WrittenVideoEssay

I write various essays on things I have an opinion on, and that I feel I know enough about. I’ll post when I have an idea for an essay.

[writtenvideoessay]

Star Wars is a Dystopia

     The Star Wars original trilogy depicted an interconnected universe with hundreds of different alien races, and, of course, the powerful, controlling, and ever-present Empire. From the start of the movies, we, the audience, are told that the Empire is bad, an evil force taking over the universe. However, when one looks closer, it becomes clear that the Empire is not merely evil but is, in fact, a dystopia. A dystopia is a society that is the cause of suffering and pain. More than that, a dystopia is the corrupted version of a Utopia, the perfect place. The Empire attempted to create the perfect universe -- a universe without conflict between differing societies and opinions. Palpatine, the Emperor, decided the only way to create such a perfect universe was for it to be controlled by a single man. With a single military and justice system, conflict would be eliminated, and everything should be perfectly peaceful and just. Unfortunately, as one might expect, putting all the power in the universe in the hands of one man does not a perfect utopia create. The Empire is Palpatine, and his will is the Empire’s will. The Empire, under Palpatine, became, rather than a force for peace, a force propelled by greed and controlled by fear. The Empire demonstrates three necessary characteristics of a dystopia, control through fear, dehumanization of both their soldiers and their enemies, and oppression over a lower class.         We first meet the Empire when Stormtroopers board Princess Leia’s ship in search of missing Death Star plans.(00:02:30, A New Hope) Immediately we know two things: The Empire is willing to kill to get what it wants and has little regard for the lives of their soldiers. As the Stormtroopers work their way through the ship, both the rebel soldiers and the Stormtroopers suffer casualties. There is no discussion of the deaths, and Stormtroopers seem uncaring of their fellow soldiers’ deaths. The Stormtroopers themselves are one of the most obvious pieces of evidence of a dystopian society. First, there are thousands of them. We only see a couple hundred, but we know that there are more on every single ship of the many fleets of the Empire. That means thousands, or millions, of people were conscripted or joined the Empire as soldiers. The Empire uses the sheer mass of this gigantic army to induce fear in anyone who might oppose it. Moreover, this massive army is not just a peacekeeping force. The Empire has no qualms about using these soldiers to kill innocent civilians, further instilling fear among the population. In the first movie, we see the aftermath of that, when Luke returns home to the sight of his Aunt and Uncle’s burned corpses.(00:40:30, A New Hope) In fact, we see the Empire kill innocents more than it kills rebel soldiers. Second, the Stormtroopers armor, now one of the most recognizable pop culture references, are specifically designed to be uniform. Each one is exactly alike and hides the wearer's face. This is a classic dehumanization tactic of literally making them not appear human. Third, they are not given names. The one time a Stormtrooper is addressed on screen, he is called “TK-421” by a superior officer on the Death Star. (01:08:22, A New Hope) In later Star Wars movies, there is more nuance given to the idea of the Stormtrooper with the existence of Finn, or FN-2187, but their treatment remains consistent with the Stormtroopers from the original trilogy. The Stormtroopers represent both the dehumanization tactics of dystopias and the Empire’s control through fear.         Almost every planet that the audience is shown has Stormtroopers stationed there. The only places we are shown that do not are Hoth and the Dagobah system. Hoth is an uninhabited ice planet that kills anything on its surface, and the Dagobah system is a swampy marshland inhabited only by Yoda. Every other inhabited planet has Stormtroopers stationed there, indicating the Empire has a stranglehold over the entire universe. One could assume that they are peacekeepers, but they completely ignore the murders that happen on Tatooine. When Luke and Obi-Wan Kenobi attempt to find a pilot to get them to Alderaan, Kenobi kills one person, and cuts the arm off another.(00:46:55, A New Hope) The Stormtroopers, despite being just outside, and fully within earshot, do nothing. Why would the Stormtroopers be stationed on a planet except to make sure things remain peaceful? The answer is: to inspire fear in the locals, thereby increasing both Palpentine’s already impressive control over the citizenry and his power. The Empire does not care at all about the criminal activities of Jabba the Hut and his compatriots. It willfully ignores murder and other criminal activity because it can always use criminals to its advantage.        Tatooine is a prime example for two of the major ways the Empire uses fear tactics. The first being the continued presence of Stormtroopers on a peaceful planet. This does not deter criminal activity but rather the possibility of rebellion. When you know there is a highly trained military force occupying your planet, it is that much harder to entertain the ideas of rebellion. The second is the Empire ignoring Jabba’s criminal activities. By allowing Jabba to do whatever he wants, the Empire gains two advantages on Tatooine. The civilians are now scared of both the actual Empire and the criminal empire, and a potentially dangerous and armed faction now has no reason to go against the Empire. The criminals we see on Tatooine and throughout the universe are almost as highly trained as the Stormtroopers, if not as populous. By allowing criminal activities to continue with minimal interference, the Empire neutralizes a potential threat.         The Empire not only has soldiers stationed on every inhabited planet, but it also can destroy entire civilizations at will. The existence of the Death Star is as much a threat as a real weapon. Its incredible power can only be used against full sized planets, not small fighters, or ships, meaning that it is purposefully designed to instill fear more than fight. The name itself is terrifying, the Death Star, and is used to inspire fear of the power the Empire holds. When the Empire destroyed Alderaan, it sent a message to the whole universe that Palpatine is willing to destroy entire planets to maintain absolute control. Governor Tarkin, the man who built the Death Star, says that he wants to test out the capabilities of the Death Star’s weapon system.(00:58:08, A New Hope) This is only partly true. The Empire wanted to use it, of course, but Palpatine also wanted to prove that it could work. The ability to destroy planets is a horrifying prospect, and it absolutely inspires fear in the rest of the universe. It becomes a dangerous prospect to allow rebels anywhere near someone’s planet, for fear that the Empire would discover it and destroy the entire planet. Later in the movie, the Empire dissolves the Galactic Senate, and Governor Tarkin says that it does not matter because fear will keep the locals in line.(00:37:38, A New Hope) The existence of the Death Star allows the Empire that much more control over the universe.         The last characteristic of a dystopia is one less often attributed to Star Wars because the oppressed group is not one most audience would think about. The droids in Star Wars are shown to have emotions, human intelligence, and absolutely no respect from anyone. C-3PO and R2-D2 are the most well-known droids and both are often shown having fully human emotions. C-3PO is terrified of being de-activated and sold as spare parts, and he forms clear attachments to most of the people in the resistance. In particular, he is shown to have a strong attachment to R2-D2, worrying over him multiple times in the movies. R2-D2, likewise, shows human characteristics. Specifically, he is brave and determined, as shown when he risks his life several times for the resistance. Despite the human levels of intelligence and emotion, the droids are second-class citizens. They are refused service at a bar in the first movie, tortured and taken apart in the second, and nearly killed in the third. While there is a general bias against the droids on the part of everyone in Star Wars, this negative treatment stems from the Empire. The Empire has a very strict line of thinking, if something is useful, use it, otherwise get rid of it. Its opinion on droids stems from the same thing, and that thinking trickled down to the civilians. The Empire has no problem using droids when necessary but never allows them even a hope of citizenship. In fact, calling them second-class citizens is too positive for the way they are treated. They are slaves that can be literally taken apart and put back together in whatever way the Empire wants. C-3PO calls Luke master throughout the trilogy because Luke bought him, and he sees Luke as his owner. In the third movie, we see a random droid being tortured with hot metal on its feet. (00:11:04, Return of the Jedi) By the sound of its screams, we can assume that it does in fact feel pain, a part of its programming that could have only been added to control it. The Empire forces these fully intelligent and emotional beings to work for them as slaves with torture as an incentive.         Even looking beyond the canon of the movies, much of the Empire is based on a real-world authoritarian state, Nazi Germany. The Stormtroopers are based on specialized Nazi troops of the same name. The general fear and awe that surrounds the Emperor is very similar to the way the Nazis treated Hitler. In the second trilogy, the Imperial Order has a salute very reminiscent of the Nazi salute. Learning about and understanding the Empire in Star Wars can help us understand real world dystopias. “Art imitates life”, and we can use that to recognize dystopias or even regular injustice. People must learn about this type of thing to stop it if they see it in the real world. Star Wars may be fun movies with terrible special effects, but they are also a blueprint for what could happen if one person is given too much power and uses that power to enslave those with less means to protect themselves. The parallels drawn between the Nazis and the Empire were entirely purposeful. Now, it was probably just to make an easy antagonist that viewers will automatically hate, of course, because they’re Nazis, but it evolved beyond that to serve as a reminder that fascism and tyranny can be anywhere, even in fun Sci-Fi movies.

[writtenvideoessay]

Representation in Media

Media is terrible with representation. While there are many movies and shows with POC, they are often stereotyped, light-skinned, or tokenized. 

Specifically black women are almost always light-skinned and thin. Which, are not a problem, except that there are so few WOC who aren’t. In Suits, the two black women with prominent roles have very light skin and are very skinny. On Supernatural, Billie, one of the very few lasting POC, is light skinned, although not as skinny as most WOC in media. In All American, a show that is generally great about representation, the two female main characters are very thin and light-skinned. In Never Have I Ever, the main character’s best friend is a very thin light-skinned WOC. Zendaya, one of the most famous WOC in media, is a very skinny, light-skinned woman. On The Bold Type, the black main character is a thin, light-skinned woman. There are countless examples, and these are only the ones that I have personally watched. While it is not bad that there are light-skinned women in media, it is still representation after all, it is really telling that there are far more light-skinned women than dark-skinned. This stems, I believe, from the sexualization of light-skinned women, and the vilification of dark-skinned characters. By creating characters like these, and not characters who are dark-skinned and heavier, the producers reveal both their inherent prejudices and their view of the audience as all or primarily white, which is not accurate. 

Another very evident characteristic in most media is that most black characters are not allowed to become visually angry. Most of the characters I’ve listed never yell or shout or show anger like white characters do on screen. Black men are especially subject to this. In America, when black people were being given more rights, white men grew fearful that black men were more physically able than they. This led to a fear that women would prefer black men over white men. At first, when they appeared in media, black men were portrayed as brutish and animalistic. Subsequently, as black characters became more prominent and accepted, black men were re-characterized as calm, rarely rising to anger, and happy with their place in life, as an attempt to placate the fears of the white audience. 

Interestingly, a very prominent stereotype in media is the “angry black woman”, a black woman who is sassy and demanding but ultimately easily broken down into those two characteristics. The reason that WOC are allowed to be angry, but MOC are not is more rooted in sexism than racism, though it is of course related, but breaking it down, white woman are allowed for more characterization than black women. Often, instead of being given two personality traits, ex. sassy and demanding, they are allowed actual personalities. In fact, one of the biggest problems with representation is the characterization of black characters as boring, uninteresting, people who are really only there to check the box labeled “representation” or more likely “token POC”. 

There is, of course, more that I could say on the subject, as there is simply so many layers to racism in media, tokenism, stereotypes, and more. However, I try and write these essays based on what I see, movies and tv shows that I watch. What I have written I think delves into what these shows reveal about their unintended biases. And I am NOT saying these shows are bad, I love all of them, but they still contribute to these problems. 

I think that the audience of these shows and others are ready to see more representation on screen. Shows should have more dark-skinned women, more angry black men, and essentially more characters of color.

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The problems with casting adults as teenagers

So often in media, teenagers are portrayed by adult actors. In fact, the majority of teenage characters on tv have adult actors. There could be a variety of reasons: adults are generally better actors, teenagers are busy with school, etc. However, often the biggest reason is that producers want to show the characters having sex.

This is damaging in many ways. For one, teenagers who consistently see full grown adults as teenagers begin to believe that that is what they should look like. It also creates this harmful belief that teenagers are and should be having sex at a very young age. Riverdale, presented, at least at first, as a realistic portrayal of teen life, casted actors who are well older than their characters entirely in order to have graphic sex scenes. Teen wolf, although not presented as a realistic portrayal, still has older actors, while less nudity. Teenagers are never able to see themselves in tv and then force themselves to look and behave older than they are in order to be like what they see on tv. The affect on how teens view sex is just as dangerous. It both glamorizes it as the be all end all for romantic relationships and normalizes the idea that teenagers, even as young as 14, should be having sex.

Most tv shows starring teenagers cast far older characters, with few exceptions. Disney is by far the best at casting actors who are the ages of their characters, although that is not saying much. The result from that is mixed. The actors who Disney cast generally stay in the business and become some of the most well known actors or singers in Hollywood, for example, Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez, and Zendaya. This is becuase they have to be very talented to be cast at such young ages and grow up utilizing that talent, with the result that by the time they are adults they have been acting for years and already have a following to propel their careers. This also leads to damaging publicity at an early age and far more opportunities to fall to the common vices of Hollywood.

In my opinion, however, it is possible to cast young actors for young characters and keep those actors from falling prey to addiction or paparazzi. The Harry Potter franchise casted child actors with little to no lasting damages for those actors. Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson are both well known respected actors who have had no scandals or apparent struggle to adjust to adult life. Rupert Grint, while still a prominent actor, has appeared to have a very normal life.

In the end, the damage caused by casting older actors as teenagers is far more damaging than casting actual teenagers, if done right.

[writtenvideoessay]

Game of Thrones essay

Game of thrones has such a specific sexism, on the one hand there are a variety of women, all of whom have different skills. They make choices that directly affect the plot and other people, and they all have interesting personalities beyond just good looking nice girl or hot bad girl. However, with very few exceptions, the women are all incredibly sexualized.

Most every woman on the show is sexualized, not only by the other characters on the show, but also by the writers and directors. I don’t feel the need to go into specific examples becuase there are just so many it would be hard to choose.

Beyond the sexualization, though, the female characters are generally separated into two categories, feminine or unfeminine. This is seen throughout the show, but I think it is most visible when looking at the juxtaposition of Arya and Sansa. Arya, from the beginning, is very Tom-boyish. She likes archery and playing with her brothers. This is contrasted by Sansa, who desperately wants to be a lady.

Arya never loses her boyish tendencies, or her unfemininity, but instead channels those tendencies into succeeding in generally masculine path. She becomes an assassin and loses, or at least hides, all emotion, which are generally considered feminine. This, while not true of all of the women who take the unfeminine path, is easily one of biggest characteristics of the unfeminine women protrayed in screen. Arya giving up the ladyship offered to her by Gendry is symbolic of her giving up ladyness entirely.

Sansa, on the other hand, rarely does anything unladylike throughout the show. Even when being punished by all the men around her for being female, she never loses her feminine nature. In the end, she becomes lady of winterfell, and then queen. I do think it is interesting that she names her dire wolf lady who dies very quickly (in my opinion, however, Lady represents Sansa’s innocence, not her femininity). Going back to my earlier statement about not doing anything unladylike, once could say that she kills Ramsey brutally, which is very unladylike, and then she shuts down her emotions, also unladylike. However, even when she kills Ramsy, she leaves him to his dogs, she doesn’t get her hands dirty.

Her emotional shut down, when she rules winterfell is interesting in its own right. I said before that emotions are seen as feminine, and while that is true, in Game of Thrones, there are no powerful women who show emotion, at least out loud. Catlyn Stark shows emotion in private, as do Cersei, and Margaery to an extent. While this is not the main topic of this essay, I do find it interesting that the women on the show are not allowed to show emotion and be powerful.

Arya and Sansa are the best examples of the unfeminine vs feminine women, but there are no women who aren’t classified as one or the other. Brienne is unfeminine, Margaery is feminine. Ygritte is unfeminine, Daenerys is feminine, and so on. While I don’t have a large problem with the idea that there are more feminine women and less feminine women, I think the idea that women have to be one or the other is absurd and could be dangerous for young women to grow up thinking. Women can be both.

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“She” - Arte por @Khallion

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