the house for the past eighteen years with her daughter, Denver. Sethe’s mother-in-law, Baby Suggs, died eight years ago from exhaustion while Sethe’s two sons ran away, seeming to be driven away by the haunted house. Paul D, another former slave who used to work on the same plantation as Sethe, moves in and makes a makeshift ‘family’ with her and Denver. Towards the end of the story, we find out that the malevolent spirit that was haunting the home was the spirit of one of Sethe’s children that she herself killed in order to ‘save’ them from having to become slaves.

When analyzing the text, the concept of injustice and power is portrayed in many ways throughout the text. In Beloved, African Americans are constantly alienated and treated as lesser, despite the story being set post American Civil War. This alone shows that even though they counted as ‘freed’ at this point, society still viewed them as lessers. Morrison writes about Sethe’s experiences and it clearly reveals the long-rooted brutality and severe power balance between whites and African Americans. She also writes about how even after the Civil War, whites continued to hold a metaphorical chokehold against African Americans. Slave owners would go hunt down their previous slaves to try and get them to work at the plantations again by sexually, physically, and emotionally abusing them. If any slaves had children, those children were legally bound to become slaves as well.

Comparing it to course concepts, Toni Morrison’s Beloved digs into the concepts of Simone de Beauvoir’s idea of ‘the One’ versus ‘the Other’ and being ‘othered’ in society. The novel portrays this by showing how Sethe, and other African American slaves in general, are ‘othered’ in society by whites. They are viewed as lesser than humans and are treated as property that can be easily traded and/or sold off.

The book I chose to review is The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. This book is about the fictional nation of Panem where the twelve districts each have to send one boy and one girl to fight to the death in an arena. The Capitol is the wealthiest and most technologically advanced city of Panem. All of the citizens in the Capitol enjoy lavish lifestyles, indulging themselves and not having to worry about where their next meal is coming from or bargaining for basic necessities. The Districts, however, suffer immensely and live a miserable life. They are forced to watch the Hunger Games and are powerless, meanwhile the Hunger Games is entertaining and a huge festivity for those in the Capitol. The Hunger Games and the societal dynamics of Panem can very well relate to the ideas of subaltern and “Othering.” The power dynamics between the Capitol and the Districts is largely imbalanced, where the Districts do all the work yet are stripped of their rights and basic needs. Yet, the Capitol holds so much power over the Districts and also place so much fear in the Districts, that the people of the Districts have no voice and have to watch as their kids get picked to fight to the death in the arena. The people of the Districts are treated as less than human, deprived of basic necessities, thus they are the “Other.” The Capitol treats them just as entertainment, a means to get the products they need, and almost comical. There is such an ignorance and lack of being in touch with reality that consumes the people of the Capitol, that they abuse their power and delicacies, thus being the “One.” Nevertheless, the Capitol deprives the Districts and uses fear in order to maintain power, thus injustice plagues Panem.

For my context presentation I will analyze Susan Sontag’s Regarding the Pain of Others. Susan was a writer and filmmaker. She also analyzes photography and explains the meaning behind the photograph. Regarding the Pain of Others is based on the events of 9/11 and the media presence surrounding it. She talks about how war photography is displayed to people and analyzes the meaning behind the photo. In this novel Susan wrote about war and she related photography to it and analyzed how the photo portrayed war.  

I think the media can falsely present ideas to the people. The media is very easily able to dictate how their audience feels about the information that they are presenting. This is especially true when photographs are taken and can be placed out of context. For example, there are many photos that have been taken right before disasters occur. These photos can easily be used to show whatever narrative they want to portray. Although the photos in the moment that they were taken may have different emotions than the disaster that happened after it can still be twisted by the media. 

One way to think of this is a war photo, you know the true meaning behind it. Even if everyone is smiling in the photo you know what is going on behind the scenes of the photo. This is not always true when it comes to photographs. One example that I found was the astronauts who were boarding the Space Shuttle Challenger, in the photo they are all happy, smiling, and waving. Unless you know what happens you will think that this was a great memory in history. Sadly, everyone on this aircraft was killed due to an explosion. This is just one of many photos that represent a different emotion than the disaster represents.  

Below I will attach an article with a list of photos like this. The astronaut photo I am talking about is number two.  

Citation: 

https://www.supersummary.com/regarding-the-pain-of-others/summary/  

https://www.boredpanda.com/last-photos-before-disaster/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic  

Marvel Studios has continued to release movies that are increasingly more diverse. They are moving away from movies with an all white cast and attempting to include many different races and personalities of actors. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is one of the latest movies that they have released that highlights a specific culture. Similar to Black Panther, this movie has the intention of bringing minority actors to the limelight. Nearly everybody in the movie is of Asian descent. The movie itself is centered around a small community in China. The movie puts a strong emphasis on Chinese culture both in America and China. The beginning of the movie focuses on Katy’s life with her family and her grandmother and how Shaun fits into their family dynamic. It shows how their culture can be seen mixed together with the culture of New York City. It also shows off many different aspects of Chinatown and how many Chinese-Americans use these towns in order to feel closer to their home country and culture. Later Shaun and Katy have to travel to China to the community where Shaun’s mother was born. Shaun then gets to meet many members of his family that he did not know before. They teach him a lot about his culture and his mother who passed away. This allows many people from different cultures watching the movie to learn about traditional Chinese culture while still being entertained by the movie. Additionally, this movie gave a lot of representation to Asians and Asian-Americans in the media. This can be a source of inspiration for many young Asian children who get to see their culture and their race represented on the big screen. The movie shows the characters all coming together even though they have never met before just because of family and cultural connections. Overall, this movie was a true inspiration and a very good representation of a ethnicity that is not often seen in the media.

    The movie Crazy Rich Asians tells the story of Rachel Chu and Nick Young. Nick Young comes from an extremely wealthy family, but Rachel does not know this. Rachel is a professor who comes from the middle class. Rachel has no idea Nick is rich until she goes back to Singapore with him and finds out from her college friend. At the surface the story is a romantic comedy showing that love can outlast all trials. However, this story has a deeper meaning. Rachel tried to prove her worth to Nick’s family so that they will accept her despite her financial status. She almost walks away from Nick so that he will not be a disappointment to his family. In the end, Nick and Rachel get engaged despite the financial difference. This story tackles the topic of the interaction between the wealthy and middle classes. It also shows the idea of being othered. Nick Young’s mother is extremely critical of Rachel because of her financial status and because she lives in America. Nick’s mother believes this makes her lesser than those that stayed in Singapore and China. She makes it known to Rachel that Rachel will never be good enough for Nick. This is not the only instance of harshness towards Rachel because of her financial status and where she’s from. Nick’s mother goes so far as to hire a private investigator to look into Rachel’s past. They exploit Rachel’s privacy and make her feel like she is nothing. Rachel was never really welcomed into their circle of wealthy friends. She was treated unfairly because she belonged to the middle class. The wealthy people set her apart and were impolite to her during many interactions. She had to constantly work to prove herself because they didn’t believe she belonged. Her financial status set her apart throughout the entire movie and was the root of many of the discrepancies she faced in the movie. I believe the creator wants people to become aware of the unfairness between the upper and middle classes. The creator showcases this in the movie forcing the audience to become aware of the gap between these classes and look internally at how we view others based on our financial position compared to theirs. The audience becomes aware of these biases and can work towards eliminating them. Becoming aware of our own biases with lead to more inclusivity in the future regardless of financial status.