The Casting in Glee

By: Rafeeat Bishi

          After our conversation on casting people of certain backgrounds to play characters on TV shows, I thought about an important casting choice in Glee. 

          One of the original members of the Glee Club is in a wheelchair, Artie. Artie is played an able-bodied man Kevin McHale. 

          When I first started watching Glee this always made me feel a bit weird. Mainly because of the reasons we talked about in class. No matter who Kevin McHale talks to, what he studies, or acts like, he will never know the true life of a person in a wheelchair.

          And it's not like Becky's character, where although down syndrome is plays a role, it can be sometimes put on the backburner. A lot of Artie's storylines overlap with him being in a wheelchair and the struggles he has. For example, in one episode, he was unable to board the bus to sectionals because it was not equipped for a wheelchair. They also talked about how the lack of ramps in the school make it harder for him to get around. One of the earliest ones was him bonding with a girl who had a stutter because they were both disabled (she was lying about the stutter though). 

        I think if they are going to tell those stories, it would've been better to cast someone different. Kevin did a great job, but my opinion still stands. I'd like to read more on how the wheelchair community feels about his character.


Edit: So I've read some things and people find Artie's character himself  problematic because a lot of his storylines feature him fantasizing about walking, as if all people in a wheelchair think about walking all the time. 

Also: This kinda relates to Mr. Gaines' point about people portraying certain stereotypes. Kevin McHale is gay (he came out one or two years ago), but while he was on Glee playing Artie, he played an explicitly stereotypical straight male, who would talk a lot about women, sex, and be misogynist. Thought that was sort of interesting. Darren Criss, who plays the love interest of the central character Kurt (who is also gay, the actor is gay in real life too) is straight in real life. Jonathan Groff, who was a supporting character, plays a straight man (or at least someone who we've only seen date women) and is gay in real life. 

America's Problem With Subtitles

By: Rafeeat Bishi

        Director Bong Joon Ho, of breakout Korean film Parasite, made a biting comment (without direct translation) aimed at people who refuse to watch media that is not in their native language.

        He said, after winning Best Foreign Film at the Golden Globes,

"Once you overcome the one-inch tall barriers of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films."

         I love that he said this. Especially since subtitles are not very impeding for many viewers.

        A lot of my favorite television shows, and some of the best I've seen are in other languages. On Netflix, there's 'Dark' (German), Elite (Spanish), Osmosis (French), and more. I use subtitles even when shows are in English because sometimes I just don't get what people are saying.

         I think it's ignorant to assume that just because something is in a different language it must be of lower quality. In my opinion, Dark is one of the best shows from the past few years but because it's in German, so many people I tell about it refuse to watch it. They know the dub sounds bad, but they refuse to read subtitles or are off put by the foreign language all together.

         What's weird is that this seems to be an issue mainly in America and majority English-speaking countries. I know in countries such as Brazil, fans watch television from all over the world in all kinds of languages without any problems. Also, some people (like me) in the US with parents who speak a foreign language, see no issue. I know it's not a problem cause I'll always be watching stuff with subtitles with my mom.

         What's disheartening is that other countries (if a dub is not available) see no issue in consuming American/English-language media. They do it often, and it's rare we do the same. They usually have more passion for our shows than we do.

          I think a valuable cultural exchange can come from removing the idea that a language barrier makes something not worthwhile. I may not be going to Germany or Spain anytime soon, but I have learned a little about the dynamics of the countries and their people by watching those shows.

         Here are some recommendations for some entertaining non-English movies and TV shows. A lot are on Netflix so if you need a link lmk ;).

Elite [Netflix] - Spanish (sometimes with a lisp because according to some Spanish speakers that how they talk in Spain. This is a really good teen drama)
La Casa De Papel (Money Heist) [Netflix] - Spanish
Osmosis [Netflix] - French
Atlantics (movie) [Netflix] - Wolof
Skam [some site called Dailymotion] - Norwegian
Burning (movie) [Netflix] - Korean
Dark [Netflix] - German
Attack on Titan [Hulu] - Japanese

Diversity in the Oscar Nominations 2020

By: Rafeeat Bishi

    Funny. Right as I was writing this blog, Stephen King, a member of the Academy, tweeted (lacking context) that he does not consider diversity when it comes to voting

    I may be a jinx because my last post was about how younger, POC people were breaking into hollywood. When the Oscar nominations came out, people were disappointed (but not surprised) to see that a majority of nominees were white males. In the acting categories, and directing categories, all of the nominees (except 1) were white/male.

   This prompted a thought. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is historically a white, male dominated group. Through the recent years, they've been attempting to diversify their group by admitting younger people of various backgrounds. I thought that after Moonlight won Best Picture (first time with an all-black cast, LGBTQ centered story), we'd see more opportunities.

   This sounds morbid but no one really leaves the Academy unless they die, so I guess we'll always have to deal with people who may have outdated views. If that's the case, then in my opinion we should stop looking there so intensely for validation. Especially if quality film is regularly ignored because it didn't make money at the box office.

  We should recognize smaller, independent award shows that are doing the most to recognize diverse stories. For now, I'll probably be more invested in the Film Independent Spirit Awards, which reflects much more diverse storytelling.

Black and Brown Actors in Indie Movies are on the Come Up

By: Rafeeat Bishi

         Only a few people know this about me but I'm a huge cinephile. Movies and tv are probably my biggest hobby, but it's discouraging to not see myself represented in them. A lot of my favorite movies don't even have majority Black casts or leads, but that's starting to change.

         Someone recently tweeted a video compiling Black coming of age films, because they tend to be ignored. I was extremely happy when I watched the video ("https://twitter.com/manisupremacist/status/1212102128648503297?s=09")

         I recently watched the indie movie Waves with my sister over break, and it's probably going to go down as one of my favorites because of the leads. Two Black teens living Miami. Their storyline wasn't based around poverty, or struggling with systemic racism, but more-so the struggles of just being a teen. And their race was not completely ignored either, which I appreciated. I decided to mention the actors from the movie and more who I think can give great representation for Black and brown youth who are not as interested in Indie movies.

• Kelvin Harrison Jr. - Lead in Waves, Luce, supporting roles in Jinn and It Comes At Night
• I loved him in Waves and in Jinn. He's probably one of my favorite actors this year and there's more in store for him!
• Taylor Russell Sanders - Waves, Lost in Space
• She was also great in Waves, and I'm excited for her cause her performance was so subtle. She's also on Lost in Space in Netflix! (go watch)
• Ashton Sanders - Moonlight, Native Son, Captive State,  Wu-Tang: An American Saga
• Gave the best performance in Moonlight (on Netflix, go watch). But is being paid dust. However he's booked and busy so I'm happy. Extremely underrated
• Jharrel Jerome - Moonlight, When They See Us
• We all know him and if you don't he got his start in Moonlight playing a queer black teen (on Netflix, go watch) and now is winning Emmys!
• Shameik Moore - The Get Down, Dope, Spider-Verse, Wu-Tang: An American Saga

• He's gotten a lot more publicity after Spider-Verse and I'm excited for him!
• Justice Smith - The Get Down, Every Day, Detective Pikachu (yokes), All the Bright Places
• I think he's adorable and he's about to be in a Netflix rom-com, which should do wonders for his publicity
• Kiki Layne - If Beale Street Could Talk, Native Son
• She was a queen in this movie (If Beale Street Could Talk) and it's on Hulu now. Go watch. 
• Zoe Renee - Jinn
• I don't know her future plans, but she will be getting her own post because I loved the movie she was in.

The Chronicles of Rafeeat in Elementary School. Part 2

By: Rafeeat Bishi

We're gonna jump to second grade. That year was a trip. To be fair I wasn't an amazingly behaved student, but I was also 8 and there were many times when I received unwarranted reactions from my teacher Mrs. McAllister. There's a day I remember vividly.

Another student (someone who's VERY important, I'm thinking of giving him his own post) got into a fight. This wasn't anything new, as he was known for being a "problem student" (-_-). I actually saw him at ShopRite the other day.

Anyway, me and my friend had faces of shock and were exclaiming like the other kids around us. My friend was also Black btw.

A lunch aide walked up to us and yelled, telling us to stop. I think we were then ordered to go sit down. Our teacher was called down and the lunch aide told her that we were cheering the fighting boys on. Me and my friend were dumbfounded, because we were actually watching the fight from quite a distance. We tried to protest but were told be quiet. We were then given recess detention with the fighting students. My teacher told another teacher that we had been "cheerleaders" during the incident.

Thinking about it makes me sad because why should two little kids be sent inside and isolated for having natural reactions? If you're 8 and see people fighting, you don't think to to tell a teacher or walk away. We were surprised, it was probably the first fight I myself had seen. Why wouldn't we yell in a shocked manner. I remember feeling as if I should blame myself and wondering what I did to be punished. And why were all of the kids in detention Black, when our other classmates were doing the same thing? I don't know if it was a direct result of implicit bias, but something was definitely going on as the lunch aide ONLY came towards us.

This teacher hadn't always been a fan of mine and singled me out for a lot of behavior that other kids exhibited. I remember her being very cold towards me. Jokes on her I was the highest level reader in class.

This is irrelevant but I got mad at her one day and stole her candy lol.

There's a LOT that happened in this second grade classroom I could write a book. But I think I'll leave her for now. And since I mentioned Ms. Stein being white in the previous post, I think I should do the same for this teacher. She was biracial, I remember her telling a story about being Black and White.

The Chronicles of Rafeeat in Elementary School. Part 1

By: Rafeeat Bishi

          Reading and hearing more about experiences in elementary school made me realize how a lot of stuff that happened to me could have been (or was) racially motivated. Here's one

I'm tired of writing about systemic racism cause it's depressing so I'm going to write about me. And my experiences with subtle racism in the education system and how it affected my psyche growing up.

In elementary school I had a teacher that I (thought) I loved until I had other teachers (it was kindergarten). She was this really young white woman. It wasn't until a while later that I realized it was pretty toxic in terms of her teaching methods. She was not very empathetic and rarely exhibited the qualities that typical elementary school teachers should have. She was very impatient and unhelpful many times.
In Kindergarten (mind you, I was one of maybe 2 or 3 black kids in class and best friends with the only other black boy in class), I'd wear my hair in braids everyday.

One day I wore my natural hair in a puff that my mom did. When I walked into class, my classmates had the whoaaaa, your hair! (You know, the normal reactions FIVE year olds would have).

I didn't think any of it cause we were kids and nobody was being mean. When I sat down for my reading circle however, my teacher saw my hair. When she looked at me she said "oh.my.gosh. what happened to your hair" and made a snarky (almost disgusted) ,stunned looked. I'm pretty sure that was the first and last time I wore my natural hair to school for years. I mean YEARS. This is one of the reasons I still feel very uncomfortable when people mention my hair, even if it's a compliment. The feeling that me and so many little black girls with natural hair have to feel ostracized and maybe ridiculed in their classes is disheartening. Thinking of her other acts (apparently last year she told a disabled kid she didn't think he'd make it to second grade), I'm honestly contemplating going to her when I graduate and let her know the terrible effect she had on my (and other students) self-esteem. And show her the amazing progress I've made on my own.

It may sound as if I'm over-exaggerating, but your first school teacher is not supposed to make the school environment one that is uncomfortable for little kids. Especially if they have control.

Yeah I will idc anymore she needs to hear it, I'll go pay her a visit. I'm not going to do anything bad don't be alarmed, but a simple conversation will suffice. Ms. Stein I'm talking to you.


*Next week: Second Grade. I got tea for this one.

New Movie Queen and Slim Sparks Discussion

By: Rafeeat Bishi

           When I first saw the trailer for the crime-movie Queen and Slim I was excited. The actors looked promising and so did the premise.

         But after watching the trailer a few times, I found myself rolling my eyes. Mainly because the basis of the story was two Black adults on the run from the law after killing a cop who stopped them wrongfully.

         When we see Black characters, a lot of us prepare to see poverty, death, slavery or injustice. The same thing goes for other races. When we see Native characters, we prepare to see stereotypes of tribes, or watered down interactions with White imperialists. When we see non-Black Latinos, we prepare to see Gang violence, drugs, housekeepers, and poverty. When we see Asian characters, we see mousy, education oriented East Asians, and for Southeast Asians we see convenience store owners or gas station workers. When we Arabs, we see terrorists. The list goes on and on.


          I wish I could watch a space movie with Black characters and not have to fear for when their death scene is coming. Queen and Slim was intriguing but then I remembered it would only end one way. Them in jail. Or dead. 

          Some Black people on Twitter discussed how they found these stories to be triggering. For example, the movie 12 Years a Slave. Which is absolutely true. Seeing your people be oppressed and dehumanized is not entertaining. Especially if you're living it. Why should you be subject to watching something that you already know about? '

         I felt the same way about When They See Us. I was unable to watch it all the way through because I found it mentally draining

          People say "these stories need to be told" and are "required viewing". Which is absolutely true. But they don't need to be told to the people who live that experience everyday. Should they be made? Yes. Art imitates life. But if other races can get a variety of films in the same year, why can't we? White people can have a hard-hitting drama one week, Harry Potter the next week, and a superhero movie the week after. This is why it was a big deal when Black Panther, Us, Searching, Crazy Rich Asians, and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse came out (can I just say spider-verse is the best movie ever pls go watch it it's on Netflix).

         It's important that while younger generations understand their reality, they are also able to see themselves in a different light. These films are only required viewing for those who can not relate or are uneducated on the nuances of these situations.  

        On a happier note, a romance film called The Photograph with two Black actors is coming out in February. It does not look like it's based off of the sad injustices in America.