Romeo, the zombie

For several years, and increasingly in these past couple of years, the appearance of violence in movies has become a trend and a point of attraction to film spectators.  Last week, all my friends were talking about the new movie in the cinemas, Warm Bodies. So we decided to go see the movie. However, while watching the movie, it occurred to me that it’s a mixture of the movies: Twilight, Avatar and Romeo and Juliette. At the beginning of the movie we’re introduced to the main character as the outsider and after almost 15 minutes of the film it’s very predictable that the main issue being discussed is inequality but in the context of a more “cool” fictional theme, which is the theme of zombies.

According to Robert C. Bulman in chapter 3.2 of the book Cinematic Sociology, “The jungle metaphor conveniently summarizes the imagined differences between middle class suburban Americans and the poor urban students portrayed in the films.” What Bulman says applies to the film Warm Bodies if we closely examine the plot of the film from a sociological perspective. The living dead are the minorities or the “low brow” while the humans in the movie are the superior bourgeoisie who are doing their best to protect themselves from the danger that those corpses oppose on them. The movie highlights the issues of inequality and discrimination while using violence as a technique to achieve profitable success.

Furthermore, the similarity between the plot of Warm Bodies and Romeo and Juliette could be drawn in terms of the conflict that is being represented. Two families/groups are in a state of war against each other and the two lovers, who each belong to a different group, are the ones who bring those two families/groups together. On the other hand, the similarity that could be drawn between Warm Bodies and Twilight or Avatar is that all three movies are “sensation driven” meaning that they seek profit through the representation of “popcorn” violence. Although it could be argued that the representation of violence in the three movies is very minimal, it’s still evident that those movies are not aimed towards audiences who seek an intellectual experience while watching a movie.

It's 2013 and We're Still Alive!

I recently watched the movie 2012, and it was basically about the world coming to an end. The movie “was inspired by theories that the calendar of the ancient Mayans foretells the end of civilisation on Dec 21, 2012” (Philip Sherwell and Hernando Garcia 2009). Hollywood spent more than $200 million on creating this film as it was meant to attract a global audience. The end of the world is considered a big catastrophe affecting every individual on this planet. Since Hollywood is a tool of capitalism as our Cinematic Sociology textbook described, all it cares about is making money. The whole story of the movie 2012 wasn’t realistic and convincing, and yet the producers managed to create the film through using visual effects to portray the natural disasters seem real. Now let’s analyse the movie from a sociological perspective. For example, from the conflict theory lens, we see that in the movie there was a portrayal of conflict between social classes. The bourgeoisies were the elites and people with power who managed to get on the spaceship without any problems, where as the proletariats weren’t able to get on the spaceship because they weren’t rich and they were from the working class who built the spaceship. The bourgeoisies were able to protect their interests and arrange society in a way that most benefits them, at the expanse of the proletariats. This means that the elites and the people with power had the resources to afford getting on the spaceship by purchasing the boarding tickets ahead of time. The proletariats were less fortunate since they were the labourers, and didn’t own the means of production. Social inequality played a role in the 2012 movie. The innocent ordinary people in the movie were left behind and weren’t notified to evacuate ahead of time. They weren’t also informed about the spaceship to rescue themselves. It was interesting to watch 2012 and analyse it from a sociological perspective. I happened to learn about the Mayan calendar, and I learned that Nasa ended up writing an article dedicated to answer people’s inquiries and to clarify the fact that 2012 is not the end of the world.

Where is the Saudi Woman's Public Identity?

      With the relatively recent uproar about Saudi Arabia’s ban on women driving, many questions concerning the Saudi Arabian woman’s freedom have been brought up in Western media. Most of the Western outrage is specifically directed at the ban on driving, as driving is generally considered a basic right. The situation gradually seems more bizarre to Western audiences when one learns that countries neighboring Saudi Arabia, such as Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, allow women to drive despite the fact that these countries are also Islamic countries that abide by Sharia law (albeit not as strictly as Saudi Arabia). To these Western audiences, denying this simple right is immediately perceived as an almost barbaric oppression of freedom. As a Saudi Arabian woman myself, though, I realize that the means of finally obtaining freedom for Saudi Arabian women stretches far beyond the right to drive. In truth, I believe that the entire driving dilemma is quite petty in comparison to more dire issues that are hidden behind the fanciful dream of women driving in Saudi Arabia.

      As a Saudi Arabian woman, I am not only banned from driving. I cannot issue a national ID without the permission of my male guardian. I am unable to travel without my male guardian’s permission, and as soon as I leave the country, my male guardian is notified of my departure via a text message from the government. If I were a divorced mother with children, it would be impossible for me to create a bank account for my own children without the permission of their father. In addition to that, I am not allowed to work without my male guardian’s permission, regardless of whether the workplace is public or private. The aforementioned issues are merely scratching the surface of this heavily male-dependent governmental system. The sociological dilemma for women in Saudi Arabia, though, does not lie in the evident case of gender inequality. Instead, the sociological dilemma lies in a problem of identity resultant from gender inequality.

      Many blame the strong presence of religion in the country’s governmental protocols as the reason for the Saudi Arabian woman’s lack of a public identity. The truth is that religion does not in any way cause this severe case of gender segregation (or, in this case, gender dependency). The culprit is the governmental protocol alone. Assuming that women are allowed to drive at some point, integrating what would be a new phenomenon for Saudi Arabians (particularly Saudi Arabian men) would still be difficult. It will be nearly impossible for most men to accept it when the country’s political structure forces female dependence on male guardians. If change is to occur in the country, then Saudi Arabian women should at least be given the right to issue their own national ID card, without the approval of a male guardian. Only then can the right to drive be more safely integrated to society.

      This issue of identity greatly affects the way we are perceived by others, particularly Westerners. Chelsea Handler of the comedy talk show Chelsea Lately criticized the travel limitations enforced on Saudi Arabian women, as shown in the video below.

      Fortunately, the identity problem in Saudi Arabia has been gradually improving. For instance, many Saudi Arabian women from the cosmopolitan city of Jeddah have been challenging limitations on creative expression through various means. Several Saudi Arabian fashion lines have been launched and artists began to collaborate on various gallery displays, and even created their own community. A group consisting of four Saudi Arabian girls even went as far as to completely challenge both social and religious customs by creating the very first all-female Saudi Arabian rock band: The Accolade. The band’s first single Pinocchio (linked below) lead to both outrageously negative responses from religious officials and unyielding support from Saudi Arabians, both young and old.

A bag from the Saudi Arabian brand Fyunka
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      The Saudi Arabian government has also begun to offer more opportunities for women to become a more active public force. Recently, women were appointed in the country's Shoura Council. The ban on women working in public places has also been lifted. Now, women can work as saleswomen and as supermarket cashiers, among other jobs. Although this has obvious positive implications on the socioeconomic statuses of many Saudi Arabian families, it also heavily impacts the public identity of the Saudi Arabian woman. As she becomes a more active public force, the preconceived (and horribly misguided) Saudi Arabian notion of women being frail and helpless without the support of a man gradually diminishes. With this commendable support from the government, there may be hope for the Saudi Arabian woman, after all.

Saudi Arabian women working in supermarket cashiers
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