I read this book last semester for Professor Marshall's intermediate poetry class and after seeing some of the texts for this class, and the topic of this class, I was surprised that we have not read it, although I think it would not have necessarily fit in with the other works we have read this semester, as those have created a character that fits this class that I don't think "Citizen" necessarily would have.
This book recounts racial aggression that the narrator goes through, a new sort of "racism", a soft racism, and encounters around this topic, like slips of tongue, and place of everyday life, some intentional, some seemingly not. It also speaks on some of the bigger, more televised area of this with Serena Williams and Zinedine Zidane anecdotes.
This brings into question the narrators place in American society, what it means to be a person in America, a black person, someone who still in today's American society, which sells itself as a place anyone can come to and be treated fairly and make their own living, and meet a harsh, different reality. Rankine often mixes the two main topics that we talk about in class together, race and sex, together in this book, which is why I think this book would have been a great fit for this class. The book flows more as a story, and is pretty much all prose poetry, but still carries the poetic feel throughout the book. It is a great read and kept me wanting to read more. It combines lyric poems or essays as well as pictures as well, which also bring another dimension to her book. It is also the only poetry novel to ever be nominated for two genres in the National Book Critics Circle Award (nominated for poetry & criticism).
Sunday, May 1, 2016
The Film "Dope"
I just recently finished this film last night (this morning) and wow I was blown away. This film reminded me of a piece of literature in motion. First and foremost, I would highly recommend you watch this film if you haven't. I also do not want to ruin the film in this blog post if you haven't seen it yet either, and I don't think what I am about to discuss will.
What this movie got me thinking of, relating to this class of multicultural women, was the role played by Kiersey Clemons, Diggy. Within the first moments of the audience being introduced to her, we find out that she is one, a woman, and two, a lesbian, and then are directly thrown into how her family every Sunday, has some short of ritual prayer at Church to "pray the gay out of her". The reason I bring this up, is because the audience, without this blatant notification of the narrator telling us who Diggy is, the audience mainly would have assumed that Diggy was just the third boy in the group of the three because of how she dress and acts. This film speaks to many contemporary movemtns that are happening today, and how black men and women are stereotypically seen, especially those growing up is less fortunate neighborhoods where the easy choice is to turn to drugs and the only way to go to college is if you are playing ball. Well, these three friends do not fit these stereotypes. Diggy is a black woman who is a lesbian but we would not have known otherwise, Malcolm is a black teen who reminisces of 90s dress and hip hop, and is the "nerd" to all. Jib is the third member of the group and is latino. The three spends their days getting good grade, jamming out in their rock-type band, and dream of getting with girls.
The three are forced into one large learning experience, and fall down a slippery slope, a common theme throughout the movie, that one things leads to another, when riding home from school once, taking an alternate route to not run into a gang filming a youtube hype video. They run into Dom, A$AP Rocky, and things go for a wild turn from there.
I think this film speaks on levels to what we have been discussing in class, even though the main character and this film shows the coming of age of Malcolm, it most definitely still relates to class. Ziggy is a boyish lesbian of the hard inner city, but smart, sensitive, while still being unapologetic and witty. She shatters the stereotypes of women and black women in her role in "Dope". This film at heart and within each of the three characters, also to others, break the stereotypes of inner city, while introducing the audience to the many facets of inner city life, and show us reasons why and what more there is to less fortunate who are often overlooked and almost always stereotyped.
What this movie got me thinking of, relating to this class of multicultural women, was the role played by Kiersey Clemons, Diggy. Within the first moments of the audience being introduced to her, we find out that she is one, a woman, and two, a lesbian, and then are directly thrown into how her family every Sunday, has some short of ritual prayer at Church to "pray the gay out of her". The reason I bring this up, is because the audience, without this blatant notification of the narrator telling us who Diggy is, the audience mainly would have assumed that Diggy was just the third boy in the group of the three because of how she dress and acts. This film speaks to many contemporary movemtns that are happening today, and how black men and women are stereotypically seen, especially those growing up is less fortunate neighborhoods where the easy choice is to turn to drugs and the only way to go to college is if you are playing ball. Well, these three friends do not fit these stereotypes. Diggy is a black woman who is a lesbian but we would not have known otherwise, Malcolm is a black teen who reminisces of 90s dress and hip hop, and is the "nerd" to all. Jib is the third member of the group and is latino. The three spends their days getting good grade, jamming out in their rock-type band, and dream of getting with girls.
The three are forced into one large learning experience, and fall down a slippery slope, a common theme throughout the movie, that one things leads to another, when riding home from school once, taking an alternate route to not run into a gang filming a youtube hype video. They run into Dom, A$AP Rocky, and things go for a wild turn from there.
I think this film speaks on levels to what we have been discussing in class, even though the main character and this film shows the coming of age of Malcolm, it most definitely still relates to class. Ziggy is a boyish lesbian of the hard inner city, but smart, sensitive, while still being unapologetic and witty. She shatters the stereotypes of women and black women in her role in "Dope". This film at heart and within each of the three characters, also to others, break the stereotypes of inner city, while introducing the audience to the many facets of inner city life, and show us reasons why and what more there is to less fortunate who are often overlooked and almost always stereotyped.
Back at it Again With English 310
Just like Riley, I am a member of Rosenberg's class, My Three Novels and a Film. Since I have already introduced you guys to my topic of our English 360 final with my oral presentations, I wanted to express my idea for my English 310 final. In the film The Godfather part I&II and novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, two of the main characters, Michael Corleone (Godfather) and Sammy Klayman (Kavalier & Clay) ended up alone at the conclusion of these works. I will be analyzing the similarities like being exposed on national television and differences like killing as opposed to abandoning your family and how being an unjust man/father make an individual end up alone in life.
To relate this topic to our class, I believe that Michael and Sammy have done the opposite in life compared to what the poets that we have studied have done. These two have gone through life lying and in denial, hoping for something that isn't there. The poets from this class have gone through their own individual struggle whether its ethnicity, cultural, or home issues. As a result, in my opinion, their lives have been fairly rewarding. They are established writers in society. I understand that I am comparing characters to real life people, but maybe there is something to be seen here. Men, like Michael and Sammy, are ones who typically take leadership roles. The causes of their actions include people, including family to be most effected. This leads to the suggestion that men under pressure making harsh and irrational decisions. The woman in our poems have kind of taken a back seat, non-leadership role (perhaps influence/inequality of society), letting things around them develop as opposed to trying to make them happen. I do not really know what to make of these findings, whether woman are better decision makers than men, being a follower is better than being a leader, or if I can even compare characters to humans. But anyways, there is the comparison .
To relate this topic to our class, I believe that Michael and Sammy have done the opposite in life compared to what the poets that we have studied have done. These two have gone through life lying and in denial, hoping for something that isn't there. The poets from this class have gone through their own individual struggle whether its ethnicity, cultural, or home issues. As a result, in my opinion, their lives have been fairly rewarding. They are established writers in society. I understand that I am comparing characters to real life people, but maybe there is something to be seen here. Men, like Michael and Sammy, are ones who typically take leadership roles. The causes of their actions include people, including family to be most effected. This leads to the suggestion that men under pressure making harsh and irrational decisions. The woman in our poems have kind of taken a back seat, non-leadership role (perhaps influence/inequality of society), letting things around them develop as opposed to trying to make them happen. I do not really know what to make of these findings, whether woman are better decision makers than men, being a follower is better than being a leader, or if I can even compare characters to humans. But anyways, there is the comparison .
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)