African American 25W - Blog 3

 I’ve really enjoyed these past couple of weeks of lectures and movies. I will speak a lot about the film, Candyman, which I really liked. The film Candyman speaks about real-life fears that people have to experience every day.The film got me thinking about how a lot of people's hardships are overlooked. We may not realize it, but some of the people closest to us have gone through a lot of tough experiences. I was raised in an Asian household and haven't experienced the type of racism displayed in Candyman, but I have a few friends who have gone through lots of racist encounters.

The most interesting topic that was brought up in Candyman is that a lot of history doesn't just disappear, but instead gets lost in translation or gets changed. I’ve seen how people try to downplay racism and act like it’s in the past, when it’s still very real today. Growing up, I faced some racism, but in smaller ways. Things such as people making fun of my lunch, asking if I spoke English, or assuming things about me because I’m Asian. It was annoying, but it wasn’t that big of a deal for me. On the other hand, my friends went through things that were way more serious. I remember one of my best friends in high school telling me about how he was made fun of for being black and was treated differently from his teachers because of it. The movie, Candyman, reminded me of him. 

I really liked the film's message of how civilization produces monsters. Candyman represents people who were harmed or forgotten into something to be feared. That thought got me thinking about how racism and violence are persistent. Stories like Candyman demonstrate that people pretend that they live in a post-racial world, even though we are not even close to getting there yet.

I am really enjoying the films we get to watch in this class and I am able to begin to tie the ideas together from each one. I really liked Candyman and also the films, Us and Get out. They all brought out ideas of racism and displayed them differently in each film. I was able to relate to real life situations with each one and it made more sense to me afterwards. Racism is still existent today and we must move together as society to slowly get rid of it. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

EmonvanLobenSelsDESMA9

Image
 Nanotechnology+Art I really enjoyed learning about the connection between nanotechnology and art during this weeks content. " Nanotechnology refers to the branch of science and engineering devoted to designing, producing, and using structures, devices, and systems by manipulating atoms and molecules at nanoscale "(Europa). I found the TED Talk, DNA folding, in detail , by  Paul Rothemund very interesting. The talk covered  how biological processes can be thought of as computational programs as it explores the connection of genetics, computation, and molecular programming. "life involves computation. So this is a computer program. Booted up in a cell, the program would execute, and it could result in this person; or with a small change, it could result in this person"( Rothemund 2008 ). This implies that genetics within organisms react similarly to a computer program. " Genetic code  refers to the instructions contained in a gene that tell a cell how to make a ...
Read more

EmonvanLobenSelsDESMA9

Image
 Week 4 -  Medicine + Technology + Art I really enjoyed learning about the effect that medicine has on technology during this weeks lessons. " The arts help make medical students become more thoughtful and listen carefully to a patient's narrative of his/her symptoms"(Hajar). Art has a strong positive impact on the medical field.  An experience that I have encountered that relates to medical technology is precision medicine, where medical treatment is  personalized for an individuals specific needs. Growing up with severe peanut allergies, I was constantly given allergy skin tests. " During allergy skin tests,  the skin is exposed to suspected allergy-causing substances, called allergens, and then checked for signs of an allergic reaction"(Mayo Clinic Staff). These tests helped specialize what specific allergies I had, so that I could be prescribed a more individualized medication.  It helped show that my peanut allergy had gotten a lot less severe. I was p...
Read more

EmonvanLobenSelsDESMA9

Image
  Neuroscience + Art I really enjoyed learning about the connection between neuroscience and art in this weeks content. I was always really interested in how the brain worked and had interest in majoring in psychology at some point.  Neuroscience is very important to society and " advances understanding of our basic biology and body function"(Shriver). Two materials significantly influenced my understanding: The TED Talk on advanced MRI technology,  "A look inside the brain in real time," by  Christopher deCharms  and the reading, "Planetary Re-Enchantment: Human-Animal Entanglements in Victoria Vesna’s  Octopus Brainstorming"  by Victoria Vesna and Mark S. Cohen. The TED talk spoke on the new advancement in technology that allows MRI to see real-time brain activity in a patient. Brain MRI's are meant to detect" bleeding, swelling, problems with the way the brain developed, tumors, infections, inflammation, damage from an injury or a stroke, or p...
Read more