The Reverberations of Films

With respect to the current events taking place, with social issues such as racism and prejudice being illuminated through the happenings of the world, I found it an opportunity to address a few thoughts of my own; thoughts of how the world of cinema has created is in a league of its own to engage people and bring them together, irrespective of the discrimination which contaminates this world.

I was watching Ali Abdaal's video a few days ago in which he talked about the

lessons he had learnt from racism and mentioned one such lesson - that it is

important for us to take the responsibility to educate ourselves about racism and

talk about it without feeling the need to always be perfect in our knowledge about

it. In fact, the very reason why not enough people speak up about issues such as

these is out of a fear of 'knowing little or too less to have a stance on it'. After

watching Ali's video, it occured to me that I am one of the people who lie in the

bracket of not speaking enough about these things, not voicing my inner thoughts

as I feel I do not have enough experience or knowledge to do so. In order to come

out of that very bubble, I write this-

I have found that films, especially, have done what movements and figures have

been striving to do; films have been able to mould us into a single society with no

discrimination, a society which not only does not bash our differences but one

which appreciates them - a collective of people who are aware and love the fact that

our world is made up of, composed of an array of people with different cultures and

heritage, skin colour and religion, and such differences rather than considering

these differences to be a segregation of our world.

The art of cinema has truly enabled these differences to be acknowledged and

appreciated rather than just put to the side.

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One such film which has had a profound impact on myself as well as the entire

world is 'Black Panther'. Black Panther has been absolutely revolutionary; its

reverberations, the resonance of this film with the people and how effectively and

beautifully it portrays and embodies what it was intended to. Before, I always

wondered why it was so important to represent each one us and I thought, we

should instead adopt the mindset that we are all one - why let it irk us when there’s

a lack of representation if we think we are all a unit? However, now I do understand

the importance of representation myself. Representation stimulates relatability, it

evokes more emotion for us to see someone who looks like us since after all, we, the

human race rely on our sense of sight a lot more than we realise.

Recently I came across an interview between Trevor Noah and Lupita Nyong'o - two

individuals who I definitely admire for what they are able to bring to the table in

terms of the art they provide. They were discussing the global impacts of the film -

how it has helped address a variety of issues and portray the same issues in a

different light - such as, the African culture, breaking the stereotypical disbanded

black family and relationships and instead. showcasing a strong, powerful bond

between the leads. However, it is important to note that this film not only

addresses the lack of representation of the Black community, but it also illuminates

female empowerment, advancing in life, obtaining success and the variance of

kinds of relationships; it can be concluded that this film simply excels as being an

inspiration to everyone in the way it ties every aspect together - its characters with

the setting and plot itself.

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Another such film which I found immensely touching was ‘Swing Kids’, a story of

the soldiers and captives during the Korean War and how racial segregation both

brought people together and tore them apart. When I watched this 2 days ago, I

found the effect to be especially emphasised as I was able to relate it to current

events, thereby being able to connect with the characters on a completely different

level - a level which made me constantly think about the movie and its happenings

hours and even days later. With this film, I learnt that art can break barriers. The

protagonist’s love for tap dancing enabled him to overlook the differences present

in the system segregated between Asian and American, his love for this art was so

powerful that he managed to transcend his passion for it, allowing his companions

to ignore the minuscule differences which were the colour of their skin and truly

embrace their art and unite as one. The ending was climatic and impassioned, I was

shook and horrified at how unfair the world has been to those who haven’t deserved

it in the slightest; how as a result of a few influential individuals, commonly

tyrannical yet nonetheless, influential, many have fallen for their trap and allowed

themselves to be hoodwinked with fallacious and cognitively biased mindsets.

Predominantly, with respect to these 2 films, I have found that film in general, has able to stimulate society like no other; the reverberations of film can truly bring our world forward to battle the war of social problems and take a step in the right direction to attain the goal of peace.