Media Reviews
I have always been an avid reader; however, I was never someone who would sit down after finishing a book or novel to critique and review it. I sat with the book in silence, enjoying the little gems I found inside and simply sharing what I thought with friends and family...much to their ire as I chased them around my house reading my favourite quotes and trying to impress upon them the weight within each perfectly formed sentence that had captured my heart and soul.
Of course, when I began my academic career, I found myself being assigned books and films that I had to critique and review, which helped me find new ways to explore media and share my thoughts to more than the backs of my family as they tried to escape my solo renditions.
Academic Papers
Exploring the themes of Grendel by John Gardner as a mirror of not just man’s monstrosity, but of the complexity of human nature where even the monstrous can have moments of mercy.
This is a critique of a favourite novel of mine where I examined how Grendel challenges the ideals of humanity, set within a fantastical world that touches our own, and how Grendel’s meaning transcends time both within the novel itself and for the reader.
Fiction
Order follows strict social laws setting the guidelines for interactions between strangers, family, and friends, which was important in Ancient Greek culture. In Homer’s The Odyssey, the poet observes opposite reflections of order and chaos and strife through many aspects of the story but specifically in the depictions of broken laws, or lawlessness. The cyclops, both their king, Polyphemus, and people, are a depiction of this lawlessness; however, Homer often reflects similar themes within his epic poem through repetition, such as the reoccurring actions that both the cyclops and the suitors demonstrate.
This essay examines how the cyclops depict lawlessness through the breaking of hospitality laws as the host, which mirrors the actions of the suitors breaking similar laws as guests.
In Peter S. Beagle’s novel, The Last Unicorn, we find a multitude of representations of heroism and the complicated nature of the hero. It is a novel written in the nature of the Romantic movement, but it transcends movements, time and culture to reflect the notions of heroism as something achievable by the common man, regardless of the age in which he dwells.
I will analyze the very nature of heroism and the tendency of it to be reflected as a natural quality of masculinity, while being something the common man desires in his pursuit to be something more than ordinary. Finally, I will show how the common man, as represented by Schmendrick, the bungling magician, is the true hero of the novel and solidifies the transcendence of the ordinary while firmly rooting heroism in masculinity.
Society plays an integral role within many of the books and stories studied so far this year. Specific to this essay, I have focused on Jane Austen’s novel, Pride and Prejudice and the question of “society functioning as a character.” The very nature of society in Austen’s work lends itself to becoming a character from the very first line to the final scene. Society’s role, at times, becomes an antagonistic one that affects the characters, their relationships with each other and their own desires as the main characters, namely Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy, work to overcome the challenges that society is presenting to the growth of their relationship.
Love is madness but even when exploring queer love, it seems to follow hegemonic, heteronormative tropes in young adult fiction. In Michelle L. Teichman’s novel, The Space Between, the reader is led through the exploration of queer awakening and young lesbian sexuality. However, in my essay, I will explore several key points of Teichman’s novel around the heteronormative tropes throughout.
In addition, I will challenge the discourses about sexuality, desire, and subjectivity within Teichman’s novel and point to them being particularly problematic when it comes to othering and heteronormative binaries.
Non-Fiction
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“Recognition, RESPECT, and reconciliation” (Joseph & Joseph, 2019), these are the cornerstones of both this in-depth book on Indigenous relations as well as building healthy relationships with Indigenous people and their communities.
Indigenous Relations: Insights, Tips & Suggestions to Make Reconciliation a Reality by Bob Joseph with Cynthia F. Joseph is a self-help guide to assist non-Indigenous individuals, organizations and businesses in their relationships with Indigenous communities. The book, a follow up to 21 Things You May Not Know about the Indian Act by the same authors, is a continuation for supporting the goal of reconciliation.
“To be in love with a psychopath and to say so with a smile,” (Valencia & Pluecker, 2018) is an opening sentence within the second chapter of Gore Capitalism by Sayak Valencia, which encapsulates the entirety of its subject. While Valencia mentions the psychopath only twice, both times in reference to her hometown of Tijuana, the personification of the psychopath, gore capitalism, and society’s love affair with it, can be felt throughout the entirety of the book.
The overall purpose of Valencia’s book is to “present evidence of the failure of neoliberal discourse to explain” gore capitalism while interpreting the violence seen throughout all aspects of hyperconsumerism, which feeds the phenomenon (Valencia & Pluecker, 2018). It is, as it were, a “guide map for understanding the realities of gore capitalism,” and while much of the book focuses on its relation to the Third World, specifically Mexico, it is an important lens that can be held up to policies of the First World and how it operates on a global scale.
Opening the pages of Annie Proulx’s book, Fen, Bog & Swamp: A Short History of Peatland Destruction and Its Role in the Climate Crisis, the reader steps into worlds often seen by humans as alien, unforgiving, unnecessary for advancement, and ripe for exploitation. Over millennia, we have viewed the world’s wetlands, not as the diverse geographical areas they are but as barriers to land and human development. Proulx’s explores this complex relationship between humans and wetlands as well as our complicated, and often destructive, history with them. Her book is a much needed lesson on how our actions regarding wetlands is driving us toward irreversible climate change.
When exploring the themes of Black resistance, Jordan Peele’s film, Get Out, is a shining example of the reconstruction of the Black narrative, which creates a resistance towards hegemonic white narratives around Black bodies.
For this analysis, I have chosen a scene from 1:36:56-1:38:00 in the film to explore how Peele highlights the stereotype of “Bogle’s bad, Black buck” (Henry King 273) that perpetuates a hypermasculine violence on the white female body before there is a firm resistance and reconstruction of the Black man from a symbol of Black violence to one of hope and goodness against the backdrop of the monstrosity of Whitopia.
Film
The documentary, The Myth of the Black Woman, deconstructs many of the most common and pervasive stereotypes placed on Black women, including the jezebel, mammy and “angry black woman” stereotypes.
My analysis looks at themes of othering expressed in the video and three questions that came up during viewing for me: 1) How do Black women find a sense of self when they are raised in a culture that reinforces the stereotypes above; 2) How can Black women overcome respectability politics when their “respectability” is determined by oppressive systems and racist beliefs from birth; and 3) What can be done to challenge those narratives when stereotypes and society decree that a body is inherently unrespectable?
