Author: IAN K

The East’s stolen property and how can we return it?

On By IAN KIn Orientalism2 Comments

The East was robbed in their say of how they should be portrayed around the world. Westerners have a tendency to meddle with other cultures by absorbing traditions and customs to try and make them their own. This is harmful within itself, but the extent to which this can be taken is far more dangerous than some think. It is important to portray other cultures correctly and is a step forward that everyone should be making.

Western media has such a big influence on the people who engage in it. From cinema to television, the things that are portrayed on these platforms can fuel the mindsets of its viewers. Our minds tend to absorb the things we view and it’s hard for one to decipher whether something is accurate or blatantly offensive. Western media has done a particularly poor job of portraying Eastern life in many different ways. “Aladin” is commonly brought up when discussing orientalism in film. You see a bloodthirsty Arab man and a poverty-stricken setting where we can get a first look at what westerners think of the East. For a company as large as Disney, it’s disappointing to see the Easterners being robbed of their true story all for the benefit of the western people. This is especially dangerous due to the movie’s preferred age group being children, a group that is so easily influenced by media.

Edward Said’s ideas expand on concepts far deeper than “Aladin”. The way he would see a movie like “Aladin” is that people are choosing what they want to see. Meaning, we love the beauty and elegancy of Eastern culture but chose to also depict them as violent and poor. You cant do that. If you are going to take the true beauty of a culture, then you can’t turn around and decide to depict them as something else all based on how it appeals to you. We see in Cardi B’s music video for “Bodak Yellow” her riding a camel in the middle of a desert, wearing a hijab. This is her idea of what she thinks is beautiful and although it is, it is unfair for westerners to pick and choose when they want to respect Eastern traditions and cultures.

Returning one’s culture isn’t nesasarilly something that is done overnight. Going back to “Aladin”, if your going to depict a beautiful princess and castle of a certain culture, their counterpart should be equally presented with the same respect and truth. And if that is defective to the plot then questioning the story as a whole should be considered.

The Fool.

On By IAN KIn King Lear3 Comments

Jester’s roles in a kingdom are seldom admired roles in stories or in history. When you think of a jester, you tend to think of a clownish comedian whose sole purpose is to entertain the rich. In most cases that is true. Jesters are traditionally a way for the rich to entertain themselves whenever they please and the jester must do so. So it’s interesting to see Shakespear take such an alternative route when introducing the character ¨The Fool¨.

Key moments and facts | King Lear | Royal Shakespeare Company

The Fool still plays the role of any other jester to the king. That doesn’t necessarily change. He is meant to entertain the king whenever the king pleases and he must do so all the time. What makes The Fool different from other jesters is its importance to the audience. The Fool is our entertainer as the reader. Instead of The Fool telling stories and acting funny for us, he gives us insight on less surface-level topics that surround the king’s mind. It is fair to say that whether The Fool is real or just the king’s conscious, he knows everything about the king. As the king’s protector, the fool is an advocate for all of King Lear’s actions. We see this most prevalently in the storm scene where The Fool stands in the rain and gives the audience a full speech on King Lear’s actions. This is Shakespeare’s subtle way of getting what he needs to say said. Instead of having Lear unnaturally explain his genuine thoughts and ideas at one time to the audience, The Fool is our entertainer and does these things for us.

In my opinion, I think The Fools character is a vital piece in ¨King Lear¨ because his character creates a flow in the story that is almost a comic relief to the audience in this tragic story. So in the end it is safe to say that The Fool is the reader’s jester.

There is a crazy fan in all of us

On By IAN KIn Poetry4 Comments

Stan by Eminem (Ft. Dido)

Marshal Mathers also known as Eminem is known as one of the most controversial artists in Hip/Hop. He is known for talking about topics such as murder, domestic violence, and suicide. Topics such as these are considered taboo amongst mass media, but the “Marshal Mathers Lp” being the highest-selling Hip/Hop album of all time, shows that Eminem is capable of breaking traditional cancel culture, unlike any other artist.

In particular, “Stan” is one of Eminem’s greatest pieces of work, and in some views, it is considered one of the greatest rap songs of all time. His ability to tell a story all at the pace of a beat is sometimes incomprehensible to the common listener. Eminem in particular is known for his advanced rhyme schemes and meticulous play on words, this song, in particular, isn’t about a masterful rhyme scheme though. Instead, it takes a slower pace and just tells a story.

Stan is a reference to a fan who is obsessed with a famous person. They devote their lives to these artists by acting like them and acquiring features that are similar to the artist. In this song, the main character is named Stan. Stan does everything that a “Stan” would do. The song is narrated as a reading of the Letters that Stan has written for eminem. Each letter becomes more and more passionate as Eminem doesn’t respond. These letters are told in form of a verse and each verse represents one letter written. These verses are broken up by a chorus that goes:

“My tea’s gone cold I’m wondering why I
Got out of bed at all
The morning rain clouds up my window
And I can’t see at all
And even if I could it’ll all be gray
Put your picture on my wall
It reminds me, that it’s not so bad
It’s not so bad”

The thing that is so impressive about this song is its ability to not feel like poetry. Each line is jam-packed with hidden material and a rhyme scheme but it just feels like you listening to someone read a handwritten letter out loud. It’s not until you think about it deeper than the first listen, that you understand how difficult that is to achieve but also how poetic this song truly is.

The letters end in Stan killing himself along with his pregnant wife. It’s very grim and has a lot of shock value to the listener. But it’s Eminem so what did you expect. Eminem writes Stan back, but it is too late and he exclaims his discomfort towards Stan’s obsession as a whole. Eminem wrote this song as a dramatic way to tell his fans that his music is never that serious. Nothing he says or does should be taken so seriously as to end up like Stan. Even if you support or are against Eminem’s music, you should never care about it enough to where you act out on a dangerous scale. Even though Stan is an extreme representation of what this looks like. Eminem feels that some people arent to far from what his song “Stan” talks about

Unfinished love

On By IAN KIn Exit West3 Comments

Saeed and Nadia are a very interesting couple. Nadia straight off the bat is powerful and dominant. She even rides a motorcycle. Saeed happens to be a little more dependant on his parents and in most western traditional relationships would be considered unmanly.

Their love is put to the test in “Out West” by being put in a war setting where they must rely on each other for survival and comfort. We as the reader wait patiently as their conflicts unroll for the moment that they either get married or make love or anything special. But instead, we get nothing. I am no critic but I felt a little disappointed in the last few pages (final chapter) because I had waited for something to come from this relationship. They had suffered through death and all the emotions that make someone vulnerable, yet Nadia wasn’t satisfied and felt that their love was weakening by the day. In the reader’s eyes, the two main characters leave each other in a peaceful but meaningless way. It’s peaceful because they are at peace with one another and with their lives but their relationship had amounted to nothing. It’s hard to tell what the central theme of this story was but my best guess would revolve around their relationship. So the ending only let me and I’m sure many others with its open for interpretation ending.

Cries of Hate

On By IAN KIn Stranger2 Comments

In the second half of The Stranger we discover an understanding of Mersault in a different way. He has come to terms with his present reality. Prison isn’t all that bad in his perspective after all. He has done what most people could never, and found the appreciation in endless suffering. Because in endless suffering their are silver linings that Mersault has began to become fond of. Soon he will discover that he in fact does not have to live his life out in prison but instead he will be freed from his life by death.

“The day of my execution…they greet me with cries of hate” why would a man want words of hate on his last day of life. He has grown in terms of self understanding and can now enjoy experiences unlike before. Ever since he entered prison, having everything taken away he can now see life in a whole new perspective. in some strange sence, he wants to feel the hatred of others because hes never experienced it before because he was unable to comprehend these feelings.

Strange reactions.

On By IAN KIn Stranger2 Comments

In part one of “The Stanger” by Albert Camus, we are introduced to Monsieur Meursault, a peculiar character who has an immediate list of noticeable flaws to the way he reacts to things.

The first part of the book is structure in a way that shows us right off the bat what kinda charecter we are dealing with. Besides the main characters mother dying. The conflicts are set up in a way where they chronologically get worse and worse as the story goes on. It starts off by talking about his neighbors dog and its abusive owner and part one ends by him murdering a man. Very drastically different things but the reactions are similar. Both of these times he shows his inhumane response to something that most people would be bothered by.

“Then he beats the dog and swears at it”… “I said ‘good evening'”. When we are introduced to Salamono and his inhumane treatment of his dog, it is almost hard to read because we have to hear about how he treats his old sick dog. As the reader we expect the main character to speak in a similar way but he never does. Instead we get a strange response like “Good evening” following his indepth description of this poor dog.

“I knew I had shattered the harmony of the day” is Mansieur Meursault’s first response after shooting a man to death. Any sane person would be worried about a million different things after shooting a man, not about the “harmony of the day”. But the Meursault is not a sane person. His constant odd reactions show us that there are far more physiological problems under the main characters skin that we are hopefully going to discover in later chapters.