Post-High School Thoughts

I have learned more in the past year then I learned in high school; expanding my knowledge on world events and societal norms that were once encouraged by my teachers. We all grow post-secondary and acknowledge the norms we've lived by need to be challenged-well, for those who choose to. But something I regret in high school was submitting and condoning slut shaming and, indirectly, rape culture.

By allowing dress codes to control myself and defining sexuality in a frame of normality, not only did I disregard anyone who didn't fit into the standards but I unknowingly participated in judging my fellow classmates by what they wore and how it reflected on their characters. More make up must mean you want to attract someone. Pushup bras must mean you're asking for sex. Crop tops must mean you want to blow the next guy in the bathroom. Archaic ideas that have been engrained in my head since day one. And I never questioned them.

And it's not like I knew any better, teachers never challenged the opinions I shared with majority of my class, instead they were teaching me how to find an atomic orbital which ended up being wrong following my first university lecture; how beneficial! Instead of teaching us about ideologies and culture, they taught us Calculus and Microsoft Word when it would inevitably change in the coming years. Needless to say, high school failed us.

Since the wheels of change move slowly, the system remains the same but the media has made the next generation more aware. After listening to a sexist speech from her principal, Marion Mayer took to her Facebook and Tumblr page to expose the injustice knowing it would bring more attention to the matter. Kudos. Her fierce post made the Huffington Post as it broke down his problematic lines like "modest is hottest" and "boys will be boys".

It's refreshing to see this young woman, and in my eyes feminist, voice her opinions on condoning rape culture and sexual assault against women. Third Wave Feminism is popping up everywhere and to see it stem in the young sixteen year old shows more wisdom from a high schooler then the high school teachers and system put together.

It's a (White) Man's World

In the spirit of Oscar season, movies are rolling out every weekend in hopes to snatch up a nomination. Participating in the season by watching the latest features and gawking at all of the intriguing stories, it's hard to ignore the simple fact they all share: majority of them tell the story of a white man and his strife.

Laughable, it's ironic that these Academy-frontrunners fail to recognize the privilege of being a white male today. With the rise of 3rd wave feminism and growing outrage from the shootings of multiple black men, one would expect there to be more stories with dominant female and black roles. With hopes for Under the Skin and Selma to grabs some nods, it's another year of the praising the white man for his so-called "triumphs".

Stumbling upon The Bitch Pack while avoiding my studies, an informative video by Youtuber Jennifer Kessler explained the Bechdel Test and applied to it Oscar-nominated movies of 2011. Shocking yet true, it was unbelievable witnessing the lack of women relevance in major motion pictures even though lead female characters were included in half of them.

Even Chris Rock's captivating essay to the Hollywood Reporter reiterates the lack of representation in movies, years after integration. Highlighting key points about most of Hollywood auditioning for roles in upcoming movies and TV shows, prominent black actors and actresses weren't even considered for the part.

As a Black Woman, it is disheartening to remember the boundaries and obstacles set up to prevent future success. However, there is hope as more black and female writers, directors, and leaders rise together to break the glass ceiling and open a world of opportunities to generations to come. With steps in the right direction, there is light at the end of the tunnel.

The Theory of Everything AKA The Theory of Love

As humans roam the earth trying to answer questions like “what is the meaning of life” and “is there life after death”, famous physicist Stephen Hawking seeks to answer larger questions regarding space, time and the universe; belittling the philosophical questions asked on a daily basis. Spanning from his early PhD, he has written books, proven and disproven theories, and fought against Multiple Sclerosis to find one equation to solve all questions about the universe; in other words, a theory for everything.

Eddie Redmayne had the prestigious honor of playing Hawking in The Theory of Everything, the making of Jane Hawking’s novel Travelling toInfinity: My Life with Stephen. Telling their love story, the movie begins from the early days of Jane and Stephen’s relationship to their bond now. Felicity Jones takes on the role of Jane Hawking, completing the power dynamic to tell the triumphant, beautiful, and encouraging story of the Hawkings.

With a timely arrival, The Theory of Everything comes at an all time high for Multiple Sclerosis and ALS awareness. With the Ice Bucket Challenge and #StopDropSelfie movements becoming viral sensations, the movie endorses the awareness of the illness and encourages people to donate towards foundations funding research and recovery centers. No longer faceless, ALS is a term everyone is aware of and the movie is a tipping point for the Multiple Sclerosis awareness.

Leave all intentions of crying from sadness at the door. Instead of being emotional from the effects of Multiple Sclerosis, the moments of connection between Jane and Stephen are the real tearjerkers.

The chemistry between Jones and Redmayne is incredible and can easily be confused as the real couple and their progression throughout their lives. Sharing significant moments of strength and courage between the two, Jones carries the weight as the primary caregiver and communicator for their growing family as Redmayne captures Hawking’s wit and charm with minimalistic facial expressions and emotions. Bouncing off each other, Jones and Redmayne radiate love and compassion and encapsulate audiences from beginning to end.

With months of interacting with Multiple Sclerosis patients and meeting the man himself, Redmayne does Hawking justice by reiterating his intelligence with convincing arguments of physics, cosmology and time. Simplistic moments like staring at a fire results in eureka moments of the combustion of stars and black holes, concepts the average person would never consider possible at the time. Proving that passion, drive and brilliance overshadows appearance and ability, Hawking is clearly in a league of his own and can be recognized as one of the geniuses of the century.

Building emotions throughout the movie, the finale leaves on a positive note and recognizes the light and positivity of Hawking’s situation. After all, the disease may have taken a toll on his life but it did not stop his ambitions to search for a greater meaning in the universe. Showing an alternate side of Stephen Hawking, The Theory of Everything is a must-see for the century and an extraordinary tale that needed to be told.

Rating: 8.5/10

Mockingjay Part I lights a fire in your heart

Katniss and her gang of rebels ignite the box office with release of Mockingjay Part I. The first installment of the two-part finale was dark, inspirational, and exactly what was needed to continue the fire behind the Hunger Games franchisee.

Post escaping from the Capital and destroying the games, Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) and the surviving tributes seek refuge in an underground war bunk in District 13. Encouraged by previous Game Maker (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and Gale (Liam Hemsworth), Katniss becomes the leader of the Mockingjay rebellion, organized and pushed by District 13’s President Coin (Julianne Moore). Leading the movement, the rebellion faces strikes and conflicting propaganda from Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) as the Capital tries to maintain order of the districts.

"Fire is catching and if we burn, you burn with us!"

The looming oppression felt by the characters in Panam conveys through the screen and pushes the audience deeper in their seats. Witnessing disastrous sceneries of District 12 and bombed hospitals that once bustled with people in the first two movies is overwhelming and sets the depressing yet hopeful tone for the movie. Not to mention, the fan favourite Peeta sends contradicting messages to help the Capital keeps everyone in a state of confusion and betrayal.

Clearly there are too many emotions to communicate as the movie progresses from scene to scene.

With the shaky camera movements and dynamic war scenes to display the sense of despair and disorder, Mockingjay Part I leaves off at a perfect point. As the rebellion grows stronger across the districts and the Capital’s loss of control, the finale is headed in a successful direction of overthrowing the totalitarian government and leaves off a love story for the second half. It is clear the separation between Peeta and Katniss has left a mark on her as she chooses who is more important to her. Gale knows it, her family knows it: Team Peeta will probably win this battle!

With anticipation greater than ever for Mockingjay Part II, a major question arises: what will happen with Philip Seymour Hoffman’s character as the Game Maker? At the movie’s end, a dedication to Hoffman reminded the audience of his recent death, leaving rewriting issues for the next movie. It will be interesting to see what direction the movie will go after an important character’s disappearance. 

Setting a high bar for the final installment, Mockingjay Part I exceeded standards and left audiences craving for the next chapter of the series. The dismal tale of Panam continues with a bright fire burning its way to the Capital and as the audience grows, the fire grows.

Rating: 8/10

Profile on Fleek

Between classes, you may find most students standing in ridiculous food lines or sprinting from one building to another. This interval is where most of us reply to our pending texts and check our Facebook notifications. But with the recent weather, we’re more likely to snap an artsy photo of our stunning campus, a guaranteed eleven likes on Instagram.

With the winter months finally among us, we all know our Instagram feeds will be filled with the “first snow fall”, showing off the photography skills we’ve built from our amateur shots of the changing leaves. Not to mention, it’ll add to our prized Instagram profiles that display an alternate and idyllic versions of ourselves.

So is Instagram our new Facebook, where we dress our profiles up and make them more glamorous then our actual selves?

Considering Facebook has become overcrowded with political opinions, trending topics, and Buzzfeed posts, Instagram sticks to the fundamental design of posting a photo of what you’re doing or where you are.

The simplicity of the platform certainly reflects on how we glamorize our lives. Posting photos after editing them from various external apps makes dropping an Instagram photo the everyday person’s equivalent to dropping an album. It seems that we only post photos revolving around partying, travelling, food, clothes or themed days and if our over processed selfie doesn’t receive a certain amount of likes, we value ourselves off it and, sometimes, delete the post.

Despite our internal debates on if the moment is spectacular enough to capture or if the photo is cute enough to post, we continue to upload our borderline artistic photos to appear more attractive and fun to our peers. Not to mention with the increasing usage of Tinder, Instagram profiles are now the frontier of rating a person compared to their Twitter or Facebook accounts.

With less and less human contact, our amiable profiles speak louder than our personalities. Lest we forget, we don’t really know most of these fashion gurus and fitness enthusiasts, but as long as their profiles are fun and enviable then they have our follow. Right?

Since our Instagram game needs to be strong, the photos we post say a lot about us. Not to mention our like to followers or followers to following ratios needs to balance as well. The unsaid rules behind the game has made us overly conscious about the platform and raises a theoretical bar of what our profiles should look like.

But maybe we set these bars with intentions of rubbing off on our every day lives. Maybe we’ll spend more time admiring nature, enjoying our extravagant meals or even having a quality night with our friends. Who knows why there’s the unsaid rules of Instagram, but as long as we are stay within them we’ll snap away at the falling snow and make our friends envious of our lives… Our projected lives, anyways.

Everyone should watch Misfits... the first 3 seasons at least

Being a Netflix addict, I've already demolished this season a few years back until there was a major character change in the fourth season. However, Misfits is one of the most progressive, sci-fi British show I've seen in a while.

I do have my own admiration to British shows in general, being a huge fan of Skins and Sherlock, however Misfits is a lighter version with a refreshing cast. Gotta love British shows with a sting focus on talent and acting, not looks and acting history.

As an avid reader on the sight BtchFlcks, I found an article giving a great feminist analysis on the show and how progressive it is. Check it out, it's a great pre-lude/semi-spoiler to the series!

Whiplash had my heart pounding: from the drums and for Miles Teller

After finishing its festival rounds, Damien’s Chazelle’s “Whiplash” has finally opened to the masses and wowed audiences with its triumphant story of an aspiring jazz drummer and his condescending, ruthless instructor. Pushing limits, the movie features unexpected twists and turns for an exhilarating, jaw dropping performance by Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons.

Warning: you won’t breathe for the next hour and forty-seven minutes because your breath was taken away.

Andrew (Teller) is an introverted, dedicated drummer who enrolls in the most prestigious music school in the country with one mission: to be one of the greatest jazz drummers alive. After an unexpected audition with the school’s famous jazz ensemble instructor, Fletcher (Simmons), Andrew is recruited into the group only to discover his dreams of working under the instructor are more torturous then fun.

“Get the fuck out of my sight before I demolish you.”

Read the rest of the review on WeEatFilms.com