Orientalism or Racism?

Orientalism is a hot topic lately. With the success of films like Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty, Lone Survivor, and American Sniper, the Middle East is being portrayed in film more and more. The difficult thing about looking at Orientalism in these films is that many of the Middle Eastern actors are portraying terrorists. They are not meant to be shown in a positive light, which is a big issue in Orientalism. Some films have actually been criticized for being racist. For example, Lone Survivor had a lot of national outcry of racism, even though the people who saved Marcus Luttrell (the Lone Survivor) in real life, and in the film, were Afghan villagers. Personally, I don't think that film is racist. I don't think all people from Afghanistan are terrorists because I saw that film. 

One great example of Orientalism where people from the Middle East are stereotypically portrayed is the Disney movie Aladdin. Obviously cartoons like Aladdin are not fair portrayals of the Middle East, and this is what kids mainly have access to to learn about other cultures. As a kid I didn’t know any better. My mom never talked to me about Asian and Middle Eastern cultures, and the only time we did have a talk like that was after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Back to what kids are learning…Above is the opening of the film. From watching it as a kid I would know that the Middle East is barbaric, hot, dusty, and there are a lot of camels. When the narrator sang the word “Barbaric,” it really caught my attention. Just in the first 30 seconds of this movie, kids are already being taught to be afraid of people from countries considered to be in “Arabia,” which are many. 

You Know You're a Woman Running for President if...

Feminism is the idea that our society sees men as dominate over woman, and that masculine qualities are favored over feminine qualities, and that’s not cool. With this ideology, women struggle with the choice of being tough (more masculine) or tender (more feminine). We are seeing more and more women in leadership roles because of their tough, take charge mentality. This however is still not good enough sometimes because then the woman is called “Bossy.” Well, you can’t please everyone.  

Feminism has gotten a lot of attention lately, both good and bad. Good because real change is happening throughout the US creating more equality in things like jobs. Bad because there seem to be several different levels of feminism, and the more extreme forms are bifurcating women in the overall feminist movement. There is even an anti-feminist movements created by women who don’t agree with the more extreme feminist views. Here is a link to the Women Against Feminism Tumblr page: http://womenagainstfeminism.tumblr.com/

So right now, we have a woman running for president. Hillary Clinton just officially announced her second go at the white house just this past Sunday.  She is a great representation of a feminist. She is constantly surrounded by men in powerful positions, and she is able to hold her own. She herself has held powerful positions, and who knows, might be the first female president after this next election. But no matter how strong a feminist she is, if she waivers in her dominant image, she is open to scrutiny.  Below is a video of Hilary Clinton in 2008, during her presidential run, when she teared up during an interview:

After this interview, she got a lot of scrutiny, and people even questioned if she was too emotional for the white house. I’m not saying I plan to vote for her, but I think that emotion is not a bad thing, and shouldn't be seen as it. I think a combination of both masculine and feminine qualities will make the most balanced leader, regardless of their gender. I’m interested to see if she will be scrutinized again this year if she shows emotion like that again.

I've got the Music in Me!

            Music creates a “Human experience.” It makes you feel things and connects you to other people, also called the illusion of life theory. I am very moved by music, and like to listen to it when I work out, feel sad, or just want to pump myself up for the day. Three of my favorite songs that I like to listen to when I am working on parts of my book (yes I am still writing it from 2 years ago, and it is taking forever) are All Fall Down by One Republic, and Finding North by The Civil Wars.. They get my in a more serious mood, and help me feel what I want my character to feel. I believe that this will help the readers feel what I want them to as well. Use the links below to listen if you'd like!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbSg41agfUg - Finding North
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qf6hLhrHtqg -All Fall Down

           I like these songs because they do not sound like everything else on the radio. I definitely agree with Adorno and how standardized our music is. I actually don’t mind the standardization all the time though. I like that I can listen to a song and hear a verse, bridge, and a chorus. It helps me keep track. I do however agree that everything is starting to sound the same. I don’t even like listening to the radio anymore because it all sounds like the same pop/rock sound to me. Even one of my favorite bands Maroon 5 sound so pop to me, and I used to love them because of their unique sound. Even individual artists have songs that sound really similar. I will leave you with this example…. These songs by Beyoncé and Kelly Clarkson, for example, are basically the same aside from the words. Here is a compilation of both of them together. 

Gangsta Rap!

When I think of gangsta rap I think of aggression, violence, sex, objectifying women…so more sex, and bragging. I honestly can’t say that I’ve listened to a lot of it. Ice T and Eminem are the only two that I’ve listen to full songs of. I would even argue that Eminem walks the line being considered gangster rap. I know that Dr. Dre gave him the “OK” to be a gangster rapper, but when songs like “The Real Slim Shady” would come on the radio, I always wondered if he still maintained the same level of gangster. I know he has plenty of violent songs to give him some “cred”, but really does “My Name is” help him out in that department?

            Anyways, before I moved to Utah I attended a school where I was a minority. Most of my friends there are black, and I want to apply Brummetts three false claims to them.

1-African Americans are violent. I can recall a fight or two that broke out at the school, but nothing that would support that claim. Most of them talked a big game, but really, not much went down.

2-  African American culture is overtly sexual. Okay, I did see some truth to this. A lot of truth to it actually. Afer being hit on quite a bit while I was there, I can definitely say it was a little more aggressive flirting than my white college-mates.  A lot of the guys actually had at least one kid, but that didn’t stop them. There was a constant contest going to see how many girls they could be within a week. It was pretty disturbing. They put up their scores on the wall and everything.

3- African American culture is crassly materialistic. Well, I don’t think they were necessarily more materialistic than people of any other race but they were very particular on their brands, and had strong brand loyalty. For instance, my best friend Levar would ONLY wear Nike shoes, and FUBU if he could help it.

All in all, I believe there is some truth to stereotypes in gangsta rap. Not necessarily a whole truth, but just a glimpse at the life of a self-proclaimed gangsta. I think that a lot of the lyrics related to struggle help them cope and elate to others in similar situations, and are probably true. I’m not sure about getting with all of the women stuff. Maybe they are, maybe they aren’t, but I still think men shouldn’t kiss and tell. I guess I’m not cut out to be gangsta.

Frankfurt Shmankfurt

            I really love scary movies. Actually, no. I love-hate scary movies. I love them because they are entertaining, and evoke a reaction from me, but I hate them because I feel like they are all the same. This sameness has made scary movies from the past few years a lot less interesting to me. I get it… the kid is possessed, the priest can’t expel the ghost, and the doll is haunted.  

I like the metaphor of art being valuable because it is unique and not mass produced, and when it is mass produced, it becomes less valuable. That is really the reason why I have struggled with loving scary movies lately. They are the same mass produced stories being repeated over and over again. In fact, Scream, one of my all-time favorite scary movies, is being made into a TV show on MTV this summer.

Obviously, I have quite an opinion on how scary movies should be. That is the Critical Theory part of me trying to improve the horror genre. I think change is what makes film such an exciting medium. Some of the most talked about movies were talked about so much because they did something different. For example: Inception. Inception blew everyone’s mind at the end, because the audience didn’t know what to expect. The Cabin in the Woods kind of did this for horror by having a surprise ending, and even though they used a ton of clichés, they used them to mock the horror genre to add a sense of humor to the film.

Luckily, there is a new film that just came out that gives me hope for scary films. It’s called It Follows. It has an 83 on Metacritic.com, which is very high for a horror film, and the highest score for a horror film in years! I know that my generation might value entertainment over other measures of quality, but I’m hoping that these high reviews for this film will push film makers to keep pushing the envelope by not relying on the same basic story lines.