I think the answer to this question depends on the situation. If someone is writing a story based on someone else’s experiences they have every right to unless that person is against it or if they are revealing any personal information of that person, such as the name, etc. If someone is writing a story based on a group of people from a different culture, I feel that then they would have to have some relation with those people, maybe by going and staying with those people for a while and interacting with them. But if someone chose to write a story about a different culture of people, without any relation to them, then I feel it is not right to do so because they may be making things up about those people without realizing because they would have read it on the internet or heard it from a friend and they  would have no proof. It is like ‘Judging a book by its cover’ and I feel this is unfair to those people because they are being judged by someone who has never met them and has no relation to them. To conclude I believe that every person has the right to tell another person’s story only if they have their permission or if they have some relation/ experience with them.

This photo was taken by Gordon Parks at a segregated drinking fountain in Alabama, 1956. It shows how bad racism was at the time in the United States. This photo shows a black family drinking water, from a drinking fountain, outside a convenience store. It seems that the other girls are waiting for their turn to drink water even though there is s second drinking fountain right in front of them. One interesting thing about this photo is how close the two drinking fountains are to one another. The proximity of the drinking fountains maybe because the white population wants to show their power and superiority and by doing this they are trying to ‘teach’ and provoke the black population. Another interesting thing in this photo is that the white people’s drinking fountain seems to be cleaner and a newer model than the colored ones. This may be to again imply their superiority over the others, by showing how they get the better things in life and are cleaner than the colored people. Through this photo, Gordon Parks was able to display how atrocious racism was back then, so much so that it took place even for a basic necessity such as drinking water in a public area.

We watched a video about Ta-Nehisi Coates in which he discussed what types of words and phrases are offensive. In the video he implied that offensive is a relative term meaning that it depends on the environment it is said in and who it is said too. Also if the word is said in the right context and the person you say it to knows you well then it should not be considered offensive. 

Something that I find very offensive is when people insult my culture and my community. India is a country that is known for its vast wealth disparity and its lack of gender equality. When people joke about these issues it really offends me as these are issues that should be taken seriously and prevented.

I think ‘The Help’ is a book that reinforces the stereotypes of both black and white people, especially places in the South of the US. During the period in which the book was written about, there was a lot of racism, especially towards the African-Americans in the US and this book focuses on the humiliating treatment and the unbearable condition the black maids had to live through. Almost all the white people used to, and some still do, look down on the black people and some were even ignorant of them. This is why Kathryn Stockett said she added a white person’s perspective in her book – “She added Skeeter, she said, because she was worried that readers wouldn’t trust her if she only wrote about black characters.” This shows that a lot of people don’t trust/believe a book only written in a black person’s perspective, even in this day and age. Black people were considered to be dirty, unhygienic people who’re jobs were only considered to be a maid or helper, through this book and its white characters these stereotypes were reinforced to the current generation of people and helped people understand how bad the racism was towards black people – “They carry different diseases than we do. That’s why I’ve drafted the Home Health Sanitation Initiative.” The Help was a book which touched on a very controversial topic, racism and through this book, the readers were reminded of the struggles and stereotypes every black person was faced with.

The image on the left is the current cover of the book ‘The Help’. This cover replaced the old one when the book was released in the US as the publishers felt that the people in the US may be very sensitive to having black women on the cover and this would result in lowering of the book sales. In the cover image, there are 3 birds, 2 of them are quite close to each other while the other bird is sitting on the opposite side of the branch. This may represent how different white and black women are and represent their positions in society. Also as you go across the cover of the book from right to left the colors begin to fade which may also represent the difference in the amount of power and freedom between the black and white women.

I think that the image, on the right, would make more sense to be on the cover of ‘The Help” as it relates more to what the story is about and also the message about racism, Kathryn Stockett is trying to convey through the book. Just through this image, we can see the difference in power and ‘position’ in society between black and white women.

In the image we see the 2 black women, Aibileen and Minnie, standing up while the white women, Skeeter and Ms.Hilly, sit comfortably on the seat. The positioning of the people in the image also represents their position in society, in which the white people are on top as you can see them sitting comfortably. The black women, however, are seen to be standing in which it looks as if they are showing respect to the white women, which they probably are as the white women employ the black women as maids. The different clothing being worn also represents the difference in societal position the women have. The white women are wearing different and colorful clothes which may represent the freedom and power they have in society. The black women, however, are wearing a uniform, which they both are wearing, which is dull-colored and shows their constraint and lack of power in society.

In ‘The Help’ Miss Skeeter’s story (Project) is obviously a good thing for black people in society as it gives them a voice, other people can hear and understand the problems they go through. However, in Ms.Skeeter’s story, she only takes the perspective of a black maid – Aibileen. The book could be misinterpreting that all black maids feel this way and audiences should read it as the experience of a single person not the experience of all colored people. I believe that for a story’s message and problem to be conveyed to the reader there has to be more than one perspective and also there has to be an antagonist which in this case will be the white people, the employers. Another major issue in the representation of this book is that even though it is being told by a black woman, the white woman – Ms.Skeeter, is getting full credit for it.

Michelle Yeoh is a Malaysian actress, most famously known for her role in ‘Crazy Rich Asians’. In the movie she played the role of the domineering villian as the overprotective mother. In the two given stories Michelle Yeoh is represented in vastly different ways though the use of the writer’s differing audiences and purposes.

In the first story Michelle Yeoh was represented as a ‘badass’ in the movie business as she is not only known for her looks but also her martial art skills which made her famous in the first place. She is considered one of the most physically actresses alive. The story shows 2 sides to Michelle, her aggressive side as well as her enchanting side. She is also capable of doing more than one type of movie genre from action all the way to drama. This story/article hails her as one of the best actresses in the business for her many talents and skills.

In the second story however she is criticised for being chosen to co-produce a movie/book known as ‘Billion Dollar Whale’ which is about a fugitive financier who is said to have fooled the Prime Minister and the Datuk Seri Najib Razak which is a government party in Malaysia. Michelle Yeoh amusingly is a supporter of the opposing party the Barisan Nasional which has caused massived controversy on twitter among politicians to locals. The locals feel that Michelle Yeoh may Datuk Seri Najib Razak in a bad way, as she supports the opposition, and feel that it is not fair nor will it reveal the true story if she produces it. In this story the audience, the massive feud on twitter about this issue, has been used to criticise and make fun of the decision to make Yeoh co-producer as well as to show the size of the controversy and debate about this issue.