You've Got To Hide Your Love Away

On my way to work today I was listening to my favorite band of all time, The Beatles. Their song "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away" came on from their album Help! The lyrics were perplexing to me because they were saying things such as "Everywhere people stare, each and every day, I can see them laugh at me, and I hear them say you've got to hide your love away." I couldn't figure out the meaning, so I looked it up when I got home and found out that this song is about homosexuality.

The song was released in August of 1965 and had lyrics such as:

"How can I even try
I can never win
Hearing them, seeing them
In the state i'm in
Hey, you've got to hide your love away
Hey, you've got to hide your love away"

Supposedly the song is about the Beatles' manager, Brian Epstein, who was a closeted homosexual in a time when it was an offence although homosexuality became more widely accepted in America. There was a change in sexual attitudes and behavior during this time and a revolution occurred, which consisted of feminists, gay rights campaigners, and hippies. Homosexuality was still very looked down upon though and was considered a mental illness. Between 1956 and 1965, the Florida Legislative Committee was persecuting homosexual teachers for fear that they would have an influence over children's vulnerable minds. Yet during this judgmental time, bands like the Beatles highly influenced their fans to become more open-minded and see that homosexuality was not a mental illness, but something people could not control.

I feel like homosexuality is most definitely becoming more widely accepted. We're not quite there yet, but we're getting there. In the video I watched in class titled For The Bible Tells Me so, five christian families spoke about their lives being dedicated christians. These families also had someone gay in their family, and the documentary shows how they dealt with it. I actually really liked the film because the families became accepting of their children. Although they may not of agreed in the beginning, they all realized in their own way that this was their children that they were dealing with. I know it may be hard for some people because of our society and how they were raised, but clearly if people would just give homosexuals a chance, they can see that they are just another person just like them. Something that our country is going through at the moment is Prop. 8. A proposition that states that marriage should only be between a man and a woman. I disagree with Prop. 8 because it isn't giving freedom to the gay community, something that our country takes pride in.
Cherrie Moraga talks about oppression in her article La Guera. She writes about how being oppressed for one thing is not any better than being oppressed for another. For example, being oppressed for being hispanic is no different than being oppressed for being gay. Either way you're being oppressed which is clearly wrong.

I think it's really great to hear hidden meanings about homosexuality in older songs. It shows that accepting homosexuality is not just another 'modern thing.' People 50 years ago accepted homosexuality, it was just more difficult to express than it is now. I really hope we can accept homosexuals in our society and let them have the freedom they deserve. Then we can really call ourselves a free country!


Beatles photo: img.timeinc.net
All you need is love photo: accionpoetica.com

Girls Like Beer Too!

I was watching TV earlier and a Corona commercial came on. Its primary focus was on a girl in a bikini on a beach. A couple is sitting on beach chairs by the ocean and have a table between them with two coronas on it. A girl walks by the couple in a small white bikini and the man, of course, turns his head to watch her walk away. Then his girlfriend takes the lime out of his corona and squirts him in the eye with it. End of commercial.

I literally stared at the TV for 2 minutes before being able to comprehend what just happened. When I think of beer, I think of friends, coming together in a bar, perhaps at a home, and drinking, smiling, and laughing together. I don't think of a girl in a bikini walking by a man who then gets squirted in the eye. (Thanks to TiVo) I rewinded it and showed my sister.

Me: You have to see this commercial
Sister: (After watching it) Yeah, that's what advertisers do, this is obviously directed towards men.
Me: *awkward silence* That's dumb. Girls like beer too. *more awkward silence*

My sister is just another victim of our society's brainwash. Although beer has absolutely nothing to do with a girl on the beach, they made this commercial because they thought something would trigger in a man's brain to want beer. I like beer. All I have to see is one on TV. That's it. That's all they have to show and I'm sold. But of course, sex sells. I looked up some beer commercials that have been banned in the past, one with slogans such as "Beer Makes Women Beautiful."

It made me think of the slogans Jean Kilbourne wrote about in her article "Sexist Advertising, Then & Now," such as "If your hair isn't beautiful the rest hardly matters" or "My boyfriend told me he loved me for my mind. I was never so insulted in my life." (For cigarettes). Even though I find these kind of funny, it seems like society really thinks we're dumb showing advertisements like this to us. They're using slogans that they feel like would apply to us. Reading that it's an insult that a boyfriend would love a girl for my mind does not make me want to buy cigarettes. It's so sad and depressing that advertisers would even think that. Kilbourne wrote: ""Sometimes a woman's body morphs into the product, so she becomes the car or the shoe or the bottle of beer. An ad that ran recently in several upscale women's magazines featured a woman whose pubic hair had been shaved into the Gucci logo. We are encourage to feel passion for our products rather than our partners." I have seen this so many times. I'll flip through a magazine and see a woman shaped as a beer bottle or a woman half naked for a perfume ad. And I'm like, seriously? This has absolutely nothing to do with the product and surely does not want me to buy the product. These commercials, ads, and products that we see every day that have to do with sex or demoralizing women are having an effect on women. This image of beauty and desire is literally hammered into our minds to think that this is what is desirable. But it's not. I think it's really degrading that our society thinks this is what attracts us. It's even more degrading that it actually does to some extent. I really think we should have better advertising that doesn't disrespect a certain group or insult our intelligence.

Corona picture: popsop.com
Beer over girls picture: ladiesocb.com
Sexist Advertising, Then & Now: Kilbourne, Jean. "Sexist Advertising, Then & Now." Ms. Magazine. N.p., 2010. Web.

Welcome To the Black Market

Last night I went and saw Quentin Tarantino's new movie Django Unchained. I am a huge Tarantino fan and have seen all of his movies from Reservoir Dogs to Inglorious Basterds (which were both really great by the way) so I knew that I would like this movie...and I was right. The movie is set around the 1850s and is about a black slave named Django, played by Jamie Foxx. Django is rescued by Dr. King Schultz, a bounty hunter who needs his help for a bounty. During their time together, Django reveals to Schultz that he was separated from his wife a few years back, and is going to search for her. After their bounty is finished, Schultz asks Django if he would like to be his bounty partner for the winter. "[I get to] kill white people and get paid for it? What's not to like?," says Django. After countless bounties, Django and Schultz set out to search for his long lost wife. I loved Django because he was so out of character for his time. An African American slave who was set free and made a living for a short while killing white men. People in the film were in awe whey saw Django riding a horse. Being a free man.

I have a soft spot in my heart for slavery. It kills me that African American's had to go through it. It makes me think of Mary Prince and Thomas Pringle's "Supplement to The History of Mary Prince." A narrative about an African slave and all the horrors she had to go through. From being whipped until she passed out to standing knee high in water until boils grew on her legs, Prince describes it all. Obama did a speech about slavery at the Constitution Center in 2008. He talked about the Constitution - a document that guaranteed rights to different groups all over the nation.

-In 1791, the Constitution granted freedom of speech under the first amendment
-In 1866, the Constitution abolished slavery under the thirteenth amendment
-In 1920, the Constitution granted women the right to vote under the nineteenth amendment

"And yet words on a parchment would not be enough to deliver slaves from bondage, or provide men and women of every color and creed their full rights and obligations as citizens of the United States. What would be needed were Americans in successive generations who were willing to do their part - through protest and struggle, on the streets and in the courts, through a civil war and civil disobedience and always at great risk - to narrow that gap between the promise of our ideals and the reality of their time." - Obama

I absolutely love this quote from Obama because a law is not enough to guarantee someone's freedom. Even after African American's were granted freedom, they were still oppressed by Whites. They may of been free, but not equal. In a dominant white society, everyone is a slave to the Caucasian race. As of December 1, 2012, 72.4% of the population is of Caucasian descent. In California, 74% of the population is of Caucasian descent and in Los Angeles alone, the white population is at a staggering 50%. In a society like this, it is crucial to accept everyone as equals. It's just not fair to the minority. Little kids grow up in our society and see white faces everywhere they go. They are taught that white is beautiful, making them look at themselves and their race with hatred. Nellie Wong wrote a poem titled "When I Was Growing Up." Wong writes about her experience growing up as an Asian America in a white world and she grew to hate herself. She desired to be white and wore imaginary pale skin. She felt dirty, and thought that God made white people clean. As she got older, she felt special whenever a white man wanted to take her out on a date. This is not how someone should feel. People should be taught to love themselves for who they are. It's so sad to think that children are feeling this way all across the nation and world.

Knowing the truth about our dominant white society is something sad to think about, so watching movies like Django Unchained is refreshing. It seems like movies about slavery all seem so real. They show African American's being chained, whipped, and treated like trash by Europeans, so it was fun seeing it the other way around. Overall I give the movie a 9 out of 10. It would of been a perfect 10 if Dr. Schultz didn't die, sorry to spoil the movie, but I feel the need to express my anger at this. At least I got to see another Tarantino movie, that's all that matters anyways.

Django picture: guardianlv.com
Obama picture: trbimg.com
Obama quote: csun.edu/faculty/sheena.malhotra/Obama-Race_speech.html

Avada Kedavra

In light of my depression that the Harry Potter series has been officially over since 2011, my boyfriend bought me The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling to feed my withdrawal. I'm currently 150 pages into the book, and I'm noticing this typical social norm that usually takes place in our society. A casual vacancy, described by Rowling, is when a councilman dies within his/her term. A casual vacancy happens in the book and the question of who is going to take the late councilman's place is the hot topic in the fictional city of Pagford. It's a big deal to Pagford because the council's plan of action on what to do about "The Fields" is currently split. The Fields is an area between Pagford and its neighboring city Yarvil. The Fields used to be a nice grassy area a part of Pagford until the owner of the land sold it to Yarvil, who in turn created the Fields. The Fields is an area of cheap housing that attracts low-income families. Over the span of 60 years, the Fields turned into a spot to buy stolen goods and drugs. The houses are filthy; They have graffiti all over them and trash on the lawn. Half of the council wants to help the Fields - they want to build a drug rehabilitation center, clean up the houses, and help the families get back on their feet. The other half of the council wants to work together to have the Fields become a part of Yarvil instead of Pagford, so the Fields will no longer ruin Pagford's image. Whoever becomes the new councilman has the power to
finally end this debate and decide the fate of the Fields.

I find this interesting that half of the council wants the Fields to be considered a part of Yarvil rather than them. They don't want anything to change - they're fine with the drugs, graffiti, and stolen goods - they just don't want it to be considered a part of them. It's sad because this is what happens in everyday society. Patricia Williams writes about social class in her article Of Race and Risk. She is a black female looking to buy a house in a nice and safe neighborhood. She completes her application for a loan over the phone with a loan officer and is given terms for her loan that she approves of. When she receives her paperwork in the mail, she realizes that the loan officer marked her ethnicity as white. This was due to her "white" accent, good credit, and profession as a law professor. She sends the documents back correcting this, only to have her terms changed. The bank now wants more money, a better credit score, and a higher interest rate. Come to find out that someone of black descent moving into a white neighborhood is a risk. Supposedly some white families do not approve of blacks moving into their neighborhood and if this happens they will move out.

Williams' experience reminds me of Pagford. Pagford doesn't care about the people living in the Fields. Half of the council just wants them to be considered a part of Yarvil so they no longer ruin their reputation. Do people really care about their reputation that much? This upper-class white town has a reputation that they want to keep up, so why not all agree to help the Fields and keep this reputation that they care so much about? This applies to Williams' story as well. If this white neighborhood cares about their reputation, they shouldn't be worrying about if a black person moves into their neighborhood, they should be focusing on not having drug dealers or gangs be in their neighborhood. Why someone would constitute a black person moving into their neighborhood as a reason to move is beyond me. I can understand how people/neighborhoods/cities take pride in their reputation. Yet, they should all work together to have a safe place to live rather than an all white place to live. I haven't finished the story yet, but I'm totally rooting for Pagford to help the Fields. But, if it doesn't turn out that way (which would sadly be more like reality), I at least am able to read more from J.K. Rowling. I think this calls for Harry Potter part 8.

casual vacancy photo: i4.mirror.co.uk
shark photo: bendib.com