mirag2001

[mirag2001]

BLOG ASSIGNMENT #6

I just wanted to take the time to write about how much I enjoyed this class. I joined the class simply expecting to watch and analyze movies, but I feel like I gained so much more knowledge about these films and their true meanings. I also enjoyed that the class was also focused on literature. I love reading and have for a long time. Recently, I was thinking about reading more stories in the horror genre but I wasn’t sure where to start. But this class, gave me the push I needed to do just that. As a sociology student, learning about how these films and readings influenced society and specific groups of people was extremely interesting. 

My favorite film that we watched in class was definitely Get Out. I don't know if that's a basic answer, but I truly love Jordan Peele and his approach to horror. I also appreciate that he tries to incorporate real-life problems like racism and class into his movies, making them all the more entertaining. My favorite readings from class have to be Wet Pain and Please, Momma. I talked a lot about Wet Pain in my midterm and final, so I feel like I have a true grasp of the story. I thought it was actually pretty scary, not because of the infection that Dean experienced but the real-life tale of white supremacy and racism. I thought the analogy the author tried to make was very interesting and made the story much more insightful. Please, Momma was another one of my favorite readings of the class. I loved how the author chose to make the story about possession and make a clear connection to that and grief. Grief and depression are such a debilitating situation to go through, so I feel that the author did a nice job of connecting both together. 

I also enjoyed how the professor spoke about all the topics in the lecture. Professor Due is so insightful and very knowledgeable about this subject and you can truly tell that she is very passionate about her field. She strikes passion into the minds of her students, which is so nice; I could tell that she truly cared about her students. It clearly shows that other students also enjoyed her class from the final projects that were shown during the showcase. All the projects were extremely detailed, and it was clear how they connected the topics from class to their projects. Overall this class was so well structured. I would recommend everyone take this class. 

[mirag2001]

BLOG ASSIGNMENT #5

For this week’s blog post, I read the short story “Please, Momma.” This story was intense. There was so much depth and characterization of every person in the story. My first impression was that it was creepy. I mean the way that Onirara looked at the little girls and how it mocked them, wanting them to come closer. I am going to assume that this was like a demonic possession that took hold of Mae. But the more I read, the more the story made sense. I feel like this was an accurate portrayal of how depression and grief feel to a person. 

As someone who has been diagnosed with depression disorder, I understood what Mae was feeling. It feels like a heavy weight on my chest. My mood would be all over the place, and I would quickly get angry at the most minor things, stuff that shouldn't make someone angry. It felt like I couldn't breathe, and anything that I used to enjoy suddenly felt burdensome. So, I understood what Mae felt. With the added feelings of grief of losing two very important people in her life, Mae understandably fell deeper and deeper into despair, sadly taking it out on her only living daughter. I feel like Mae felt angry at Sissy because she reminded her so much of her daughter and late husband. Those to people that would never come back to Mae. Many times people don't understand the feelings that come with something like depression and grief. They aren't feelings that are easy to let go of. Quite the opposite actually, like Mae, it feels hopeless and like those feelings will never truly go away. 

I feel like portraying depression and grief like a parasite was a very genius route to take. How the parasite fed on the worst feelings that a person could have and the feeling that it would never go away is very much how depression feels. It's like a small part of our brain knows that letting the feelings go and the people you love go is the right thing to do, but sometimes the right things to do are the hardest. I liked the way that the aunt and the little girl were characterized. It also feels extremely helpless to see someone you love so profoundly struggle with something that no one else could feel or see. And it's only to the point when the other preson breaks, is the only time when they let you help them. Overall, this story was very good. It broke my heart for multiple reasons, but I think that it home a little too hard because I know what it's like to go through depression and feelings of helplessness, and I wouldn't want anyone else ever to feel that way.

[mirag2001]

BLOG ASSIGNMENT #4

I thought it was very interesting how the author of “Wet Pain”  related racism through the idea of it being like an illness. I feel like when I think of racism, I think of it as this slow but persistent hum, one that never really goes away. Maybe that could have been what it was like for Dean. It was said that at the beginning of the story, Dean had left Louisiana because he wanted a new life. His mother's house was full of racist memorabilia, meaning he was probably raised on beliefs like the ones of the KKK. Then, when he went to New York, met his wife, had kids, and met Greg, the hum went down a bit, but it never went away. 

And it only got worse once he went back to his childhood home, and that's when the infection started. I would say it's a pretty big red flag if I were Greg getting sent a picture of the KKK from his white friend. If I were him, that picture would have been screaming at me, saying, “Don't talk to Dean anymore.” but Greg was trying to be a good friend and really figured nothing deep from it. It was interesting to see the progression of Dean getting worse. It started out slow with the picture. Then, calling Greg “boy” and the n-word. Then it turned almost biblical in a way with how Dean would speak about the “Legion.” Dean was constantly trying to play the victim, saying that it was the fault of black people and immigrants that he couldn't get the job when the real victims were Greg, Dean’s wife, and children.

 It was also interesting to see that this story was set during Hurricane Katrina. A natural disaster that affected much of the South, a lot of the victims being people of color who lost their lives and homes because of the neglect of the government. Overall, I liked this short story. I really thought it was going to go in a different direction, but then did 180 when Dean first sent the picture. 

The title of this story is really fitting. This story is essentially about trauma. Trauma experienced by Greg, with him being a black man and part of the LGBTQ; this trauma is explicitly shown in the scenes at the nightclub. It was also trauma for Dean- him having to go back home after losing his job, only to be infected with hatred from one night to another. Trauma from the dean’s wife and children for what they experienced that night. Then, the population that was traumatized by the effects of the hurricane. “Wet pain” is an accurate description of the story since its describes trauma and pain that is still fresh and prevalent in people’s minds.

[mirag2001]

BLOG ASSIGNMENT #3

I didn't know who Candyman was up until extremely recently. Even though I did grow up in the States, my parents would share different stories of boogiemen from their home country, Mexico. I would hear stories of "la llorona" or "el cucuy," but not the Candyman. My first introduction of Candyman was when the newest movie was being advertised. I would see it in ads before YouTube videos, and I was intrigued. I love scary movies, and this one looked like it would actually freak me out. However, at the time, I never got the chance to watch it. It wasn't until this class, where I saw it was assigned that I was excited to be able to see it. Though after watching the first Candyman (1992), I was glad they remade it. The first Candyman was extremely problematic. I mean, I'm not going to deny that it didn't freak me out, especially the scene with the bees in Tony Todd's mouth, but the overall themes were more unsettling. 

The first thing I noticed was how the housing projects were depicted. They were run down and dangerous, implying that violent people only lived there. I thought that this just added to the harmful stereotypes that black people are "violent" and "animalistic." I thought it was interesting to hear in the documentary shown in Thursday's class that the crew brought more trash and made the area in which they were filming look worse than it actually is. The other thing that I noticed was that there was a clear "white savior trope" in the movie. I don't like it when movies do this, especially when it's a movie that is surrounded by people of color. Helena, the white woman, was the one showing the story, having to explain how the housing projects were bad to Bernadette, a black woman. And because of this, Helena was seen as the "good" character, and the other black people in the movie were depicted in a bad light, like the other people living in the projects. I just felt like those types of storylines are never needed. People of color can be their own saviors, and it's a shame that it's usually never portrayed that way in Hollywood.

 I watched the new Candyman a bit hesitantly. I was afraid that it would be the same narrative shown in the first movie, but I was pleasantly surprised. This movie did a good job of scaring me to no end. One of my biggest fears is the things I can't see, so using the mirrors and only being able to see him through them was terrifying. I like how the new movie addressed the problems in the first one. The latest movie talked about gentrification, and there was no white savior trope, showing black trauma, but this time, it was told by black people. Overall, I liked how this new movie showed the same horrifying story but without all the harmful themes from the first one.

[mirag2001]

BLOG ASSIGNMENT #2

If I’m completely honest, I didn’t understand US the first time that I watched it. That's not to say that I didn't like the movie because that would be an insane take. I thought the movie itself was amazing. The idea of having a clone or a doppelganger is actually one of my biggest fears. The idea that someone is out there with your same face and mannerisms, wanting to hurt me and take over my life, is a thought that has come up in my nightmares quite often. So when I first saw this movie, I understood it at a very surface-level explanation; this was a movie about doppelgangers taking over the lives of real-life people. And that, to me, was horrifying. The actors and actresses in the movie were so convincing. Their fear, as well as their bravery to get out of the situation they were in, was palpable through the screen. Lupita’s acting was so intense, and it was amazing to see that she was able to play both characters simultaneously but was able to keep the individuality between them. 

Then I watched the movie again, and it was still terrifying, but I started to put two and two together. At first, I thought the movie was more about the duality of human beings. The idea is that someone can be so giving and kind, but humans also have the natural instinct to be greedy and corrupt.  But then that idea didn't really make sense either. So I watched the movie for a third time. The idea of the tethered is such a creative outlet to show the reality of privilege. How one person may have a comfortable and good life, all at the expense of someone else’s suffering. For example, how people always crave the latest technology but never seem to acknowledge that people across the world are working in sweatshops and terrible conditions to provide this to people they don't even know.  

US also showed me that someone's life could change in an instant. Just like how Adelaide’s life completely changed when she went into the fun house and met her tethered who effectively took her life as her own. From this, US also showed an accurate representation of how oppression brings people to be revolutionaries like Red. She didn't ask to be placed in that situation; she wasn't even born to be in the underground with the other tethered. She was placed there against her will. Her parents, her life, it was all taken away from her. It made her angry and wanted to take her life back, hence why she made that plan with the other tethered. Overall, I loved this movie. It gave me the thrill I needed from the terrifying concept but the movie did really make me think about how much privilege we have and how that comes at the expense and suffering of others.

[mirag2001]

blog assignment #1

MG

January 21, 2024

Blog Assignment #1

I vividly remember when I first watched Get Out. I am one of those people who deliberately not watches the trailers for movies- I quite like the surprise I'm in for when the lights dim in the theater. The only thing I was aware of was that it was directed by Jordan Peele and that it was a horror movie. That's all I needed to know. Being a horror fan myself, I’m familiar with how these types of movies play out. So, you can imagine how shocked and impressed I was with how Get Out made me feel. While the movie was clear that it was in the horror genre with the first scene where Andre got kidnapped, I got a sense of dread the more I watched the movie. 

During Professor Due’s Thursday lecture, she described her theory on the moneypaw method. One of the points she made was that the movie doesn't show explicit violence, especially towards the black characters. And even though the movie itself wasn't violent in a physical sense, other than what the white family does to these black people that come to their home, it was horrific in other ways. While it was quite easy to pick up the microaggressions coming from Rose’s family, the other points, the deeper ones, the movie was trying to make were a little less clear. I really had to sit in my room after watching, to play out the scenes in the movie to try to make sense of everything. I am not black, and I don't claim to know how it feels to be black in America, but I have been the “other” in the room before. I am a Mexican woman who grew up in a predominantly white neighborhood. I know just a little of what it feels like to be the only “other” in the room. Microaggressions like “your English is really good for a Mexican” or others have literally questioned my legal status, even when I was a child and didn't know what that meant. Those microaggressions that Chris experienced in the movie, I have experienced my own in different situations, those that have made me feel uncomfortable and not trusting of the other people in the room.

I think the movie is one of the greatest horror movies made. Not because it was explicitly scary, even though it did have some little jumpscares, but rather it made me feel uneasy and dreadful about what would happen next. It made me feel dread because Peele captured what was happening at the time in America. That white supremacy was coming out of its cave and was paraded around proudly during the Trump era. And it's not just exclusive to the Trump era, but rather things that black people have been experiencing for ages. The racism, the appropriation and coveting of black bodies, and how white people love everything that black people have, their bodies, their strength, their appearance, but they don't love the person. Hence, why Rose’s family was persevering the bodies of these black people but not their minds. 

I also thought the sunken place was an interesting avenue to take. When I first saw the movie, I believed that the sunken place was more a metaphor for the state the black people have felt for a long time. That black people are always going to be placed in a box, in specific categories, stereotypes that were demining and extremely difficult to escape. Or that black people are always going to be seen as inferior in the eyes of white people. However, when I heard Jordan Peele talk about the sunken place and how he thought of mass incarceration and how he thought of the piling of black bodies into the carcel system for the most minor offenses being locked away for a long time, that made a more sense, then what I originally thought. Get Out is one of those movies that is hard to forget about.  It was one of the most original storylines that I have seen in a horror film. I was not scared because there was a demonic possession, zombies, or ghosts. I was scared because this movie was extremely accurate to the racism that black people experience in this country on a day-to-day basis.