Friday, April 30, 2010
My story is a (silent?) western about a small town that has existed as completely functioning society under complete anarchy. As the United States government starts pursuing their goal of manifest destiny, they stumble upon this little town. It is soon determined that the town is an excellent place to put up a military fort. The villagers are impartial to the new government presence at first, but after the fort is built they start to feel imposed upon, and abused. In order to keep the villagers at bay, the mayor starts having suspicious villagers watched. This doesn't sit well with them, and they need to band together to do something about their new neighbours.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
FROM CRAP TO LOVING IT
I love my idea.
Machinima Pitch
I Love My Idea
Julia's
Pitch
Basically, my story will try to justify why severe haircut lady is the way she is. I don't believe that anyone is born truly evil, yet in Little Brother that's what she seemed to be. I want to focus on her background story, and how she got to the point where she was when she met Markus.
It's going to start with her interrogating Markus, with the water drowning treatment and etc. And after that a huge chunk of the movie will be flashbacks of her life in the past, that help to show her in a different light, so that we could understand her a little more. I'm thinking that maybe her whole family died in a terrorist attack, or some kind of murder involving not enough security. She was a very kind person, involved in a lot of community service activities, but after she found out her family died, she was BROKEN FOREVER and CRIPPLED from sadness. So some concerned friends got her a PSYCHIASTRIST who urged her to get herself together. She goes back to work, with a HEART OF ICE.
Eventually she ends up in the DHS, and gets raised to a pretty high position because of how DEDICATED she was to her job and how successful she was in getting info. out of her prisoners.
Anyways, in the end something happens (I still need to figure this out), and she realizes how horrible she's been to others, and her ICY HEART melts (I dunno maybe one of the characters in Little Brother reminds her of her dead kid). And then she WEEPS, sorry for all her wrongdoings, and either apologizes and spends the rest of her life doing good (moves to Africa to help educate the children, gives paychecks to homeless shelters) OR she jumps off a building.
Yes, this is a tragedy.
The End.
Well it sucked so I gave up.
Script idea- Rebecca
Machinima discussion
I came into this having seen a small amount of machinima, and what I hadn’t realized is how well it was done. Machinima clearly takes much more time and effort than I had previously realized, especially when you consider the time it takes to come up with a quality creative script beforehand, and then combine that with well planned and carefully laid out filming, which often requires working around obstructions that are inherent to working within video games or virtual worlds. One thing I took for granted in the machinima I had seen, Red vs. Blue, is the work that is put into making the illusion of speaking. Every time a character speaks the people controlling them have to move their heads up and down in conjunction with their talking. That is in fact what I find to be impressive about the good machinima, and lacking in the less well made machinima. In Red vs. Blue and others, the focal points of production are the dialogue, and camera work. Almost no movement occurs due to the clumsiness of the characters in Halo, where they options for movement are so limited. The other huge strength I see in their machinima is the theme of playing off the art form of machinima. Often jokes or plotlines are built around the fact that these characters exist within ridiculous conditions and constraints, and are unable to do many basic things. With camera work that gives the characters and surroundings a good feel, all they put into it is character development and humor, focusing on the intricacies of the dialogue, and they come out with an excellent and entertaining machinima. For my own machinima script, I would like to aim for this same sort of goal. While I realize this may conflict with the goal of keeping Little Brother central to the machinima, I think it can work very well. In my machinima I plan to displace a number of the characters from Little Brother into Second Life into a neutral (maybe humorous) environment. Here they will engage in some sort of reconciliatory dialogue but will continue to run into their inadequacies, highlighted by the literal inadequacies of second life.
Machina Ideas
It sucked then I changed it
Screen Play Development
Script Idea
Screen Play Development
Machinima Idea Brainstorming
screenplay idea
Script Writing
Scene 1: Marcus walking down a stone hallway inside a jail cell looking for his best friend Daryll and his girlfriend Ange after he just dismantled the Department of Homeland Security. A voice over is discussing betrayal of trust pertaining to friends and women. A security camera follows his progress down the hall. Close up on his face... focused... determined to find his friends.
Scene 2: Marcus enters into a high security room... to a sight that will change his world. He walks in on Ange and Daryll passionately intertwined. Marcus is horrified. His whole world has been shattered. His best friend and his girlfriend... Ange calls out to him to wait as he runs away.
Scene 3: Sitting alone on his bed... Marcus is wearing all black. He's a dark and disturbed young man... sorta like Spider Man 3 when he starts a black Spiderman suit. He's lost all faith in humanity. Suddenly, his cell phone beeps. Nobody talks to Marcus anymore, he had cut off all ties with humanity.
Cell Phone Screen : VAN: Hey... I Need To Talk To You. Can You Meet Me At Our Spot?
Scene 4: (Van and Marcus' meeting... need to think more deeply about conversation that takes place... general idea that Marcus will say very little at first while Van tries to explain a lot of things and he will gradually warm up and start talking about his feelings and then this scene will conclude with them smiling at each other bceause they've made amends)
Scene 5: *several months later* Marcus is happy again. Voice over explains that he and Van rekindled their friendship and are now dating. Camera walks behind them holding hands. Focuses in from the front of them laughing and enjoying each others presence after Marcus tells a nerdy technology joke. They see Ange and Daryll drive by in Daryll's new convertible. Marcus follows them with his eyes as they drive past. Suddenly at the intersection their car gets T-boned by a semi-truck. They both die instantly. Screen goes black. The following words appear : "Karma's a Bitch"
Screenplay Writing
screenplay ideas
Machinima idea
Now that I am thinking about it more, I might do Darryl's dad's point of view, how he is handling the situation and what he imagines is happening to his son. He thinks Darryl is dead but still has a tiny piece of hope in which he imagines what is happening to him.
My Script Idea
In the beginning I want to assert that Trudy Doo is being chased out of the country because of her corruption of the youth. I think this can be done in a pretty cool way showing her involvment in shaping Marcus's ideas.
In the middle I want Trudy to eventually be caught by the government and be tried and convicted of dividing the generations in America.
The end will be a flashback of how Trudy was the most pivotal idea starter in the novel.
The ending still needs more thought but I REALLY like my idea so far.
Machinima Discussion - Donnie Green
Machinima Discussion
The machinimas that were very successful had a very good plot and story that made sense. It is important that you introduce the characters and the storyline in the beginning so that you capture the attention of the audience and they understand what you are trying to say. When I was looking through the videos, if I did not understand what was happening in the first couple of seconds then I would change the video. These are all details that must be taken care of so that a good machinima can be made.
After viewing these machinimas it has given me ideas of doing a remix for the story Little Brother. My idea for my screenplay is to change what exactly happened in the story. Instead of the bay bridge being destroyed I would make it that the terrorists destroyed half of san Francisco and have taken control of san Francisco to try and soon take over the United States. All technological people in San Francisco have either died or have been trapped by the destruction, and Marcus must use his intelligence and his friends to try and overtake a super power that is trying to take over the United States. In doing so he makes friends with other people that play the same games as him and he creates a web of friends that help him on his way to saving America.
Machinima and Screenplays
talbot machinima
Sarcasm and humor were incorporated into all of the machinimas I watched. One machinima was about the adventures of two French-speaking fighter jets who were friends. This was very clever because the film was in French with English subtitles and the jets were always making jokes and alluding to modern political issues. The humor was very creatively placed in the short film because it incorporated modern day issues into a short, funny dialogue between the jets. Another machinima that I liked was a spoof of a commercial for a video game. The announcer used sarcasm to imitate overly-protective parents who worry about the effects of violent video games on their children.
The different formats of all the machinimas was also very inspiring for me. Some were in the form of commercials, others were spoofs of television shows, and some were scenes from different video games like “Halo” or “World of Warcraft.” One format that I found particularly clever was about kids and video games and it was a fake commercial for a video game that is “parent friendly.” The format of the commercial was very original and creative because it mocked real commercials that are on television. Other metachinimas I watched were more like short shows or scenes from video games, which were also good ideas. The short shows were often not as funny as the commercials and the video games were often only entertaining if the viewer knew what game the scene was from.
After watching these machinimas, I came up with the idea to use the commercial format for a machinima on Little Brother. The commercial would be a spoof of the insurance company commercials. It would be selling insurance in case of a police state situation like they experience in Little Brother. The insurance would provide the buyer with escape tools, encrypting materials, and other tools to trick the government. It would incorporate a lot of humor and sarcasm, and be in the same format as a Geico or State Farm Insurance commercial.
Another idea I had after watching these machinimas was to use a war video game scene to depict a scene from the story of Little Brother. I would use the scenes when the characters are being water-logged and questioned by the DHS and create some humorous dialogue to go along with it. The format would be form a video game like World of Warcraft or another war type video game.
talbot machinima
Sarcasm and humor were incorporated into all of the machinimas I watched. One machinima was about the adventures of two French-speaking fighter jets who were friends. This was very clever because the film was in French with English subtitles and the jets were always making jokes and alluding to modern political issues. The humor was very creatively placed in the short film because it incorporated modern day issues into a short, funny dialogue between the jets. Another machinima that I liked was a spoof of a commercial for a video game. The announcer used sarcasm to imitate overly-protective parents who worry about the effects of violent video games on their children.
The different formats of all the machinimas was also very inspiring for me. Some were in the form of commercials, others were spoofs of television shows, and some were scenes from different video games like “Halo” or “World of Warcraft.” One format that I found particularly clever was about kids and video games and it was a fake commercial for a video game that is “parent friendly.” The format of the commercial was very original and creative because it mocked real commercials that are on television. Other metachinimas I watched were more like short shows or scenes from video games, which were also good ideas. The short shows were often not as funny as the commercials and the video games were often only entertaining if the viewer knew what game the scene was from.
After watching these machinimas, I came up with the idea to use the commercial format for a machinima on Little Brother. The commercial would be a spoof of the insurance company commercials. It would be selling insurance in case of a police state situation like they experience in Little Brother. The insurance would provide the buyer with escape tools, encrypting materials, and other tools to trick the government. It would incorporate a lot of humor and sarcasm, and be in the same format as a Geico or State Farm Insurance commercial.
Another idea I had after watching these machinimas was to use a war video game scene to depict a scene from the story of Little Brother. I would use the scenes when the characters are being water-logged and questioned by the DHS and create some humorous dialogue to go along with it. The format would be form a video game like World of Warcraft or another war type video game.
screenplay proposal
Several conflicts arise for Steve as he begins working as a double agent. First off, he cannot help being haunted by guilt as he, himself has led a full life of crime up until now. He cannot help but ask himself the question, “How would I feel if I were betrayed?” He often feels as though he should just confess to the crimes he has committed and repent for them in prison. However, prison is the last place he would want to be so he simply attempts to forget all thoughts regarding this and continue on with his mission. These thoughts do arise at times though and affect his work as a double agent. Another conflict is the constant paranoia he faces with the thought of being discovered by the mafia as a double agent. His plan is to turn in those responsible and disappear hoping that those who stay free do not discover what he has done. So, if he were to be caught he would be plagued by shame and also be either punished or brutally murdered.
In the end of the story, Steve manages to turn over several of the bosses to the police. However, he is discovered by several of the men working below them and must turn to physical fighting in order to defeat them and begin his new life.
machinima
machinima ideas
For my machinima on “Little Brother”, I want to add a scene that gives a different perspective to a character. In this new scene, Van desperately hands off the story to Barbara Stratford. Therefore, I am not only adding a scene but changing the main character to Van and analyzing her feelings. Adding this scene makes Van seem physically and emotionally stronger. At the end, she would make her final decision to stop communications with Marcus showing her strength. Also, I am thinking about changing the setting to Nazi Germany. Though this would be disturbing, I think it would add an intensity that the book doesn’t have since San Francisco is known as an accepting city. Marcus and the Xnet would be anti-communists while the Nazis would be Homeland Security. The use of technology couldn’t be as prominent due to the time change, but the characters and events would remain similar.
Machinima
By using the features available in the game, we, as low budget students, can actually have a bigger variety of options available to us. We can find settings that we otherwise would have a hard time locating in real life, and use characters of any kind of physique and race and stature to make the characters in our mind come to life. We aren't restricted by what we look like, and we don't need a crazy amount of money to build sets and costumes. They are all available to us in the game. We can control the camera angles by moving our avatars around. The camera angles are a lot more than what we ourselves could do with a real camera. One thing that does throw me off is how awkward some of the characters move and how unnatural they look when they are talking sometimes. But it's still pretty impressive what one could do with machinima.
I also scanned through a few of the screenplays, including the ones for "The Producers", and "Forrest Gump". Forrest Gump is one of my fav. movies of all time, so it was really interesting looking at the familiar lines, but with more movements that we don't pay much attention to during the movie, but we see. It was interesting how even the camera angles and smallest movements are included. My ideas for my machinima is possibly a continuation of what happens after the book, or maybe a remix of Little Brother with some other series, like Harry Potter. Oh, or maybe the characters in a gameshow like jeopardy or something. I'm not sure yet. There's a lot of ideas running around in my head.
500 word discussion on machinima
For my own “Little Brother” inspired machinima, I would like to do something that is in the perspective of another character. I feel as though Marcus’ point of view of the story is so different and biased compared to what another character’s would be. I am thinking about doing either Darryl, his father, or maybe even one of Marcus’ parents, and writing one scene of what the situation looks like in their eyes. The scenes that I might do are either when Marcus first returns home, when his dad gets stopped multiple times by the police, or when Marcus reveals that Darryl is still alive.
Machinima Discussion
notes on machinima and script
The scrip also has a large influence on the quality of the machinima. The scrip’s in which the characters change and develop are more interesting and better developed just like in other literary genres. A well written script plans out very move ahead of time and the author knows exactly what they want to end product to look like.
It was particularly enlightening to read scripts to movies I am familiar with. When you watch a movie you enjoy the dialog but taking the time to read it make it more and an active activity. When reading a script you can really see how much effort went into it. Each character of a quality script is fully developed almost as if they are a real person. Every character is distinct and unique. The more work that goes into a script really pays off in the final outcome.
500 Word Machinima Discussion
It was very interesting to watch all of the machinima movies and I definitely feel like I have a good idea of the intense amount of effort and work go into making these kinds of productions. While I can honestly say that I am intimidated and a little bit worried about my video-making ability, I believe that I will learn a lot in this process we are about to start. I watched several of the videos provided by the links and got a lot of inspiration and ideas from many of them. “The Adventures of Bill & Dawn-Attacks at Dawn” had a variety of camera angles, amusing dialogue, great sound effects, and sub-titles to reach a variety of audience members. I could definitely tell that the makers of this movie worked hard to make their movie look polished. “Desolate” was another very professional looking movie and the movie was very fitting to the theme. It also included a very powerful topic, which inspired me to make a movie that impacts my viewers. “Deviation” had creative dialogue between and I was surprised that their character’s mouths moved when they were speaking. I don’t know if I will be able to do this, but it would definitely add to my production if I learned how. “Birthday Surprise” took a common character form a gaming site and made him funny and able to connect with more modern-day audiences. I really hope that I can amuse my viewers with my movie as well. “The Legend of the Sister Blade” was one of the more impressive movies I viewed, and it had both amazing effects and narration and literally reminded me of an actual video. It really inspires me to go above and beyond with my work. “Read Dead Redemption: Hands On” was action-filled and showed me how important it is to keep your audience interested the entire time. “Secret Lives” was one of the more interesting movies to me because it had a modern theme and modern characters and the first scene was hilarious. I definitely want to make my movie more modern and attractive to my viewers. “Addiction” had good scanning techniques with the camera and the beginning really did seem like the beginning of a Hollywood movie with an interesting, complex character. I realized that it’s very important for the characters to be unique, as well as the sets and camera shots. “A Better World” was less interesting to me but was very informative and included a variety of characters, which is also an attractive idea to me. Finally, “An American Baby in Iraq” was intense and powerful, and made good use of actually people in the world. Perhaps I will try to use this technique with my own machinima.
I loved reading the screenplays of movies I had seen. “The Wizard of Oz” had several characters speak and be introduced just in the first seen and there was tons of creative dialogue. Not to mention, there was a summary of what was going on between the dialogue as well as a lot of detail and direction. The “When Harry Met Sally”screenplay was one of my favorites because it had such unique and comical dialogue and also included information about the character’s actions and what they were doing as they were speaking. After reading some of the screenplays, I realized that much more goes into it than simply writing dialogue between two characters. Obviously, there is much planning and creativity involved as well.
For my own machinima, I would like to create a story that is based on more modern events and have characters that are relatable to my viewers. Also, I think it would be fun to include some comedy in my machinima to keep my viewers interested, amused, and on their feet.
500 Word Machinima Discussion
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Little Brother Hypertext
Brandon's 500 word discussion.
I already have a few ideas for my machinima . In my opinion the best idea I have so far is to retell the story from the perspective of Trudy Doo. I think that would convey a lot of emotion about how Marcus feels and about the rebellion against the government. It would also allow me to create a bigger role for her character and adapt it into my screen play. I really like this idea because I think that adding a sub-plot would be interesting and that if done right it could add a whole new meaning to Doctorow’s novel.
My second idea isn’t as well formed, but I think it would be different to redo the terrorist attack scene, to show a broader prospective than that of just Marcus’s. I think this could be pretty unique because I could not only show the perspective of Marcus, but also of the terrorists and the Homeland Security. There could be three sub-plots going on within it to display a fragmented sense of reality each party has.
What I learned about Machinima
Discussion of articles and Machinima Proposal
I read part of the script of both “Star Wars” and “On the Waterfront” because I like both of those films. Before reading those scripts I never realized how much of the script, at least initially, is about setting up the scene and introducing the characters. At that point in the film dialogue is almost secondary. I think that this will be important for us to remember because it is much easier to just write out a whole script and forget about setting up everything else. I also agreed with the article about the seven best scripts for beginning screenwriters. I liked what was said about “Back to the Future” because it is important that all the parts of the film go somewhere and that there are not random bits of story that are pointless or leave the viewer without answers or explanations.
For the Little Brother machinima I think that doing something on the theme of the modern teen romance could be interesting. Also a machinima about an survivor’s perspective about their experience being wrongly imprisoned and tortured might be adapted nicely into a visual form.
Little Brother Hypertext First Draft
My Little Brother hypertext is about Cory Doctorow's answer to the question "Why are Americans so uninformed about politics?" Doctorow has three possible answers to this question: the influence of the media, people's distance from the issue, and the failing of the educaiton system to properly inform students. There are about 3000 words in my website.
here is the link
Screenplays and Machinima
There were several “codes” that I did not understand. “EXT” was one and “OV” was another. Also, there were numbers every so often on both sides of the script. I was unsure, but I thought it might have something to do with camera shots—signaling a change in angle/frame.
I saw a few different styles of Machinima. My favorite was a mashup between South Park and World of Warcraft. There were around four or five of them. In them, they showed the virtual world with the South Park characters’ voices on top of the World of Warcraft characters. It was a sort of frame story because it would come back to the South Park world occasionally, for example if one of their parents walked in. In one of the episodes, it was making fun of these type of virtual world gamers. It showed Cartman, Kyle, Kenny, and Stan getting really into the World of Warcraft game and as time passed they became extremely obese and they were covered in zits. On top of this was an upbeat music, signaling the parody of the episode.
I also saw an episode where a guy recorded his friends talking, then tried to play it on top of a Video game. The only thing was that his friends weren’t aware of the video recorder, so they weren’t trying to speak in a way that would aid the success of his machinima. It was stupid. The video game characters weren’t even matching up with his friends’ voices.
My idea for a machinima would be from the perspective of the Severe Haircut Lady. It wouldn’t be like the one with saw in class, where her dad’s abuse drove her into becoming who she was. I want to take a sympathetic look at her, but from a different angle. She and her dad will have a great relationship from the time she was a kid, and he is a DHS worker. He inspires her to protect her country, and to always remember to look outside the typical definitions of “terrorists.” And speed through the book and see what the X-Net Generation would look like from her perspective, not knowing Marcus’ honest intentions.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
1st Draft Hypertext
Little Brother Hypertext
Little Brother Hypertext
My website!
1st Draft Analytical Hypertext, Completed
The first draft of my completed Analytical Hypertext is posted. I used Doctorow's theme of nonviolence, essentially a "Bloodless Revolution" presented in the plot of "Little Brother" using examples of leaders who employed nonviolent methods to organize and respond and examples of organizations, more connected with Doctorow, that show how much he exemplified nonviolent action in response to oppression (and how important building a culture of nonviolence was). Amnesty International, Doctors Without Borders, UNICEF, and the Human Rights Campaign were used as those organizations.
Little Brother Hypertext
http://webpages.scu.edu/ftp/amcpartland/lbhome.htm
Michael Adair Game Time. Research Hypertext
The page focuses on how Doctorow alludes to the youth of the sixties in his novel, Little Brother and the similarities/differences between the two generations as well as contemporary youth.
Hypertext draft
http://webpages.scu.edu/ftp/lgrove/LITTLE%20BRO%20SPLASHPAGE.html
This is my hypertext draft
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Research proposal
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
hypertext
http://webpages.scu.edu/ftp/SJChen/lilbrohypertext.html
Annotated Bibliography
and here is my annotated bibliography:
Alexander Vincent Molloy
Annotated Biliography
Gizmodo.com
This is my main source of technology news, and, in my opinion, they do an excellent job of covering the topic of net neutrality. They are heavily pro-neutrality in all of their articles. They enjoy taking playful jabs at companies like Comcast and AT&T for just about everything, from iPhone coverage to overpriced products and ridiculous advertising, however they are serious about their passionate hatred for the two company’s stance on net neutrality.
All of the articles are very well researched and contain sources of the information for fact checking. They chronicle the on-going net-neutrality dispute between the FCC and Comcast, and other stories that are associated with the topic.
Oct 8, 2009 - Why the FCC's Got AT&T and Verizon Scared Shitless
Oct 20, 2009 - AT&T "Encourages" Employees and Their Families to Complain to the FCC About Net Neutrality [Updated]
Oct 22, 2009 - FCC: We're Going to Make Net Neutrality the Law
Sep 21, 2009 - FCC Wants to Ban Internet Traffic Screening, Anti-Torrent Measures
Sep 21, 2009 - Comcast to FCC: FUZZOFF!
Apr 6, 2010 - Comcast Wins, We Lose: Court Says FCC Doesn't Have the Power to Enforce Net Neutrality
BoingBoing.net
This is another favourite blog of mine. It also happens to fit perfectly with Little Brother as Cory Doctorow happens to be the editor of the blog. Like every other technology blog, it has a heavy pro-neutrality stance, and it is something that is very obvious in just about every post concerning the topic. This story just shows how incredibly low Comcast will go to ensure that they have everything their way.
UPDATE: Comcast paid for people to fill seats at FCC Net Neutrality hearing
Net Neutrality and Free speech on the internet
This document is a copy of a 2008 hearing before the Task Force on Competition Policy and Antitrust Laws of the Committee on the Judiciary House of Representatives. Although most of the document is political jargon, it outlines exactly what the net-neutrality stance is. Page 3 outlines the three staples of the movement. It first explains why net neutrality is, and why it is important. Then it shows how net neutrality has recently come under fire, and finally it shows exactly what should be done to ensure that a net-neutral stance is taken by the government.
Both sides have a point in net neutrality – Johna Till Johnson on 2.27.06
Articles that have even a mention of an anti-neutral stance aren’t something very common on the internet. However I did want to have a good balance, and I wanted to see if there actually was any support behind the other side, apart from just telecom providers. This article shows the two sides pretty well, and offers some interesting analogies, along with what was most interesting to me; a historical context. Apparently Ben Franklin thought that it would be just fine to discriminate against competing publishers when it came to his mail service, and he refused to transport any mail from them. After all, the internet may be relatively new in the grand scheme of things, but this isn’t the first time that different kinds of media have been discriminated as far as transportation.
also: I would really appreciate it if we never had to use glogster ever again...
Josh's Annotated Bibliography and Review of Lit
Review of Lit
In the history of the world, we have often seen the use of bloodshed as a means to acquire victory over an unpopular regime, as a means of showing superiority. Sometimes bloodshed was necessary for change but other times it really could have been avoided. Examples range from United States history to that of the northern and southern regions of Africa. There have been individuals within these nations that have been able to stand tall in the midst of despotism and show their oppressors that they would not turn a blind eye towards discrimination, racism, and inferiority, they would not turn a blind eye to death. Most people did not understand the power of one voice, but they heard that exact power in the voices of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X [7], Nelson Mandela, and Mahatma Gandhi. These four worldly icons fought for nonviolence [1] by trying to make peace with the very people who didn’t really care whether they lived or died. Bono and Matisyahu, both musicians and icons of now, have made it their mission to use their music to make an enormous impact on these very issues as they continue to exist. On a slightly larger scale, the Arab-Israeli conflict [6], Apartheid in South Africa (1948-1980) [2], and Genocide in Sudan (2003-present) [3] presents further examples of nonviolent efforts that have made steady progress but have gradually fallen off the international radar.
One of the many important underlying themes of Cory Doctorow’s Little Brother is Marcus Yallow’s “Bloodless Revolution” in the face of maltreatment by the Department of Homeland Security. Over the course of the novel, Marcus was forced to think on his feet, and, ironically enough, became the leader that he didn’t want to see himself become. He made it his mission to take down the DHS and expose them for all of their injustices to innocent civilians who were arrested on suspicion that they were terrorists for the most absurd reasons (and tortured on top of that). He wielded the Xnet as his sword and shield, working his way to truth along the way. This theme, as with many of them presented by Doctorow in the novel, is a purposeful connection to current and past (historical) events that have drastically affected the areas in which they have occurred.
I have read about the heroes and icons of the last two centuries, the individuals that believed in the greater good of the people around them before themselves. They wanted future generations of people to live a better life then them. They were the parents of our generation. This is why they acted out in what they believed in in the way that they did, to allow us to live the way we do nowadays. It is those people like Gandhi [4] and MLK Jr. [5] that are the role models for modern nonviolent organization against the tyrants of today. You don’t have to look to far to find someone who wants to fight against despotism without weapons. The resources have been made available, the table has been set, and dinner has been served. But the real question is, will you dig in?
Annotated Bibliography
1. Kuryla, Peter. "Parties down at the square amid courtroom melodramas: a reconsideration of the modern civil rights movement demonstration." Patterns of Prejudice 43, no. 1 (February 2009): 17-40. America: History & Life, EBSCOhost
Cory Doctorow expresses the importance of a “Bloodless Revolution” as one of his many original contributions in Little Brother. This is a pressing issue in the midst of current events and past history that people have no paid attention to. We all hear about “pro-peace” movements that occur all around the world, but is anyone listening or is it just a spur-of-the-moment effort to battle unnecessary bloodshed? This article focuses one of the most important eras of recent past, the Civil Rights Era. Ironically enough (in regards to Doctorow’s original contribution), this time was viewed as one, which was abundant in public demonstrations, especially the violent ones. The “enemy” is the one shedding the blood.
2. Zunes, Stephen. “The role of non-violent action in the downfall of apartheid.” The Journal of Modern African Studies (1999), 37:137-169 Cambrdige University Press.
Yet another time that fits perfectly this theme of the “Bloodless Revolution” is the Apartheid in South Africa. This time period saw the rights of the majority of black inhabitants curtailed and minority rights of whites maintained. From 1958, South Africans were deprived of their citizenship, sparking internal resistance and violence in South Africa. This article focuses on how non-violent action prevailed in the downfall of apartheid in South Africa and a democratic black majority government was established. (LB – getting rid of the “bizzaro-world” DHS version of the justice system and reestablishing the old system with judges, open trials, and lawyers).
3. Strauss, Scott. “Darfur and the Genocide Debate.” Foreign Affairs. Vol. 84, No. 1 (Jan-Feb., 2005), pp. 123-133. Council on Foreign Relations.
Napoleon didn’t read “the book.” Neither did Hitler. You know why? Its because Doctorow wrote it. In his novel, Doctorow throws a myriad amount of themes into a melting pot and let’s his readers deduce them one by one, as they compare them to current or past events along the way. A theme that stuck out to me in particular was how Marcus did not have to start a bloody revolution versus the DHS to get his point across, he could just use his smarts of computers, the Internet and technology, The opposite has been going on in Sudan since 2003. Once the term “genocide” was used to describe the death that plagued the nation, nobody bothered to fight it. The world now sits in waiting as more people die at the hands of revolutionaries, holding steady until some nation steps forward to stop a miniature Holocaust in the making.
4. Gregg, Richard B. The Power of Nonviolence. Lightening Source Inc. Released January 31, 2007.
Gregg said it best: “The idea of non-violence (passive-resistance) has always seemed beautiful but too good to be true.” This is exactly what is on the minds of individuals who witness or partake in pro-peace “NO WAR, NO BLOODSHED” protests all around the United States. “Sure, we can organize. But we are not the only ones here. How is the rest of the world going to find out?” Mahatma Gandhi employed non-violence methods on a wider scale and with greater success than any other figure in history something that Marcus was very good at over the course of the novel, in the face of death itself.
5. King, Martin Luther. Pilgrimage to Nonviolence. Excerpt from “Stride Toward Freedom.” (1958).
It only takes one voice to spark a revolution. One voice connects the voices of many, creating a web of trust that turns into a commanding force of change. Marcus’s Xnet did exactly this. He didn’t want anyone to give him credit for anything that he did right (he didn’t like attention), his mission was to get Darryl out of Treasure Island and free from the hands of the DHS. All he need was his laptop, his ParanoidXbox, and a secure WiFi connection that the DHS couldn’t tap. MLK Jr. was just the opposite. This icon was the voice of millions of African Americans during the Civil Rights Movement. He managed to attract the attention of not only those that followed them, but those who were fascinated by his charisma, commanding voice, and fortitude to strengthen the hearts of an undignified audience in the face of much adversity and hate. Some blood may have been shed, by MLK’s point was made, the product of which is seen today in the White House, and President Barack Obama. MLK = the voice of millions of African Americans pleading to be free of hate, racism, and discrimination against them. Marcus = the voice of millions of teens pleading to be understood and trusted in the face of the DHS who has made the abnormal (life), normal.
6. Kelman, Herbert C. “The Political Psychology of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: How Can We Overcome the Barriers to a Negotiated Solution?” Political Psychology, Vol. 8, No. 3 (Sept., 1987), pp. 347-363. Published by the International Society of Political Psychology.
What is known around the world as the “Arab-Israeli” Conflict, is also known as a series of failed attempts to make peace between two ethnic groups that have been in feuds with each other back and forth since Israel’s declaration as a nation on May 16, 1948. The Land of Canaan or Eretz Israel (Land of Israel) was, according to the Torah, promised by God to the Children of Israel, Jews. Conflict sprung out of this fact. Since then there have been multitudes of suicide bombings taking many innocent lives and offensives by Israel to show that they would not stand down in the face of adversity. In comparison with Little Brother, the Arab-Israeli conflict shines through as a period in which many attempts have been made to try and make peace, but violence and bloodshed somehow always resulted.
7. Tyner, James A. “Territoriality, Social Justice and Gendered Revolutions in the Speeches of Malcolm X.” Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers. New Series, Vol. 29, No. 3 (Sept. 2004), pp.330-343. Published by Blackwell Publishing.
During the Civil Rights Era, there were several individuals who stood tall in the face of oppression who knew something was wrong as they went about their lives each and every day. Some of those people were MLK Jr., Rosa Parks, Frederick Douglass, and finally Malcolm X. Malcolm X was unique among his abolitionist counterparts. The revolutionary thought of Malcolm X was at the heart of the Civil Rights Movement. This African American radical intellectual sparked much thought in the minds of antagonists, going against the grain to show the world that fear can not nullify the power of desire, desire for equality and justice.
Annotated Bib & Review of the Literature
This article was not as helpful as the other ones in specifics, but gave me a broader understanding of the material I was researching. It helped me learn about the historical controversies of security vs. civil liberties, from the Clinton to the Bush Administration. Lastly, it was beneficial in learning about the rights of immigrants, who were not yet citizens and how the government was able to treat them because of that.
2. Beutel, Alejandrao J.. "Are We Safe?." Islamic Horizons 37.1 (2008): 30-3. OmniFile Full Text Mega. Web. 20 Apr. 2010.
In the Article, “Are We Safe,” Beutel, discusses the controversies between national security and civil liberties. This article was very helpful in learning about the racial profiling of suspected Terrorists. It was especially a good source because it was not biased considering it looked at both sides of the issue very skeptically. Not only did I learn about the unethical approach of racial profiling, but also the harm it does to the government in looking for one group of people as suspected terrorists.
3. Harris, Hamil, and Alan Hughes. "The price of privacy." Black Enterprise 32.6 (2002): 23. OmniFile Full Text Mega. Web. 20 Apr. 2010.
“The Price of Privacy” was a good source to get background information on racial profiling since the September 11th attacks. Harris talked about the Anti - terrorist Bill that Bush passed, which inevitably led to more racial profiling. The article not only talked about the causes of racial profiling, but also the unconstitutional actions of the government from having a prejudice.
4. Kleiner, Yevgenia S.. "Racial Profiling in the Name of National Security: Protecting Minority Travelers' Civil Liberties in the Age of Terrorism." Boston College Third World Law Journal 30.1 (2010): 103-44. OmniFile Full Text Mega. Web. 20 Apr. 2010.
Kleiner writes about the issues of racial profiling and how it affects society today. As my best resource, the article does an excellent job of going into depth of unconstitutional issues surrounding racial profiling and how it enforces prejudice as social norms in the United States. It also gives good examples of innocent American citizens who have been racial profiled and how they found the experience degrading to be treated as second class citizens.
5. Weeden, Darnell. "Racial Profiling and the Implications of Jena Six in Undermining the Civil Rights of Blacks in America." Southern University Law Review 36.2 (2009): 239-61. OmniFile Full Text Mega. Web. 20 Apr. 2010.
Review of the Literature
Stereotyping has been around since the founding of the United States. Therefore, it’s not hard to believe that racial profiling has been a prominent issue for society; from slavery to the current issue of unconstitutional prejudices and discrimination against certain minorities due to specific terrorist organizations. Some minorities have tried to get past these stereotypes for their whole lives. The problem is the government has helped to create these prejudices, which makes citizens follow them, causing the stereotypes to become a social norm.
In Corey Doctorow’s book, “Little Brother” there is a theme of racial profiling. Jolu, the main character Marcus’s friend, brings up the issue of racial prejudice. He decides to stop helping Marcus with X-net because he knows that he has more to risk that Marcus, since he isn’t white. Doctorow develops the character of Marcus, who starts out a little ignorant to the world around him, but becomes more aware of the inequalities that society faces. Marcus does not like being in a group of people, young rebellious teens, who are being profiled. From his time being held captive at Treasure Island to his efforts of trying to defeat Homeland Security he learns that society is not fair and everyone deserves their constitutional rights of civil liberties.
Racial profiling has increased since the September 11th attacks (5). Since the controversial debate between civil liberties and national security, the government has passed bill and laws that limits citizen’s freedom (4). Now one main group is targeted as suspected terrorists because of Al Queda. Muslims or people of Middle Eastern descent who look Muslim tend to be branded as a criminal due to their ethnicity and religion (1). Not only does this reinforce harmful stereotypes, but also creates ethnocentrism as a social norm. Racial profiling as well as stopping people based on thdir appearance is constitutionally offensive (3). In addition to the unethical aspects of racial profiling, it also harms national security. Now many terrorists will seek inconspicuous white people because of the current racial profiling of certain ethnicities. In doing so, terrorists are able to take the government’s eyes away from other threats (5). Now society needs to create race blind security system in order to stop racial profiling (1).