Rachel Fugate: Blog #5 I Am A Woman

I am a Woman...

 

The most recent interpretation that I would have from class would be what we watched from "Who Killed Vincent Chin". I was very drawn to the mother in this movie. I think I was confused by her motivations. To me it seemed like she was being pulled along by everyone else in this campaign for justice. She was a woman that had lost her son and was distraught and did not understand why justice was not being served. She didn't seem to understand why the man who had killed her son was not in prison. I was struck by the wife who I believe was the one who pushed the campaign along. She seemed so strong and determined, while the mother just seemed to want the entire thing to be finished. Something that was mentioned in class that struck me was thinking that they may have been using the campaing for the civil rights and racial reason. I kinda get that sense somewhat when I was watching the movie when I saw the would-be daughter-in-law but no so much with the mother.

The mother also reminded me of the Duana from Black Girl. They both seemed to be in that state of thinking where they wondered why the world was not fair. Why did Mrs. Chin's son have to die. Why was Duana not being treated like she thought she should. Duana found a way out through death and she believed that was the way she could speak out about her situation. Mrs. Chin was a more public voice even though she was apart of that group that was generally under-represented. Like we learned from Spivak, who asked us if the Sub-alterns voice actually is being heard. I think in the case of both these women that when they speak out it is not actually being heard, but the message that is getting across is that they are speaking out not actually what they are trying to say. For Duana, she was a black woman and that was even mentioned but no one actually found out that she was being mistreated by her mistress. The same case with Mrs. Chin, where everyone thought that she was just trying to promote chinese people's civil rights, when all she really wanted was justice for her son.

I found that this idea of womanhood was being the idea of being misunderstood and misrepresented. They turned Mrs. Chin into an icon. A figure that could be put in front of people to create an emotional responce. Anderson always seems to be getting across the point of how the system work for and against certain groups of people depending on how they are viewed in the public perception. Such as the heiarchy that is created by how we are born. I was born a woman and contrary to my previous misconstrued beliefs that when I grew up I could do anything without being subjected to the fact that I am a woman. So has being a woman affected me?