A good example of a movie with the theme of inequality would be The Wolf of Wall Street. Seeing as the movie is about Jordan Belfort, who became a super rich dude from stocks and fraud, the movie highlights extreme wealth through the eyes of the wealthy. Beginning as a entry level worker at a Wall Street brokerage, Belfort is quickly introduced to the rich lifestyle. Jordan soon became a drug addict who loved spending money on cars and other unnecessary things, and made his money after he founded his own firm Stratton Oakmont and gets involved with fraud, etc. The film highlights the lifestyle of the one-percenters and how they screw over the lower classes looking to invest to make some money.
Yeah, I watched this and saw a lot of analogs between it and Michael Lewis' Liar's Poker. Definitely speaks a lot about inequality and the power of the 1%.
Django Unchained is a great example of a movie with the theme about inequality. Django is a freed slave whose purpose is to free his indentured servant wife, who is under control by one of the most brutal slave owners in the Mississippi. Throughout the movie, Django has flashbacks to moments when he was a slave and how poorly he was treated. He visits multiple farms before he finds his wife, and on the way you see how the slaves are treated as nobodies, while getting tormented with constant racial slurs in replace of their name. Django finally finds his wife who is locked in a hole in the ground. This movie illustrates the inequality between slaves and landowners, and the fact that slaves weren't even looked at as people, but indentured servants.
A movie that maintains an element of inequality is in the movie 12 years of slave. In this movie, an accomplished free man was denied his freedom because of his race. Due to the level of inequality, the character did not receive his freedom until a white friend came and testified that he was a free man. The captured free slave never could gain freedom independently, despite his level of education.
Another movie that involves inequality is a time to kill. This movie shows the legal battle of a poor african american man as he is targeted by the white people of the town. The prosecution in the trial, which supports the town also provide favorable testimony for the prosecution.Not to get justice, but to convict the black individual.
The Help is a prime example of a film on inequality. While racial inequality is the main focus, the movie also touches on gender inequality and misogyny. The main character, Skeeter, is unlike her racist mother and friends in that she defies the norms of a white, rich, southern female in the sixties and instead is independent and unprejudiced. She interviews "the help," or black housemaids who worked for white families with money as no more than indentured servants. The movie highlights the brutal discrimination that blacks in the south faced. Despite how hardworking or kind the maids would be to their employers, they could never earn respect. The plot touches on gender inequality through the marriages portrayed. With the exception of one, all of the marriages in the film consist of an either physically or verbally abusive husband and a wife who accepts her role as an object with no power in the relationship. Skeeter defies both inequalities and shows the more modern, northern approach to inequality issues.
Another movie that touches on inequality is Titanic. The plot centers around a man and a woman falling in love, but face discrimination because she (Rose) is wealthy--and engaged to another wealthy man--and he (Jack) is lower class. The two have a passionate connection, but Rose's family forbids her to be with a man with no money, despite the love they share. Throughout the film, we see Jack struggle to fit in with Rose's elite family and Rose try to fit in with Jack's laid back friends. When the ship begins to sink is when the audience truly sees inequality in its most obvious form. While women and children are loaded onto lifeboats first, it is women and children of upper class, while lower class women and children are paid much less attention to. Rose had an immediate getaway with her family because of their status, but she chose to stay behind with Jack, knowing that he did not have a good chance at survival because of his lack of status.
Inequality is a theme in The Interview because we can see the difference between the lavish lifestyle of Kim Jong Un who has a private mansion, basketball court, and prostitutes, compared to the hardships of North Korean commoners who starve every day. While it seems like an extreme example, there are similar groups of people who exist in America right now, if you look at the top 1% and the poor. It’s interesting how inequality is produced with or without a dictator. -Kaiwen Zhang
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is a movie in which inequality is a theme. The movie is about a little boy whose father works as part of the Nazi military on a concentration camp. One day, the little boy stumbles across the concentration camp, where he meets another little boy. They become friends although they are not supposed to be. They can never really play together because there is a fence separating them. Later, the boy in the concentration camp finds an extra pair of pajamas to sneak the little boy, whose father is a Nazi, into the camp. On this day in particular, the Nazi soldiers forced all of the Jewish people in the camp into a chamber, where they, including the little boy who was not a Jew, killed them by carbon monoxide poisoning. This shows inequality due to the fact that it was based on the Holocaust, which was a period of time where there was extreme inequality. Jewish people were seen as inferior during this time, which is what the movie displays.
Inequality is the main theme in the film "Trading Places". The movie is about a man who has everything a man can want, and another man who is apparently homeless and is struggling. In the film, the two trade lifestyles with the assistance of two powerful and influential men who seem to just be curious as to how things will play out as their lives are now the complete opposite of what they were. The rich man has lost his place at the country club and his colleagues ridicule him for his misfortunes, the poor man now has a taste of the good life and does not want to go back. In the end, they both join forces and focus on crippling the wealth of the two influential business men, bringing people from two drastically different worlds together to achieve a common goal. Inequality is present in every corner of this movie, showing how far apart people can be economically, and the outlook each person has from both circumstances.
One of the greatest movies with inequality as a theme is "To Kill a Mockingbird." The movie takes place in rural Alabama during the Great Depression with one of the greatest themes being racial inequality. Atticus Finch is a passionate and altruistic lawyer who stands up for the rights of a wrongly accused African-American man despite the social pressure to not do so. The differences in social status are explored through the social hierarchy of Maycomb. The Finches are at the top of the hierarchy, with the Cunninghams, the Ewells and the rest of the townspeople below them. The black community, however, lies below everybody else despite their good qualities and this is what enables Bob Ewell to persecute Tom Robinson in order to make up for his own lack of importance. They are the only people below him and that is why he chooses to take out his anger on them. These social divisions are destructive and although we have definitely made progress over time, this is still a problem we deal with nowadays and this book shows some valuable lessons on the history of discriminations and racism. We should learn from these past mistakes in order to improve and avoid future atrocities.
A movie that depicts inequality is “The Green Mile” (199). Based on the 1996 book by Stephen King of the same title, it is set in 1935 (with some flashbacks to 1999) in Louisiana. The main character is Paul Edgecomb (played by Tom Hanks), who was a prison officer at a Louisiana penitentiary, and recounts his experience while in charge with inmates on Death Row. One of the main premises is based on the wrongful conviction of John Coffey (played by Michael Clarke Duncan), an African-American man, who was accused of raping and killing two young white girls. Known for his large stature and menacing appearance, much to everyone’s surprise, he actually a very shy, gentle, and soft-spoken person. It is also shown that he has the power to heal. Even in his stance as a mistreated prisoner, who is subject racial discrimination and classist dichotomies (prisoner versus guards), he manages to heal several characters, including the Warden’s terminally ill wife. Later in the movie, another (white) prisoner comes to the penitentiary, and it is Paul finds out that he was actually responsible for the crime John Coffey was accused of, but knows that no one would believe the innocence of a black man in 1934. In the end John Coffey is executed, even while innocent, revealing the social injustice of the prison system, and is presented as being beneficial to Coffey because it “puts him out of his misery”.
The movie Newsies demonstrates the inequalities prevalent in the up and coming New York City in the 1890's. The movie describes the struggle of young, underpaid newsboys and is loosely based on the Newsboys Strike of 1899. The wealthy owner of the newspaper, Joseph Pulitzer, makes the decision to raise prices of the newspapers, exploiting the work of the young newsboys. At this time, New York was very dependent on child laborers who worked long hours in dangerous conditions for a very small price. Business and company executives exploited these young workers to create more profit for themselves. This movie also demonstrates the prejudice against youth by demonstrating the disregard the adult figures had for the wants and needs of the young newsboys. Because they are seen as simply young, whiney boys, their legitimate concerns are pushed aside. I think people underestimate the power of youth. If you look at the history of America, youth have been a driving voice behind big, powerful movements.
I chose to watch “Lost Angels: Skid Row Is My Home.” This film showcased the homeless and gives an alternative perspective to life on the streets. Those who live among this homeless society face inequality by being harassed and arrested by the police. In the film, they explained that many of the people that live there are mentally ill and are not receiving help. This transfers into inequality because it is much more difficult for these people to obtain assistance for their medical needs and so they turn to cheap illicit drugs to medicate themselves. It really made me wonder why we ignore homeless people, but pay for criminals to have their prescriptions filled, fed three meals a day and given shelter to sleep. Though it is not the ideal situation, some homeless people voluntarily go to jail to receive these benefits.
The Imitation game was a perfect example of gender inequality. At first a test in the news paper was given to find potential applicants for a topic secret government task the test did not specifically state that only men were qualified for the position but when Keira Knightly who played Joan in the movie showed up for the test they automatically assumed she was there for a secretarial position because the thought that a woman could be so smart was absurd. it turned out in fact that she was smart enough to join the team but because she was a woman she was afraid her family would not allow it because she would be challenging men and what man wants a woman who is smarter (or thinks shes smarter) than he is. It was crazy how back in the day woman had to limit themselves when it came to education in order to be acceptable to men and suitable for marriage. Ryan Rumph
Another movie that depicted inequality as well was legally blonde too. In the first movie Elle was portrayed as this airheaded sorority girl who's goal in life was to marriage a rich guy and live off of his money when she proved him wrong in the sequel there was a scene in the movie where one of the partner male lawyers tried to convince her that she could get a promotion or a higher position if only she were to spread her legs to get to the top. in a lot of movies today women are extremely sexualized as if all they have to offer is what is in between their legs it makes me sick to my stomach. Ryan Rumph
I watched the movie Spare Parts, which is about a couple of high school students who beat a M.I.T team in a robotics competition. The importance here is not that they were high school students but that they were all illegal immigrants from Mexico with limited resources. The inequality here is the fact that these apparently very capable, intelligent and motivated kids didn't have the opportunities offered to American citizens, not to speak about rich American citizen, and as a result their talent and energy could easily have gone to waste. The inequality lays in the system which uses illegal immigrants, they fulfill an important function in the economic system of this country by taking jobs no one else is willing to take, without granting them the rights granted to citizens. This becomes extra painful when one thinks about kid who were born and raised in the U.S, fully naturalized in most cases no doubt, but nonetheless are not accepted as citizens nor given the opportunities which other kids get. It is unequal system and the price paid by the 'illegal' immigrants is extremely high. Society as a whole I think also pays the price, perhaps not the wealthiest who gain the most from using cheap labour, as the talent and energy of these people goes to waste due to the lack of opportunity - Visar Berisha.
A movie based on a wife’s disappearance with an intense media coverage. Which later in the movie the media turns on her husband when they suspected him to not be as innocent as what was stated in the beginning. By changing the circumstances, if there was an African American man playing the husband that interview would have gone in a different direction. For example they would have not be as calm with their words in addition to it beginning a white woman missing,they would have tried to find other charges to put him in jail, and make him confess to a crime he did not commit. Personal, by replacing the white husband into a black one and it resulting in two different outcomes. The movie I watched is gone girl - Sara
I chose to re-watch "Good Will Hunting", which deals with inequality due to class differences and the unequal access to education opportunities that comes with economic inequality. The protagonist, Will, is a person with photographic memory, incredibly high IQ and mathematical talent, and who is unable to go to college because he is from a poor socioeconomic background and struggles to keep a job because of anger management issues due to childhood trauma. In my opinion, this could be seen as a fictive example of what Malcom Gladwell talks about in "Outliers" when he discussed cumulative advantage (or in this case, disadvantage). It is also an example of the contextual factors or “coincidences” that become important in becoming a successful outlier. By living in Boston, Will has proximity to Harvard, and he is able to get a job as a janitor there through his parole. There he is exposed to difficult theorems which he is able to solve, and as he happens to be arrested shortly after he is able to trade jail time for mathematical education and therapy, which gives him greater opportunity to realize his potential. It is not unlikely though that Gladwell would point this out as a “rags to riches” story, and say that for a lot of people with the same socioeconomic background and high IQ as Will is not able to overcome contextual factors working against them, and that it is important that we study these contextual factors to make better sense of inequality. - Malin Niklasson
I decided to re-watch the movie “The Hunger Games” because I feel like its main theme is inequality in society. The movie takes place in a country that is divided by 12 districts. The Totalitarian government of the Capitol rules all the districts. The Capitol holds most of the countries wealth and makes decisions among the other districts. We can see clearly how the main theme represents inequality when Katniss, the main character, is chosen to participate in the Hunger Games. At a party, the guests are using a pill to make themselves vomit so they could eat more. In the beginning of the movie we can see how the people in District 12, which is where is from, are starving to death. Katniss sees how the residents of the capital have all the food they want and even throw it away and in district 12 there is not enough food. These two scenes are a contrast on how the government favors certain individuals just for being born at The Capitol.
I watched the movie Crash. Crash is a movie that shows inequality all over. Crash takes place in Los Angeles which is a city known to have high racial tensions. The African Americans in Crash speak badly of the Koreans, the Koreans, speak badly of the Muslims, and the white officers, show extreme prejudice and racism towards African Americans throughout the movie. One instance that stood out to me was when the officers pulled over an African American couple that was having oral sex while driving their car. The officer proceeded to touch the female passenger all over her body, disrespecting her, mainly because her and her husband were black. This scene did a great job of showing the racial discrepancies that exist between the LAPD and the citizens of Los Angeles.
I watched the documentary "its a girl" which covers populations in both China and India that host a form of "genocide" against female children, mostly due to cultural reasons. The film shows both locations and shares stories of mother's who have either aborted their girl children, abandoned them, or neglected them as children. The documentary further covers how culture promotes the want or need of boys, or male children. Even some of the mothers shown "yearn for boy children", and the documentary suggests that there are more than 200 million girls missing from the human population due to this genocide. If you all are interested, the film is on both netflix and youtube.
A good film about inequality is "Trading Places" starring Eddie Murphy. In the film, a homeless man is to trade places with a rich wall-street broker by the doing of a bet between two extremely rich brothers. While the film is comedy, it makes points about both inequality and the extreme difference in cultures the two have compared to one another. Additionally, it shows the power the rich have to literally ruin or make peoples lives. I thought recently of this movie while listening to the song "Institutionalized" by Kendrick Lamar, which speaks of the inability for someone from a poor community like Compton, California to fit in with the super wealthy elite of America. In the song it says "You can took the homie out the hood, but you can't take the hood out the homie".
Another movie that depicts inequality is Higher Learning, directed by John Singleton and starring Ice Cube. In the movie, the elements of race and background of college students is examined and we delve into the differences people have when getting to a university. The cops continue to terrorize the African American students and racism remains prevalent. Through the movie, the value of an education becomes apparent in that it is a uniting force that allows everyone to have both better opportunities and to come together as a community, not as one divided.
The first film about inequality I chose to re-watch was Freedom Writers. Based in Long Island, CA, the film is about a young teacher that moves to Woodrow Wilson High School to help with its new racial integration program. The new teacher faces difficulties with gaining control, of her classroom, and her class self-segregates into groups based on race. With issues relating to money, family, and school, her students are also facing the inequalities of their school system. As the new teacher struggles, most of her supervisors provide little support for her and her students. The Long Beach school system assumes that these students are not likely to succeed because of their economic class and race. The sort of system discourages the students from reaching their full capabilities. With the help of their new teacher, the students begin to reach academic success after receiving a proper education from their school system.
The second film about inequality I watched was Remember the Titans. The film is about a new coach who tries to introduce a racially diverse team at T. C. Williams High School in Alexandria, VA, in 1971. Throughout the film, the new team and their coach receive a large amount of criticism and racism from their community that results in violence and riots. This film displays inequality because during their football games, the team faces discrimination from the referee staff because of their diversity. This unfair treatment leads to a scandal that shows how systems of power try to oppress racial groups from succeeding like those with privilege.
The movie that I watched was The Island by Michael Bay. I was hesitant to use this particular movie for this assignment because the concept of inequality is taken too far to the extreme - the human beings that were harvested as clones of the rich are objectified and are left bereft of any rights. Aside from this plot element, the movie displays a dystopian society as a portrayal of one outcome of what our present society would look like if it progressed without any change. The rich and powerful are able to buy into immorality by literally owning these clones of themselves and rid themselves of any disability or disease, while the poor are left to face death without any hope of a better standard of living. As you can see, there are many layers of inequality and negligence of human rights being depicted in this story. Don't worry too much about the clones, however, they escape out of the facility and our given the chance to live out their own lives.
The first film I watched with inequality as a theme was Django Unchained, about a freed slave that travels around with a bounty hunter, in search to find his wife. Throughout the film Django is constantly looked at like a ghost by people in the towns and on plantations because he is a black man on a horse. Whilst this does take place during slavery, it is evident in the movie that seeing a black man in the south not on a plantation, and instead riding a horse was socially unaccepted. We also witness multiple slave-owners who even though Django appears to be a somewhat educated freed slave, they still talk down to him and will not treat him equal to his Caucasian partner. I believe inequality is one of the biggest themes in Django Unchained because the racial inequalities shown throughout the film are nearly impossible to go unnoticed as majority of the african americans are either servants or in slavery, while we are introduced to many whites who are in power.
I watched Django Unchained; this film was about a black slave who was set free and in order to find and free his wife who was a servant he teams up with a white bounty hunter. People see Django differently than they do other people, setting the theme of inequality. The fact that he is a moderately-educated free black man who is traveling on a horse was alarming and confusing to people in the film. The relationship between the two was interesting and was symbolic of many of the racial struggles we see today in society. When Django finally does find his wife, she is locked in a hole underground; this along with how Django was treating in his flashbacks really shows how class differences can affect people and while slavery is the most extreme case, we do see issues in class and demographic differences today.
I rewatched Remember the Titans in which inequality is a large theme of the film. It is centered around race and the various opportunities whites are granted and blacks are prohibited from. Inequality took form in two main ways - individually and institutionally. Both go hand in hand really. Being a racist created a larger gap of inequality although the system and institutions at that time made it the norm as well. One's personal bias could create inequality (i.e. refs being racist and therefore treating black players unfairly) or it could be more blanketed within an institution such as refusing service to people of color within one's establishment. Inequality is featured within this film in various different ways.
The movie John Q is a great example of inequality and social injustice. The film includes how the medical insurance industry impacts the lives of blacks and blue-collar workers. The main character played by Denzel Washington has a son who needs a heart transplant, but because of issues with their insurance company and lack of good credit he struggles to get his son's name on the transplant list. The message one can take from this movie is that economic and social inequality in America significantly impacts the health and welfare of many Americans.
a. An example of a movie that displays a theme of inequality would be The Help. In this movie examples of racial inequality as well as social and gender inequality are presented to the viewer. The main character is Skeeter who is an independent and unprejudiced young woman right out of college. She interviews African-American maids working in households in Jackson, Mississippi during the early 1960s. The film discusses the workings of a segregated society at the beginning of the Civil Rights movement. In this movie the racial tensions are high because the white community uses violence and coercion to keep the Civil Rights Movement from coming into town. Skeeter tries to challenge the unfair practices that make the lives of the black members such as the maids Aibileen and Minny difficult. This movie also shows stereotypes of race being challenged in society and how it can be hard to eliminate views that have been in place for generations.
An example of a movie that displays inequality is The Purge. In the movie, an annual event called the purge occurs in which crime is legal for 12 hours. People that can not afford to shelter themselves during the night of the purge are subjected to acts of violence such as torture and ultimately death. Meanwhile wealthier people lounge comfortably in their homes with advanced security systems. This serves as a way for the government to keep poverty down by systematically kill off poor and homeless people, and keep the level of crime down, as people just wait until the night of the purge to cleanse themselves of their ill desires. -Damarr Gordon
I watched a documentary called 12 O' Clock Boys. It focuses on the life of a young boy in Baltimore as he goings through his life in the dangerous Westside block that is an economically poor city. It goes through a three year span of the boy demonstrating his drive to be a part of The Twelve O' Clock Boys who are a group of dirt-bike riders that travel through the streets of Baltimore even though it is illegal. Also the documentary follows as Pug loses is brother, gets his dirt-bike stolen, and in counters the police.
This was a really awesome documentary, and totally agree that it's about inequality. It's impressive how much the young boy changes as a result of his environment (idolizing the 12 O' Clock Boys and becoming one himself). If he hadn't been raised in that side of Baltimore, I wonder if he would've turned out the same way?
This was a really awesome documentary, and totally agree that it's about inequality. It's impressive how much the young boy changes as a result of his environment (idolizing the 12 O' Clock Boys and becoming one himself). If he hadn't been raised in that side of Baltimore, I wonder if he would've turned out the same way?
Over the weekend I wastched a documentary called Tricked. It gave an inside look at human trafficking in the United States. The documentary featured the testimonies of former sex workers, johns, and pimps. One former sex worker, Danielle, described how some pimps "groom" women to prepare them for sex work. According Danielle, this is a period where the pimp acts like a boyfriend; wining and dining the woman, buying her nice things, and telling her that he loves her. Danielle recalls that that phase soon ends, and the man forces the woman into sex work. Some people believe that prostitution is a choice and can't understand the concept of being forced to sell your body. Others believe that prostitution is a win-win for all parties; the johns get sex, while the pimp and sex worker split the profit. The documentary insists that these beliefs are far from accurate. Sex workers almost never receive any of the money they make from selling their bodies. In addition, sex workers are often targeted by police while the pimps are almost never under fire.
Over the weekend I watched the movie Titanic. The movie is a very clear example of inequality between social classes. Throughout the movie the viewer can observe how the upper class passengers get treated better than the middle or lower class. A good example of how inequality is the main theme in the movie is right after the Titanic hits the iceberg. The upper class passengers are not worried about the crisis happening but rather if there would be enough space to be confortable on the lifeboat. The movie shows how they treated the lower and middle class like animals by not allowing them to get on the lifeboats until the majority of upper class passengers were on board. In the time of crisis there should not have to preference about which passengers to help first but rather on how to make sure everybody is safe.
So I watched two movies. One was a documentary called Inequality for All; and, the second movie I watches was call The Piano Lesson. Inequality for All is a great documentary and I highly recommend it. The plot of the movie is simple. Robert Reich discusses inequality in America after the 2008 financial crisis. He compares today’s income inequality to the 1920s, 1960s and so one. It covers almost all of the topics we have discussed in class. He also gives you gives visual representations; which is great because I am a visual person. The second movie The Piano Lesson is about a family who stolen the piano of the Southern family who owned them during slavery. The piano had wood cravings on it of the slave family members and family events (births, jumping the brooms wedding, death, slaves who were sold and never seen again, etc. In 1936, the piano is now owned by the now freed African American and we see the problems they still face. One of the problems they face is income inequality. Some family members feel that the piano should be sold for current financial gain; while other family members state that the piano represents due payment from the white family who once owned them to the slaves who worked their land.
I recently watched There Will Be Blood - a movie about the rise and fall of an oil magnate in the late 19th century. The movie follows the story of a man who is consumed by greed, who, through neglect of his son and betrayal of friends, grows insane. Throughout the movie we are exposed the mass inequality difference between the oil workers and the owner of the business. We also see the deception (similar to Michael Lewis' examples in Liar's Poker) that existed in the oil industry at that time. It really shows the effects of inequality at the beginnings of the Robber Baron era.
Recently I watched Django Unchained and inequality is a theme that is prevalent throughout the film. In the movie, Django, a freed slave, becomes a bounty hunter which allows him to hunt and kill slaveholders throughout the country, unheard at that time. Django uses this position to track down the slave owners that tormented him and his wife during capture and get revenge. This rise in power is a quality of inequality. Additionally, throughout the film most of the people Django comes across are confused as to why a educated black man is in the position he is in, whether riding on horseback or at the table during a dinner. Some individuals choose to ignore Django's status and disrespect or talk to him condescendingly, while others respect this status and revere Django.
The movie I watched was Freakonomics. It is a movie based on a book of the same name and it details the hidden inequality of different issues. The movie focused on inequality within sumo wrestling and how trickle down economics works within this industry and keeps a majority very rich, and a majority very poor. This book also has a section on names and how what we choose to name children has an implication for their earning potential because of implications about their intelligence and potential. One of the most important sections about inequality occurred in a discussion about abortion. While the author was not advocating for increased abortions he was discussing the importance of pro choice bills because they prevent unwanted births which has implications for crime prevalence because unloved children have a higher risk of becoming juvenile delinquents. The importance of these sections on naming and abortion to inequality surrounds minorities and disadvantaged predominately neighborhoods that have people kept in poverty because something as basic as a name keeps an otherwise qualified individual poor. Making it harder to have abortions creates an atmosphere of unwilling mothers (oftentimes single mothers) and these mothers have decreased opportunity and are more likely to remain in poverty.
I watched Inequality For All, a documentary about former Labor Secretary to Bill Clinton, Robert Reich, who dedicated his career to studying and teaching about the fluctuation of income inequality in the US. The most staggering part of the documentary, to me, was how easily Reich's studies were ignored by the media, and even by government figures who would immediately label his ideas communism when all he was doing was presenting the facts about inequality. For example he found that the top marginal tax rates were adversely proportional to inequality over the last century, meaning the more the rich are taxed, the less inequality we face. Even presenting this data gets himself called a socialist, even though he shows us that Eisenhower (a republican whom nobody dared call a socialist) was taxing the highest class at 91% whereas anyone who tries to raise the top marginal tax rate at today's 35% is called a communist. I understand that the argument raising the top marginal tax rates isn't denying that inequality is there, but instead, its denying that inequality is a problem. But the fact that the US economy thrives on consumer spending (making up 70% of our entire economy) shows that the financial standing of the middle class should be the priority instead of the so-called job creators who have been getting the tax breaks in recent years. After all the middle class are the ones who are consuming anyway. Reich presented these ideas really clearly and in a welcoming tone throughout the whole documentary, and in dealing with so many people rolling their eyes at him and calling him names, he shows an incredible amount of patience which I really admire.
So I initially wanted to talk about The Hunger Games, because it's about inequality, but I decided to watch a movie called "Walkout" which covers a civil rights movement for Latino Americans in the California. During the 1960 many of Latinos and Hispanics were aware of the mistreatment they received in the school system, and wanted a change, like most races other than whites, in United States. Instead of riots they staged a number of walkouts from the classrooms, in the movie they compared it to the Martin Luther King organizing a boycott of the buses. This movie reminded me of the very recent boycott in 2011 that Hispanics had, where they urged their people to not go to work, schools, or shops, to show the impact they have on this country. People want to be treated equally especially since we all put in just as much work to make this country strive. In the movie like most peaceful protest, there is an agitator, usually the people meant to protect us, thus resulting in a more violent display. Thus in the end their voices were heard. It comes back down to what Obama's message, the young people have to push for change for the new future.
A good example of a movie with the theme of inequality would be The Wolf of Wall Street. Seeing as the movie is about Jordan Belfort, who became a super rich dude from stocks and fraud, the movie highlights extreme wealth through the eyes of the wealthy. Beginning as a entry level worker at a Wall Street brokerage, Belfort is quickly introduced to the rich lifestyle. Jordan soon became a drug addict who loved spending money on cars and other unnecessary things, and made his money after he founded his own firm Stratton Oakmont and gets involved with fraud, etc. The film highlights the lifestyle of the one-percenters and how they screw over the lower classes looking to invest to make some money.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I watched this and saw a lot of analogs between it and Michael Lewis' Liar's Poker. Definitely speaks a lot about inequality and the power of the 1%.
DeleteDjango Unchained is a great example of a movie with the theme about inequality. Django is a freed slave whose purpose is to free his indentured servant wife, who is under control by one of the most brutal slave owners in the Mississippi. Throughout the movie, Django has flashbacks to moments when he was a slave and how poorly he was treated. He visits multiple farms before he finds his wife, and on the way you see how the slaves are treated as nobodies, while getting tormented with constant racial slurs in replace of their name. Django finally finds his wife who is locked in a hole in the ground. This movie illustrates the inequality between slaves and landowners, and the fact that slaves weren't even looked at as people, but indentured servants.
ReplyDeleteA movie that maintains an element of inequality is in the movie 12 years of slave. In this movie, an accomplished free man was denied his freedom because of his race.
ReplyDeleteDue to the level of inequality, the character did not receive his freedom until a white friend came and testified that he was a free man. The captured free slave never could gain freedom independently, despite his level of education.
Another movie that involves inequality is a time to kill. This movie shows the legal battle of a poor african american man as he is targeted by the white people of the town. The prosecution in the trial, which supports the town also provide favorable testimony for the prosecution.Not to get justice, but to convict the black individual.
ReplyDeleteThe Help is a prime example of a film on inequality. While racial inequality is the main focus, the movie also touches on gender inequality and misogyny. The main character, Skeeter, is unlike her racist mother and friends in that she defies the norms of a white, rich, southern female in the sixties and instead is independent and unprejudiced. She interviews "the help," or black housemaids who worked for white families with money as no more than indentured servants. The movie highlights the brutal discrimination that blacks in the south faced. Despite how hardworking or kind the maids would be to their employers, they could never earn respect. The plot touches on gender inequality through the marriages portrayed. With the exception of one, all of the marriages in the film consist of an either physically or verbally abusive husband and a wife who accepts her role as an object with no power in the relationship. Skeeter defies both inequalities and shows the more modern, northern approach to inequality issues.
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ReplyDeleteAnother movie that touches on inequality is Titanic. The plot centers around a man and a woman falling in love, but face discrimination because she (Rose) is wealthy--and engaged to another wealthy man--and he (Jack) is lower class. The two have a passionate connection, but Rose's family forbids her to be with a man with no money, despite the love they share. Throughout the film, we see Jack struggle to fit in with Rose's elite family and Rose try to fit in with Jack's laid back friends. When the ship begins to sink is when the audience truly sees inequality in its most obvious form. While women and children are loaded onto lifeboats first, it is women and children of upper class, while lower class women and children are paid much less attention to. Rose had an immediate getaway with her family because of their status, but she chose to stay behind with Jack, knowing that he did not have a good chance at survival because of his lack of status.
ReplyDeleteInequality is a theme in The Interview because we can see the difference between the lavish lifestyle of Kim Jong Un who has a private mansion, basketball court, and prostitutes, compared to the hardships of North Korean commoners who starve every day. While it seems like an extreme example, there are similar groups of people who exist in America right now, if you look at the top 1% and the poor. It’s interesting how inequality is produced with or without a dictator.
ReplyDelete-Kaiwen Zhang
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is a movie in which inequality is a theme. The movie is about a little boy whose father works as part of the Nazi military on a concentration camp. One day, the little boy stumbles across the concentration camp, where he meets another little boy. They become friends although they are not supposed to be. They can never really play together because there is a fence separating them. Later, the boy in the concentration camp finds an extra pair of pajamas to sneak the little boy, whose father is a Nazi, into the camp. On this day in particular, the Nazi soldiers forced all of the Jewish people in the camp into a chamber, where they, including the little boy who was not a Jew, killed them by carbon monoxide poisoning. This shows inequality due to the fact that it was based on the Holocaust, which was a period of time where there was extreme inequality. Jewish people were seen as inferior during this time, which is what the movie displays.
ReplyDeleteInequality is the main theme in the film "Trading Places". The movie is about a man who has everything a man can want, and another man who is apparently homeless and is struggling. In the film, the two trade lifestyles with the assistance of two powerful and influential men who seem to just be curious as to how things will play out as their lives are now the complete opposite of what they were. The rich man has lost his place at the country club and his colleagues ridicule him for his misfortunes, the poor man now has a taste of the good life and does not want to go back. In the end, they both join forces and focus on crippling the wealth of the two influential business men, bringing people from two drastically different worlds together to achieve a common goal. Inequality is present in every corner of this movie, showing how far apart people can be economically, and the outlook each person has from both circumstances.
ReplyDeleteOne of the greatest movies with inequality as a theme is "To Kill a Mockingbird." The movie takes place in rural Alabama during the Great Depression with one of the greatest themes being racial inequality. Atticus Finch is a passionate and altruistic lawyer who stands up for the rights of a wrongly accused African-American man despite the social pressure to not do so. The differences in social status are explored through the social hierarchy of Maycomb. The Finches are at the top of the hierarchy, with the Cunninghams, the Ewells and the rest of the townspeople below them. The black community, however, lies below everybody else despite their good qualities and this is what enables Bob Ewell to persecute Tom Robinson in order to make up for his own lack of importance. They are the only people below him and that is why he chooses to take out his anger on them. These social divisions are destructive and although we have definitely made progress over time, this is still a problem we deal with nowadays and this book shows some valuable lessons on the history of discriminations and racism. We should learn from these past mistakes in order to improve and avoid future atrocities.
ReplyDeleteA movie that depicts inequality is “The Green Mile” (199). Based on the 1996 book by Stephen King of the same title, it is set in 1935 (with some flashbacks to 1999) in Louisiana. The main character is Paul Edgecomb (played by Tom Hanks), who was a prison officer at a Louisiana penitentiary, and recounts his experience while in charge with inmates on Death Row. One of the main premises is based on the wrongful conviction of John Coffey (played by Michael Clarke Duncan), an African-American man, who was accused of raping and killing two young white girls. Known for his large stature and menacing appearance, much to everyone’s surprise, he actually a very shy, gentle, and soft-spoken person. It is also shown that he has the power to heal. Even in his stance as a mistreated prisoner, who is subject racial discrimination and classist dichotomies (prisoner versus guards), he manages to heal several characters, including the Warden’s terminally ill wife. Later in the movie, another (white) prisoner comes to the penitentiary, and it is Paul finds out that he was actually responsible for the crime John Coffey was accused of, but knows that no one would believe the innocence of a black man in 1934. In the end John Coffey is executed, even while innocent, revealing the social injustice of the prison system, and is presented as being beneficial to Coffey because it “puts him out of his misery”.
ReplyDeleteThe movie Newsies demonstrates the inequalities prevalent in the up and coming New York City in the 1890's. The movie describes the struggle of young, underpaid newsboys and is loosely based on the Newsboys Strike of 1899. The wealthy owner of the newspaper, Joseph Pulitzer, makes the decision to raise prices of the newspapers, exploiting the work of the young newsboys. At this time, New York was very dependent on child laborers who worked long hours in dangerous conditions for a very small price. Business and company executives exploited these young workers to create more profit for themselves. This movie also demonstrates the prejudice against youth by demonstrating the disregard the adult figures had for the wants and needs of the young newsboys. Because they are seen as simply young, whiney boys, their legitimate concerns are pushed aside. I think people underestimate the power of youth. If you look at the history of America, youth have been a driving voice behind big, powerful movements.
ReplyDeleteI chose to watch “Lost Angels: Skid Row Is My Home.” This film showcased the homeless and gives an alternative perspective to life on the streets. Those who live among this homeless society face inequality by being harassed and arrested by the police. In the film, they explained that many of the people that live there are mentally ill and are not receiving help. This transfers into inequality because it is much more difficult for these people to obtain assistance for their medical needs and so they turn to cheap illicit drugs to medicate themselves. It really made me wonder why we ignore homeless people, but pay for criminals to have their prescriptions filled, fed three meals a day and given shelter to sleep. Though it is not the ideal situation, some homeless people voluntarily go to jail to receive these benefits.
ReplyDeleteThe Imitation game was a perfect example of gender inequality. At first a test in the news paper was given to find potential applicants for a topic secret government task the test did not specifically state that only men were qualified for the position but when Keira Knightly who played Joan in the movie showed up for the test they automatically assumed she was there for a secretarial position because the thought that a woman could be so smart was absurd. it turned out in fact that she was smart enough to join the team but because she was a woman she was afraid her family would not allow it because she would be challenging men and what man wants a woman who is smarter (or thinks shes smarter) than he is. It was crazy how back in the day woman had to limit themselves when it came to education in order to be acceptable to men and suitable for marriage.
ReplyDeleteRyan Rumph
Another movie that depicted inequality as well was legally blonde too. In the first movie Elle was portrayed as this airheaded sorority girl who's goal in life was to marriage a rich guy and live off of his money when she proved him wrong in the sequel there was a scene in the movie where one of the partner male lawyers tried to convince her that she could get a promotion or a higher position if only she were to spread her legs to get to the top. in a lot of movies today women are extremely sexualized as if all they have to offer is what is in between their legs it makes me sick to my stomach.
ReplyDeleteRyan Rumph
I watched the movie Spare Parts, which is about a couple of high school students who beat a M.I.T team in a robotics competition. The importance here is not that they were high school students but that they were all illegal immigrants from Mexico with limited resources. The inequality here is the fact that these apparently very capable, intelligent and motivated kids didn't have the opportunities offered to American citizens, not to speak about rich American citizen, and as a result their talent and energy could easily have gone to waste. The inequality lays in the system which uses illegal immigrants, they fulfill an important function in the economic system of this country by taking jobs no one else is willing to take, without granting them the rights granted to citizens. This becomes extra painful when one thinks about kid who were born and raised in the U.S, fully naturalized in most cases no doubt, but nonetheless are not accepted as citizens nor given the opportunities which other kids get. It is unequal system and the price paid by the 'illegal' immigrants is extremely high. Society as a whole I think also pays the price, perhaps not the wealthiest who gain the most from using cheap labour, as the talent and energy of these people goes to waste due to the lack of opportunity - Visar Berisha.
ReplyDeleteA movie based on a wife’s disappearance with an intense media coverage. Which later in the movie the media turns on her husband when they suspected him to not be as innocent as what was stated in the beginning. By changing the circumstances, if there was an African American man playing the husband that interview would have gone in a different direction. For example they would have not be as calm with their words in addition to it beginning a white woman missing,they would have tried to find other charges to put him in jail, and make him confess to a crime he did not commit. Personal, by replacing the white husband into a black one and it resulting in two different outcomes.
ReplyDeleteThe movie I watched is gone girl -
Sara
I chose to re-watch "Good Will Hunting", which deals with inequality due to class differences and the unequal access to education opportunities that comes with economic inequality. The protagonist, Will, is a person with photographic memory, incredibly high IQ and mathematical talent, and who is unable to go to college because he is from a poor socioeconomic background and struggles to keep a job because of anger management issues due to childhood trauma. In my opinion, this could be seen as a fictive example of what Malcom Gladwell talks about in "Outliers" when he discussed cumulative advantage (or in this case, disadvantage). It is also an example of the contextual factors or “coincidences” that become important in becoming a successful outlier. By living in Boston, Will has proximity to Harvard, and he is able to get a job as a janitor there through his parole. There he is exposed to difficult theorems which he is able to solve, and as he happens to be arrested shortly after he is able to trade jail time for mathematical education and therapy, which gives him greater opportunity to realize his potential. It is not unlikely though that Gladwell would point this out as a “rags to riches” story, and say that for a lot of people with the same socioeconomic background and high IQ as Will is not able to overcome contextual factors working against them, and that it is important that we study these contextual factors to make better sense of inequality. - Malin Niklasson
ReplyDeleteI decided to re-watch the movie “The Hunger Games” because I feel like its main theme is inequality in society. The movie takes place in a country that is divided by 12 districts. The Totalitarian government of the Capitol rules all the districts. The Capitol holds most of the countries wealth and makes decisions among the other districts. We can see clearly how the main theme represents inequality when Katniss, the main character, is chosen to participate in the Hunger Games. At a party, the guests are using a pill to make themselves vomit so they could eat more. In the beginning of the movie we can see how the people in District 12, which is where is from, are starving to death. Katniss sees how the residents of the capital have all the food they want and even throw it away and in district 12 there is not enough food. These two scenes are a contrast on how the government favors certain individuals just for being born at The Capitol.
ReplyDeleteI watched the movie Crash. Crash is a movie that shows inequality all over. Crash takes place in Los Angeles which is a city known to have high racial tensions. The African Americans in Crash speak badly of the Koreans, the Koreans, speak badly of the Muslims, and the white officers, show extreme prejudice and racism towards African Americans throughout the movie. One instance that stood out to me was when the officers pulled over an African American couple that was having oral sex while driving their car. The officer proceeded to touch the female passenger all over her body, disrespecting her, mainly because her and her husband were black. This scene did a great job of showing the racial discrepancies that exist between the LAPD and the citizens of Los Angeles.
ReplyDelete-Jeremy Levin
I watched the documentary "its a girl" which covers populations in both China and India that host a form of "genocide" against female children, mostly due to cultural reasons. The film shows both locations and shares stories of mother's who have either aborted their girl children, abandoned them, or neglected them as children. The documentary further covers how culture promotes the want or need of boys, or male children. Even some of the mothers shown "yearn for boy children", and the documentary suggests that there are more than 200 million girls missing from the human population due to this genocide.
ReplyDeleteIf you all are interested, the film is on both netflix and youtube.
-Elizabeth Matthew
A good film about inequality is "Trading Places" starring Eddie Murphy. In the film, a homeless man is to trade places with a rich wall-street broker by the doing of a bet between two extremely rich brothers. While the film is comedy, it makes points about both inequality and the extreme difference in cultures the two have compared to one another. Additionally, it shows the power the rich have to literally ruin or make peoples lives. I thought recently of this movie while listening to the song "Institutionalized" by Kendrick Lamar, which speaks of the inability for someone from a poor community like Compton, California to fit in with the super wealthy elite of America. In the song it says "You can took the homie out the hood, but you can't take the hood out the homie".
ReplyDeleteK. Engle
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ReplyDeleteAnother movie that depicts inequality is Higher Learning, directed by John Singleton and starring Ice Cube. In the movie, the elements of race and background of college students is examined and we delve into the differences people have when getting to a university. The cops continue to terrorize the African American students and racism remains prevalent. Through the movie, the value of an education becomes apparent in that it is a uniting force that allows everyone to have both better opportunities and to come together as a community, not as one divided.
ReplyDelete- K Engle
The first film about inequality I chose to re-watch was Freedom Writers. Based in Long Island, CA, the film is about a young teacher that moves to Woodrow Wilson High School to help with its new racial integration program. The new teacher faces difficulties with gaining control, of her classroom, and her class self-segregates into groups based on race. With issues relating to money, family, and school, her students are also facing the inequalities of their school system. As the new teacher struggles, most of her supervisors provide little support for her and her students. The Long Beach school system assumes that these students are not likely to succeed because of their economic class and race. The sort of system discourages the students from reaching their full capabilities. With the help of their new teacher, the students begin to reach academic success after receiving a proper education from their school system.
ReplyDeleteThe second film about inequality I watched was Remember the Titans. The film is about a new coach who tries to introduce a racially diverse team at T. C. Williams High School in Alexandria, VA, in 1971. Throughout the film, the new team and their coach receive a large amount of criticism and racism from their community that results in violence and riots. This film displays inequality because during their football games, the team faces discrimination from the referee staff because of their diversity. This unfair treatment leads to a scandal that shows how systems of power try to oppress racial groups from succeeding like those with privilege.
ReplyDeleteThe movie that I watched was The Island by Michael Bay. I was hesitant to use this particular movie for this assignment because the concept of inequality is taken too far to the extreme - the human beings that were harvested as clones of the rich are objectified and are left bereft of any rights. Aside from this plot element, the movie displays a dystopian society as a portrayal of one outcome of what our present society would look like if it progressed without any change. The rich and powerful are able to buy into immorality by literally owning these clones of themselves and rid themselves of any disability or disease, while the poor are left to face death without any hope of a better standard of living. As you can see, there are many layers of inequality and negligence of human rights being depicted in this story. Don't worry too much about the clones, however, they escape out of the facility and our given the chance to live out their own lives.
ReplyDeleteThe first film I watched with inequality as a theme was Django Unchained, about a freed slave that travels around with a bounty hunter, in search to find his wife. Throughout the film Django is constantly looked at like a ghost by people in the towns and on plantations because he is a black man on a horse. Whilst this does take place during slavery, it is evident in the movie that seeing a black man in the south not on a plantation, and instead riding a horse was socially unaccepted. We also witness multiple slave-owners who even though Django appears to be a somewhat educated freed slave, they still talk down to him and will not treat him equal to his Caucasian partner. I believe inequality is one of the biggest themes in Django Unchained because the racial inequalities shown throughout the film are nearly impossible to go unnoticed as majority of the african americans are either servants or in slavery, while we are introduced to many whites who are in power.
ReplyDeleteJames Bull
I watched Django Unchained; this film was about a black slave who was set free and in order to find and free his wife who was a servant he teams up with a white bounty hunter. People see Django differently than they do other people, setting the theme of inequality. The fact that he is a moderately-educated free black man who is traveling on a horse was alarming and confusing to people in the film. The relationship between the two was interesting and was symbolic of many of the racial struggles we see today in society. When Django finally does find his wife, she is locked in a hole underground; this along with how Django was treating in his flashbacks really shows how class differences can affect people and while slavery is the most extreme case, we do see issues in class and demographic differences today.
ReplyDeleteI rewatched Remember the Titans in which inequality is a large theme of the film. It is centered around race and the various opportunities whites are granted and blacks are prohibited from. Inequality took form in two main ways - individually and institutionally. Both go hand in hand really. Being a racist created a larger gap of inequality although the system and institutions at that time made it the norm as well. One's personal bias could create inequality (i.e. refs being racist and therefore treating black players unfairly) or it could be more blanketed within an institution such as refusing service to people of color within one's establishment. Inequality is featured within this film in various different ways.
ReplyDeleteThe movie John Q is a great example of inequality and social injustice. The film includes how the medical insurance industry impacts the lives of blacks and blue-collar workers. The main character played by Denzel Washington has a son who needs a heart transplant, but because of issues with their insurance company and lack of good credit he struggles to get his son's name on the transplant list. The message one can take from this movie is that economic and social inequality in America significantly impacts the health and welfare of many Americans.
ReplyDeletea. An example of a movie that displays a theme of inequality would be The Help. In this movie examples of racial inequality as well as social and gender inequality are presented to the viewer. The main character is Skeeter who is an independent and unprejudiced young woman right out of college. She interviews African-American maids working in households in Jackson, Mississippi during the early 1960s. The film discusses the workings of a segregated society at the beginning of the Civil Rights movement. In this movie the racial tensions are high because the white community uses violence and coercion to keep the Civil Rights Movement from coming into town. Skeeter tries to challenge the unfair practices that make the lives of the black members such as the maids Aibileen and Minny difficult. This movie also shows stereotypes of race being challenged in society and how it can be hard to eliminate views that have been in place for generations.
ReplyDeleteAn example of a movie that displays inequality is The Purge. In the movie, an annual event called the purge occurs in which crime is legal for 12 hours. People that can not afford to shelter themselves during the night of the purge are subjected to acts of violence such as torture and ultimately death. Meanwhile wealthier people lounge comfortably in their homes with advanced security systems. This serves as a way for the government to keep poverty down by systematically kill off poor and homeless people, and keep the level of crime down, as people just wait until the night of the purge to cleanse themselves of their ill desires. -Damarr Gordon
ReplyDeleteI watched a documentary called 12 O' Clock Boys. It focuses on the life of a young boy in Baltimore as he goings through his life in the dangerous Westside block that is an economically poor city. It goes through a three year span of the boy demonstrating his drive to be a part of The Twelve O' Clock Boys who are a group of dirt-bike riders that travel through the streets of Baltimore even though it is illegal. Also the documentary follows as Pug loses is brother, gets his dirt-bike stolen, and in counters the police.
ReplyDeleteHey Eva,
DeleteThis was a really awesome documentary, and totally agree that it's about inequality. It's impressive how much the young boy changes as a result of his environment (idolizing the 12 O' Clock Boys and becoming one himself). If he hadn't been raised in that side of Baltimore, I wonder if he would've turned out the same way?
Hey Eva,
DeleteThis was a really awesome documentary, and totally agree that it's about inequality. It's impressive how much the young boy changes as a result of his environment (idolizing the 12 O' Clock Boys and becoming one himself). If he hadn't been raised in that side of Baltimore, I wonder if he would've turned out the same way?
Over the weekend I wastched a documentary called Tricked. It gave an inside look at human trafficking in the United States. The documentary featured the testimonies of former sex workers, johns, and pimps. One former sex worker, Danielle, described how some pimps "groom" women to prepare them for sex work. According Danielle, this is a period where the pimp acts like a boyfriend; wining and dining the woman, buying her nice things, and telling her that he loves her. Danielle recalls that that phase soon ends, and the man forces the woman into sex work. Some people believe that prostitution is a choice and can't understand the concept of being forced to sell your body. Others believe that prostitution is a win-win for all parties; the johns get sex, while the pimp and sex worker split the profit. The documentary insists that these beliefs are far from accurate. Sex workers almost never receive any of the money they make from selling their bodies. In addition, sex workers are often targeted by police while the pimps are almost never under fire.
ReplyDeleteOver the weekend I watched the movie Titanic. The movie is a very clear example of inequality between social classes. Throughout the movie the viewer can observe how the upper class passengers get treated better than the middle or lower class. A good example of how inequality is the main theme in the movie is right after the Titanic hits the iceberg. The upper class passengers are not worried about the crisis happening but rather if there would be enough space to be confortable on the lifeboat. The movie shows how they treated the lower and middle class like animals by not allowing them to get on the lifeboats until the majority of upper class passengers were on board. In the time of crisis there should not have to preference about which passengers to help first but rather on how to make sure everybody is safe.
ReplyDeleteSo I watched two movies. One was a documentary called Inequality for All; and, the second movie I watches was call The Piano Lesson. Inequality for All is a great documentary and I highly recommend it. The plot of the movie is simple. Robert Reich discusses inequality in America after the 2008 financial crisis. He compares today’s income inequality to the 1920s, 1960s and so one. It covers almost all of the topics we have discussed in class. He also gives you gives visual representations; which is great because I am a visual person. The second movie The Piano Lesson is about a family who stolen the piano of the Southern family who owned them during slavery. The piano had wood cravings on it of the slave family members and family events (births, jumping the brooms wedding, death, slaves who were sold and never seen again, etc. In 1936, the piano is now owned by the now freed African American and we see the problems they still face. One of the problems they face is income inequality. Some family members feel that the piano should be sold for current financial gain; while other family members state that the piano represents due payment from the white family who once owned them to the slaves who worked their land.
ReplyDeleteI recently watched There Will Be Blood - a movie about the rise and fall of an oil magnate in the late 19th century. The movie follows the story of a man who is consumed by greed, who, through neglect of his son and betrayal of friends, grows insane. Throughout the movie we are exposed the mass inequality difference between the oil workers and the owner of the business. We also see the deception (similar to Michael Lewis' examples in Liar's Poker) that existed in the oil industry at that time. It really shows the effects of inequality at the beginnings of the Robber Baron era.
ReplyDelete-David Teitelbaum
Recently I watched Django Unchained and inequality is a theme that is prevalent throughout the film. In the movie, Django, a freed slave, becomes a bounty hunter which allows him to hunt and kill slaveholders throughout the country, unheard at that time. Django uses this position to track down the slave owners that tormented him and his wife during capture and get revenge. This rise in power is a quality of inequality. Additionally, throughout the film most of the people Django comes across are confused as to why a educated black man is in the position he is in, whether riding on horseback or at the table during a dinner. Some individuals choose to ignore Django's status and disrespect or talk to him condescendingly, while others respect this status and revere Django.
ReplyDeleteThe movie I watched was Freakonomics. It is a movie based on a book of the same name and it details the hidden inequality of different issues. The movie focused on inequality within sumo wrestling and how trickle down economics works within this industry and keeps a majority very rich, and a majority very poor. This book also has a section on names and how what we choose to name children has an implication for their earning potential because of implications about their intelligence and potential. One of the most important sections about inequality occurred in a discussion about abortion. While the author was not advocating for increased abortions he was discussing the importance of pro choice bills because they prevent unwanted births which has implications for crime prevalence because unloved children have a higher risk of becoming juvenile delinquents. The importance of these sections on naming and abortion to inequality surrounds minorities and disadvantaged predominately neighborhoods that have people kept in poverty because something as basic as a name keeps an otherwise qualified individual poor. Making it harder to have abortions creates an atmosphere of unwilling mothers (oftentimes single mothers) and these mothers have decreased opportunity and are more likely to remain in poverty.
ReplyDeleteI watched Inequality For All, a documentary about former Labor Secretary to Bill Clinton, Robert Reich, who dedicated his career to studying and teaching about the fluctuation of income inequality in the US. The most staggering part of the documentary, to me, was how easily Reich's studies were ignored by the media, and even by government figures who would immediately label his ideas communism when all he was doing was presenting the facts about inequality. For example he found that the top marginal tax rates were adversely proportional to inequality over the last century, meaning the more the rich are taxed, the less inequality we face. Even presenting this data gets himself called a socialist, even though he shows us that Eisenhower (a republican whom nobody dared call a socialist) was taxing the highest class at 91% whereas anyone who tries to raise the top marginal tax rate at today's 35% is called a communist. I understand that the argument raising the top marginal tax rates isn't denying that inequality is there, but instead, its denying that inequality is a problem. But the fact that the US economy thrives on consumer spending (making up 70% of our entire economy) shows that the financial standing of the middle class should be the priority instead of the so-called job creators who have been getting the tax breaks in recent years. After all the middle class are the ones who are consuming anyway. Reich presented these ideas really clearly and in a welcoming tone throughout the whole documentary, and in dealing with so many people rolling their eyes at him and calling him names, he shows an incredible amount of patience which I really admire.
ReplyDeleteI forgot to put my name--Greg Battista
DeleteSo I initially wanted to talk about The Hunger Games, because it's about inequality, but I decided to watch a movie called "Walkout" which covers a civil rights movement for Latino Americans in the California. During the 1960 many of Latinos and Hispanics were aware of the mistreatment they received in the school system, and wanted a change, like most races other than whites, in United States. Instead of riots they staged a number of walkouts from the classrooms, in the movie they compared it to the Martin Luther King organizing a boycott of the buses. This movie reminded me of the very recent boycott in 2011 that Hispanics had, where they urged their people to not go to work, schools, or shops, to show the impact they have on this country. People want to be treated equally especially since we all put in just as much work to make this country strive. In the movie like most peaceful protest, there is an agitator, usually the people meant to protect us, thus resulting in a more violent display. Thus in the end their voices were heard. It comes back down to what Obama's message, the young people have to push for change for the new future.
ReplyDelete