#gradedpost week7

[noifsandsorbutlers]

Gay Moment in Beauty and the Beast:

The Live Action remake of Beauty and the Beast came out on March 17th and I went to see it right away. As some of you may have heard the director let it slip that there would be a gay moment featured in the film. Without spilling too much I can say that this was an incredibly progressive film as far as all kinds of gender and sexuality boundaries. The relationship between Gaston and Lefou was presented in an interesting way, as well as the portrayal of Belle. It’s nice to see a Disney film portraying gender roles and sexualities in accepting ways. Of course this was met with some backlash from certain people and parents but overall it seems most people were totally in support of it which is awesome. I recommend this movie and it does have a lot of material about gender and sexuality that would be interesting to discuss. 

Erin Yanew, March 18th 

[mrdarcycherryblossom-blog]

Culture

I remember seeing this poster for the first time in my first year of university. Back then at first glance, I couldn’t see what the big deal was. At the time, I remember being confused, thinking it wasn’t a big deal because it was Halloween and Halloween involved costumes, and why shouldn’t someone be allowed to wear a costume? 

Well, first-year-university-Shelby, there a few reasons. 

For one thing, these people posing in the poster are sending a message. They’re saying they’re not comfortable with their culture being appropriated the way it is, and if someone says “no, I don’t like this,” I think we as a society need to understand that they mean it. We shouldn’t get to say “that’s too bad you don’t like this, because I do, so I’m going to do this anyway.” We should be standing up for each other, not putting each other down. Especially over something as small as a costume you wear for a single night one day of the year. 

[noifsandsorbutlers]

While reading the essay, Decolonization is Not a Metaphor, I was reminded of this photo of Hilary Duff's Halloween costume appropriating indigenous culture. The picture puts the concept of "playing Indian" into a real aspect. Though the celebrity has since apologized, culural appropriation is still very prevalent in our society.

Cultural appropriation separates cultural identity and works to eliminate the profound concept of culture. Specific practices of culture are devalued and stripped of its meaning. Furthermore, negative stereotypes are enforced when indigenous culture is remediated in this form.

While some seemingly forms of cultural appropriation can see as innocent,  even those will have a negative effect. Perhaps increased awareness of to the negative effects appropriation and will help us to eliminate it from our society.

[noifsandsorbutlers]

Shame and Prejudice

I was looking for something to post this week and I came across this video that brings out the reasoning behind some of Kent Monkman’s paintings. He explains how his relative had been to residential school and that she didn't talk about what had happened to her. In a few of my classes we have been discussing residential school and how it was such  horrific time. His paintings describe something that we dont all see to the naked eye. He used such things that truly make people think about what the painting is trying to say. This video just describes some of the technique  and reasoning behind his work!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxQ4c7mIuOM

-Cara Schamber 

[ualbertaleadership2017-blog]

I am not usually one to be very political, but I wanted to pick an article that tied to current events.  The recent 2016 election has sparked tons of conversation about leadership, specifically negative traits that should not be associated with leaders.  

When I was working in the US last summer, the upcoming election was a hot topic of conversation.  People would often joke about moving to Canada and would seek a Canadians opinion on the election.  Meeting people who supported Trump and others who supported Clinton, I heard different reasons why people chose to support them.  Both of them are leaders, but that does not necessarily mean they lead effectively.  

This article simply ties some of Trump’s traits back to leadership.  Specifically, there are two traits that have helped him get where he is today and two weaknesses that can be harmful.  

STRENGTHS: 

Confident Presence and Clarity of Message

You must admit, that whether you agree with Trump or not, his messages are highly publicized and talked about by many.  In my opinion, these traits contributed to his success in the presidential election.  The most important part of this article is how these are tied back to general leadership and provide tools that we can use to say something worth hearing.  

WEAKNESSES: 

Lack of Humility and Lack of Empathy

I believe that these are the reasons that the 2016 election was so polarizing.  Empathy is clearly an important element of leadership as it was one of the entry questions for this program.