Gun Hill Road

The film, “Gun Hill Road”, depicts a chaotic narrative of a father denying his daughters acceptance from her transitioning from the opposite gender after he was victimized of sexual harassment in prison. Throughout the film, the viewer constantly sees how hate and negligence is a concurrent aspect, and the writer brings to attention the shamefulness the father, Enrique aids in his daughter, Vanessa’s negligence and pushes her to believe she doesn’t exist. It is common in today’s society to see members of the LGBTQ community to be ostracized and dehumanized for outrageous beliefs. The impact of being able to see this performance is nothing but validated and legitimate. Being able to see a transsexual female on screen provides the audience with an everlasting lesson about the ideals of the norms brought upon today’s society, that may make some members of this community feel inferior. We get to see the uneasy, insecure gestures Venessa makes when trying to negotiate sex with partners, and the dangerous interactions with her father that pushes her to engage in other masculine activities. Although, his portrayal of love for his daughter and wife may seem abysmal to the viewers eyes, its still entirely there. He’s never meant to hurt his family nor intentionally touched to hurt them in any way. It’s just infuriating to see someone want their child to be something they are not because Enrique wants Vanessa to live through him by enforcing masculinity that he once lost in prison. Gun Hill Road’s portrayal of the embodiment of gender, sexuality, and cultural roles on one family contributes to the struggle of community and society today.

One of Life’s Biggest Adversities

Now I wouldn’t want to conjecture my thesis off of mankind’s ability to subjectify human beings to the fatuous, minuscule thought of what is being normal, but speaking for myself, I’d like to express my thoughts on those victimized for not following the societal norms presented today.

There’s a sufficient amount of ideologies that concentrate on the scheme of “normal” being something of a construct of one being’s mind and the world shouldn’t exist based on this this subjectivity. Regardless of whether this idea is true or not, this should be acknowledged in our thoughts and it reveals the narcissistic and self-centeredness us humans may unconsciously be.

Empathy and sympathy is a result of societal norms. We empathize those who are “different” in societies eyes, proving our egocentric personalities that dominate our lives because, we can imagine what our lives would be like provided that we experienced the same thing. We sympathize those in pain resulting from rejection, resentment, and displeasure from themselves and their peers, due to them experiencing misfortune. Their living conditions make you question is the world rooting for us or is it against us?

Hide Me

The kind of home

where you hear someone

rip your clothes

cut your hair

yell at you

Behind the closed doors

you see laughter

And experience sorrow

meanwhile your nose is running proving your feeling of

Ostracism.

I’m scared.

 

It’s not that

I’m different

but society views my condition

as something that shouldn’t

be acknowledge

nor remembered.

We emphasize and sympathize those in need, but when there’s a call for action we flee. Ralph Emerson said, “The ancestor of every action is a thought.” The thought of normalcy clouded people’s judgments on new ideas and acceptance for many generations and we could put a stop to that now.

Never Let Me Go Close Reading

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Ishiguro begins this narrative by saying, “My name is Kathy H…I’ve been a carer for over eleven years…” Providing us with a first-person narrative seems powerful as she is telling her story, of whatever she has in store for the reader. Although the narrator’s opinion may be biased, leaving the reader forced to believe what he/she says, may be a blessing and a curse because, we don’t know we don’t know how moved her story is going to be. She then goes onto, use the words “they”, “they’ve” repeatedly. For example, “they want me to go…” and “they’ve been pleased with my work” portrays the idea of her being manipulated and she doesn’t have much power in the situation she’s currently in. Also, she doesn’t seem frustrated in doing whatever “they” tell her to do, showing her acceptance of her current lifestyle. She then goes onto talk about her being a “carer”, which we don’t have any context to really understand what that means at this point in the narrative. However, she then elaborates with “If you’re one of them…” ultimately directing her audience to those living in an uncontrollable life. In regards to being creative, Ishiguro emphasizes being creative is a key in the beginning of the narrative, which relates to society today, because people make judgments on your character based on how creative your or in other words, what can you do that makes you different?

Survive

Narrator:         You can’t be a survivor but must become one. Becoming a survivor means you made it through physical, mental, and spiritual battles. Those who think their survivors believe them enduring pain and suffering without fighting the battle and sustaining hope, can just to give themselves the title. Those who became survivors have strong attributes that express their resilience and leadership qualities that help them rise above traumatic experiences. They can say they’ve survived and are alive and can proclaim their stories to the world.

 

Person 1:         A friend at work noticed my scar today. I had my check up last week and everything looked good. It first started when I was 21 years old. I began to have headaches along with blindness in my right eye, and the inability to speak during my headaches. I could think of the word but couldn’t say it. It was as if I was trapped inside a house on fire, with no fire department to call.

 

It was later revealed I had an astrocytoma, a low-grade glioma brain tumor. I’m appreciative to still be here to speak to you all today, even if the cancer does come back. I’m trying to use my time wisely.  However, I ruminated over my coworker examining my scar. I didn’t know how to respond as I was filled with regret, sorrow, relief, and impassive. However, I am a cancer survivor.

 

Person 2:         My mother made me endure this psychological abuse for 18 years now, but I’m finally stepping out because, I don’t want to be the one victimized, feeling as if I did something wrong and be ashamed of who I was born to be.

 

I almost made the same mistake as my mother. I was a college student with an unexpected pregnancy, and my mother was pressuring me into abortion. She told me the only children that should be born are the ones that are wanted and loved. I was conflicted because, I didn’t want this kid to go through the same mental and physical trauma I had to endure for all my life, but I came to a realization. All life is sacred, and the value of a human being is the foundation of everything a moral society stands for.

 

My mom did have an abortion procedure on me while she was pregnant, I’m still here today being allowed to share my story. I am an abortion survivor.

 

Person 3:         I am a suicide survivor. I attempted suicide at age 11 and 15. After my attempts I decided to reconnect with my Christian and Afro-Caribbean roots and developed coping skills to keep myself healthy. 30 years later I have a master’s degree in public health and over 20 years of experience. Today I am the suicide prevention program manager at the National Suicide Prevention Hotline.

 

Over the years I’ve realized death happens to everyone, not just you and me. Suicide maybe the easy way out, but definitely not the right choice. Life is precious and beautiful. Keep going, your amazing and strong. You’re not alone because I fight these demons every day. You feel as if you lost a piece your heart, mind, soul and sanity, and have to get up every day and act like everything is happy. Your life is just getting started.

 

Everyone goes through hardships. When people see us, telling our stories, it’s for something bigger than us…it’s for them. That’s why we are survivors.