Category: ELP

How do we decide in our own lives who belongs and who doesn’t?

I don’t think we get to decide for others. I think, first of all, we decided if we belong in a place ourselves. Belonging somewhere means feeling comfortable wherever one is. Somewhere that tends to a person’s needs and comfort. Therefore, I think that when a new person comes into a group, a place, a country, the good thing to do is accept them and make them feel like they belong.

How do cliques operate?

Cliques are groups of people that are very close together and don’t usually let other people join them. I think a clique is formed when there is a common interest in something/things and the people become friends. When it comes to letting other people in, they are more hesitant as they feel they are comfortable enough and don’t want any disruptions.

What potential violence is there in drawing lines between who belongs and who doesn’t?

I think the violence would be that it would make people angry, more so the people who are labelled as “not belonging”. There are then some ways that people protests in order to get their voices heard and get them to be considered as to “belong”

More broadly, who constitutes “we,” especially when it’s so difficult to arrive at and locate a common voice, stance, or attitude on a given issue?

I think that the word “we” is a way to generalise a group of people that includes us or it can mean the world as a whole. I also think that it can be a way to speak metaphorically. “If WE do this then WE can achieve this…”

How does language use vary amongst text types and amongst literary forms?

Each text type has a slightly different tone to it. It also depends on the narrative the writer is choosing to have on the readers. In the instance of Piers Morgan’s Daily Mail article, Don’t let these women wedded to terror come home – they made their ISIS husbands’ beds, now let them rot in hell in them, his tone and language are informal. He is speaking from quite a personal perspective and isn’t considering any other perspectives. His tone is angry and his slightly derogatory language suggests just that.

In the Washington Post article, the language is a lot more professional, as you would expect a journalist to be. Their points are less biased than Piers Morgan’s, as they consider several perspectives in relation to this topic. They don’t think that Shamima Begum should be forgiven for what she has done and that she should face consequences for her actions, but they still present arguments for why she should be accepted back into the UK.

 

In what ways can diverse texts share points of similarity?

The Piers Morgan article and the Washington Post article are different in the way that they are written; tone, language, and they share slightly different viewpoints on what should be done with ISIS brides. However, they share similarities in the way that they present their points with evidence behind them.

Political cartoon

Commentary

The women in this picture are of two different religious beliefs. Being a Muslim, and especially wearing a headscarf or hijab, often attracts stereotypes as being dangerous people, and they are associated with the terrorist attacks that are mentioned in the media. The two main objects in this cartoon are the hijab that the woman is wearing and the large picture frame of the nun. These two objects contrast each other as well as have a similar which is that both the woman wearing the hijab and the woman in the picture frame is wearing something to cover their heads. However, only the woman wearing the hijab is getting criticized and almost even harassed for wearing the headscarf because of its association to the religion of the Muslim woman

In what ways does the author offer insights and challenges into contemporary religious and cultural practices?

To what extent does the impact of the text shape our implicit perception of a troubling world?

 

Both of these bodies of works surround stereotypes and the way that people view Muslims, mostly Muslim women. The hijab is used as a motif in both bodies, however, they are shown in different ways, seen as a positive and a negative thing in a woman’s life. Factors for this difference are setting and upbringing. In Homefire, the setting is urban, more of a modern and city approach towards the hijab. Isma and Aneeka were brought up in London, around a community that probably didn’t have many other Muslim people and girls wearing hijabs around them. The lack of traditional Islamic upbringing prompted Isma to have doubts about her hijab, and whether her wearing it drives a wedge between her and other people. Whilst Aneeka doesn’t doubt her beliefs and the carrying of her hijab, she still has her own ways of practicing her religion. She sees her hijab as an assurance of her identity, but she doesn’t abide by everything as a traditional Islamic person would. This leads to the misconception that she isn’t fully loyal to her religion and that she only does what suits her.

Yumna Al-Arashi’s photographs are in a more rural setting. The burkha covering the women’s entire bodies, which is more than just a hijab, which only covers the hair. The pictures are a more traditional adaptation of Muslim women. The woman depicted in these images is shown in a range of poses and camera angles. The main aim of the arrangement of these images is to show empowerment and pride.

Kehinde Wiley, an American artist based in New York, uses his art to celebrate his culture, as well as other aspects of his identity, such as his race, gender, and sexuality. His artwork replicates famous, old paintings of portraits, by taking the subjects of these paintings and replacing them with models that share parts of his identity.

        

An example is his painting “Napoleon Leading His Army Over The Alps” (above, 1). In this painting, we see a replica of the horse portrayed in Jacques-Louis David’s “Napoleon Crossing the Alps” from 1803 (above, 2). Both the ground and the horse are the same in each painting. The models’ postures in both are the same as well as the cape flying around them.

The most striking difference in these images are the models. David’s painting portrays Napoleon, on a horse, in what seems to be a battle/war outfit from his time period. Wiley’s model also wears an army, camouflage outfit. All of his works have the element of modern clothing as opposed to the traditional clothing in the original, reference piece. While it may seem like an inappropriate outfit to wear on a horse, it shows to contrast between the two paintings’ time periods. The model’s race plays a huge part in the message of this piece. As a black man, Kehinde Wiley wanted to give the black community an opportunity to see themselves in traditional paintings.

In the past, most traditional famous paintings that were showcased in galleries were of white males, as symbols for wealth and honour. Wiley challenged that trend and chose models that relate to him and gave his community a chance to be portrayed as well. It is his way to show his audience that black people, too, can be the same, and do the same things as previous powerful and wealthy white people could.

In the poem, Mother to Son, and the advert The Talk, Hughes and P&G both celebrate the strength of black women whilst… giving watchers the point of view of black people when it comes to prejudice, throughout the last few decades. This is shown through dark skinned mothers, giving a talk to their children. “The talk” is usually known as a talk that parents have with their children when they are growing up, about safe sex. However, in this case, “the talk” is a darker, sadder one. The mothers are trying to help their children stay safe, as they themselves have faced prejudice because of their race, possibly even violence as a consequence of that prejudice. This “talk” may be just as uncomfortable as the one I mentioned previously, as it’s about the child having to exercise more caution than other children, purely based on their race. This could potentially lead to the child developing a shame regarding their self-image, and bringing themselves down whenever they don’t think they can measure up to someone with more privilege than them.

“The look” is a short film that follows a young man of colour, going through his day. Several scenes take his direct perspective, where we see his world through his eyes and witness the discriminatory looks that he gets from people in the street, solely for being a man of colour. It’s a story about a bias as it focuses on one man, one race, that people look down upon based on the stereotypes that surround that man’s race.

The stereotypes that surround his race are mostly to do with violence. People think that, typically black men, are dangerous and shouldn’t be trusted. An example of this is in the diner scene (0:30) when a woman and her partner walk in and are directed to a seat next to the man, while we are watching from his perspective, and they ask to be seated elsewhere while giving the man dirty looks, as thought he [we] may have intentions to start a fight or steal her purse. Another example would be the scene at the start, when the man is taking care of his son, and his son waves at a little girl in the car, light skinned, and her mother realises so she closes the car window so her daughter is unable to interact with the child. This shows that while there is an issue in the adult’s generation regarding race, it could be easily passed down to their children, if adults continue to act like that.

The strong message of this short film is definitely portrayed at the end, when the man walks into the courtroom as a judge, to whom everyone pays the most respect, regardless of his race. The contrast between the way he is being treated outside of the courtroom, to how he is being treated inside the courtroom, when people realise that he has power and money.

Fun Home, Alison Bechdel

PLANNING – 

• Monotonous color scheme 
  • Could signify that it is from old times
  • Old looking furniture could also signify old times 
• Setting 
  •  Father getting resources to provide for his family
• Voice over –
  • Giving contest to the scenes
• Speech bubbles 
  • Backing up voice overs 
  • Giving more insight to a person’s perspective
    • Identifies supposingly father’s though and dedication towards scavenging and decorating

In this page of Fun Home by Alison Bechdel, we see a father providing for his family. The voice is the one of a little girl idolising her father, and giving explanations as to why. The colour of the comic is monotonous, black and white, which could be because it is an old comic, or it could be a way to express that it’s a flashback scene, which corresponds to the past tense of the voice overs. The main voice in the comic is expressed through a voice over of the little girl, and whatever she says is backed up by the image in the corresponding panel. In each panel, the surroundings are drawn in a simple manner, while the father’s features are more detailed, showing importance to him and his character.

The story of Little Red Riding Hood always showed the wolf as a predator and the young girl as the prey. In some adaptations of the story, the young girl is preyed for a different reason than to eat (for example, Angela Carter’s adaptation).

The slogan “You’re not the only one telling them stories to take them to bed” creates some kind of confusion at first, be3cause we aren’t sure of what the girl is watching on her laptop, but when we continue reading the text, “1 out of 2 cases of pedophilia starts with a deceived child on the internet”, the meaning behind the costumes and the props of the image become evident.

This advert chose to portray the young girl as little red riding hood to show the young girl’s innocence and curiosity, towards whatever she is looking at on her screen. The computer she is looking at is covered with fur and ears to represent the wolf. The “wolf” computer has captured the young girl’s attention as she is smiling at the screen while light is shining on her face.

The image is set in the young girls room. The lighting is dark signifying that it is night time, and her light is off meaning it is probably passed her bed time.