The 1960 was an era of war, conflict, music, innovation, and social change; when one thinks of the 1960s, one of the first things that come to mind is the civil rights movement that peaked during this decade. The civil rights movement was a series of social movements that attempted to end racial segregation, discrimination, and all racial injustices. Non-white Americans, mainly African Americans at this time, used civil resistance and civil disobedience in order to change the government policies that discriminated against them such as segregation laws, Jim Crow laws, and the inability to vote for their nations leaders. There were two prominent leaders who had different ideas on how to obtain the same goal. Martin Luther King Jr. believed that the only way to gain equality was through peaceful demonstrations; on the other hand, Malcolm X believed that he had a right to defend himself, even if it led to violence. In 1963, at the height of the Civil Rights Movement, a comic book was released about a group of mutants that tried to keep peace between their people and the humans. Thirty-seven year later a Hollywood film was made based on the comic book series. X-Men (Bryan Singer, 2000) was a box office hit that earned $157,299,717 in theaters; this movie entered the lives of thousands of Americans and people worldwide. On the surface the film is a sci-fi action story, but beneath the surface it tell the story of America’s fight for equality and justice. This modern day portrayal of X-Men is an ode to our Nation’s past struggles of equality. This is evident through the portrayal of the mutant’s struggle and experiences of injustice, the two mutant leaders, and through the laws that congress attempts to pass against them.
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...splayed on the big screen “come from our own experiences of overcoming adversity” (387). X-men is a story about a team of heroes who fight to protect the mutant and human relationship while advocating for mutant rights and equality. This movie is a metaphor for the African American Civil Rights Movement that peaked in the 1960s, signifying America overcoming adversity. X-Men can not only be applied to America, it is a metaphor that can be applied to the world. The film references to the Holocaust, another historical and racial occurrence. The film speak to not only the nation but the world by reminding its audience of the struggles people have faced in order to be where they are today. It is a lesson that can always be applied to current events, such as gay rights. It is a reminder that all, no matter their differences, deserve justice, equality, and happiness.
The 20th century was a definitive time period for the Black civil rights movement. An era where the status quo was blatant hatred and oppression of African Americans, a time when a black son would watch his father suffer the indignity of being called a “boy” by a young white kid and say nothing in reply but “yes sir”. Where a Black person can be whipped or lynched for anything as little as not getting off the sidewalk when approaching a white person, for looking into their eyes, or worse, “for committing the unpardonable crime of attempting to vote.” In the midst of the racial crises and fight for social equality were Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. who despite their difference in philosophies were “icons of social justice movement both in the United States and around the world” .
This week’s readings of the reviews of Spike Lee’s ‘Do the Right Thing’ and Marilyn Fabe’s “Political Cinema: Spike Lee’s ‘Do the Right Thing’, raised a number of questions regarding not only the moral issues the film addresses but also the intention of the artist. This dialectical opposition, which Pamela Reynolds suggests “challenges the audience to choose” (Reynolds, p.138) between the narrativized hostility shown between that of the hero and villain. More specifically Lee’s portrayal of violence vs passive opposition. This can be perceived through Lee’s technical employment of contradictory quotes from Martin Luther King, Jr and Malcom X at the conclusion of the film, which not only highlights this concern but also deluges further into themes of political opposition. Marylin Fabe discusses this where she states that Spike Lee’s film carries a “disturbing political message” (Fabe, p.191). Arguably, ‘Do the Right Thing’ acmes themes of racism (Black vs White); with underlining motifs of imperialism (colonisers’ vs colonised), psychoanalytic (power vs powerlessness) and even Marxist theory (ownership vs public space/consumption), with Clarence Page stating that Lee provides a “public service… (not trying) to provide all the answers, but raising the questions.” (Reid, P.144). In saying this we explore this concept of the role of the artist, with Georgopulos stating that the role of the artist is to create a consciousness within the audience by revealing a fraught set of truths about the human condition. Thusly, the reactions and responses to the films reveal Lee to be successful in conveying his intentions, which back in its zenith, explored this issue of racism in a way that had rarely been seen, and presented the ways in which t...
In the year of 1985, a movie trailer had just come out about an average kid in high school. The apparent star of the trailer, Michael J. Fox, is a high schooler who was starting to go through an awkward phase of his life. The trailer shows examples of his awkwardness by showing clips of him getting knocked over in a basketball game, a pretty girl talking to him, which, result in him embarrassingly dropping his books at his locker, and him going through awkward physical changes such as body hair and voice changes. The trailer then goes to show that Michael J. Fox is not some average joe, but in fact a werewolf. The trailer shows this by showing a clip of Michael J. Fox changing into a werewolf for the first time in his life. After Michael J.
African Americans are fortunate to have leaders who fought for a difference in Black America. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X are two powerful men in particular who brought hope to blacks in the United States. Both preached the same message about Blacks having power and strength in the midst of all the hatred that surrounded them. Even though they shared the same dream of equality for their people, the tactics they implied to make these dreams a reality were very different. The background, environment and philosophy of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X were largely responsible for the distinctly varying responses to American racism.
Until the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., his life’s work was dedicated to the nonviolent actions of blacks to gain the freedoms they were promised in the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 by Abraham Lincoln. He believed that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” (King, 1963). These injustices had become so burdensome to blacks that they were “plunged into an abyss of despair” (King, 1963). The nonviolent actions of the sit-ins, boycotts, and marches were so the “individual could rise from the bondage of myths and half-truths…to help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism” and ultimately lead to “inevitably opening the door to negotiation” (King, 1963). Not only was King’s approach effective with the older black generation, it was also successful with white people. They did not feel threatened when approached by King. White people gained a sense of empathy towards the plight of black freedom as King’s promise of nonviolence did not threaten their livelihood. Malcolm X viewed the world similarly to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., however; his beliefs to changing the status quo were slightly different from his political counterpart. Malcolm X realized that “anger could blind human vision” (X, 1965). In realizing this, X knew that in order to achieve racial freedom blacks had to “forget hypocritical politics and propaganda” (X, 1965). While Malcolm X was more so an advocate for violent forces against white people than King, X merely used force when it became necessary for defense. According to X, “I don’t go for non-violence if it also means a delayed solution. I am for violence if non-violence means we continue postponing a solution to American black man’s problem” (X, 1965). However, this le...
About a week ago we watched a movie called “The Incredibles”. The Incredibles is a 2004 movie written by Brad Bird. The movie is about super heroes who are not allowed to be heroes anymore because the people do not want to have heroes. But later they get into some trouble and end up being heroes again.
The conversation about the influence of social media on race-bending as it applies to comic book culture begins with an examination of Robert Morales and Kyle Bakers’ 2004 graphic novel – Truth: Red, White and Black. Jennifer Ryan proposes in her article Truth Made Visible: Crises of Cultural Expression in Truth: Red, White, and Black that the graphic novel depicts a new version of the “great American hero” (Ryan, 67); an African American Captain America by the name of Isaiah Bradley. Truth tells Isaiah’s story, and contrasts his experience with that of the white Captain America (Ibid) – right down to their physical differences (see figure 1). Truth alters the traditional Captain America story, effectively rewriting Marvel comic lore (Ryan, 77). It does so by telling the story of how the super soldier serum that gave Captain America his powers was created; by being tested on Isaiah Bradley and other African American soldiers (Ryan, 67). Axel Alonso, lead editor of Truth, acknowledges that introducing a new character effectively destroys a previously unbroken and consistent existence for Captain America’s origin that allows the creators to “tell a larger story” (Ryan, 70).
In April of 1861, the American Civil War broke out. In June of 2006, the Marvel Civil War broke out. 145 years of separation still bind these two seemingly unrelated events. The nonfiction and fiction worlds may come across as totally different. One involves actual American heroes fighting over abolition versus slavery and federal versus states’ rights while the other involves fictional American superheroes fighting over freedom versus security, individual rights versus the need for regulation. More specifically, the Marvel Civil War was caused by a controversial Superhero Registration Act that required all superheroes to register themselves under the government as government agents.
Since the dawn of time, there has always existed the concept of good vs evil. Normally, this concept is used to explain two forces battling against each other in order to influence people’s actions. However, these concepts also exist on a realistic level; although the realistic form is based on race rather than morals. Like a recessive gene, black people were suppressed by the dominant gene, white people, in the 1950’s. With the white race oppressing the black race being a colossal dilemma, few people chose to solve it. Among them were Martin Luther King, and Malcolm X. While King wanted to solve the problem with peace, Malcolm knew the only way to solve the dispute was fighting back. Malcolm X was born in 1925 in Omaha Nebraska, and was one
The Civil Rights Movement represents a pivotal event in world history. It resulted in positive changes for African-Americans, among other minorities across the United States and much of the world. While the overall goal of all activists during the civil rights movement was to obtain social justice, and terminate racist and discriminatory customs and laws for African Americans, leaders differed in their tactics. Many Leaders hoped to explore issues of race, human rights and dismantle the institutional racism through nonviolent means. However, others felt forced to use violent tactics in order to ensure change. While historians often put an emphasis on the importance of the non-violent tactics of the Civil Rights movement, radical organization’s
The Exorcist is a wonderfully crafted horror film that has withstood the test of time, as some even now cannot listen to "Tubular Bells" (my fiancé's father) without having flashbacks. Even though it was made almost half a century ago, people will still cower and groan with the movie; this is how it is still a household name to this day. I enjoy this movie tremendously and believe it to be a monumental achievement of the horror genre. My opinions of this movie are vast as this is another one of my favorite movies.
A movement begins with a catalyst. In the equality movement between the different races Emmett Till’s brutal death is the catalyst. Emmett Till was a young boy who was tortured beyond recognition for a misunderstanding during a trip to the grocery store. The story is that Emmett Till flirted with a married white woman. This was taboo during the days of the Jim Crow Laws. The story is muddled as to how the teenager flirted with Mrs. Bryant. However, Emmett Till did not deserve the terrible death he received at the hands of angry white men. The men wanted to hurt Emmett. During this time period especially white men believed themselves to be of a higher standard than the black population. Emmett Till’s murder allowed a political movement to come up out of the shock and devastation.
While the white public as a whole hated Malcolm X’s confidence and boldness, they admired him for the very same traits. The book was a complete success in accomplishing the author’s goal of revealing Malcolm X as a man and not just as an observable factual character. This book appeals to people, all races and all genders. Malcolm X was courageous enough to express the rage, the fight, and the viewpoint of African Americans in the 1960s. Had Malcolm X been a white man, he would have been president.
Deadpool was originally a supervillain who had a superhuman healing factor that regenerates damaged or destroyed areas of his structure quickly. He went into a chamber to gain this superpower and turned good rather than evil.
The movie Deadpool is written by Paul Whitreck and directed by Tim Miller. The movie is about a man named Wade Wilson who underwent an experiment to help cure his cancer. In doing so the experiment went wrong and he gained accelerating healing powers which messed his face up. However he received his name from a scene early in the movie when he was in the bar. The movie went back in forth as far as memories but Wade wilson named himself Deadpool based on how he looked and the condition he was in. He gains new abilities and is on a search for the person that nearly killed him during the experiment. The movie is a reintegration of the comic books by marvel of this alter ego killer, not your typical friendly superhero. Deadpool is one of my favorite movies because of the level of action/violence, the sound effects/special effect and the good acting in the movie.