Preliminary note: If you know me at all, then you know I do not lightly recommend things because I feel overly-responsible at times for any failure OF those things to bring to another what I found in it.
I’m just going to buckle up and take the risk with this one because, yes, actually, this is critically important to all people of the world and, particularly, to my fellow Americans; this said to indicate both the relentless reaction the below has engendered here as well as the hope I have that it will do so for you, too.
As usual, I’m late to the party because I’ve been sitting around thinking about this stuff while someone else has actually gone out and done something about it. So this is really a “thank you” request to those involved in the creation, funding, organization, production, and delivery (along with all supporting roles, of which there are so very many) of the following two films:
Miss Representation – http://therepresentationproject.org/film/miss-representation/see-the-film/
The Mask You Live In – http://therepresentationproject.org/film/the-mask-you-live-in/see-the-film/buy-rent-stream/
As you will see when you visit those links, this project is delivering important cultural content and perspective, information that is, quite seriously, of paramount importance for our future; indeed, I would say this effort is one (if not THE) most candid and caring sets of ethical, logical, rational, and balanced presentations of this convergence of topics that I have enjoyed in my life to date.
In fact, based upon my own experience, I have a viewing recommendation as well; heed this recommendation only if you believe me when I say that the order in which you watch these DOES matter:
– first watch the one that represents the sex you were born as,
– next, watch the one that most closely represents the gender you identify most with (in this moment, and with apologies to those on the asexual spectrum that is not addressed),
– ask your significant other to do the same (or, if they were the one who brought it to you, share it instead with your closest friend or family member)
– finally, ask whomever you share it with to share it as well with their significant other or closest friend with this same advice for viewing.
When all said and done, come together and discuss as a group your thoughts; more importantly, consider the manner of world in which you want your children (or your friend/family’s children, etc) to live within… the kind of things that should or should not be part of their maturation, exploration, and experience.
In fact, if you find the perspectives presented in the two films are of value to our culture and society, perhaps you would consider letting the creators know:
Twitter: http://twitter.com/TheRepProject
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/representationproject
Instagram: http://instagram.com/therepproject
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/MissRepresentation2
Official Site: http://therepresentationproject.org
Or, more importantly, perhaps you would consider encouraging this conversation in your life’s circle?
You can bring both of these films and this critical conversation/discussion to your community, your neighborhood, your local schools, as well as your city council, state and federal representatives, any organization or person you believe and think will benefit from hearing about it.
To learn how, please momentarily restrict yourself to one of the following labels:
Young Person – http://therepresentationproject.org/young-person/
Parent/Caregiver – http://therepresentationproject.org/parent-caregiver/
Educator/School – http://therepresentationproject.org/educator-school/
Coach – http://therepresentationproject.org/coach/
Community Non-Profit – http://therepresentationproject.org/community-non-profit/
Corporation or Small Business –http://therepresentationproject.org/corporation/
Media /Press – http://therepresentationproject.org/about/#press
If you’re curious, use the above links to explore both the similarities and the differences between the label you choose and the label you could expect your friends, family, and colleagues to choose.
Ask them to review and select…. Was your perspective of how they prefer to be represented the same as you expected? Why?
There’s truly “nothing but net” in this conversation and I have not been this encouraged in quite some time in the possibility of our cultures, societies, and the world at large hovering on the precipice of a step forward on our evolutionary path as homo sapiens sapiens.
These folks are talking about the simple yet difficult process of working to instantiate and support cultural, societal, pluralism for both sexes (apologies once more to the odd oversight of most LGTBAQ) within the human community of this planet.
It IS possible to be better than we were told we could be, as incredible as we can confidently dream. That the path thereto is not set upon strident, shrill, or selective conversation, but upon beginning from the stance that there is a natural right of all sentient beings to exist as an individual of value and potentiality regardless the environment; to live in a world of sustainable, repeatable benevolent plurality, starting with this generation and continuing forward.
Or maybe not until another few hundred years. I am clearly incapable of predicting with anything more than hopefulness.
It is my hope, though; I find this set of concepts fundamentally requisite to humanity: That every sentient being holds a basic potential that cannot be fully defined, thus, is infinite in its possibility. So long as we breath, we experience, we feel, and we love as the pack of slowing advancing primates that we are, the potential for positive representation and candid communication exists.
So long as that potential exists, how defeated must one be not to support it in any possibly way?
I have got to see what they’re doing in my state/city. And if they’re not… well, I may have just found my next activity target. Happy, fortunate me – something I believe in is finally beginning to be more than a dream.
Yes, yes, I know, I’m such a ridiculous optimist. An idealist even. Right?
But I’m not. That’s the part I hope you remember. I’m not an idealist at all. Nor an optimist. So then, once more, consider… I wrote this article.
Please share the information of The Representation Project. All the things I can’t put into words I’m going to ludicrously try again to distill, but in haiku, the better to suit contemplation:
Harsh wind hits all land
Our lights at times burn so low
Let us speak softly