The first thing that i would like to discuss is how people in are communities either act with Active, Passive, or Anti-Racism. Active racism is when someone who racially profiles people based on there skin color. This is becoming less prevalent in society i believe because we have been educating are youth what is right or wrong, in schools and coming from parents who are multicultural competent. As we saw in the experiment in that downtown New York store that some people believe that people of color use what is called "using the black card." when being hassled by white people. Which I'm not saying that doesn't happen every now and then but in this case the African American lady in the store did nothing wrong. An example of this is in the film Set It Off when Frankie gets fired from her job because she knew someone who was involved in robbing the bank that she worked at, even tho she wasn't involved in any way. This is active racism that they would find any excuse to get ride of a African American person. White people shouldn't defend people who are being racist because then that is only going to empower them and make them believe that what they are doing is right, when it is clearly not right because we are all made up of the same materials and the color of a person doesn't make up who we are, who we are is how we carry are self and personality's.
During this experiment alot of people were showing alot of Passive racism which is when someone unconsciously doesn't do anything or chooses to let it go on. Most people in experience did nothing, they looked and saw what was going on, and even didn't really shop because they were so distracted but still they chose to let this human being be wrongfully discriminated because of who she was and where she was shopping at. I think that this is usually the path people tend to take because they believe that it is not there place to say anything.
As you saw in the video if someone does say something then it clears the path for other people to say something as well. The lady who did say something and showed her Anti-racism someone who actively tries to change the system. Showed that all it takes is one person to stand up for what is wrong then it creates a dame effect where everyone follows. This is interesting to me and i feel this is how we have made so much progress throughout the years, if we just chip away at are social wrongs then people will start to listen and follow in are footsteps and eventually they will be eliminated all together.
A major on going problem throughout are generations is the idea of internalized oppression in are society. This has been a problem since slavery all the way up till now with are enlarging ghettos. This has been in large part due to the media and messages that has been absorbed by are youth through all forms of it. Like in the film Boyz N The Hood when Furious discuses how the government wants there race to kill each other off, that's why they have liquor stores and gun shops on every corner in the lower class communities. Which i don't know if this is really a government conspiracy thing but i do find it interesting because in the upper to middle class community that i grew up in this wasn't at all the case i barley saw a liquor store let alone a gun shop. So i do believe that there is something beyond are understanding going on but with the information i have i can neither rule it out or confirm that this is the case. After studying some film you cans see that there are messages that depict certain races to be less human then whites. For example when Birth of a Nation came out and they show African Americans eating chicken, drinking alchole, and putting there bare feet on tables; this is using the media to make this certain race seem animalistic. With these images out there it has a big impact on how people think of African Americans and young African Americans who see something like that start to believe that this is how they should be. The character Jackie in the film Set It Off is a good example of this because she was a hard working African American with a good job, and after she got fired she felt like she had to rob banks in order to make a living. By doing this she is giving in to the notions of what her boss thought she was in the first place, and i feel like this is a bad message to send to kids who grew up watching this movie because it is pretty much saying that you should give in to the stereotypes that has been placed on you because that is the only option you have. Creating a self hate mentality that this is what people already think of me so what is the point in trying to by something that people already think that your not.
Another part of internalized oppression is the idea of assimilation, trying to fit in with the dominant culture. In are society we have created a standard that if you aren't a certain race, class or you don't act a certain way that you aren't good. But i feel this is wrong to say because there are many different types of people who are on all different spots of the spectrum that are happy and content with the life they live but still people feel the need to try and live up to the standards when realistically alot of people will never even reach this platform because it is impossible for some people just because how they were born and what they were born into. An example of assimilation from one of the films that we briefly viewed was The Birth of a Race when a African American man was pretending to be a white man in order to live a better life. He proble felt like in order to live up to the standards he had to be someone that he was not. I know that this film was made in a whole different era, but I'm sure even in today's world some minorities if possible would pretend to be someone who there not in order to get better opportunities and to fit in with the standards of society. This is a sad concept that someone would feel so down about there culture and race that they would give that all up to be someone who there not. In the movies we see the hero as usually a white male and the villain is usually someone foreign or someone of a different minority then white, as you see in most westerns and super hero film. So seeing all this i believe that internalized oppression does exist and does effect the people who it is directed towards even today. In order for us to change these messages we have to start diversifying the roles in media so it is equal for all races because the color of your skin or where you are from shouldn't determine if a person is bad or good it should depend on who the person is inside.
With all this information about racism and how it implemented in are society. We can come to the conclusion that without change these problems are going to continue throughout are generations like it has for past generations. With Anti-racism being so rare in are society. With most people just ignoring it, we have carried on are past mistakes by are founding fathers. By doing this and not trying to create change we have prolonged are deeply embedded problems that exist. With are media still racially divided young people are still getting the messages that any other color besides white are inferior, and until we change this mind set these problems are still going to exist and haunt are minority population with ideas that they are going to be nothing in this world because they aren't white. I believe if media changes then it will give us all an opportunity to change with it, and eventually to a world with no discrimination based on race and rather have a world that discriminates based on character.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Boyz N the Hood and the issues surrounding the film
How did having a African American director effect the relationships in the movie and the perspectives of where these young African American were coming from?
The film that i will be discussing is Boyz N The Hood and the deep issues that it shares. The director and writer of this movie is John Singleton who grow up in the South Central, L.A area. In reading some of his biography, i found out that while writing the script for this movie he draw alot of his experiences from when he was a kid growing up in the same type of community that the character's Doughboy, Tre, and Ricky were growing up in. Also like the main character's, John Singleton grow up with two parents who were separated and the troubles of trying to keep him off the streets while trying to teach them how to be a man and also how to be sensitive and treat woman like they are supposed to be treated. Another issue that i will discuss is the issue of black on black crime in this area and the lack of exposer it gets in the United States. Lastly how police in this area no matter if they are black or white, have so much hostility towards the citizens that grow up in this area.
On the first issue of the lack of parental guidance in the South Central area. In the movie Tre starts out living with his mom when he is young and he has hard time staying out of trouble because he is getting in fights, and his mom feeling like it is time for him to start living with Furious(his dad) to try to teach him discipline and how to be a man. Furious does this by giving him responsibility's like racking the yard and preaching to him about the importance of taking responsibility for your actions. An example is then he is telling Tre that there is no need to steal if you want something then you have to work hard to get it. Tre does this by getting a job when he is high school, which more parents even now need to encourage there kids in these areas. If you don't do this like Furious, then the young adults will find faster, and easier ways to make money like selling drugs and hustling which will result in either going to jail or dying. Furious says something that is very true about most young people in that type of community when he says "Those friends across the street have no one to show them how to be responsible, and you will see how they end up." In the film you can see the opposite result then Tre, when you look at Doughboy and the situation that he was placed into, a single mom with no ability to control her son without the father figure in the picture. Doughboy is in and out of jail and is meant to be like the typical African American boy in South Central, he feels like the streets are the only choice for him. With no male roll model he sells drugs, Carry's a gun, drinks alchole the whole movie, and hangs out with kids that aren't good influences on him and do the same things that he does everyday. As i watched the film i almost felt sorry for him because his mom treated him poorly and brought down his self esteem, that he will never make something of his life.
With this film out in the public i feel like it has opened up alot of eyes about the problem of parental guidance in the African American community's, in order to try and change the culture of these areas we all need to get out the message. Furious calls out all the men who have every abandoned there kids when they get a woman pregnant when he says "Any fool with a dick can make a baby, but only a real man can raise his children." Which i believe is a good message because its true that you are a coward if you don't take care of your kids, because it is selfish of you if you don't cause that kid needs you and you see in the movie, what happens to kids that have no father to look up to and teach them how to be a man. Ways i think we can accomplish change is to create more job opportunity's for people in these areas because if people have jobs they will be less likely to sell drugs and steal which will drop the crime rate and clean up the neighborhoods violence. Also if we can get kids to focus on school and have teachers that care about the well being of these students then maybe these young African Americans will see school as a way out poverty. The concept of race has a big influence on this movie because it is telling a story of a typical life of a African American boy. With the director/writer being a African American male coming from the same type of background of these boys, its gives it a well depicted first hand experience feel to the movie. Which i believe makes the movie more authentic and sends out the right messages of what needs to be done in these lower class communities.
Another issue that wasn't covered much in the film but you could see it being displayed throughout the movie is the treatment of woman in the film. Doughboy how he grow up with no one to teach him right from wrong, you can tell that he has no respect for woman and treats them accordingly. He uses terms that a woman should never be called like bitch, hoe, and etc. This I'm sure is a common problem among all community's but expeccially African American ones. You learn not to treat woman like that from your father and your mother but i feel like your father because he is a male you will respect what he says more, then if it came from a female. To include because if you don't listen to your father then there will be consequences. One time during the movie Doughboy calls one of the girls a bitch and she said "who are you calling a bitch" and all the guys laughed like it is funny to them that a woman is standing up for themselves. This is wrong that woman have to take this kind of treatment just because of there gender. This is related to the concept equality from week three that there are different standards between men and woman and that woman usually get the short and end of the stick when it comes down to it. If young African American men feel like they have the respect of people around there lives then maybe they will start treating woman the same way they want to be treated but until that happens woman need to stand up for themselves, also stick together and tell men that is not how they should be treated then maybe change will come about.
I believe the main message of this film is to get across the problem with black on black crime in these parts of the United States. The quote from the very beginning of the movie tells it all "One out of every twenty-one Black American males will be murdered in their lifetime." and "Most will die at the hands of another Black male." His is a very depressing fact that, they are all are struggling to get out that they feel like they have to kill each other off to do so. I cant even imagine feeling so down with my life that i resort to killing my own race because they feel like if they don't then those same people will end up killing me. me myself are part African American so this hits me pretty hard that this is occurring all around are country. When they say that there is a ligure store and gun shop on every corner in the lower class communities it is shocking to me and interesting because compared to where i grew up i don't think i ever saw a ligure store or a gun shop within five miles of my house. So i feel that this is more then a coinciadence and I'm not blaming it on the government or anything but if we got rid of those vices and replaced them with companies that will benefit the community with access to jobs and that will give back to the community with programs to keep kids off the streets. Stuff like that will help not only African Americans, but the whole city in general because there will be less people in jail which is less tax money that has to go to the jails instead they can use that money to make the so called "Hood" a better place to live, work, and start a family.
Lastly when it comes to the interactions between the law enforcement and citizens in the community and how the cops have a certain stereotype towards every young African American they see, and the tensions between them. Also how people in these communities feel about government and racial bias they feel are in place. During the Film Tre and Ricky get pulled over for nothing and are forced to get out of the car and the African American officer asks them if there are any guns in the car, assuming that because they were black that they had a gun. The African American officer puts Tre up to the car and puts his gun under neath his chin and asks him what gang is is from. Which is wrong to do but really most of the young males in that community are part of a gang and they don't know that these two are the exception because they have a good future and a good head on their shoulders. Something interesting that i noticed in this scene that the black officer was more angry with the two then the white officer. Which i think it comes back to that he is more mad the the white officer because he is sick of seeing most people of his own race in these communities being failers in the community and takes it more personal then the white officer because he doesn't see his people out there dieing everyday and it just doesn't hit home with him, that is why he is more quiet and more professional. When the army is brought up between Furious and Tre, Furious is very against it. He says " Don't go in the army a black man has no place in a white mans army." I believe he believes in this because he was in the army and saw how the government had totally control of him and treated him poorly because of his race. This conflicts with the concept of nationality that they feel like they are on there own and have no nation pride because of how they live and how they feel like they are treated by the government. It could either be a way of putting blame on someone else because they feel like they have no other choice or it could be true that, they are treated differently then other races in this country. You can be the judge of that?
The film that i will be discussing is Boyz N The Hood and the deep issues that it shares. The director and writer of this movie is John Singleton who grow up in the South Central, L.A area. In reading some of his biography, i found out that while writing the script for this movie he draw alot of his experiences from when he was a kid growing up in the same type of community that the character's Doughboy, Tre, and Ricky were growing up in. Also like the main character's, John Singleton grow up with two parents who were separated and the troubles of trying to keep him off the streets while trying to teach them how to be a man and also how to be sensitive and treat woman like they are supposed to be treated. Another issue that i will discuss is the issue of black on black crime in this area and the lack of exposer it gets in the United States. Lastly how police in this area no matter if they are black or white, have so much hostility towards the citizens that grow up in this area.
On the first issue of the lack of parental guidance in the South Central area. In the movie Tre starts out living with his mom when he is young and he has hard time staying out of trouble because he is getting in fights, and his mom feeling like it is time for him to start living with Furious(his dad) to try to teach him discipline and how to be a man. Furious does this by giving him responsibility's like racking the yard and preaching to him about the importance of taking responsibility for your actions. An example is then he is telling Tre that there is no need to steal if you want something then you have to work hard to get it. Tre does this by getting a job when he is high school, which more parents even now need to encourage there kids in these areas. If you don't do this like Furious, then the young adults will find faster, and easier ways to make money like selling drugs and hustling which will result in either going to jail or dying. Furious says something that is very true about most young people in that type of community when he says "Those friends across the street have no one to show them how to be responsible, and you will see how they end up." In the film you can see the opposite result then Tre, when you look at Doughboy and the situation that he was placed into, a single mom with no ability to control her son without the father figure in the picture. Doughboy is in and out of jail and is meant to be like the typical African American boy in South Central, he feels like the streets are the only choice for him. With no male roll model he sells drugs, Carry's a gun, drinks alchole the whole movie, and hangs out with kids that aren't good influences on him and do the same things that he does everyday. As i watched the film i almost felt sorry for him because his mom treated him poorly and brought down his self esteem, that he will never make something of his life.
With this film out in the public i feel like it has opened up alot of eyes about the problem of parental guidance in the African American community's, in order to try and change the culture of these areas we all need to get out the message. Furious calls out all the men who have every abandoned there kids when they get a woman pregnant when he says "Any fool with a dick can make a baby, but only a real man can raise his children." Which i believe is a good message because its true that you are a coward if you don't take care of your kids, because it is selfish of you if you don't cause that kid needs you and you see in the movie, what happens to kids that have no father to look up to and teach them how to be a man. Ways i think we can accomplish change is to create more job opportunity's for people in these areas because if people have jobs they will be less likely to sell drugs and steal which will drop the crime rate and clean up the neighborhoods violence. Also if we can get kids to focus on school and have teachers that care about the well being of these students then maybe these young African Americans will see school as a way out poverty. The concept of race has a big influence on this movie because it is telling a story of a typical life of a African American boy. With the director/writer being a African American male coming from the same type of background of these boys, its gives it a well depicted first hand experience feel to the movie. Which i believe makes the movie more authentic and sends out the right messages of what needs to be done in these lower class communities.
Another issue that wasn't covered much in the film but you could see it being displayed throughout the movie is the treatment of woman in the film. Doughboy how he grow up with no one to teach him right from wrong, you can tell that he has no respect for woman and treats them accordingly. He uses terms that a woman should never be called like bitch, hoe, and etc. This I'm sure is a common problem among all community's but expeccially African American ones. You learn not to treat woman like that from your father and your mother but i feel like your father because he is a male you will respect what he says more, then if it came from a female. To include because if you don't listen to your father then there will be consequences. One time during the movie Doughboy calls one of the girls a bitch and she said "who are you calling a bitch" and all the guys laughed like it is funny to them that a woman is standing up for themselves. This is wrong that woman have to take this kind of treatment just because of there gender. This is related to the concept equality from week three that there are different standards between men and woman and that woman usually get the short and end of the stick when it comes down to it. If young African American men feel like they have the respect of people around there lives then maybe they will start treating woman the same way they want to be treated but until that happens woman need to stand up for themselves, also stick together and tell men that is not how they should be treated then maybe change will come about.
I believe the main message of this film is to get across the problem with black on black crime in these parts of the United States. The quote from the very beginning of the movie tells it all "One out of every twenty-one Black American males will be murdered in their lifetime." and "Most will die at the hands of another Black male." His is a very depressing fact that, they are all are struggling to get out that they feel like they have to kill each other off to do so. I cant even imagine feeling so down with my life that i resort to killing my own race because they feel like if they don't then those same people will end up killing me. me myself are part African American so this hits me pretty hard that this is occurring all around are country. When they say that there is a ligure store and gun shop on every corner in the lower class communities it is shocking to me and interesting because compared to where i grew up i don't think i ever saw a ligure store or a gun shop within five miles of my house. So i feel that this is more then a coinciadence and I'm not blaming it on the government or anything but if we got rid of those vices and replaced them with companies that will benefit the community with access to jobs and that will give back to the community with programs to keep kids off the streets. Stuff like that will help not only African Americans, but the whole city in general because there will be less people in jail which is less tax money that has to go to the jails instead they can use that money to make the so called "Hood" a better place to live, work, and start a family.
Lastly when it comes to the interactions between the law enforcement and citizens in the community and how the cops have a certain stereotype towards every young African American they see, and the tensions between them. Also how people in these communities feel about government and racial bias they feel are in place. During the Film Tre and Ricky get pulled over for nothing and are forced to get out of the car and the African American officer asks them if there are any guns in the car, assuming that because they were black that they had a gun. The African American officer puts Tre up to the car and puts his gun under neath his chin and asks him what gang is is from. Which is wrong to do but really most of the young males in that community are part of a gang and they don't know that these two are the exception because they have a good future and a good head on their shoulders. Something interesting that i noticed in this scene that the black officer was more angry with the two then the white officer. Which i think it comes back to that he is more mad the the white officer because he is sick of seeing most people of his own race in these communities being failers in the community and takes it more personal then the white officer because he doesn't see his people out there dieing everyday and it just doesn't hit home with him, that is why he is more quiet and more professional. When the army is brought up between Furious and Tre, Furious is very against it. He says " Don't go in the army a black man has no place in a white mans army." I believe he believes in this because he was in the army and saw how the government had totally control of him and treated him poorly because of his race. This conflicts with the concept of nationality that they feel like they are on there own and have no nation pride because of how they live and how they feel like they are treated by the government. It could either be a way of putting blame on someone else because they feel like they have no other choice or it could be true that, they are treated differently then other races in this country. You can be the judge of that?
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Metropolis
In this post i would like to discuss the way that I viewed the film Metroplis and how it relates with today's world and the course concepts that have gone with it. I believe they were trying to portray what would happen if we kept going on the road that we were going at the time, with the way countries were fighting and the greed countries have. That at some point there would be a time where there is either a upper class or a lower class, because the distribution of wealth was so large that the middle class was eliminated all together. With the story coming from Freder view it gave it a very interesting type of view because he wasn't poor and mad about the way he was treated, he was the son of a very rich business man. His concerns were for the people that had to work down below and almost be like slaves. I feel like this movie is an example of early film history because when it came out it was very different from other films at the time and did a good job of predicting some of the problems that we have today with the distribution of wealth. By doing this movie has opened my eyes to the issue and how smart Fritz Lang was for being able to portray the message he was trying to get across using a silent film really amazed me. In the media this was a huge success it won two awards and made people realize the dangers of capitalism if it is not controlled fairly. it displayed that if something isn't done with these problems then the poor class would up rise against the oppression that was forced on them and get back at the people that has oppressed them for all this time.
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