Children are impossible to define. Some believe that this is
because of post-modernism ideals of meaning and semiotics. Children are only
defined by everything else and what they are not. Socially, there are ways to
define the child: gender, race, class, religion, culture, sexuality, ableness,
and many others. Media should not
classify all children in one group because their age is only one factor of many
characteristics that are important to their individuality to who they truly
are. Not all children are little white boys with little white boy
problems. Now those problems are
important and relevant, I want to make that clear, but a rounder picture of
children and the issues they face should be portrayed in media. Media needs to
be de-centered.
“Bicycle Thieves”, an Italian film, delves into the culture
and struggles of a family of poor Italians. This is very different from the
Hollywood stories about white people that most audiences were use to. Audience members get attached to the
family and want them to be successful.
That is an admirable thing to want, right? Well, if it was a Hollywood
film nine times out of ten they would end up succeeding and the audience would
feel justified. They would also feel less charity towards the poor, because if
they would just work harder then they would be successful like the family in
the movie. “Bicycle Thieves” de-centers this idea. They don’t succeed in the
end, and they end up lower than when they started. The low man doesn’t always succeed; in this case the low man
sinks lower. That is part of the
diversity of life, for bad things happen to already struggling people.
That film was about a family. Persepolis, on the other hand,
is about a little girl, and not just any little girl. Persepolis is an Iranian,
Muslim, from an intellectual family, and a middle class family. Persepolis isn’t a passive victim but
an active participant in that society. She has opinions, believes, ideas, and
values that are important and worth being heard. “Bicycle Thieves” seemed to
just emphasize the challenges/inequalities. While Persepolis definitely described some very unfortunate
circumstances, but I believe that it empowers her to speak and be heard. I know
that I don’t know the most about that culture, and she was able to teach me so
much by her experiences with the socio-political culture that she was raised
in.
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