Persepolis

After reading Persepolis, I definitely have a different viewpoint of other cultures I normally would categorize into stereotypes. It brought to light the good that lives inside the bad. Marji was just a girl going through her life the way she wanted and everything was uprooted and turned around for her, she was forced to wear the veil when she didn't want, forced to a school with all girls where she was separated from her friends, and she had to forget what she new about the old regime and relearn the new. The book shows the struggles her family goes through as well, and how they didn't want to abide by the new laws that were set in place for them. For Satrapi to include this factor it gives insight that even adults were forced to change everything they knew against their will or go to jail.
I think in today's society if a culture were to benefit from a "Persepolis-like" view it would be North Korea. All we think of when we hear North Korea is bombs and dictatorship. But we don't know what actually goes on inside of the country.

Bloody Saturday

The photo I chose to analyze is "Bloody Saturday" by H.S. Wong. The photograph was taken in 1937 and is black and white and depicts a baby, maybe one or two, dirty, alone, and crying sitting on the edge of railroad tracks with debris all around him. The subject of the photo is how awful and devastating the bombings in Shanghai were. The picture wasn't planned. The photographer said when he got to the South Station he saw the baby wailing while his mother laid dead on the tracks. The photo made me sad at first but the more I looked at it I got sort of angry that this awful thing had happened to the baby and he had no control of it whatsoever. I think that my reaction was exactly what the photographer was hoping for, to spark interest in people and open our eyes to the havoc war is causing.

Aspiration

Aspiration by Aaron Douglas was created in 1936 during the Harlem Renaissance. The painting represents the path of African American people from the chains of slavery to the city on the hill. The Harlem Renaissance was a new age for African Americans as they reached toward equality in the United States. The Harlem Renaissance was the first time African Americans felt they had a voice and each aspired to be something better but attaining an education and success on "the hill". The 3 people featured in the painting are showing the want and trying of moving forward, while the hands in chains represent that they will never forget their past. The city on top of the hill is also a focal point, we can tell because the figures attention are directed at it. But, to the left behind the figures there appears to be a storm coming, but they cannot see it. This represents the tough days that are to come, the figures don't know how hard it is going to be to get there but they believe it is possible.