I’m struck by how the video almost never lets us see Blue’s face even though the song is about and for her and named after her. We see lots of clips of Blue (her feet, legs, hair, etc), but there are only two moments where we get a head on face shot. One is through a window glass, and the other is a very tight shot, so we are mostly getting her eyes and a little bit of her cheeks. There’s a moment where we get the full body and a fair amount of her face, but it’s only a quarter profile because she’s actually walking away from the camera and has turned back to make a connection with her mom. All three of these moments only happen at the very end, when the song has pretty much ended. In contrast, we see a great deal of Mama Beyonce’s face. How does us not seeing Blue’s face (or maybe it’s about us seeing her body in piecemeal?), create or challenge ideas of the innocent child?
On page 95 of the Penguin Edition of The Outsiders, Jerry, possibly a school teacher, says, “Mrs. O’Briant and I think you were sent from heaven. Or are you just professional heroes or something?” after Johnny, Ponyboy and Dally saves some children from a burning church which they probably caused.
With regards to innocence, we discussed loss of innocence and the transformation of a person’s psychology. Johnny and Ponyboy were mostly innocent up to the point that Johnny killed the Soc in self-defense. Afterwards, he was a murderer. Then a fugitive, and Ponyboy, an accomplice to the crime. If viewed as a social construct, it would depend on who sees which part of the picture. Johnny and Ponyboy were pretty much criminals according to the law. They themselves, however, were innocent until the point they killed the Soc because they had to or Ponyboy would die. Jerry, and the other adults near the church fire did not see murderers, but heroes. Jerry says he thinks they were sent from heaven, also asking if they were just professional heroes or something? His dialogue brings up both appraisal for their heroic acts and questions about the nature of their act.
According to Jerry and the other adults near the church fire, these two teenagers were heroes; running into a burning church to save several innocent children trapped inside when no one else dared to. However, his mind didn’t really change when Ponyboy told him all the details. Self-defensive heroes is what he probably saw. Not that he probably left the burning cigarette that started the fire, though, there is no evidence that he actually did. In the end, when all the deeds are added up, Ponyboy and Johnny were innocent in the eyes of society. Risking their own lives to save children more innocent than themselves, more defenseless in returned made them look less like criminals and more like innocent.
I want to point to the section in the text where Johnny is referred to as a pet. I’ll leave it up to you all and your interpretation on whether “pet” has a negative or positive connotation here. This quote was written in chapter two page 22,
“Dally scowled for a second. If it had been me, or Two-Bit, or Soda or Steve, or anyone but Johnny, Dally would have flattened him without a moment’s hesitation. You just didn’t tell Dally Winston what to do. One time, in a dime store, a guy told him to move over at the candy counter. Dally had turned around and belted him so hard it knocked a tooth loose. A complete stranger, too. But Johnny was the gang’s pet, and Dally just couldn’t hit him. He was Dally’s pet, too.”
Using what you know about Johnny and the type of character he plays in The Outsiders, why does S.E. Hinton pick Johnny’s to be the, “gang’s pet”?
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Omarosa’s statement: “It’s different for you and I, I’m an African American woman, you get to walk around and be mediocre and still be awarded with things. We have to be exceptional to get anything in this business.”
The first 15 seconds of this four minute long clip is reality show personality, Omarosa Manigault, voicing her opinion on Bethenny Frankel’s show. Previously, before her above statement was made, Omarosa won a $10,000 bet with Bethenny, as she was able to prove that Bethenny did in fact state that she did not have a brand. To add, Bethenny took it upon herself to state that she has, “A real career,” insinuating that Omarosa does not.
Watching this clip hit a nerve. It has also opened my eyes to see that despite the accomplishments black women continue to make, it will never be good enough in the eyes of the ones who once had power over us. To add on to Omarosa’s opening statement, it is true that additional hurdles are placed on the black woman’s journey to success. In many cases, once the finish line has been crossed, we come to find out that there are additional hurdles left to be defeated. Omarosa’s case is a great example. Despite her accomplishments and her unique personality that has kept her relevant, it means nothing. Bethenny, who is representative of all the people who fail to recognize the accomplishments of those once deemed inferior, will never give credit where credit is due. Throughout the entire video, from beginning to end. It is obvious that Bethenny wasn’t a huge fan of Omarosa to begin with. This leads me to think that Omarosa was invited on to the show simply to be ridiculed, embarrassed and degraded. What was even more unnerving was the fact that after every belittling statement, the audience, which was made up of 90% Caucasian women, cheered and applauded. But when Omarosa stuck up for herself, she was booed. This is a major red flag. As women, it is imperative that we support each other in all that we do. We cannot continue to tear each other down to make ourselves look better. Bethenny could have said majority of the things she stated in front of an audience, in privacy. As the host of a show, the way she spoke reeked of jealousy.