AADS/ENGL 3328.01
In the novel Sassafrass, Cypress, and Indigo, Ntazake Shange uses magic as a means of empowerment that in turn challenges societal expectations in the youngest character, Indigo’s, coming of age. Throughout the course of the book whenever Indigo displays an action or trait that would typically be considered “crazy” or “unusual,” the phrase “the south…
This is an oil painting of the biblical story on fatherly forgiveness known as The Prodigal Son. It hangs in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia. The depiction of light through a technique known as “chiaroscuro” in this piece is used to emphasize important aspects of the story beyond words. The father and son are…
The Annunciation by Jan Van Eyck is a 15th Century painting which depicts the angel Gabriel appearing before Mary to announce and ask her if she would have God’s son. Here, we see rays of light as symbols for God’s love.
Remember the Titans was a film based off a true story covering a high school football team divided by race and prejudice. As black head coach Herman Boone was hired in 1971, the team must learn how to come together despite their differences. It’s been one of my favorite movies growing up and it has…
It challenges ideas of masculinity especially in the American west as well as the stereotypes of a gay man “should be” or “act like”.
Shaka King’s historical dramatization of the betrayal of Black Panthers leader Fred Hampton by FBI informant Bill O’Neill is a progressive masterpiece. King’s depicts the war between the revolutionary Black Panthers and the inherently racist FBI led by paranoid J. Edgar Hoover. The Panther’s programs to bring the community out of poverty (free healthcare, breakfast,…
Sacha Baron Cohen has now produced two satyr driven comedy mockumentaries in which Cohen uses this Borat character to explore an idea that is strongly held and challenge it. Borat (the first film) is about American society and attempting to identify what makes the US so “great.” An extension of this is Borat 2, which…
Throughout Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe uses the examples of supposedly kind and good-natured white men to show that structural, rather than solely individual, change is needed to dismantle the institution of slavery. Furthermore, Stowe uses these characters to show how religion, when misinterpreted and treated as a series of laws can contribute to…
Ryan Murphy’s political satire “The Politician” follows Payton Hobert’s quest to become the future president of the United States. The first season, which follows his running for student body president at a Santa Barbra preparatory school, focuses on the sheer ridiculousness and incivility of recent politics. Running against the class favorite River Barkley, Payton decides…
Promising Young Woman is a film about a woman in her thirties who spends her weekends going out to bars, alone, acting as though she is black-out drunk. In this state, she gets many men to bring her home. She waits for them to take advantage of her, and at that moment she teaches them…