BANKSY's RESIDENCE IN NY: 3 PIECES

Banksy : photo of an artwork by Banksy which can be seen in the Bronx

Space - street setting: a plain brick wall, a metal shutter, an old sofa

an underprivileged neighbourhood

on the wall: a stencil: a butler wearing white gloves, holding a tray with spay cans on it, waiting on a little boy (his master) from a wealthy/affluent family – the child has spray painted the words Ghetto4life on the wall,

Exchange: a man who presumably lives in the area is guarding the artwork which is valuable as it was done by a world-famous street artist: his presence adds to the irony of the piece. He is the one who will probably be in the ghetto for life. It is like a gift from the artist to a neighbourhood that could never afford his artwork (it fetches hundreds of thousands of dollars at auction sales). Thanks to the artist, the world of the privileged and the world of the underprivileged exist in the same space. In addition, the piece attracted many people to the neighbourhood, so they explored a place they would never have visited otherwise, In reality they are worlds apart. Artists like Banksy promote exchanges by investing public spaces (the street = a huge canvas, an open air museum)

the Bronx, on October 21, 2013 – a tray (plateau) – a butler (majordome) – spray cans – white gloves – a security guard – to spray-paint – a rope (cordon)

Banksy : photo of an artwork by Banksy which can be seen in Brooklyn

This piece represents 2 Japanese women on a bridge wearing a kimono, carrying a fan), there is also a small bonsai  at the bottom. it’s a stencil. The graffiti was done on a wall in Brooklyn. This artwork triggered various reactions: we saw a picture of  a rival graffiti artist trying  to deface the work, he spray painted squiggles over the 2 feminine figures. He may have been jealous or maybe he hated Banksy’s work. Several other graffiti artists reacted negatively, because they considered that Banksy was trespassing and invading their turf, their territory. At the same time, there are 2 men who intervene and try to stop the artist from vandalising the piece.

After that, the owner of the building decided to protect/preserve Banksy’s work and he put some plexiglass over it and installed a metal shutter to protect it at night. There is also a man who is guarding the piece. Now people come and take pictures of it. Someone even offered the owner of the building a million dollars to take down the bricks in the wall but he refused (he turned down the offer). Banksy’s pieces are worth tens of thousands of dollars (at auction sales). On the pictures we studied, someone had written “value is arbitrary” next to the graffiti. This sort of thing would not be possible in a museum.

Street art promotes exchanges for better or for worse.

The Twin Towers (the World Trade Center)

A graffiti located in Lower Manhattan: it represents the twin towers, it’s a very small piece done at the bottom of a wall covered with other graffiti. What makes the piece striking is the red flower that Banksy stuck the top of one of the buildings. It’s a real flower. It symbolises the explosion, the moment when the plane hit the tower. It is also a way to pay tribute to all the victims of 9/11. This piece attracted a lot of attention. People flocked to see it and take pictures. Others added comments, people put lighted candles and flowers on the sidewalk. So this artwork really triggered all kinds of reactions. There is even a man who came every day to put a fresh flower on the drawing. Later it was painted over, so now it is gone (it doesn’t exist anymore), like most street art, it is ephemeral, short-lived.

MUMBAI SLUMS INSPIRE B-BOYS + SCRIPT

Open the following link to watch the video:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obVQPeL6_y0

SCRIPT

Mumbai slums inspire b-boys - video

At home, his family call him Pankaj, but to his friends, he’s B-boy Sin. The 18-year-old student is passionate about American Hip Hop and breakdance. He dances whenever he can, but it’s not easy in his cramped house in Mumbai’s most crowded slum. Several times a week he heads into the city to find a better space. "My house is very small and I don’t have much room to practice there so I come up here. And this is where my friends are too and we can practice together." His dance crew meets at the ruins of this old hilltop fort to show off their routines. They call themselves the SlumGods. Unlike the famous movie Slumdog Millionaire, these break-boys or b-boys want to show there’s more to slum life than poverty and a desire to escape.

Akku , founder of SlumGods breakdancing crew : "Before we started to teach them breaking, some of the boys used to drink, get into fights and steal. But now, they are totally committed to breaking." The crew boasts dozens of core members from shantytowns across Mumbai, New Delhi and Bangalore. For many it’s more than just a hobby but a chance to compete for cash and glory in competitions and even Bollywood films.

Ashish Kanoujiya , professional breakdancer and dance competition judge : "The boys from the slums work very hard and we can see how much they practice to improve. Some might say ‘oh, they’re from the slums’, but for us b-boys, it really doesn’t matter at all." India's slums are a long way from the ghettos of The Bronx where breakdancing was born in the 1970s. But like their American counterparts, for these Indian youngsters it's a cheap and funky form of exercise and fun -- and a break away from the pressures of daily life.

Additional notes:

Breakdancing is a way for Indian youngsters to earn money and fame, to move up the social ladder.

They call themselves “slumgods rather than slumdogs because they are proud of (they take pride in) who they are.

People are prejudiced against youths from the slums. They look down on them (they despise them)

MADE IN DAGENHAM PART 2

Places and Forms of Power : Made in Dagenham – scene 2 : NO SURRENDER

This extract deals with the meeting between the Minister of employment, Barbara Castle and a group of women led by Rita O'Grady. They are here to try to convince the Minister to support their cause (equal pay) and to help them get what they want.

At first, Mrs Castle seems quite supportive. She praises the women for their action, their fighting spirit. She even declares « I fully support the struggle for equal pay ». However, instead of granting the women their demands, she advises them to go back to work and promises to help them in the future. She behaves like a politician, making vague promises despite her genuine interest in the women's fight for justice. She reminds the women that they are up against powerful opponents : the Ford industry, Parliament, especially the House of Lords.

Rita challenges the Minister. She refuses to give up the fight (= she is determined to go on fighting for what is right). « That ain't good enough ». She is not intimidated by the power embodied by the Minister and stands up to her. She is dauntless and adamant. She reminds Barbara Castle that she has the power to make changes and that she is a working woman too, just like them.

Mrs Castle understands that Rita and the other women will not back down, so she starts negotiating.

In the end, the striking women obtain an immediate pay raise which puts them at 92 percent of the male rate and Mrs Castle promises to get the Equal Pay Act passed in Parliament. It was passed in 1970 as a direct result of the 1968 ford strike.

BAC: this film shows the power that men had over women in the workplace. Women were not on an equal footing with men as they were paid less even though they were skilled workers. In the 1960's women started fighting for power, they asserted their rights, challenged authority, demanded equality. They asserted their power by taking on (challenging) male-dominated trade unions, the Ford industry, and the government.

EMMA WATSON'S SPEECH ON FEMINISM AT THE UNITED NATIONS + SCRIPT

EMMA WATSON'S SPEECH

SCRIPT

I was appointed as Goodwill Ambassador for UN Women six months ago. And, the more I spoke about feminism, the more I realized that fighting for women’s rights has too often become synonymous with man-hating. If there is one thing I know for certain, it is that this has to stop.

For the record, feminism by definition is the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities. It is the theory of political, economic and social equality of the sexes.

I started questioning gender-based assumptions a long time ago. When I was 8, I was confused for being called bossy because I wanted to direct the plays that we would put on for our parents, but the boys were not. When at 14, I started to be sexualized by certain elements of the media. When at 15, my girlfriends started dropping out of sports teams because they didn’t want to appear muscly. When at 18, my male friends were unable to express their feelings.

I decided that I was a feminist, and this seemed uncomplicated to me. But my recent research has shown me that feminism has become an unpopular word. Women are choosing not to identify as feminists. Apparently, I’m among the ranks of women whose expressions are seen as too strong, too aggressive, isolating, and anti-men. Unattractive, even.

Why has the word become such an uncomfortable one? I am from Britain, and I think it is right I am paid the same as my male counterparts. I think it is right that I should be able to make decisions about my own body. I think it is right that women be involved on my behalf in the policies and decisions that will affect my life. I think it is right that socially, I am afforded the same respect as men.

But sadly, I can say that there is no one country in the world where all women can expect to see these rights. No country in the world can yet say that they achieved gender equality. These rights, I consider to be human rights, but I am one of the lucky ones.

My life is a sheer privilege because my parents didn’t love me less because I was born a daughter. My school did not limit me because I was a girl. My mentors didn't assume that I would go less far because I might give birth to a child one day. These influences were the gender equality ambassadors that made me who I am today. They may not know it, but they are the inadvertent feminists that are changing the world today. We need more of those.

And if you still hate the word, it is not the word that is important. It’s the idea and the ambition behind it, because not all women have received the same rights I have. In fact, statistically, very few have.

In 1997, Hillary Clinton made a famous speech in Beijing about women’s rights. Sadly, many of the things that she wanted to change are still true today. But what stood out for me the most was that less than thirty percent of the audience were male. How can we effect change in the world when only half of it is invited or feel welcome to participate in the conversation?

Men, I would like to take this opportunity to extend your formal invitation. Gender equality is your issue, too. Because to date, I’ve seen my father’s role as a parent being valued less by society, despite my need of his presence as a child, as much as my mother’s. I’ve seen young men suffering from mental illness, unable to ask for help for fear it would make them less of a man. In fact, in the UK, suicide is the biggest killer of men between 20 to 49, eclipsing road accidents, cancer and coronary heart disease. I’ve seen men made fragile and insecure by a distorted sense of what constitutes male success. Men don’t have the benefits of equality, either.

We don’t often talk about men being imprisoned by gender stereotypes, but I can see that they are, and that when they are free, things will change for women as a natural consequence. If men don’t have to be aggressive in order to be accepted, women won’t feel compelled to be submissive. If men don’t have to control, women won’t have to be controlled.

Both men and women should feel free to be sensitive. Both men and women should feel free to be strong. It is time that we all perceive gender on a spectrum, instead of two sets of opposing ideals. If we stop defining each other by what we are not, and start defining ourselves by who we are, we can all be freer, and this is what HeForShe is about. It’s about freedom.

I want men to take up this mantle so that their daughters, sisters, and mothers can be free from prejudice, but also so that their sons have permission to be vulnerable and human too, reclaim those parts of themselves they abandoned, and in doing so, be a more true and complete version of themselves.

You might be thinking, “Who is this Harry Potter girl, and what is she doing speaking at the UN?” And, it’s a really good question. I’ve been asking myself the same thing.

All I know is that I care about this problem, and I want to make it better. And, having seen what I’ve seen, and given the chance, I feel it is my responsibility to say something.

Statesman Edmund Burke said, “All that is needed for the forces of evil to triumph is for good men and women to do nothing.”

In my nervousness for this speech and in my moments of doubt, I told myself firmly, “If not me, who? If not now, when?” If you have similar doubts when opportunities are presented to you, I hope those words will be helpful. Because the reality is that if we do nothing, it will take seventy-five years, or for me to be nearly 100, before women can expect to be paid the same as men for the same work. 15.5 million girls will be married in the next 16 years as children. And at current rates, it won't be until 2086 before all rural African girls can have a secondary education.

If you believe in equality, you might be one of those inadvertent feminists that I spoke of earlier, and for this, I applaud you. We are struggling for a uniting word, but the good news is, we have a uniting movement. It is called HeForShe. I invite you to step forward, to be seen and to ask yourself, “If not me, who? If not now, when?”

Thank you very, very much.