Lazy Late Spring Days...

Hi, everyone!

I can't believe it's almost the end of June, and the spring semester has been over for almost a month. Summer break always goes by so quickly. I've been having a lazy kind of break so far because my internship doesn't start until next week. I've been getting some cleaning done, and I've rearranged some things in my room so that I'm better organized. (Things always get a little messy during the course of the hectic semester.) I've also been hanging out with friends under the gorgeous spring sun. But omg, this pre-summer sun can be brutal. During my visit to Governors Island, I managed to get a bit sunburned. Even constantly reapplying sunscreen won't always save you from the ruthless midday sun so I've been trying to stick to indoor activities to avoid pre-mature aging. haha.

The Sunday after my Governors Island visit, my mom and I went to see Maleficent. Both she and I absolutely loved it for its underlying feminist and colonial themes as well as for its gorgeous imagery. (We saw it in 3D.) If you haven't seen it yet and want to avoid spoilers, please don't read the next three paragraphs.

There is this scene towards the beginning of the movie in which the man that Maleficent loves cuts off her wings. Many people described it as analogous to a rape scene because the man she thinks loves her betrays her so horribly and literally clips her wings, taking away her independence and power. She is forever changed by this moment and vows revenge. I loved that the writers decided to make this the reason for Maleficent's descent into "evil" because it is so reminiscent of the everyday stories that we hear about violence against women and its repercussions.

I also loved that it is Maleficent's kiss that ultimately awakens Aurora. The writers didn't succumb to the predictable storyline where a prince must be the one to save the girl. Instead, they chose to highlight a motherly type of love, which only amplified the feminist undertones.

And the colonial themes? As in Avatar, there is a land of creatures that live peacefully with each other and respect their environment, and there is a group of outsiders who want to control them. As you can imagine, this leads to a lot of fighting and heartbreak. This is always an important theme to explore because it happens all the time in real life. There are so many small "exotic" countries that get dominated and exploited by the more powerful countries. This can even happen within the same country as big corporations try to take land from people that have had it for many years. I hope people watch this movie and are reminded of the fact that fear of the Other is at the core of all desire to control, and we must try to understand those who are different from us instead of trying to control them.

The World Cup has been going on the last couple of weeks, and I've tried to catch snippets of every game. I told my friend that I watched more soccer last weekend than I have in the last four years, which is completely true. haha. I'm not a big sports fan, but it's the World Cup so I figure I should care at least a little :p

Enjoy the weekend, everyone!

S.

Quote of the Week 

(In honor of Maya Angelou's death a few weeks ago.)

"My great hope is to laugh as much as I cry; to get my work done and try to love somebody and have the courage to accept the love in return."

~ Maya Angelou