This semester I attended two social justice events on the Rhode Island College campus. I watched two movies that were shown in Gaige 005, I got to watch He Named Me Malala (on November 7) and She's Beautiful When She's Angry (on November 28).
He Named Me Malala was an extremely interesting documentary about Malala Yousafzai. The documentary showed events that lead up to the Taliban's attack on her because she was speaking out about girl's education. And the aftermath of her survival and what she has since accomplished. Before watching this film, I had minimal knowledge of Malala and what had happened to her, this film was enlightening and I think did a fantastic job of telling her story. A major thing that this film taught me was just how many girls do not have access to education across the globe, this link will take you to a list of the countries where girls have the toughest times accessing education as of October 10, 2018.
Because of her beliefs and the support she has received, Malala Yousafzai now has "The Malala Fund" through her website, where anyone can donate to her projects in order to work towards a world where any girl is able to "learn and lead," because so many girls are not allowed education and her mission is to change that. Malala has been able to spread awareness to many people and has fought so hard for these girls, so in 2014 she earned the Nobel Peace Prize, here is a link to a video of her acceptance speech.
While the specific topic of girls not being educated was not something we really covered in class this semester, I feel like the movie and Malala herself connect to a few of our readings. Malala said "I tell my story not because it is unique, but because it is the story of many girls." this quote made me think of our Rodriguez reading because he write of his experience leaving Spanish behind and learning English to use as a public language, and he wrote about his own story which is the same story so many children can relate to coming from Spanish speaking households. "There 's a moment when you have to choose- to be silent or to stand out."- Malala Yousafzai. This quote connected me to Delpit, she discussed the codes of power and her reading was called The Silenced Dialogue. The way that power is distributed in places like school is often expected, known and will vary somewhat based on location. Where Malala is from, where not all girls can go to school or are allowed to, is a code of power and has been accepted for the most part. Malala challenged the silent acceptance of the way that people used their power of the girls in so many countries. He Named Me Malala also made me think of our reading by Zelle, "11 and gender fluid," because `Malala and many others now are fighting for girls to be allowed to go to school. Boys can go with no problem, this is a gender based rule in these countries, which is beyond unfair for many reasons. But someones gender- whether it is their born gender or what they choose to identify as- should not dictate what they can or cannot do, especially when it is getting an education.
She's Beautiful When She's Angry is another documentary that I was unfamiliar with, and I found this to be a very interesting watch. I learned a lot more about the feminist movement, which I thought was a fairly recent term but this was something women fought for, for years in the 1960s. The film covered the movement form about 1966-1971. I found the footage to be fascinating, these were courageous women standing up to men and fighting for equality, decades ago- and the feminist movement still exists. I had no idea the extent that these women went to in order to prove their point, and they refused to quit. Times have since changes somewhat, and some men often try to shoot down the feminists, but seeing the way men did in this film was amusing and frustrating because back then we were less equal to men than we are now.
There is a website based on the film with information on the film, the movement itself, ways to purchase it, and to make donations. While looking through sources related to the documentary, I found a Huffington Post article titled ""She's Beautiful When She's Angry' Tells The Feminist Story Left Out Of Your School Textbook," this was super interesting because I didn't realize it, but I never earned about this. I remember being taught about women earning the right to vote, but any other history lesson was about men and war and government, the women's liberation movement was a major part of women's history that school curriculum essentially ignores. To me, the most interesting part of the documentary was that it included so many of the main activists of the movement speaking on it now, a list of them can be found here. There was footage of them during the movement and the current interviews made the stories and scenes feel so much more real because these women are still alive and fought for so much.
Feminism and women's liberation was also not a topic we really discussed this semester but a few readings we did so connect to the film. While this is not the same thing, I think the movie connects well to Brown vs. The Board of Education, America was segregating people based on color everywhere, and because of this court case segregation in schools was outlawed. The women;s liberation movement of the 1960s acted as a major stepping stone for future feminists and made everyone aware of the inequality between men and women, in order to step towards change in how women were treated. I also thought of the August reading we did regarding safe spaces, again these were different topics so long after this movement, women are still not always equal to men and are afraid of them in several situations. The LGBTQ community has gained more acceptance and activists, but their situation now is similar to what the women's was in the 1960s. I also found that the film connected well to our Christensen reading about myths and stereotypes. In the time of this movement, women were still often stereotyped to be housewives, they were treated as sex objects, and their goal was to be equal to men and to ruin these stereotypes and myths that men had created in society. The myths Christensen discussed were very different yet comparable.
He Named Me Malala was an extremely interesting documentary about Malala Yousafzai. The documentary showed events that lead up to the Taliban's attack on her because she was speaking out about girl's education. And the aftermath of her survival and what she has since accomplished. Before watching this film, I had minimal knowledge of Malala and what had happened to her, this film was enlightening and I think did a fantastic job of telling her story. A major thing that this film taught me was just how many girls do not have access to education across the globe, this link will take you to a list of the countries where girls have the toughest times accessing education as of October 10, 2018.
Because of her beliefs and the support she has received, Malala Yousafzai now has "The Malala Fund" through her website, where anyone can donate to her projects in order to work towards a world where any girl is able to "learn and lead," because so many girls are not allowed education and her mission is to change that. Malala has been able to spread awareness to many people and has fought so hard for these girls, so in 2014 she earned the Nobel Peace Prize, here is a link to a video of her acceptance speech.
While the specific topic of girls not being educated was not something we really covered in class this semester, I feel like the movie and Malala herself connect to a few of our readings. Malala said "I tell my story not because it is unique, but because it is the story of many girls." this quote made me think of our Rodriguez reading because he write of his experience leaving Spanish behind and learning English to use as a public language, and he wrote about his own story which is the same story so many children can relate to coming from Spanish speaking households. "There 's a moment when you have to choose- to be silent or to stand out."- Malala Yousafzai. This quote connected me to Delpit, she discussed the codes of power and her reading was called The Silenced Dialogue. The way that power is distributed in places like school is often expected, known and will vary somewhat based on location. Where Malala is from, where not all girls can go to school or are allowed to, is a code of power and has been accepted for the most part. Malala challenged the silent acceptance of the way that people used their power of the girls in so many countries. He Named Me Malala also made me think of our reading by Zelle, "11 and gender fluid," because `Malala and many others now are fighting for girls to be allowed to go to school. Boys can go with no problem, this is a gender based rule in these countries, which is beyond unfair for many reasons. But someones gender- whether it is their born gender or what they choose to identify as- should not dictate what they can or cannot do, especially when it is getting an education.
She's Beautiful When She's Angry is another documentary that I was unfamiliar with, and I found this to be a very interesting watch. I learned a lot more about the feminist movement, which I thought was a fairly recent term but this was something women fought for, for years in the 1960s. The film covered the movement form about 1966-1971. I found the footage to be fascinating, these were courageous women standing up to men and fighting for equality, decades ago- and the feminist movement still exists. I had no idea the extent that these women went to in order to prove their point, and they refused to quit. Times have since changes somewhat, and some men often try to shoot down the feminists, but seeing the way men did in this film was amusing and frustrating because back then we were less equal to men than we are now.
There is a website based on the film with information on the film, the movement itself, ways to purchase it, and to make donations. While looking through sources related to the documentary, I found a Huffington Post article titled ""She's Beautiful When She's Angry' Tells The Feminist Story Left Out Of Your School Textbook," this was super interesting because I didn't realize it, but I never earned about this. I remember being taught about women earning the right to vote, but any other history lesson was about men and war and government, the women's liberation movement was a major part of women's history that school curriculum essentially ignores. To me, the most interesting part of the documentary was that it included so many of the main activists of the movement speaking on it now, a list of them can be found here. There was footage of them during the movement and the current interviews made the stories and scenes feel so much more real because these women are still alive and fought for so much.
Feminism and women's liberation was also not a topic we really discussed this semester but a few readings we did so connect to the film. While this is not the same thing, I think the movie connects well to Brown vs. The Board of Education, America was segregating people based on color everywhere, and because of this court case segregation in schools was outlawed. The women;s liberation movement of the 1960s acted as a major stepping stone for future feminists and made everyone aware of the inequality between men and women, in order to step towards change in how women were treated. I also thought of the August reading we did regarding safe spaces, again these were different topics so long after this movement, women are still not always equal to men and are afraid of them in several situations. The LGBTQ community has gained more acceptance and activists, but their situation now is similar to what the women's was in the 1960s. I also found that the film connected well to our Christensen reading about myths and stereotypes. In the time of this movement, women were still often stereotyped to be housewives, they were treated as sex objects, and their goal was to be equal to men and to ruin these stereotypes and myths that men had created in society. The myths Christensen discussed were very different yet comparable.
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