[Introduction]
A Revelation is described as a disclosure of which reveals something that was previously unaware of. A revelation can reveal itself in different ways, revealing the truth, a new insight changes a person’s perspective of what one previously have thought compared to what he/she now knows. A revelation is not always revealed at an instant, though it can also be a process in which it takes duration of time. A revelation can take a day or a year to discover that was not recognized before. A trope is a familiar person, place or thing that one may see as repeated, similar to a cliché. An example of a revelation trope would be a realization of one’s sexual orientation after experiencing some form of affection towards the same sex. It is a trope because it is common for a person to recognize his/her own sexual orientation whether one is straight, gay/Lesbian or Bi. Revelation tropes are introduced by a revealer, whom he/she tries to uncover the truth about an unacceptable situation, seen in their own perception. It delivers a message in which a majority of people might not accept because it reveals a fact that most people do not want to hear for it might not have a kind of benefit for ones self. A revelation is usually exposed in this kind of order:
1. The ignorant masses are in a
2. Unacceptable/oppressive situation
3. Prophet/revealer tries to
4. Share the message
5. That connects the dots in a new way
6. And offers a vision of a redeemed world
7. But there is opposition to the _______.
8. Drama Occurs.
A person can recognize a revelation, given in different stories, by trying to figure out what the message the story may be.
[Deconstruction]
By analyzing a Revelation or texts based on other ideas, the reader, rather than the author, is determining the meaning behind what might be a false statement. The fundamental idea of the method Deconstruction brings out the many meanings in a text or a situation. For example; one can find a few contradictions within the meaning of the Pledge of Allegiance. According to www.homeofheroes.com, the Pledge of Allegiance is recited to celebrate the “loyalty and devotion to not only a flag, but to a way of life....the American ideal.” In the chart below, www.homeofheroes.com analyzes the Pledge of Allegiance by clarifying to those who do not understand what the pledge of Allegiance actually means.
Pledge Interpretation
I Pledge Allegiance I Promise to be faithful and true (Promise my loyalty)
to the flag to the emblem that stands for and represents
of the United States all 50 states, each of them individual, and individually represented on the flag
of America yet formed into a UNION of one Nation.
and to the Republic And I also pledge my loyalty to the Government that is itself a Republic, a form of government where the PEOPLE are sovereign,
for which it stands, this government also being represented by the Flag to which I promise loyalty.
one Nation under God, These 50 individual states are united as a single Republic under the Divine providence of God, "our most powerful resource" (according to the words of President Eisenhower)
Indivisible, and can not be separated. (This part of the original version of the pledge was written just 50 years after the beginning of the Civil War and demonstrates the unity sought in the years after that divisive period in our history)
with Liberty The people of this Nation being afforded the freedom to pursue "life, liberty, and happiness",
and Justice And each person entitled to be treated justly, fairly, and according to proper law and principle,
For All. And these principles afforded to EVERY AMERICAN, regardless of race, religion, color, creed, or any other criteria. Just as the flag represents 50 individual states that can not be divided or separated, this Nation represents millions of people who can not be separated or divided.
In the Pledge of Allegiance it states “one Nation under God”. One can deconstruct this declaration by understanding that the “50 individual states are united as a single Republic under the Divine providence of God”. However, the truth behind the statement is completely false. One who is a conservative Christian knows not to swear under God. In Matthew chapter 5, verse 34-35, Matthew says “But I tell you, do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King.” To the government the Nation may be a ‘divine providence of God’, but to many citizens, America is not all that heavenly for the controversies that have occurred, but that is another story. Making an oath under God is against God’s rule of swearing under him. For many years, politicians and other federal officials swear on the Bible by saying “so help me God” to make a vow of taking the responsibility and part in the United States. In Article II, section 1 of the Constitution the Presidential oath described:
“Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:--"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
The oath does not necessitate the politician to pledge on the Bible or say “so help me God”. To the politicians who call themselves Christian, well they have a lot explaining to do when it comes to swearing under God.
Another contradiction found in the Pledge of Allegiance is the “Liberty and Justice”, also described as “being afforded the freedom to pursue life, liberty, and happiness and each person entitled to be treated justly, fairly, and according to proper law and principle”. If America is supposed to be the land of the free, then public and private schools and other organizations would not have to force their students to teach them the Pledge of Allegiance. And if America were the land of the free to be “treated justly, fairly, and according to proper law”, then there would not have been any discrimination towards those who are judged by the court because of the color of a person’s skin or the social class from which he/she is located in. Unfortunately certain races of people spend a longer amount of years in jail, compared to other races, due to their skin color. The Pledge of Allegiance seems simple and whole when it is actually complicated and fragment and usually has power plays.
The method of Deconstruction comes from structuralism, a way of seeing and organizing a better understanding of the world and/or statement. “How doe you know reality exists if everything is perceptions?” People who are usually one-minded view situations by what they want to see, not by what is actually happening, reality. Structuralism defines the binary oppositions of what is presented in a text, privileging that one side is better than the other. Examples of Binary oppositions are short vs. tall, male vs. female, or straight vs. gay. Deconstruction is the binary opposition that fundamentally allows the categories is in what they are in, what people fit reality into. In the song “Thieves in the Night” by Talib Kweli featuring Mos Def, Most Def raps:
“I find it's distressin, there's never no in-between/
We either ni**az or Kings/
We either bitches or Queens/”
From his perspective, the binary opposition of a derogatory word for an African American is a king, which roots back to the early centuries when the term ‘Nigger’ was used against those who were black and were described to be low class slaves. The slaves were discriminated against and treated unfairly by those who are superior to them such like King and queens. The term ‘bitches’ used as a offensive word towards women that insults her temper has the binary opposition of a Queen. A Queen is described as a woman who rules over a country by birth or through marriage. She is usually admired and stands out above others, while a ‘bitch’ is considered somebody who is rude and obnoxious and an attitude like that is very low while a Queen is viewed high. The categories that are made by people’s perceptions from back in the early centuries is the terms ‘nigger’, ‘bitch’, ‘Kings’ and ‘Queens’. It is the traits in which fits into the categories of what was created by man.
Genealogy is to trace a development of an idea and mark out how the idea is changed. In another verse of “Thieves in the Night”, Mos Def says,
“Can’t just accept the appearance/
Have to get the true essence/”
The binary opposition is the appearance vs. the essence, the soul. Mos Def wants to get the message across to listeners that “everything you see ain’t really how it be” – (Thieves in the Night). That the truth is not behind the appearance of what we percept, but is behind the essence of the false appearance. In the early days of Judaism, many people believed in different gods, carved into wooden sculptures, which were placed in a temple. Abraham, believed to be the prophet through God, did not worship these false idols. He thought that the idols were not able to hear or help the people as they called onto their gods. Because the people did not listen to Abraham, he revengefully broke the idols in the temple. Abraham smashed the false idols because people saw an appearance of a false idol and failed to see the reality of God. The binary oppositions of the appearance of the idols vs. the essence of the false idols shows how not everything that is believed in is the truth. Today, in Hindus are not allowed to draw their prophet, Mohammed, because of their disbelief of worshiping idols. However, not everybody follows up by that same rule. In the Bible, Exodus 20 verses 3-5 says, “3You shall have no other gods before me. 4You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me.” Those who are catholic are clearly disobeying God’s commandments. In verse three, ‘you shall have no other gods before me’. In Catholicism, worshiping individual saints is similar to having a god before God himself. In the church, the cross is placed as a symbol of God, and has either a statue of the Virgin Mary, Jesus, or any other saint to represent their presence in the Catholic Church. It is the appearance that makes people believe their faith is within that one statue. Little do they know there is more essence within the scripture than the statue they bow down to.
People find it easier to choose the appearance, known to be false, over the essence. Most of the time people are ignorant to believe the reality of situations by choosing the easier way out which is comfortable and recognizable to the person. Denying the reality of a situation usually happens because it is hard to accept the truth, which is often ignored.
In order to expose a hidden binary opposition, one would blow it up by revealing that the text shows that certain categories are false, leaky, confused, etc. One can also multiply the binary opposition by showing that there are more than two categories, displaced by a constellation of positions. By deconstructing and identifying binary oppositions, it give one a wide range of perceptions than just one narrow minded view and how the text or situation does not always have the truth behind its message, simply by revealing the contradictions that are left behind the false message.
[Fox Fire]
Most people have discovered revelations by undergoing an experience that made them realize what may be best for his/her own benefit. In the movie Fox Fire, Angelina Joli played a character named Legs, a revealer in most situations, where she influenced a group of high school girls to revolt against their teacher. The issue was about a high school girl who was sexually harassed by her teacher during school detention hours. Legs revealed to the girls that it was not right for a man, their teacher, to touch a student in a way she did not want to be touched. She tried and successfully persuaded the girls to fight against their teacher. The teenage girls formed an unlikely bond after the plot of revenge. In a particular scene, the girls attacked the teacher by setting him up, with the girl who had detention, in his classroom. The girls allowed the teacher to touch her, the teacher not knowing that the girls were outside the classroom door, ready to catch him in the act. Each girl had a chance to beat the teacher up, though there was one girl, named Maddy, who was hesitant get involved in the scheme. Legs told Maddy “don't take any shit” after the teacher told her not to do anything towards him. Between a student and a teacher, the teacher is superior than the student and for the reason that Maddy obeyed his command showed how much she resisted to fight him because ‘he told her not to’.
The revelation trope found in Foxfire was when the certain girls resisted against the truth about their teacher. A few girls did not get involved to the scheme of hurting the teachers, preventing themselves from getting in trouble, while others did not want to believe the sexual harassment was the truth. Legs, the rebel – prophet, took the initiative to try to motivate the girls to fight back the teacher to demand self respect that all women need to unite and fight the power, the teacher that is. The girls eventually fought against the teacher, which gained them their respect, but their wild ways began to get out of control. The Message was to fight the superior in order to save the girl from being harassed again.
Similar to the movie The Matrix, Morpheus persuades Neo, a new member of the real world, to fight the power of the Agents in the matrix and the computer robots of the real world. In order for Neo to do this, he has to complete different obstacles to obtain his strength to fight the power. Both Morpheus and Legs, who are physically distinct to those who are not aware of the message, are trying to change the reality of one’s perspective by involving them in troubled situations. They both succeed in influencing their acquaintance(s) to fight the power.
[Matrix]
In the movie The Matrix, Morpheus, known as a computer hacker, introduced Thomas Anderson, known as Neo, to the real world and how the world he was living in was “a ravaged wasteland where most of humanity [has] been captured by a race of machines which live off of their body heat and imprison their minds within an artificial reality known as the Matrix” (http://www.imdb.com/). To find out more about the matrix, Morpheus gave Neo the option to take a red pill, to learn more about the matrix and take him out of it, or the blue pill, which would have allowed him to continuously live in the matrix. Is the truth of the matrix worth pursuing? Neo took a moment to think about it and took the red pill which puts him in an alternate reality different from the matrix that he was previously living in. Neo is reborn again into the real world where he goes through a process, similar to how Jesus was batized, and was welcomed to the real world.
In the real world, Morpheus hooks Neo and himself back into the system where he teaches Neo more about the matrix. They both look at a television which symbolizes the information that influences those who watch television to think a certain way. Through the television, Morpheus shows Neo the differences between the matrix and the real world.
Morpheus: The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work... when you go to church... when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.
Neo: What truth?
Morpheus: That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else you were born into bondage. Into a prison that you cannot taste or see or touch. A prison for your mind.
Morpheus exposes Neo about how the system is dominating the real world causing those to misunderstand the big picture of what they call ‘reality’ when it is just the appearance of others they actually see. “It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.” The world pulled over people’s eyes is the matrix, and the truth is the real world, appearance vs. the essence. And if Neo remained to stay part of the matrix, then he would not be able to realize what kind of false reality he was living in. Morpheus revealed to Neo that he is ‘the one’ and that he had a mission to save the last real city on earth, the people of Zion, from the machines that make up the Matrix. Even though Neo struggled to understand the truth and believed he was not the one, he was finally convinced by Morpheus that the world he was living in was a complete lie and because of the many encounters with the agents, the machines of the matrix, he believed he was able to defeat them, after all – he is “the one”. The revelation trope found in The Matrix is the life changing affects of Neo choosing to stay in the matrix or the real world. Because of him taking the red pill, it is obvious that Neo had to go through dramatic changes to get used to the real world.
Similar to the Bible, Judas, one of Jesus’ twelve disciples betrayed Jesus by giving him up to the soldiers that were looking to arrest him. Out of betrayal, Judas was given money as his reward. Neo like Jesus, Cypher was Neo’s Judas who wanted the easier way out. Cypher was a man part of the crew who chose to be in the real world. He knew the differences between the real world and the matrix, but even though he lived in the real world, he liked how the matrix made him feel. He did not feel comfortable in the real world and because of that, he wanted an easier life. In order to obtain an easier life, he was to hand Neo over to the agents, as fair trade, Cypher would go back to his false reality – back into the matrix. As viewers watch the movie, it is obvious how Cypher was the betrayer for the way he presented himself with alternative suggestions to throw off the main character, similar to other movies when the betrayer has a suspicious characteristic to his or her self. Like most people who want the easier way out of life, Cypher betrayed Neo, Morpheus and the rest of the crew, the true prophesy, for his own benefit.
Agent Smith, the main rival of Morpheus and Neo, does not accept the fact that Neo is trying to save the real world from the Matrix and the machines living inside the real world. In a particular scene in The Matrix, Agent Smith captured Morpheus, trying to drain out his brain to obtain access codes to the city of Zion. During the process, Agent Smith shares a revelation with Morpheus:
“I'd like to share a revelation that I've had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species and I realized that you're not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment but you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply and multiply until every natural resource is consumed and the only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You're a plague and we are the cure.”
The Binary Opposition found in The Matrix is the revelation trope good vs. evil. Agent smith is trying to convince the audience to believe that he is a good guy, but little does the audience know is that he is being manipulative to his own advantage. Agent Smith believes that he and his fellow agents are able to save the human race by eliminating them. He shares his revelation, which offers a false statement to the audience, to Morpheus, who tries to resist the lies that Agent Smith is trying to feed him. Behind the appearance is the truth and what appears to be the truth behind Agent Smith’s revelation is the desire to abolish those who are part of the real world.
[Star Wars]
In Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back, a young man named Luke Skywalker seeks Jedi Master Yoda to continue the teachings of Obi-Wan Kenobi who had previously died in Star Wars: Episode IV. Yoda instructed Luke the ways of the force in order to defeat Darth Vader. Luke tried to find the Revelation of his life within Yoda’s teachings, however, a startling revelation was discovered when Luke and Darth Vader were in a battle against one another which Darth Vader reveals to Luke that he is his father. The Revelation Trope was the whole concept of Good vs. Evil in which no one knows until the end of the movie who would really win. In Star Wars, Luke is looking up to a God-like figure such like Obi-Wan Kenobi who tries to teach him the way of the Force, but because of his death, he was unable to succeed in his prophecies of being a real Jedi Master. Yoda took his position which continued the teachings, also looked upon as a God-like figure in which the developing prophet is learning from the mentor prophet of what the real life message is. In relation to the Matrix, Morpheus is somewhat of a God-like prophet where he teaches Neo the ways of the Matrix and how to go against it. Neo learns from Morpheus and by the third movie becomes into this Jesus figure where he already learned the facts of the trade of life, to sacrifice himself to save the people of Zion from the machines that control the people’s lives. Similar to Star Wars, both Movies have a God-like Prophet who share a message with the less experienced Developing prophets.
[An Enemy of the People]
Written in the late 1800s, the short play book, An Enemy of the People, by author Henrik Ibsen, tells a fictional story about a town taken place in Scandinavia. In the story, the town is dependent on a large bath that is provided for the towns’ people. Unfortunately, an issue is introduced by Dr. Stockmann, a medical doctor who is also the medical officer of the town's bath. He discovers that the bath's water supply is contaminated and tries to alert the people of the town. He first informs Hovstad, editor of the town's newspaper 'People's Herald', and Aslaksen, the newspaper's printer. He gains their support, however the mayor of the town, who is also the brother of Dr. Stockmann, does not entirely agree with his discovery. The mayor is concerned about the Dr.’s proposal of publishing the contamination of the bath in the town’s newspaper for it would cost plenty of money which includes taxing the people of the town to repair the damage.
In the long term one can agree that the mayor does not want the people to follow Dr. Stockmann’s requirements to fix the bath and because the mayor disagrees with his brother is all because of jealousy. In reaction to Dr. Stockmann’s discovery, the mayor persuades Hovstad and Aslaksen, who were in the process of printing the Dr.’s proposal in the newspaper, to go against him and his word in which they both influence the people of the town to go against him as well. In defense to try to save Dr. Stockmann’s perspective of the contaminated bath, the people of the town looked at him as the enemy of the people. Though, in the end Dr. Stockmann had the option to move out of town, instead he decided to stay and fight against those who do not understand his perspective, the truth, of the contaminated baths’. In An Enemy of the People the revelation is portrayed when Dr. Stockmann made the discovery that the water in the baths’ are contaminated. Because of this revelation, it led Dr. Stockmann to reveal the truth of the contamination to the people of the town.
[Feed]
In comparison to the book Feed by M.T. Anderson, the main character named Titus narrates the story of him and his relationship with a young girl named Violet. They both live in the future, a world where everything is ran under the feed, a small chip planted in a person’s head. Titus explains how the feed is “the only way to get all this stuff, and it’s no good getting pissy about it, because they’re still going to control everything whether you like it or not” (Anderson 48). Although the feed may be beneficial to those who use it, Violet thinks otherwise. Violet who was known to be Titus’s girlfriend has the feed, though it was planted in her head at the age of seven which makes it difficult for her to use it correctly. Violet can still use the feed, however if the feed malfunctions then she is at a great risk of dying. Because of Violet’s condition, she is able to think against the Feed whenever she pleases. Nevertheless she still has an even greater risk of damaging her Feed by resisting it, causing herself to weaken. Due to her condition and resistance against the feed, it makes her different from everyone else which cause people to look down upon her, making her feel left out. The purpose of the Feed is to advertise the mind by feeding the person with different messages which influence people to do what is being fed. This puts Violet aside from those who follow the Feed because she believes that:
“No one with feeds thinks about it […] When you have the feed all your life, you’re brought up to not think about things. Like them never telling you that it’s a republic and not a democracy. It’s something that makes [her] angry, what people don’t know about these days. Because of the feed, we’re raising a nation of idiots. Ignorant, self-centered idiots” (Page 113).
Because of her condition, Violet is allowed to wander in her own mind and freely think about anything, resisting the feed to do exactly what she wants, not what the feed tells her to do. Violet exposes Titus about resisting the Feed, revealing how the Feed is taking over people’s minds in a bad way. Instead of Titus resisting the Feed, he resisted Violet and her revelation about the Feed. Violet’s revelation was not fully understood until Violet passed away due to the malfunction of her Feed.
In connection to An Enemy of the People it took Dr. Stockmann, a man who became an outcast after revealing to the town about the outbreaks in the baths. Because of the truth that was revealed, nobody in town believed him, as well with Violet who was also viewed as an outcast in which she tried to expose the Truth about the Feed to Titus. Both Stories have their similarities because the Revealers are not always noticed which make it difficult for many, including the reader, to understand the message.
[Danny Hoch]
Danny Hoch, an actor, play writer and director, is known for one of his selected works called Jails, Hospitals & Hip Hop which includes of five different monologues of five different characters and scenarios. In one of Danny’s monologues, he acted out a character named Andy who worked in a prison where he explained his issues to his co-worker while working. Andy started the story by talking about his previous job in McDonalds and how there was this one time when he served senior citizens and was impatiently waiting to take their order. He complained how the senior citizens thought of him of some kind of a thief and sarcastically enough, Andy said if he were a thief he would have been on the other side of the counter behind the guy instead. All Andy wanted was to give the senior citizens their order of a cup of coffee and leave him alone. However that was not how the story ended. One of the senior citizens came back and complained about the coffee and how it tasted horrible. Andy, already frustrated, suddenly exploded on the customer telling him to go get some coffee in Starbucks if he does not like the coffee in McDonalds:
“But no, because that's not good enough for them either, cause they got a heart condition or somethin', like I give a fuckin' shit! I got AIDS, you wanna compete with me, you wrinkled fuckin' Sun Maid raisin' motherfuckers? […] [The old man] says, “Oh, you're not treating me like a customer should be treated! What about the rights of the customer? This is America, I'm the customer!” I said, Yeah? Fuck you customer! Fuck-You-Customer! Then he starts complainin' to the manager that I'm a fuckin' asshole. Psst, yeah. For $5.50 an hour I'd rather stay right here in jail, thank you very much.” (Jails, Hospitals & Hip Hop - Danny Hoch).
Andy knew that he was not going to let a little situation about a man and his coffee phase him when he had his own problems to worry about like his condition of having AIDS and would have rather worked in the prison, where it is bad enough, though one would not hear a prisoner complaining to him like the old man did. Danny Hoch tried to portray the revelation that a person thinks something is always wrong with him/her when other people have their own problem to think about. Danny, acting as Andy, wanted to show that just because he was in working behind a counter in McDonalds looking like a thief to the senior citizens does not mean that he does not have any problems of his own. His story is unique in its own way because Danny Hoch expressed a story about a man named Andy who can careless about an old man’s problem by showing the audience how he defended himself by cursing at the old man.
[They Live]
In the Sci-Fi movie They Live, directed by John Carpenter, is a story about a homeless man who discovered how corrupt society was by looking through a pair of sunglasses, which were banned in the city he lived in. John Carpenter, known for his dark cinematography, wanted to show a movie that not only had hideous creatures symbolizing corruption, but a “film [that] addresses the issues of the homeless in our country, social irresponsibility, mass consumption, environmental destruction, corruption, the attractiveness of our capitalistic society and the incredibly strong influence of the communications media.” (http://www.theofficialjohncarpenter.com/). The main character of the film did not originate from the city. He was a hitchhiker who settled in a community of homeless people, welcomed by a man named Frank, acted by Keith David. In a particular scene, the main character witnessed a blind man preaching about the government which the main character did not know about. The main character watched the blind man as he preached, explaining “Outside the limit of our sight, feeding off us, perched on top of us, from birth to death, are our owners! Our owners! They have us. They control us! They are our masters! Wake up! They're all about you! All around you!” The blind man told listeners to wake up. Wake up from being bombarded by the media and government with manipulating messages.
Unfortunately, the main character did not understand the blind man’s revelation. He instead walked away towards the homeless community. Across the street from the homeless community was a church. The main character was suspicious about the church after a couple of men drove away from the church. The main character decided to investigate the church by entering the back house, discovering a box that was stored in a secret storage area behind a wall. He leaves the church after the same blind man, who coincidently was involved with the church, told him “this world may have blinded me, but the Lord has let me see.” The main character walked away, assuming that the blind man was talking about his encounter with him. Although, one can agree that the blind man was not necessarily talking about the main character and his whereabouts in the church, but about how the blind man was aware of the government and the lies that the government placed in society, blinding individuals by manipulating those who cannot see and not awake.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment