From
Accessed September 7th, 2014
In this picture taken by Huie there is a black kid sitting
at a table holding a sign with a bulletin board in the back with flyers on it. Ignoring
the sign he is holding, upon first glance I see a stereotypical black kid in baggy clothes wearing a snap back.
If I were to pass this kid in a hallway at Millbrook I wouldn’t even give him a
second thought, if I were to pass him on a street I would distance myself from
him and avoid eye contact. At first glance he is an other. He is different from
me and the connotation and stereotype given to his clothes and race are negative
so much so that I almost fear people that look like him. Wing Young Huie
presents othering through the stereotypes that go with appearances and he uses
the sign to show that the people society says are others are not all what they
are made out to be.
When I read the sign
I felt kind of guilty for assuming that he would be just another black kid that
doesn’t care about school and gets into trouble. Our society likes to form
stereotypes based on appearances and make assumptions about their character
based on their clothes, but is it fair to the individuals with good character
that are in that group just because of their appearance? Wing Young Huie uses
signs to show that it’s not fair to judge an individual based on a stereotype. By using signs in his pictures he is able to capture their character and clothes in one image. The
second half of his sign breaks the stereotype. It shows he cares about school,
is working, and has a goal, all things that break the stereotype of a black
kid. By breaking the stereotype of this group of "others" he puts himself into the "Oreo group of Others" which is a whole separate issue which I won't get into. Huie does a good job giving "others" voices through his pictures.
Atwood uses appearances to present othering in The
Handmaid’s Tale. Every social class in the novel is assigned to a specific
color and/or outfit to distinguish themselves from the other groups. The
Handmaids wear read so they can easily be othered by the rest of society. In a
way Offred’s narrative is similar to the kid’s sign in Huie’s picture. Both the
narration and the sign reveal the two do not fully fit the stereotype or group
that they are associated with. Based on that I would assume if they had a
choice they’d choose to not be in the “other” group they have been assigned by
society. Both present othering as something that is connected to appearance and
is associated with connotations and stereotypes for each appearance.
The subject's position and facial expression are particularly powerful- he is turned away, and his mouth is tightened. It also seems like he is not holding the sign, that is it propped against him. He seems very removed from the situation (both present and past) and communicates a tone of frustration. I like the last two lines of your post and wish you had brought in textual evidence to support your argument that Offred's narration reveals that she would choose to not be a handmaid- voice is a great term to pull in when it comes to literary technique AND motif.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ms. Genesky that he looks frustrated in this photo. I think that he possesses this frustration because he knows that the stereotypes surrounding his appearance will stand in the way of his ability to fulfill his dream. I agree with you Delia that othering is connected to stereotypes, but I also think a crucial part of this concept is believing in someone. Usually when you see professional athletes who dealt with the same stereotypes as the subject in the picture, they credit their success to someone who believed in them. How can someone expect to break the "other" label if that's exactly what prevents them from receiving the opportunities to?
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