Its Time to Start Giving Up (Required Prompt)
In Miss Representation, we are given a comprehensive overview of the way that the portrayal of women in the media affects both their mental health and their political power. The film covers topics ranging from video games to educational institutions. However, in the face of the incredibly multiplicitous nature of the patriarchy, the filmmakers offer us a single solution - policy change. I believe that this is problematic for a few reasons.
First, I believe that faith in the power of the current political system (the Trump administration) to make liberal moves towards feminism is inevitably disappointing. I have spent many years investing politics to improve living conditions for those around me who feel unsafe - and, almost every time, I find myself disappointed when that doesn't happen. At this point, I think it is what Lauren Berlant would call, "cruel optimism," or an attachment to the promise of change that functions to create a sense of despair and personal ineptitude. This is not to say that we should just allow violence against marginalized communities to take place - rather, I am of the opinion that we should organize to form coalitions outside of the state in an effort to make life better on a communal level.
Next, and more pragmatically of me, I do not think that social change should begin from an institutional framework. Historically, it has been more effective for groups like the Black Panthers to begin from outside of institutions and work in. Individual pieces of legislation are merely putting band-aids over the bullet holes created by patriarchy, and only starting social change from the bottom-up has the power to actually mend those holes.
I think that the left, and especially feminists, should mimic groups like Queer Rising of New York City. Queer Rising is autonomous coalition of queer individuals that organizes to offer food, shelter, schooling, and even health care in an effort to make living conditions better for those around them. Miss Representation's call for institutional engagement footnotes movements like Queer Rising in favor of mainstream pragmatism which fails to account for the way that the values of patriarchy pervade American society. Neat movie though.
Here is a link to a picture of a sign that I think proves my argument and is also just hilarious:
http://www.cairogossip.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/13.jpg
Here is a link to a picture of a sign that I think proves my argument and is also just hilarious:
http://www.cairogossip.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/13.jpg
DAWG I KNOW. I AGREE WITH YOUR STATEMENT THAT COALITIONS THAT AIM TO MAKE LIFE EASIER MUST OPERATE FIRST OUTSIDE OF THE LAW, AND OUTSIDE OF INSTITUTIONS. WITH OUR CURRENT PRESIDENCY AND HIS PARTY'S LACK OF SUPPORT FOR COMMUNITIES, SUCH AS WOMEN, I REALIZE THAT ANY ACTION IN FAVOR OF THESE COMMUNITIES IS SOMETHING THAT WE CANNOT COUNT ON TO HAPPEN, AND SO SCREW IF TWUMPY WANTS TO PUT FEMINISTS IN JAIL. I'M WITH YA BROTHER BEAR.
ReplyDeleteYour argument has some merit, but I'm surprised to see you use the Black Panthers as an example of a successful non-institutional organization. What exactly did they accomplish which was greater than, say, the Civil Rights Act (which I need not remind you is a law passed by governmental institutions)?
ReplyDeleteThey made health care clinics, established counseling services, improved local parks and public spaces, started scholarship funds, improved schooling, and worked to reduce police brutality in local communities with lots of success (all of this outside of institutions.) They organized protests that would go on to make legitimate legislative changes. I think the Black Panthers are a really apt example of an extralegal coalition that was successful.
DeleteI agree that outside groups have a better impact than people in current positions of government, as a way to convince the existing powers to look towards progression in social justice. To add, it is also not only a task of these righteous groups to help outside our existing institution, but also input themselves in our government. Change won't officially happen without the pen and paper of our government, so it's important to understand the need to implore our current government to change some of their ideologies (even though this task is almost insurmountable). Right now though, the next generation of politicians are beginning to take root, and to influence those our age and the millennials is much more important and achievable in order to eventually reach a socially stable government.
ReplyDeleteI think I disagree with your assertion that, "change won't officially happen without the pen and paper of our government." The list of examples I offered Jacob above are, in my opinions, situations in which we could see change happening with out legislative alterations being made. I do agree that working within existing institutions is good and necessary, but I do not think that our primary goal should be to train people to do so - we should focus on making material change, and only engage institutions if it comes naturally.
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