Society is a place for competition. Human beings leverage their power in different contexts and through a diverse set of modes. The choice is either to fight for power, to serve as a leader of a community, or to accept power from another source. Most of the time, people will fight for power because they do not want to serve under the dictatorship of another human being. As the desire for power grows, human beings strive to gain as much as they can to be at the top. This need for dominant influence is a recurring theme in the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding. The plot centers around a group of abandoned British children stranded on an island and fighting to establish order to get off the uninhabited island. Despite the continuous efforts, no one truly ever gains the power they desire because humans are never satisfied in this regard.

The group decides to create a civilization of only themselves because there were no adults on the island. They started to vote for a leader between a boy named Ralph and a boy named Jack. Jack was so confident that he can become the best leader because he was chapter chorister, head boy, and he can sing C sharp. Instead, Ralph was deemed the chief, leaving Jack was upset as a result. In chapter 1, “Even the choir applauded; and the freckles on Jack’s face disappeared under a blush of mortification. He started up, then changed his mind and sat down again while the air rang.”(23) Despite losing, Jack changes his mind thinking that if he tries to act like he is helpful, and remain calm around Ralph, Ralph will give him a higher position in the civilization. People would do anything to get the power that they want. Even changing their personalities, acting differently, and serving under the one who has higher power for a while to get what they want.

As the novel goes on, Jack’s desire for power grows because no one listens to him. Jack starts trying to make Ralph look like a bad chief in front of everyone else in his attempt to turn the group against him. In chapter 8, Jack says “He’s not a hunter. He’d never have got us meat. He isn’t a perfect and we don’t know anything about him. He just gives orders and expects people to obey for nothing. All this talk.”(126) Jack did not want to serve under Ralph’s orders any longer, so he tried to do everything in his power to ruin in Ralph’s position by saying how bad and imperfect he is to the civilization. He wants power so everyone can listen to him and serve him like they did to Ralph. The desire for power gains over time by the way that society governs itself. People are always trying to be on top of each other, so they can have the power to control others.

An example of this behavior also takes place in the real-world experience. Donald Trump, the president of the United States, is similar to Jack in regards to his immense and seemingly endless desire for power. Donald Trump used to live out a fairly standard  ‘rich-guy’ life. However, he didn’t accept his normal life and decided to join politics, fight for his presidency, and sit in the government of the United States. He wanted a higher position, and now that he has it he is abusing his power. According to the newspaper CNN, “For nearly two years now, citizen, candidate, and President Donald Trump have agitated for the means to build a wall on the southern border. Better yet, he told supporters during his campaign, it would be American-made and Mexican-paid ‘believe me’.” When he was a businessman he couldn’t do anything of that. But after he achieved his power in the government, he started to plan it out, and process it. If he wasn’t running for his presidency, he would not be able to plan out these things, and public his speech about it. This also proves that power is never achieved as much as humans want. Donald Trump was a rich guy, he could just stay in his normal life and enjoying all of his money. But instead, he decided to join the government to try and get even more powers.

Jack and Donald Trump are alike because they both desire power. They needed it for their goals. They also wanted it because they did not want to serve others, instead, they want to use the power to rule others. Jack and Donald Trump are different because Jack only wants the power to rule others, while Donald Trump wants the power to find money for him along with ruling people. Power makes people feel happy because it provides them with their wants and needs. It lets them make others listen to the things that they want, and force others to help them out with whatever they want to achieve. Donald Trump wanted to build the wall, and he’s using his new power of the president to try and say that Mexicans have to pay for it.

Humans all desire power, and every single one desires different types of power. Power makes people feel different because it gives them what they want. Human desire never ends, so power can never achieve all of a human’s wants. This is shown in the book Lord of the Flies and in the real-life example of Donald Trump. They both desire power to do things that they want and their goals are endless. No matter how hard people fight for the power they never reach what they want, because they never stop wanting more.

A number of people have been there: Choosing to survive or protect someone else. Humanity may tell itself that it’d prioritize others, but human urges are not something to escape. It’s easy to lose sight of values while in grave danger, so risks are taken in the sake of being self-preserving. This is a story of many human behaviors, but more than anything, it’s a story of empathy becoming a choice; an optional privilege. In the novel  “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding, the young boys trying to survive on a remote island struggle to remain empathetic with each other due to the pressures of survival. It’s a story that proves, despite all socialized training to be kind to each other, humans are ultimately selfish and willing to do anything to survive.

On said island, Roger, a troubled boy, is loyal to Jack, a reckless and spontaneous leader. There’s a conflict between Jack and the other, more reasonable and rational leader, Ralph. During a clash between the two separately led groups, Roger murders another child. The narrator describes the scene as follows: “High overhead, Roger, with a sense of delirious abandonment, leaned all his weight on the lever… The rock struck Piggy… ” (180-181) In a moment of panic, Roger has no hesitation to murder. Roger might not have the intention of murdering Piggy, yet he leans “all his weight” onto the lever that pushes a boulder on Piggy. The narrator describes Roger to be acting in “delirious abandonment,” loosely translating to him acting in a state of disturbed incoherence that allows him to have an out of body experience. Roger’s previous behavior shows hesitance to hurt others due to fear of repercussions, but in a position where he’s unsure of how his group will survive, he loses his sense of empathy altogether and is willing to kill.

The Milgram Experiment was a psychological test done in 1963 by Stanley Milgram that displays a similar loss of empathy. According to a review done on “Milgram’s Progress,” during the experiment, strangers were told they were testing shock therapy on another stranger, and that they had to press a button when told to shock someone. They couldn’t see the person being shocked because they didn't exist. The scientist in the room with them would urge them to keep going, even though the participants heard recorded screams coming from the other room that they believed to be real. The scientist resembled authority that people were willing to respect. More people than expected continued to “shock” the person, even after they thought they killed them. These people were not put in a place of danger, but they believed that what they were doing was necessary for improvement of some kind. Stanley Milgram said himself, “It is not so much the kind of person a man is as the kind of situation in which he finds himself that determines how he will act.” Roger, a young boy who’s experiencing trauma and pressured survival, may not be a “bad” boy, yet when pushed to his limits of what he “must do,” he’s willing to become an emotionless savage. Jack, his leader, is an authority that Roger wanted to please for validation.

There is a similar act of violence later in the novel with yet another savage death. The boys, convinced there’s a beast hiding on the island taunting them, see a fellow member of their tribe struggling to come out of the forest. Somehow, they confuse young Simon with the beast, even though he issn’t doing anything but walking. The scene is described as follows: “The beast struggled forward… At once the crowd surged after it, poured down the rock, leapt onto the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore. There were no words, and no movements but the tearing of teeth and claws.” (153) Not only do the boys murder Simon, a peer, but they do it in a way that makes them appear more like beasts than him. No one could tear someone to pieces with such violence and dedication while being empathetic. The fear of the beast is what causes them to react to Simon coming out of the trees with such aggression. The fear is what causes them to lose their empathy, because the beast is an imaginary threat to their survival. If the symbol of the beast didn’t exist, then the stress of survival wouldn’t be so strong, and the boys wouldn’t have murdered their friend.

Much like the boys’ struggle with the dynamic of fear and power, the Stanford Prison experiment demonstrates how quickly people can deteriorate into a state where they can remove empathy for survival. According to the official Stanford Prison Experiment website, a group of college students were split up, where some roleplayed guards and others, prisoners. With them all locked in a basement, the prisoners went insane, and the guards felt as though they had to protect themselves from said prisoners. This led to psychological and physical abuse of the prisoners due to fear. If the guards didn’t feel threatened, they wouldn’t have been able to hurt the prisoners as badly as they did. After all, each of the participants started as normal, innocent, college students. One could say the same about the boys stuck together on the island.

A point to be made just as important as the result of fear in a person is the result of the absence of fear. Eventually, after an unknown amount of time, the boys get discovered by an officer. Ralph, one of the leaders of the group, realizes the terrible things they did. It is not until he feels relatively safe, or at least not in immediate danger, does he feel remorse for his empathetic actions. After they are found, the narrator says, “Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy.” (202)  All of the things listed that Ralph wept for are included in an empathetic category. The end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the death of Piggy would not be present if there wasn’t a threat for survival. Now that Ralph is not in danger, he recognizes the lack of empathy that he now feels guilt for. One could argue that each thing mentioned, was purely out of fear to survive, yet one couldn’t say that any of it was done with empathy.

Fear is the strongest force in humanity. None are immune or can deny its lasting effect. In the case of the boys in the novel and the participants of the Milgram and Stanford Prison experiments, it leads to the loss of empathy. This lands true for most occurrences where survival is required. It is not at fault of the participants, seeing how Ralph responded to the experience once he felt safe. Humanity cannot judge the kids or those that fall victim to danger. Survival instincts are stronger than those to protect each other. It is not a choice, it’s human nature. With that being said, humans are no better or worse than those mere children, willing to do the same things the boys did if they experienced any of the same.

Works Cited:

1. Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. New York: Penguin, 2006

2. Levine, Robert. “Milgram's Progress.” American Scientist, Way Back Machine Internet Archive, 2015, web.archive.org/web/20150226125705/http://www.americanscientist.org/bookshelf/id.2948,content.true,css.print/bookshelf.aspx.

3. Zimbardo, Philip G. “The Story: An Overview of the Experiment.” Stanford Prison Experiment, Social Psychology Network, 2018, www.prisonexp.org/the-story/.

“You should be ashamed of yourself!” This statement is something that many children, especially boys, grow up hearing. As children, humans are taught that there is a specific way that they are supposed to act, and if they cannot act that way then they deserve to feel shame. Men specifically are expected to fit the mold of being strong and loving sports-- of being a “ladies’ man” and not showing emotion. They are supposed to be proud of being this way, even if it’s common and anticipated. If, and when, they don’t fit this description of being “manly”, it is possible for them to lash out. Pride, and thus shame, encouraged by our society drives men to hurt themselves and others over the idea of being a “real man”.

The book Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, peers into the young minds of boys and shows that even at early adolescent ages masculine pride influences how children treat each other. In the novel, there is a group of boys stuck on a deserted island with no adults. At first, many of them get along, but there is consistently a single outcast- Piggy. Piggy’s character is defined by the fact that he is a weakling in both survival and social situations. He is fat and has been coddled his entire life. Even from the group’s first encounter on the island, they are rude to him, leave him out, and tease him, saying, “‘You’re talking too much,’ said Jack Merridew.” (21). This first interaction sets up the standard for the treatment of Piggy throughout the book. He is known as ‘Piggy’ for the rest of the book, which shows that though he is a major character, first and foremost he is feeble and fat. The other boys don’t see anything in him, beyond that, because he does not fit the mold of what a man is ‘supposed’ to be. Because Piggy is less than what they aspire to be, the other boys disregard his intelligence and anything else about him that might be good. They strip Piggy of his pride, and thus he occasionally lashes out to make them listen to him. It is only in these times that they give him even an ounce of respect. At various points throughout the book, Piggy grabs the conch shell, which is part of a rule that the boys set; anyone holding the conch gets to talk without interruptions. When Piggy does this, it forces the boys to listen to him, and seems to be the only way that they will hear him out. However, most of the time they talk over him anyway, and as the book goes on and the boys plunge further into insanity, their adherence to the conch rule diminishes, leaving Piggy once again left out, and eventually, dead.

As demonstrated by the boys’ treatment of Piggy, the world sees weakness as something to be ashamed of. In professions where pride and strength is valued over anything else, the stakes of being overpowered are raised. This is applicable in the case of the military, specifically male rape in the military. According to an article written by Carol O’Brien, Jessica Keith, and Lisa Shoemaker on the American Psychological Association’s website, “approximately 50% of survivors of military sexual assault are men, virtually all of the literature focuses on the assault of female service members”. This gives insight to the fact that not only are men expected to be strong, but women to be weak. Therefore when a man is overpowered, even by their superiors, they do not seek help because they want to preserve their pride, to hide from their shame. This is a double standard that makes help almost inaccessible to men. When men are told day-in and day-out that they must be durable and forceful, they learn to hide any times when they weren’t perfect, impairing their ability to get help. This relates to the novel when Ralph and Jack are fighting over who will be the most dominant in the group instead of working together; neither wants to be seen as weak or frail. This need to be strong and in power eventually is a factor that drives them insane.

Another moment of prime masculinity in Lord of the Flies is when the boys are finally rescued. Jack and his choir boys have been overcome with bloodthirst and were hunting for Ralph, setting the entire forest on fire to smoke him out. From afar, a navy vessel saw the smoke and flames, and came to see what the commotion was about. In this, the navy men discovered the group of boys that have been trying for months to be rescued. Upon the realization that they would be saved from this island, the boys began to cry. Beholding this the narrator describes, “The officer, surrounded by these noises, was moved and a little embarrassed. He turned away to give them time to pull themselves together” (202). Even in this time of reflection on the horrors endured on the island, the boys are meant to be composed. As is in the book, societies around the world say that men are “supposed to” not show emotion, because they are seen as the most stable. Lea Winerman, in an article for the APA, says, “Many boys, he [Ronald F. Levant] says, learn from their parents and from other children that they are not supposed to express vulnerability or caring.” Not only does this hurt the men themselves, possibly causing depression or other mental health issues, but can cause men to hurt others due to built-up emotion that they were shamed about upon expression. Men are human beings, but are expected to act without fundamental emotion.

In societies across the world, men are conditioned to be closed off to even their friends and family, and to feel ashamed of their emotions. They are taught vigorously to be proud of themselves from birth and to not speak about any type of defeat or vulnerability. This makes it hard for them to accept help, because the price of said help is self-shame, being patronized, and being disrespected. When they don’t receive this aid, they are forced to stifle their emotions. Men lash out against those around them to cope with the bottled-up emotions that have been brewing, possibly, for years. We, as humans, condition our men to be self-stable, but don’t expect the same of our women. It is evident through looking at most societies, humanity as a whole, and Lord of the Flies that pride and shame are two sides of the same coin that we thoughtlessly flip to decide our values and actions.

Works Cited

Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. New York: Penguin, 2006.

O'Brien, Carol, et al. “Don't Tell: Military Culture and Male Rape.” Bay Pines Veterans Healthcare Affairs, 2015. Found on the American Psychological Association website Here: http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/ser-ser0000049.pdf

Nelson, Tammy. “How to Be a Man of Integrity in a Time of Toxic Masculinity.” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 15 Nov. 2017, www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/how-to-be-a-man-of-integrity-in-a-time-of-toxic-masculinity_us_5a0caef9e4b006a16baf1ee7.

Jaszmine Randle

April 3, 2018

Artist Statement

During this quarter I worked on my capstone a lot in this class however I was able to learn a lot of new techniques. I learned to master working with watercolor, I learned how to be more creative and unique by creating an abstract piece. All the work I created was something outside of my comfort zone. I wanted to try something new for once and challenge myself even more than last quarter. This quarter what I took from art was time management and of course hard work these two things kept me focused all quarter. You need good time management because that's the only way you can meet deadlines. All my studio time was properly spent and invested all of my projects met there deadlines. You have to invest in good work in order to get a good outcome if you don’t work hard your final product won’t be as strong as it could've been. My goal for quarter four is to end strong and reflect properly. I would like to take all corrections from my three previous quarters and use it in my future. Even if you don’t take art in the future you can still use the skills, and techniques taught from the course. I want people to take my motivation and dedication from my artwork because everything I submitted I took time and hard work to complete them.

Quarter 3 Advanced Art Reflection

The first project we did this quarter was a large scale drawing of a bicycle. My bicycle was done with pencil on paper. It took awhile to get the proportions of the bike, but after that it was easy to shade. The drawing came out a little messier than I would have like, and I didn’t really enjoy drawing the bike because I find working in pencil frustrating.

The second project we did this quarter was the optical illusion. This was a favorite of mine. The materials I used were paper, markers, and colored pencils. I first sketched out the illusion in pencil, colored in alternating sections with black markers, and then colored in the remaining sections with all different colored pencils. I really like the effect that I got in the end.

The third project we did this quarter was shading practice. The materials used were pencil and paper. The first thing I did was draw shapes and split them into sections to indicate transitions in shading. Then I shaded, changing the strength I used to press down on the paper. I learned a lot about how weight affects color with this project, and I think it turned out.

The fourth project we did this quarter was the eye drawing. The materials used on the eye were pencil and paper. I sketched the eye from a photo of mine. I then shaded, paying close attention to value and texture. I had the most trouble getting the shine on the eye right, and I don’t think it looks quite right. Otherwise, I really do think it looks like my eye, and I’m proud of the end product.

The last project we did this quarter was the mandala, and it was my favorite by far. I really felt like I could be creative with it. The materials I used were pencil, pen, paper, and colored pencil. I first drew a circle, then sectioned it off like a pizza. Then I drew a smaller circle in the middle, and drew from there. After I drew with pencil, I traced with pen and colored in with colored pencils. I’m really proud of the end product.

This quarter for art class I created a bike drawing, an optical illusion drawing, a shading forms drawing, an eye drawing, and an original mandala. In order to make some of these art pieces, I gained inspiration through my favorite colors and even from my culture. For the bike drawing, I used pencil and was inspired by my own bike that I ride, and drew a version of this. For the optical illusion drawing, I used colors that were vibrant and patterns that were graphic, to enhance the illusion aspect of the art piece. For the shaded forms drawing, I followed the instructions and practiced heavy and light shading, as well as all the variations of shading in between. For the eye drawing, I demonstrated more shading skills, such as the different weights that can be seen with thick and thin lead strokes. For the mandala, I was inspired by my Puerto Rican heritage and created an original design that had tropical themes, floral hints, and was very colorful overall.

Although I enjoyed using markers and colored pencils more, this quarter I mainly used pencils for sketching on the majority of the pieces. A technique I displayed while using the pencils was blending, by shading the darker, thicker lead with the lighter, thinner lead. I learned through the bike drawing, shading forms drawing, and eye drawing that shading is difficult and can be messy if it is not done precisely. During this quarter I used pencils, colored pencils, markers, erasers, printer paper, and large thick paper to create my art pieces. The pencils, colored pencils, and markers were used this quarter as my art mediums. I utilized my studio time throughout the quarter by spending each art period completing the assignments that were due for that week. I even got a head start on some of the future deadlines because I worked hard during art class, and went home with no assignments to finish. Overall, this quarter included a lot art assignments that allowed me to practice my shading skills, and also strengthen my art skills as a whole.

This quarter I did a lot of new art pieces that I have never done before. We started the quarter off with a bicycle, where we had to attempt to draw a bike by looking at a previous sketch, then drawing from memory. This was very difficult for me, especially the proportions. I am used to drawing with nothing but pencil, so that part was easy. However, afterwards we could clean up the bike by using the same sketch for reference. This bike was on a much bigger paper than I am used to drawing on, so this was a good exercise on testing my abilities. After this, we had to create an optical illusion. This assignment was very fun, and for my illusion I chose a drawing that I used to make a lot as a child. For the medium, I used a combination of sharpie and colored pencils. I made a heart that appears to be jumping off of the 2-dimensional surface. I think it is very clever, but simple, and I really enjoyed the final product.

After we finished the optical illusions, we went on to practice shading. Although I do enjoy using graphite pencils a lot, I feel like this project forced me to use them to their full potential. Before this assignment, I did not shade well, and it always ended up looking choppy. For this project, we followed a guide that was a tutorial on how to shade. I found it a little tedious, but I think in the end it improved my skills. From this assignment, we moved onto drawing our eye, in pencil and in great detail. I loved this assignment, because I love drawing eyes, and the detail in eyes is very fascinating. I always doodle eyes on my notebooks and such. This assignment was relaxing and I loved how the end product turned out. The last assignment we had was to draw a mandala. For this assignment, I used brightly colored permanent markers. I think this assignment forced me to be more creative than the other assignments, because we had to completely conceptualize the mandala from scratch. I think the hardest part of this assignment was making it completely symmetrical, but in the end I enjoyed.

Overall, I think this quarter made me expand my artistic abilities a lot. I am really glad we did the assignments we did, because they pushed me out of my comfort zone to try new things. I am really excited for the challenges and projects to come in quarter 4!

Well for week 1 through 2 I completed the water color assignment and this one was pretty cool because I learned some new methods for art and I used Sgraffito, Lifting off, Splatter, Flat wash, Straw blowing and Rubber cement and those were very interesting combining all those 6 together for a winter theme watercolor painting. Week 3 was the Metamorphosis Drawing when I drew a chicken turning into a bucket of fried chicken and I’m not really sure how I thought of this but I’m glad I did this picture and it turned out well. The week 4 and 5 collage was probably the most complex thing I drew all year because it took a ton of colored pencils but the finished product looked great. For week 6 and 7 for the mosaic it took some effort to do as well because I just finished it in time on the very last day, The week 8 coat of arms assignment was really cool because it took about a day to complete and I used flyers colors for it, The last assignment was the create your own piece of art for week 9 and I did a image of homer simpson choking bart but homer is in a flyer’s jersey and bart is in a penguins jersey so this piece I would say I am very proud of.

In my original post, I introduced the issue of the sleep schedules of teenagers and how electronics and the abundant amount of homework affects the way students sleep. I provided information from various sources, such as statistics from different reliable sources that speaks of this issue. In this post, I will speak of new information I have received from different sources.

This image shows scholars using electronics in school.

From my new research, I’ve found out that the use of electronic devices affects sleep in a negative way. Teenagers are on their phones in the middle of the night, which distracts them from actually sleeping. As said from this website, it say the that two issues about the temptation of teenagers using their devices is the bright screens and the stimulation from using the electronics.

This image represents how children in general use their electronics before bed.

In the article, Kristen Knutson, who is the PhD assistant professor if the University of Chicago Department of Medicine, said that the light of electronics suppresses melatonin; which is a hormone that is involved in the sleeping/reproductive cycles in mammals. She also stated that it causes the brain to mix up the time of day it is, because when a bright light is on, the brain automatically thinks it should be awake and alert because something is happening at that exact moment.

How much time should teenagers be on their electronics?

According to The Guardian, it is said that teenagers should have a maximum of 2 hours a day on their electronics. Which I think is completely wrong. Yes, most teenagers use their devices for ridiculous things, but most scholars use their electronic devices in order to keep up with tasks and other things. I mostly use my phone to set alarms, read books, and text occasionally. But with 2 hours a day, I can at most just read a book. I feel like 2 hours is a ridiculous amount of time, but I also agree that teenagers should be more smarter on how long they use their electronics.

Going onto my original research. For my original research, I had interviewed a few of my friends. One friend from London, another from Tennessee, and two of my friends from my stream.

From the information I have gotten, procrastination and sleeping late had came up a few times. They have said the they mostly get distracted by their electronics, but still get their work done at the last minute. Another thing I have heard frequently was that a few do sleep late and don’t get enough sleep, but some other say that they do get enough sleep. With the information I was given, I’m starting to go towards the side that it’s the schools that have affected our sleep schedules, but then again, in some cases, I believe that it sometimes us ourselves that ruins our sleep schedules. In other words, there should be a way where we can find out how to use both our electronics responsibly and effcetively.

My annotated Bibliography is here

In class, we learned about two different movie test that judge based on  female inclusiveness and anti-gender biased ideals. The first test is called the Bechdel Test. This is a simple test that judges movies on the following three criteria: It has to have at least two women in it, the women have to talk to each other, and their conversation has to be about something besides a man. The second test is called the Mako Mori Test (named after Mako Mori from the movie, “Pacific Rim”.) This test judges movies on the following three criteria: There is at least one female character, this female character gets her own narrative arc, this arc must not support a man’s story.

The first movie I did these test on was “I, Tonya”. This movie is a biography of famous, olympic, ice skater, Tonya Harding. After watching the movie, I realized that this movie does pass the bechdel test. There are two women in the movie, Tonya Harding and her mother. They have multiple conversations with each other throughout the movie. Whenever the two talked, it was always about Ice Skating or how much they hate each other. They only talked about Tonya’s boyfriend once.

After reading the criteria for the Bechdel Test and Mako Mori Test, and analyzing them for things that could be added to improve the test, I have created my very own movie test that looks for gender and racial diversity. My test is called “The Joseph Test”, and it can be used to analyze any movie. The criteria for passing my test include: There must be at least two people of color who converse with one another and at least one of them must have their own story arc. There must be at least two women, of color or white, who converse with each other and at least one of them must have a story arc. The movie cannot be predominantly white male.

My test is actually difficult because a lot of movies wouldn’t pass my test. But, I can think of a few TV shows that would. In the upcoming Marvel TV series called “Cloak and Dagger”, the show’s lead characters are a black male and a white female. They will both have their own character arcs and the other supporting characters will mirror the diversity of the main characters. In turn, the show will not be predominantly white.

The two films that I’m choosing to review are Divergent and Black Panther. These are my personal favorite movies. Even though these are movies that have good female chracters we don’t know if they pass the bechdel test. The bechdel test is if two female characters in a movie have a conversation not involving a man.

Divergent is based on a futuristic society that is divided. It’s divided into five factions. Each faction has one specific role in their society. Everyone has to fit into either one of the factions, if you don’t your considered Divergent. In this case Tris is divergent and she has to hide her secret because divergent’s are considered a threat to their society. Tris must undergo physical and mental test in the faction she chose while also having to try and hide her secret.

The second movie that I’ll be reviewing is Black Panther. This movie was such a huge break through into the African American culture. Black Panther is a marvel movie about a technoligically advanced African civilization. T’Challa was the son of one of the King’s son. He was left in America by himself. T’Challa buit rage over the years and when he found Wakanda he took over it. Black Panther the real king of Wakanda took back his thrown after a vigorious battle.

I really fell in love with Divergent because Tris the main female character was a good example. She was strong and brave through out the movie. There were many task that she had to overcome but with the support of her family/firends they were able to escape oppression and abuse. This movies does pass the bechdel test because a lot of female charcaters talk with one another about their struggles.

Black Panther was a huge step forward for African/African American culture. The main character was not a female but there were a lots of females that played inportant roles too. For example, Okoya played role as the head of Wakanda’s special forces. She was such a strong female character because she was true warrior. Okoya risked everything for her country and was loyal to her leaders. She displayed an honorable warrior throughout the entire movie. This movies passes the bechdel test because there was a small snipit of two females having a conversation not regarding a male.

Now that you know background information about the two movies that I chose it’s time to make up my test of choice and see if it passes. For my test I’d like to see if there is at least one main female chracater that leads a group of people that doesn’t involve any sort of romance. It can’t be a minor part of the movie but important. With the new test that I made I’ll be reviewing Divergent and Black Panther to see if they pass the test.

I personally think that Divergent does not pass my test. Throughout the movie Tris has a romantic conncetion with Four the entire time. She is the leader of a group but the romance stands out more. Maybe in the other movies that came out after the first one do pass because Tris and Four already have the love it’s not like they need to build it. For example, Tris and Four are new lovers which involves more time on them to build that feeling throughout the movie. On the other hand, in the other movies the focus can be on building communities not love. If that makes sense.

Moving onto Black Panther, I think that it does pass my test. The Queen of Wakanda was a leader and she wasn’t involved in romance. She lost her husband and she wasn’t trying to rekindle a new flame. Next, Okoya was the general of Wakanda’s army. She did have a lover but they didn’t come in contact a lot in the movie. Okoya was even put to the test if she would chose her lover over her country and chose her country. I feel like it passes teh test because this idea of a women chosing her future over a man is not seen in many movies. Most movies the women leaves her job to fit into these men’s lives. So I feel like it showed a ver strong image on women today.

2 Films 2 Tests

1. The Bechdel Test:

1. At least two women in it

2. Who talk to each other

3. About something besides a man   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r 3UdYPD 0

2. The Technical Test:

1. At least two black males

2. Who talk to each other  

3. About motivation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dvt zO6 UAE

Kick-Ass is about Dave, a 16 year old kid that fights for the good. He ends up killing a villains father for justice. Afterwards the villain wants revenge for what he did. He walks around NYC to defend and protect people, with the help of his friends. Eventually he takes out the supervillain and saves NYC.

This movie passes the bechdel test. How you may ask? Well in the movie there a scene where there is a group of girls in the lunchroom talking about popularity, clothes, and well feminine things. One of the main characters Mindy aka Hit Girl usually dresses as a “regular female” no makeup, no dress, no ordinary life style. During this scene in the beginning Mindy decides to put on nail polish, lip gloss, heels, and a nice dress. She walks up to a group of girls that are “popular”, they eventually start saying she can’t be like them just because of what she wears.  

The Pursuit of Happyness is about  a man that goes broke and tries to support his family. Going through all the struggle the only motivation he has is his son, his only child, his only family member left.

This film passes the test that I made up.  At least two black males that talk to each other about motivation. In the film there is a certain scene that shows Chris Gardner and his son playing basketball. Chris tells his child, “You got a dream you gotta protect it .”

THE DEFINITION OF HAPPY-NESS

In my last post, I addressed the topic of gun violence and school shootings. Within the last month, there have been many developments, in state laws, but also with student activism in response to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting and others.

States are beginning to act on gun laws and gun reform. For example, in Oregon, the state senate passed a law that made it illegal for any people convicted of domestic abuse and violence to own a gun. In Washington, a bill was filed to raise the age to own a semiautomatic weapon with “tactical features” to 21 instead of 18. In Texas, a governor is working with the Texas Education Agency to make sure all schools have safety procedures and fully working security systems.

On Wednesday, March 14th, many students chose to walk out of school, some for 17 minutes to honor those who died in the Parkland shooting, or for much longer to evoke change with gun laws. While some schools allowed their students to walk out, other administrators threatened detentions and punishments. However, no matter the repercussions, thousands of students around the country walked out of their schools.

My school, SLA, participated in the walkout as well. Organized completely by students, the walkout included speakers such as Pennsylvania State Senator Vince Hughes, activist Sheila Simmonds, BSU President Zoey Twey, and SLA Student Government members Tamir Harper and Ella Burrows. Students gathered in the alleyway outside of school with signs and posters to protest.

SLA student walkout.

After the walkout officially ended, some SLA students went back into school, but hundreds marched to City Hall to join with students from Central, Masterman, Palumbo, CAPA, Freire, and other schools around the city.

Gathering at City Hall before marching to School District Headquarters.

With signs, megaphones, chants like “Books not Bullets!”, “The NRA is not okay!”, “Hold hands not guns!”, students protested outside of the Philadelphia School District building, and then at City Hall once again. We blocked off entire sections of Market and Broad Street as we marched to honor victims of gun violence and to provoke change in laws. The fact that this effort was entirely orchestrated by students shows how strong youth leadership really is.

Going back to City Hall from School District headquarters at 440 N. Broad Street.

On March 24th, the Philadelphia March for Our Lives was a part of more than 800 national and international protests for gun control. From 5th and Market to Lombard Circle, thousands of people gathered together in solidarity to keep the pressure up for political change and stricter gun laws.

For part of my original research, I went to this march and interviewed different people. Here is the transcript of the 6 interviews I conducted. Most of the questions asked were things like, “What do you think of the march today?” or “Why is this issue important to you?”.

One woman, holding a March for Our Lives sign, talked about how she is excited about young people leading, but wished there was more representation of people of color and gun violence outside of mass shootings. “I’m really excited to be in a march and be following the leadership of young people. I had hoped to see more young people of color being represented, in terms of speakers, and some of the issues that have been going on in Philadelphia outside of certain mass shooting kinda things...I think that there is a really important area for collaboration here, and using the leverage from this broader nation discussion to address both sets of issues, the mass shooting, and also the daily drip of police violence of gun violence that is not done by AK-47s that is happening in our neighborhoods and schools here in Philadelphia.”

Woman with “March for Our Lives” Sign.

People of all ages were at the march as well. I interviewed a young girl holding a sign that said “Going to school shouldn’t be scary.” When asked about what the march means to hershe said, “Well, my friend Matthew just did a project on the shooting at Columbine, and it made me really sad”.

Young girl with pink “going to school shouldn’t be scary” sign.

Another person I was very lucky to interview was Mayor Jim Kenney. He was walking through the crowds of people, and my friend Noor pointed him out. We walked over and asked if we could interview him. “How do you feel about the amount of people that die on our streets due to gun violence?”  “Obviously one death is one death too many...we’re here because there are too many guns on our streets and in our society, but the thing I feel good about is that I have less time ahead of me than I have behind me, and you guys are stepping up to lead...I feel very comfortable that when I am retired, you guys will be in charge because what’s in charge now is a disgrace. You’re empathetic, you care about each other, you treat each other with respect and kindness.”

A sign on a dog reads, “Adopting me took: A background check, 4 references, A home visit by the agency, $400 fee, and a month’s wait. The opposite side of the sign says, “Why is it harder to get a dog than obtain a gun?”