Critical Review
American Violet The movie American Violet is about the wrongful arrest and attempted prosecution of Dee Roberts, a twenty-four year old, black, single mother, who lives in a small town in Texas in a poverty stricken apartment complex. The movie is based on a real modern day case, of racial injustice, Regina Kelly v John Paschall. From a sociological view point, the movie is full of social meaning, racial profiling, and gender stratification. From the beginning of the movie we are introduced to Dee, the strong female lead. Her character is portrayed as a loving mother, but, she is the “typical” stereotype of a female black woman. She is loving but stern with her children, she is depicted as verbally aggressive as well as physically aggressive. She is also portrayed as being “loose”, as she has four children with three different fathers. All the characters throughout the film are stereotyped. Dee’s mother, who is also black, is strong, stern and out-spoken. Two of the men from Dee’s past are black men in prison for drug crimes. Her most recent ex, father of the two younger children, is black, verbally abusive, as well as physically abusive, as shown when he breaks into her apartment demanding his children. Even the police and law enforcement characters are stereo-typed as being on a power trip and uncaring. Even though the movie is based on a true story, the writer of the movie may have somewhat exaggerated the characters. The movie shows the impact of growing up in the community and the social meanings attached to growing up there and being black. As far as a social constructed view of female black women, Dee has a typical low paying job as a waitress. When she loses one waitress job, the only other jobs she pursues are other waitressing jobs. Dee and the other citizens that resided in Tulia, and specifically in the area targeted by the police raids, while living in the United States and in the state of Texas, were part of a sub-culture. With designs for living, sets of beliefs, and practices that are transmitted from one generation to another within a subgroup. In the movie Dee talked of remembering police raids in the area since she was a child. The movie address’ social structure, in the pattern of Dee’s relationships and behaviors of the way men and woman in her society react with each other. It is evident in the relationships she has had with men, the first two ended with the men being incarcerated. We are led to believe that none of her relationships with men have been Critical Review Page 2 positive, other than her having her children as a result. Even her relationship with a father is not addressed, suggesting it is common for the women in the movie to be a single parent. American Violet clearly suggests social stratification, the differences among people on the basis of their membership in categories socially defined as significant, and the accompanying differences in their access to scarce resources and their obligations they bear. For example, Dee could not afford an attorney, and it was hard for her to find and maintain a job to provide for her family. Although Dee did stay away from drugs and illegal activities
Violet Kayaga Cultural Anthropology Estelle Kennelly Body Rituals of the Nacirema Analysis Horace Miners article Body Ritual among the Nacirema offers great insight into the relevance of Anthropology to modern society by way of satire. The article characterizes the Nacirema people of North America, “discovered” by Miner, and their perceived obsession with the human body. The author claimed to analyze rites and rituals among the Nacirema people. Upon realizing that the word Nacirema read backwards is American…
Ted Bundy Theory Psychology M/W/F 12:40 We all are not one of the same. Theodore Bundy was a serial killer who terrorized the nation from 1974 until his final capture in 1979. He was said to be an all American boy but also had a brutal killer side, that he kept well hidden, who raped and killed an untold number of women across the country. Bundy was responsible for 30 murders and rapes of young women and girls. He confessed to 30 murders, but authorities believe the true number of victims totaled…
related to the extensive needs of so many students. This week, a teacher sent a student to the office because of her coughing. Violet assessed the student who had an increased respiratory rate, coughing and wheezing. After the assessment, Violet called the student’s mother to request she come and pick up her daughter from school to be seen at the doctor’s office. Violet also provided education for the student’s mother regarding the benefit of keeping a metered dose rescue inhaler at the school.…
America is described as the “melting pot”, which pretty much means no matter where you come from you are automatically put into the “pot”, I think that when everyone settles here he/she will be a true American, because I hope that all Americans want the finest outcome to every dream that a fellow American has set their mind to. I believe that last statement, because I feel that if my family could do it, than anyone else can too. By 1904, 90,000 people emigrated from Norway to America for a better life…
highlights on the breach of conduct and the penalties that will be imposed on the employee should they violet the stipulated norms of company. This will give the company an edge to sensitize the employees on how they should conduct themselves and further offer a conflict free business environment that will give a smooth running and a proactive approach to issues on the business (AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn, 2007). The company aims to use the best and favorable yet interactive criterion to make…
, incest, and everything in between. It gives the viewer an interesting way to look at the many problems that American families go through in their lives today. The story is about the dysfunctional Weston family brought together by the tragedy of a lost family member. The family has to deal with the loss of a loved one, and on top of that, an alcoholic, a drug abuser, a troubled young girl, and a very lost couple who doesn’t know what to do. This play is extremely unpredictable and by George Judy…
Lee Original language: English Genre: Fiction Characters: Atticus Finch, Boo Radley, Mayella Violet Ewell, Maudie Atkinson, Jem Finch, Scout Finch Adaptations: To kill a mockingbird, To Kill a Mockingbird, To Kill a Mockingbird To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel by Harper Lee published in 1960. It was immediately successful, winning the Pulitzer Prize, and has become a classic of modern American literature. The plot and characters are loosely based on the author's observations of her family…
Title: Tituba, Reluctant Witch of Salem: Devilish Indians and Puritan Fantasies Author: Elaine G. Breslaw Publication: New York and London, 1996 This book summarizes the life of a female Indian servant and her involvement in the 1692 witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts. To begin it gives background information of the Arawak Indian woman named Tituba, which reveals cultural influences. It tells how Tituba was captured and sold into slavery and shifted from one cultural world to another…
Familial Duty Rarely does a play of such banal proportions (a tale about family gathering and dysfunctionality) achieve such rewarding and exhilarating applause from its audience. Tracy Lett’s play, August: Osage County, is a play about a dysfunctional American family living in a small town in Oklahoma, where family association and friendship take on a radically organic, and abysmal meaning. The setting of the play revolves around the gathering of the mainly female members of the Weston family at their…
cause of racial justice in the years 1959 and 1960. P.D. East is an editor for a small newspaper in a Mississippi town and just like John; he is a passionate advocate for racial equality in Southern America. Sterling Williams is an articulate African-American, who shines shoes for a living and helps John make the transition of living in Southerner New Orleans. Christophe is a well-dressed biracial man, who rides with John during his trip through Mississippi and fawns towards the whites, but is condescending…