In the Asked and Answered article, the first question and answer stuck out to me. Shirin Neshat's film brings the ideas and culture of the Muslim community into play. She states in her answer that "we need to build dialogue to encourage tolerance and respect". I could not agree with her more. Her saying this reminds me of the movie Gran Torino. The whole movie was extremely racist and it did not hide that fact. Big companies such as Warner Bros. refused to sign for this movie because of how racist it is. I recall watching an interview with Clint Eastwood about this movie, and he said something along the lines "we will never get passed racism if we cannot even laugh and joke about it". I agreed with what he had to say. There is no way society can get over specific issues that constantly affect people as a whole if the problem is not even acknowledged. The issue must be attacked head on and be brought up to the public in someway.
The question regarding Neshat's film being shown in Iran brought me a good chuckle. Legally, the film will not be shown in Iran. Although, Neshat said that she found out her work was being distributed underground. She even said she was delighted to hear the news that piracy was helping her film be seen. I just thought this was funny because illegal actions are happening but Neshat is happy with it. Her ideas are being watched thanks to the underground and piracy, so it can be a good thing too.
I chose to use this political cartoon because it illustrates what I want to say. When things get to rough or when no one wants to face the truth, many times people will simply look the other way. This does not solve any problems whatsoever. It just allows the task at hand to be prolonged and ignored. In the cartoon, the president realized throwing men into war was mistakenly a horrible choice. However, the president did not want to admit that, so the secretary came up with an excuse to cover up any suspicions. Looking the other way and/or ignoring the situation rarely helps resolve problems. Issues need to be faced directly in order to find the solution.
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ReplyDeleteI agree, many issues including those regarding racism are better solved when they are face directly and head on as opposed to indirectly grazing over it. I too, chuckled a bit when I read that Neshat was pleased to know her work was being distributed illegally. I think this pleased her because at least someone was viewing her work. I like the picture you chose as well because it really supports your argument.
ReplyDeleteI also loved Nashat's approach to handling racism and her attempts to begin to alleviate it. Her approach was education on both sides, and an embrace of the cultures on both sides to lead to an eventual understanding. She does not want to heighten the problem, but merely acknowledging the issues and continuing to bring them to light for her audiences.
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