Fuel

Through the documentary "Fuel," I learned information about the 'biofuel' topic that I was not aware about before.  One thing that the speaker stressed was that diesel cars could use biodiesel without modifying the engine.  He made it seem like an easy step that people could take to help.  But, in order to do that, it was not clear if you would need to buy a brand new car, which would be difficult for many people.  I also learned about the negative consequences of oil usage.  The communities around oil factories suffer greatly from pollution in the air and water, causing health and reproductive problems.  In this review by Julie Clawson, http://julieclawson.com/2008/12/01/movie-review-fuel/, I agree that this film has a hopeful outlook.  Action can be taken to improve the conditions of the air and earth.  Clean fuel is not so far-fetched as it once seemed.  But it is true that it will take more research for dependable and accessible alternatives, because right now, alternative fuel is not available to everyone. It was good to know that other, better fuels were also being researched. I appreciated the other options that were described, which showed different ways for people to participate and help in this issue.  The benefits of growing plants in cities or using solar panels were briefly discussed.  All of these things combined can help improve our planet’s health and sustainability.  From watching this film, I hope to be more conscious about the oil that I am using. I do not have my own car right now, so I am glad that I can carpool with others which is a small part to help.  I hope that in the future I could use some kind of clean fuel option, because I see the importance of wisely using the earth’s resources. 

black gold

The film, Black Gold, directed by Mark and Nick Francis is a documentary about the international coffee trade, mainly focused on the coffee bean farmers in Ethiopia. During the film, the film crew follows around a man named Tadesse Meskela, the general manager of the oromia coffee farmers cooperative union of Ethiopia. Tadesse travels around the globe to advertise the quality of Ethiopian as well as to negotiate better prices for the coffee trade.

Stephen Holden, a film reviewer for The New York Times, points out many important facts provided in the documentary. In Ethipoia, 67 percent of the country’s export revenue comes from coffee, and 11 million people count on coffee for their survival. However, the World Trade Organization which claims to help the world’s poorer countries leaves them dependent on emergency relief. It is also said to be that four multinational corporations, Procter and Gamble, Nestle, Sara Lee, and Kraft dominate the world coffee market, with the international price determined in New York and London. The film shows the third world countries getting the least voice when the international price to be determined with the powerful nations getting the better end of the deal. Tedesse explains how they are being paid only 0.23 cents per kilo of coffee beans which can brew about 80 cups of coffee.

The four multinational corporations declined to be a part of the film to be interviewed which clearly shows that they too realize that they are abusing their powers for their own good. The film also takes the viewers to places such as the coffee making contest and a Starbucks store in Seattle to show that people are so unaware of how much hardship coffee farmers are going through in Ethiopia where the coffee, which is giving them the joy in their life, is coming from. From the Starbucks store manager who is so proud of Starbucks for providing people with their everyday coffee, to a barista who is entering contests to make to best espressos and his own signature coffee to make a name for himself.

It is said in the film and by Holden that African share of world trade is only one percent of the whole. If the share is to be increased by only one more percent, Africa would generate $70 billion a year, five times what the continent receives in aid. Many people nowadays are uneducated about the origins of where many of our goods come from. As Christians, it is important to always be aware of the poor who are breaking their backs for our daily comforts. Also, not only being aware of facts but also taking the facts seriously to have impact in our daily lives is important. 

Good Hair

John Jung

1/17/13
DCM

Good Hair

           

          For my film project I decided to do it on, Good Hair directed by Jeff Stilson. First of all I was interested in this film because Chris Rock was in it and second Im a Korean who used to spend minimum of twenty minutes a day to fix my hair and wax it. I would have to first wash my hair with shampoo, use a blow drier to dry my hair, wax it, spray it, and than dry it again. The film begins with Chris Rock giving an intro about how he's daughter came up to him after school saying "Daddy why don't I have good hair?" This was how Rock was inspired to research more about "What is Good Hair?" 

          Chris Rock went around everywhere looking for the answer of "Good Hair," and most of the answers that he got was bright and straight hair, just like an blonde American Hair. The film also showed what African American women would do to try to get the so called "good hair," such as putting relaxer on their hair since they were very young. Another part of the film was of him going to India to see where the wigs came from.
          This film was very interesting to me because there were so many things that I was shocked by. First of all, I always grew up envying people with curly hair, I always thought straight hair was so boring. Second was that they used relaxer which contained sodium hydroxide which I learned from chemistry that it is a very strong base which can burn your skin. Third thing was that if you see an African American with straight hair, it is not their own. Finally, that the hair came from all the way from India, which are sacrifices that were given from the females to their gods. I have learned so much from a very funny film and I have more respect for African Americans.
          This article in my opinion is very legitimate and I agree with what they say. It is true that we have pressure to conform to the fashion of today's world and it's good that Rock pointed it out. Another thing I like about this article is that it gives different points of views of the film and wraps it up for easy understanding. I highly recommend this video.

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2009-10-22-good-hair-main_N.htm

Native American Portrayal in Hollywood

          Last week, my film group and I watched a documentary entitled Reel Injun directed by Neil Diamond: an informative approach to the portrayal of native american peoples in the film industry.  I chose to watch this film because I have had a good amount of experience interacting with Native Americans on the Lakota Sioux  Indian Reservation.  This film resonated with me and I thought that it was factually accurate from what I've seen in real life.  I was shocked by some of the excerpts the film analyzed in which Indians were not considered to have the same human rights as the Caucasian protagonist.  One clip in particular, a bugs bunny clip no less, showed a heroic looking bugs gunning down Indian people from the top of a fort while playfully singing "One little two little three little Indians." This clip becomes even more shocking when one thinks that the main audience of this show would have been kids, shaping a condescending view towards Native Americans at an early age.  Overall, I thought this film was very educational however I think It might be written to capture an older demographic that actually did grow up when western movies were in their prime.
          Mike Hale of the New York Times praises Diamond's work in having a wide variety of sources and movie excerpts however he offers a critique at the end of the article that the last three "celebratory" films of Indian culture feel "rushed and tacked on." (which is ironic because the critique itself feels rushed and tacked on within the context of the article itself.)  I disagree with Hale because I felt that the last three film were crucial in showing the redeeming side of Hollywood's portrayal of Native Americans.  Furthermore, I thought  the last film in particular, Atanarjuat, was an excellent addition to a documentary about Native Americans because people, myself included, often forget about the northern Inuit tribes who also have a rich Native American heritage.

Link to Letting the Arrows Fly at Hollywood Stereotypes by Mike Hale:

http://movies.nytimes.com/2010/06/14/movies/14reel.html?_r=0

Fuel: Film Post

Choices are everywhere in life, no matter who you are. The movie "Fuel" explored some of the choices our culture has to make concerning our environment and energy sources. When looking for a movie review I came across the New York Times review of the fuel movie. http://movies.nytimes.com/2009/09/18/movies/18fuel.html?partner=Rotten%20Tomatoes&ei=5083&_r=0 I have to say the first paragraph could of been a paraphrased review of the entire movie. You can tell the Josh Tickell put a lot of time and hard work into his movie. However he brings way too much politics into his views on foreign oil. Josh argues that the Iraqi war was solely for the purpose of controlling foreign oil prices. I would disagree with Josh on his view of the Iraq war. I believe foreign oil did play a small role in our military presence in the middle east, but i'm not convinced that it's the only reason. Josh's goals are very respectable, but his means of portraying his views on how to get there was very unconvincing. Josh took us on his cross country tour in his biodiesel veggie van showing us his campaign for sustainable energy. It seems counterintuitive to drive across the country to advocate using a greener lifestyle. The two hour movie spent the first hour and a half talking about biodiesel. After that he crammed several other potential energy sources into a half hour segment. Josh seemed very biased towards biodiesel which I find interesting. He failed to show the emissions of regular gasoline compared to the emissions of Biodiesel. Biodiesel engines have been around since 1893 yet we've never made it readily available to public(hmm... I wonder why?). Altogether the movie was pointing in a good direction that our culture needs to move toward, but I don't think Josh's movie will effectively get anyone moving. Americans hold value as a top priority and as a country we're too cheap to value the environment above cheap oil. In order to get America to move towards more sustainable energy, you have to change the values American's have. I think the price of alternatives will have to be competitive and as convinient as our current fossil fuels. Or in the worst case scenario, our fossil fuels will have to become so scarce that it becomes cheaper for us to explore the use of alternative fuels rather then oil. Our society is so focused on short term gratification that they would rather have cheap oil, then a clean environment or sustainable energy. Until society starts thinking about the long term as a whole, Josh's little "fuel" video won't make a difference no matter how educational or well he presents sustainable energy.

America the Beautiful

      I think that this movie was really good. It addressed the fashion, media, and beauty industries. I realized throughout the movie how willing we are to buy into all the crap that the media feeds us about beauty - that we need cosmetics, surgery, or liposuction to look beautiful. We also buy into all the claims that we are not well-made - that we are not good enough. We are willing to suffer the envy and longing of looking like all the images that the media shows us. They tell us that only certain things and people are beautiful and we have to look like that to be beautiful. Not only do these images show us how we should look, it shows us what we should think of other people too. As a result, we become more judgmental of others and how they look. The movie talked a lot about the modeling/fashion industry and how it affects girls at a younger and younger age. Younger and younger girls are wearing make-up, dressing like models, and even modeling as a career. One specific girl in the movie was only 12 and a model. Her mother was pushing her into so many shows and wanting her to look perfect for the agencies. When her school got angry with her missing so much school, the mom transferred her to another school that would comply with her scheduling. In the end, my reaction to the movie was that we need to raise more awareness about all the corruption in the beauty industry.
       This film does not prompt me to change a ton of things in my own life. It does however make me want to raise more awareness for other girls in the world. Yes, I do wear make-up and try to look nice, but not because the world tells me to. Lots of girls do though. They shouldn't feel the need to look a certain way to impress people and make themselves feel beautiful.
      I think that the review below does accurately represent my perspective in some ways and does not in other ways. One way that it does accurate represent my perspective is because of this quote, "The cold fact is that no one can look like a supermodel and be physically healthy." It's true, no one can be perfect and look as skinny as these women are and be as healthy as they should. One reason why I do not agree with this review is because of this quote, "The documentary 'America the Beautiful' is not shrill or alarmist, nor does it strain to shock us." I think that this isn't right. A lot of the things brought up in this movie actually did shock and alarm me. I wanted to stop everything right then and there when the movie was over.   http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/articleAID=/20080508/REVIEWS/277581949/-1/REVIEWS01

Black Gold

http://movies.tvguide.com/black-gold/review/283667 - Black Gold review by Ken Fox

Today, coffee is far more than just a drink. It is a culture – part of daily life of most people. Even in the place where I come from, South Korea, you can easily find streets lined with dozens of coffee shops just in a block. Coffee shops have become a place for meeting, spending leisure time, or even a business. Yet, the movie ‘Black Gold’ and its review, by Ken Fox, reveal shocking behind story of coffee industry and awaken our sense of awareness of disparities.

Ken remarks not just about unawareness of the consumers but also unawareness (or perhaps indifference) between the corporation and the coffee farmers. I certainly agree with his points. It is what numbness, unawareness, or perhaps even indifference is what maintains the unequal system in the coffee industry.

Coffee farmers are often incognizant of the wages they get from eight hours of work. It was not until Tadesse Meskela, the manager of Ethiopia’s Oromo Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union, told them that they are only being paid 0.23 cents for one kilo of beans, which could brew 80 cups of 2.3 dollars coffee. They have no idea that the coffee price is being controlled by two large cities – New York and London.

It is not just the farmers. Ken points that the film is ‘tacitly unkind to the unthinking’, as he refers to the manager of original Starbuck chain in Seattle, who is proud and confident about Starbuck’s responsibility for the people and its roll in connecting people. However, she would not have glimpse of the life of Ethiopian coffee farmers and how her corporation is ‘exploiting’ and ‘disconnecting’ the farmers life, as Ken puts it. And of course, the consumers, people like us, are mostly indifferent about this matter too.

Here, we can see another aspect of the empire that we are in – The coffee industry. Because the process of how coffee is made and transported to the shops and brewed into a cup of Café Latte is too vast and complicated, we often don’t bother to understand the whole process and just enjoy a nice cup of coffee in a fancy coffee shop. We believe that five-dollars for a cup of coffee are reasonable price without any questions. We easily believe what we are offered, without recognizing the mega corporations controlling the coffee price and deceiving the farmers to get more profits out of them. All we know is that coffee is transported from some countries in Africa to the factories and then to the shop. But about how it is done and who takes to money, we still do not know.

Indifference cannot be an excuse. A teacher does not let a student go for not doing his homework because he did not know. Purchasing a free-trade coffee is not just enough. As a people who envision shalom, Christian should bother to know about such issue and develop a sense of awareness about injustice in this world. We should care to speak for the coffee farmers, and also pray for the workers in Starbucks. 

Fuel

Growing up the granddaughter of a biology teacher, the daughter of a general science teacher and a theology teacher, I have pondered issues like fuel from a pretty early age. This film, aptly named Fuel was pretty informative when it came to facets of the fuel industry. Like all documentaries, it came from a distinct point of view; it was very biased against big oil companies. Although, it completely threw the oil corporations under the bus, Fuel did bring up some very good points against oil drilling, production, and distilling. For example: oil is not a renewable source and we will eventually run out, the drilling and refining processes harm things in the area around them. They produce lots of CO₂, other toxic byproducts, and can cause cancer and other diseases for people who live and work around the refineries.

The narrator, director, and main “character” of the movie is Josh Tickell-- who is a big advocator of biodiesel. In a short, sweet, and to the point review of Fuel, author, Norman Wilner says, “His documentary, Fuel, is essentially a feature-length infomercial for the sustainable, cleaner-burning organic fuel.” Biodiesel is a good (but not perfect) alternative to regular gasoline or petro-diesel. It harms the environment less and can be produced by even algae that feed off of organic waste. The film, however, does not address any of the draw backs of using bio-diesel, leaving the viewer thinking that it is the miracle cure for our addiction to oil. Wilner’s review seems to hit on these points, and fairly accurately represents what I thought of the movie. I also thought that it was much more political than it needed to be. On the more practical side of things: I’ve always wanted a small, fuel-efficient car and after watching this film, I can see that not being so dependent on oil is a good thing. But, cars are expensive and the best action I can take right now is being conscious of how much gas I use. Then there’s always the act of recycling—we are called to be good stewards of this earth and throwing out 99% of what we buy is not being a good steward. We can reuse things in hopes of making the earth a better place for all creation.

http://www.nowtoronto.com/movies/story.cfm?content=175765

Black Gold

http://movies.nytimes.com/2006/10/06/movies/06gold.html?_r=0

As people know, coffee is the world's second largest traded commodity after oil. It's seems like there should be profit at every level of the trade but there's a whole different story behind it. This documentary follows the coffee trade from its production to the consumers and points out the inequality between the top of the hierarchy and the bottom of it. As New York Times puts it, "The documentary “Black Gold” tells an unresolved modern version of the age-old David and Goliath story," corporations that control the worldwide coffee market turn the coffee trade into a selfish business. Taken place in Ethiopia, "Black Gold' explains the hardships Ethiopian coffee farmers are facing because of the ridiculously low prices their coffee is sold. With their daily income being lower than 50 U.S. cents and 67% of Ethiopian export being coffee, the citizens of Ethiopia are struggling each day to survive.  As New York Times would agree, the solution to solve African poverty is not emergency aid but a better trade, and by meaning better trade, Africa would only need an increase in 1% in it's share of world trade to receive five times the aid it is receiving right now. This documentary showed a similar perspective of mine on poverty in Africa. I learned from different places that the solution to African poverty is not from the outside but from the inside. As more and more people like Mr. Meskela fight for their rights and work hard for the growth of their community, change is inevitably to come. However, something that the documentary could have done better would have been to trace each step more closely. As the movie explained that there are 5-6 steps until coffee reaches its consumers, I didn't really get to understand each step clearly. After watching this documentary, I became more aware of the coffee that I drank without much thought. As I know myself that every time that I watch a film like this, I become emotionally inspired. However after a week or so I forget everything. So this time I decided to at least not forget about it but be aware of it every time I drink coffee and spread it to others when possible.

king corn

King corn is a documentary that shows the journey of two friends who discovered that most of what they ate was corn. They then decided to move to Iowa for and year and grow an acre of corn and learn about how corn is grown and where it goes after that.

The review I read (http://www.boston.com/ae/movies/articles/2007/10/19/king_corn_is_a_documentary_straight_from_the_heartland/) presents my perspective on the film quite well. It has a good point when it says that the reason this movie manages to win us over is that it does not blurt out that the corn industry is terrible as one would expect in a documentary about corn. Instead, it mildly presents the corn industry in a seemingly objective manner. The two men discovering the corn industry seem to know nothing about this industry, and so we can learn at the same time they do. One of the main things they learn is just how huge most farms today have to be in order to be sustainable for the farmer, and even then each acre of corn has to be subsidized in order to turn a profit. The other thing we learn is that most of the corn produced goes either to feed cattle in feedlots, or gets made into high fructose corn syrup.

This movie makes me realize just how much corn there is in our food. I certainly did not expect to find that there is a lot of corn in our meat.  This will certainly make me look at ingredient lists before I buy food. It also encourages me to eat more organic food, because it is much less likely to contain corn.

The Reel Injun

            After watching the documentary, I realized that I had never really questioned most of the things I’ve been presented with over the years through the films and shows I have watched. Seeing this opened my eyes to ideas and gave me opinions I never knew I had. I had by no means thought to question if that was really how Indians were, though I ‘m not ignorant enough to think that they still live in teepee’s, talk to animals any more than I do and only ride horses which Neil Diamond revealed in an interview as the main reason he wanted to make this film. He said he was tired of being asked if he rode horses and lived in a teepee. Hearing this made me angry and even more determined to learn more about their culture and others. This movie made me realize that even though that’s how Indian’s are portrayed, I can choose to make my choices and form my own thoughts about them, not just listen and go along with what I’m being shown. We need to learn to keep an open mind about everything, that’s when we will come away understanding what they mean. A good review I found was written by the author Richard Marcus, known for writing What Will Happen in Eragon IV?. I mainly agreed with everything he was saying or trying to get across to people in this article. One thing in particular is when he talks about how kids would watch the movies and feel as if they were worthless and not important. If you were depicted in ever movie as the bad guys, sooner or later you will start thinking that you really are. I completely agree with him when he says things will only start to get better as we start to have movies made by Indians that accurately show their real culture.  Something I did not agree with was how the film and people see the Disney movie Pocahontas. For as long as I can remember that has been my favorite movie and it is really hard to think of her as the “Barbie Doll Indian Princess” he calls her. All in all I learned a lot from this documentary and hope to further my understanding and knowledge about true Indian culture.
http://blogcritics.org/video/article/tv-review-reel-injun-on-pbs/page-3/

Good Hair

For my film assignment, I watched the movie Good Hair. Not only was it highly informative about the extent that women, mainly black women, go to to have "good hair," it was also slightly disturbing as a guy, and as a human being in general. Why these women feel the need to go to such lengths to have what is defined as "good hair" is beyond me. Before watching the movie, I had no idea that such things as relaxer or weaves even existed, I knew about hair extensions and I believed that was the extreme of extremes that women go to for their hair...never was I more wrong. I found it difficult to believe that women go so far as to sew another persons hair onto their head so that they could have what is culturally defined as "good hair." Personally, I feel deceived as a guy. The first thing I did upon learning this was to look at the girls around me and immediately inquire wether or not their hair was actually theirs. As far as making a life change because of this movie, I see very little I could possibly do. I personally have nothing against the natural hair of black women, and find it attractive on them. Wherever this cultural mandate came from that their hair is unattractive is unbeknownst to me, and I can assure you that I will do my best to try and change it.

Understanding the Reel Injun

            The attached review accurately represents my perspective on the film Reel Injun. It explains how Reel Injun is revealing the inaccurate—and sometimes negative—portrayal of Native American in films and television shows. Mr. Marcus, the man who wrote the review, has also written another article on Native Americans concerning how the use of Native Americans as sport mascots is disrespectful. “I was astounded at how many people couldn’t get their heads around the fact that a race of people would be offended by being equated with the San Diego Chicken or other figures of ridicule that dress up in costume and generally run around making fools of themselves at public events”. I applied this thought to the portrayal of Native Americans in films mentioned in Reel Injun. Native Americans were repeatedly portrayed as villains or depicted as savages or reduced to the static role of “the stoic Indian”. Why are these portrayals seen as bad? This is because at best, it is a one-dimensional portrayal of Native Americans and at worst, a gross misrepresentation of Native Americans. Mr. Marcus nicely summarizes this “… when you reduce a people to one characteristic they lose their humanity as we ignore every other aspect of their culture”.

            After watching Reel Injun, I have been encouraged to question how people of all races are portrayed in film. It is not that I believed the portrayal of people in film to be accurate, but I never thought about what was being hinted at or even blatantly stated about a certain race. For instance, after seeing the Bugs Bunny scene in Reel Injun, I watched some other shows from when I was younger and realized how many negative stereotypes were indirectly inserted to children shows. This film has encouraged me to not accept films at first glance and to question what the underlying message is behind the characters.

http://blogcritics.org/video/article/tv-review-reel-injun-on-pbs/page-1/

Corny People

King Corn is about two guys who move to Iowa to grow an acre of corn after finding out corn was found in hundreds of different products, even hair. Once they grew the corn, they decided to try and trace it to see where it went.

It scares me that scientists are able to trace corn in people’s hair. As I saw in the movie, people consume corn that comes from either high-fructose (form of sugar) cornstarch or corn based animal feed. Seeing how corn was in everything reminded me that sin had contaminated everything.

Reading an online review (http://www.gracelinks.org/133/film-review-king-corn) opened my eyes to some of the different issues the documentary was getting at. It was heartbreaking to know that the consumerist culture had affected even the most rural farmlands in Iowa that old traditions have changed to fit the lifestyle of those with money. The farms are now subsidiaries run by “corporations” who pay the farmers enough to survive. Having grown up in the outskirts of a small town in Uganda, I have witnessed the importance of diversity of crops in small farmlands and seeing how all the farms were meant for industrialized corn was eye opening.

It seems that the government has taken control of “every square inch” of their country. It’s not about corporations meeting consumer need anymore, it’s about consumers meeting corporation needs. Consumers are mindlessly taking in what they are given without a moment’s hesitation. The problem isn’t that corn is in everything, it’s that people are consuming without even knowing what is behind it all. People don’t know who they are really supporting by buying so much, corporations.

Black Gold

http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/black-gold/Film?oid=1075118\\

In the world as we know it, coffee is the second most traded commodity. There is a high potential for profit at all levels, however, this documentary does a very good job in showing the gross inequality between the top and the bottom. Many poignant facts were presented and emotions were conveyed deeply through the interviews of the farmers in Ethiopia that depend on this trade for their living. As film critic J.R. Jones of the Chicago Reader would seemingly agree, Black Gold presents through juxtaposition the reality that relief aid from outside nations is not working and that free trade is the best likely candidate to replace it. However, when the film presents the WTO and leading nations like the US and the EU, stances become muddied and there is a hard turn away from solutions. Moreover, viewers did not gain a full sense of the full market process and valuation, there were crucial processing steps missing that are undoubtedly expensive. At the conclusion, it was clear that there were large problems, yet the lack of participation of other entities in the industry only further muddies the water. We know there are problems and we know that things like demanding fair trade coffee make a difference in the lives of those in desperate need it. This is a change we should make, educate others of, and demand of our institutions.     

Reel Injun

Film Post-Reel Injun

by Karis Kim

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117941250/?refCatId=2863

I chose this film with no real expectations or information on the topic of Native American portrayal in Hollywood. However after watching Reel Injun I am provided with a perspective that helps me realize something that I hadn’t really thought of before. Joe Leydon does a good job of summarizing a perspective of the film and touching on some of the issues discussed in the film. I agree with Leydon when he says that the documentary shows good clips of the terrible stereotypes on Native Americans in Hollywood. One thing that definitely stuck out to me as it had to Leydon is that many of the props and things that we associate with Native Americans are not true at all. Hollywood has totally disregarded any kind of Indian culture and differences that they may have. In addition, Native Americans are always seen as the savages or opposing enemy to whites in films. There are some movies that do show good ideas of Native Americans, but many of the stereotypes are incredibly untrue. I had never really thought about how Native Americans are viewed and that there are so many different ‘clans’ around the country that are still in existence. They are a vital part to American history and yet they are always viewed as an illiterate and savage people. This documentary has not only opened my eyes to Native American stereotypes, but also being aware and open minded about all different kinds of people. It seems like it should be obvious to not listen to what the media portrays of certain cultures, but it can’t be helped that it impacts our perspective. However now, I can be more aware of understanding context before judging.

"GOOD" Hair - Dorm Film Post

The movie that my group and I watched was a documentary produced by Chris Rock called Good Hair. This documentary explores the background and industry behind the hair of African American women. From discovering the outrageous prices of weaves and treatments to traveling to India and other countries that produce hair, and hair products for these women; Rock tries to understand why African American women go through all this hassel just to have straighter hair. His adventure was sparked when one of his little girls asked him why she did not have good hair. To read a fuller review you can check out: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113429227 This review does a great job of covering the basics of the movie, while also cautioning that this movie raises a lot of questions but does not necessarily answer them. This film definately makes you reconsider how you view other people and also redifine the beauty standards that the Empire has forced us to believe as truth, even if we are not conscious of it. Personally this movie has not influenced a particular change in habits in my life, but instead the movie has challenged me to be a stronger encouragment to other women no matter what race, or age that are struggling with self- image issues and hopefully help them realize that no matter what hair type, clothing style, or amount of makeup makes them any more beautiful or less beautiful in God's Kingdom.

Incredible Efficiency... For a Price

In the movie "King Corn" two city-boys from Boston decide to find out where their food comes from.  Upon finding that an incredible amount of food comes from corn they decide to see where it comes from.  The documentary portrays their journey to Iowa where they have decided to plant an acre of the product.  They are aided by local farmers in the tending of their crop as it grows.  While waiting for the harvest the partners, Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis follow the trail of corn to see where it goes. They find that most corn used as animal feed.  For this reason they visit a large beef operation.  The cattle there are kept in feed lots to restrict their movements and aid in the fattening process.  They are also fed a diet consisting of  sixty percent corn, and corn products, which helps them attain market weight in a third of the time.  After this adventure Ian and Curt attempt to see how corn syrup is made.  They are not allowed into the plant, but they are able to make some of their own at home.  It displays the irony that although farmers produce more cops than ever before, many cannot feed themselves with what they grow, because it needs to be processed first.  Another trend shown in the movie was the consolidation of farmland under the largest farmers.  The smaller farmers were being squeezed out.  I have noticed this trend myself as the little farm I have worked for in past summers struggles to turn a profit each year.

This movie shows the startling, yet unsurprising revelation that people don't care where "it" comes from so long as it is cheap and it works, no matter what "it" is.  This is a bit frightening in the food industry.  No one seems to care what they consume, even if it is bad for them.  This is a problem considering that there is no incentive for farmers to switch crops, as they can make money much more easily on corn than anything else they could grow, especially in the plains states. Yet even with corn the farmers would loose money if not for the government subsidies that augment their profits.  Because of this system people can feed themselves more inexpensively than anyone else in history.  It must then be weighed: is it worth the cost.

Giving Dignity back to the Native Americans

http://www.villagevoice.com/2010-06-08/film/reel-injun-dances-with-wolves-and-other-stereotypes/

                “Reel Injun” shares an apocalyptic view of how Indians are portrayed in the films. It reveals the stereotypes that are covering up the identity of the Native American people portrayed in all the films that have come out in the past century. What is the first idea that comes to most people’s heads when they think about the Indians? Free spirited? Drunkards? A group of brown skinned people hooting and hollering around a fire? All these stereotypes deny the true character of these people. This movie opens up the idea that Indians aren’t what we see on the movie screens, that they are a people just like us that have a culture and traditions. I saw this movies as an eye opening experience that helped break stereotypes that I had stuck in my brain. Other people see this movie in other, less flattering terms. Andrew Schenker of The Village Voice critiques the movie by saying that it “lacks the faintest idea of how to pack it all into 85 minutes of screen time.” He goes on to critique the length of time spent on each of the topics inside the video. He does give credit to the movie or unearthing a few tidbits of trivia, but that is about all the credit he gives the movie. I do not agree with Schenker because I believe the movie spent ample time on each segment and had it spent any more time on the segments it would have become lengthy and drawn out. The movie, in my opinion, hit the points it wanted to hit with enough clarity as to leave the audience with a newfound idea of the terrible nature in which Indians are portrayed in cinema.

                This movie did an excellent job at opening up the conversation on how we treat minorities in the U.S. In almost every movie that portrays Indians, they are the villain; they get in the way of the American dream. The extent to which American have portrayed Indians as the bad guys is shown through a bugs bunny cartoon in which bugs is shooting Indians as he sing, “One little, two little, three little injuns, five little six lit…woops, that was a half breed…” Americans need to stop seeing Native Americans as dark skinned, animal skin wearing foresters and realize that they are a culture just like the Dutch are a culture, and deserve as much respect as we demand.