BABEL RESPONSE

            Babel had an interesting connectivity among the relationship of people presented. The most shocking personally among the three very different identities was the American couple in Morocco. The Americaness was a light that shinned very brightly in sense of White powerful control and different discourses which had been accumulated through terrorism. Among this white “nuclear family”, superiority was immediately given to the White female being an American citizen in a “foreign" country if you will. This immediate demand of help, the way the “victim” viewed the Moroccan grandmother trying to ease her pain, and the direct connection Brad Pitt had with the U. S. Embassy. This was another racial prejudice even in need of the “foreigner” for help. It is crazy that even now with me writing this I possess a Western mindset. I continue to use the term “foreigner” when in actuality this couple was visiting their country. Brad Pitt and his wife were truly the foreigners. Also, immediately these two kids whom were playing with a rifle above a mountain top and mistakenly shot this White woman were labeled as terrorists. I guess any native from a foreign land other than the West is considered terrorists. WOW.      

            Secondly, the Mexican house maid was immediately viewed as the criminal inside the boundaries of the U.S. She was arrested without any question, and placed as a harmful figure among the two white kids. Not only had her employer demanded she stay and watch his kids, but also had absolutely no remorse or care for her personal life. She was an immigrant working in the United States pretty much under the same enslavement categories as any other migrant just under a different lens. This particular story was bothersome based on the mere fact of their ethnicity. The police officers while driving though I personally believe gave them a hard time simply because of their race. Where is the freedom in choice or in that case, what was the reason for showing the passports? America is a country that only looks out for its own, and it is socially equipped to place “others” no matter background, education, morals, or wealth into a category systematically as different and not possessing not even the smallest of the same rights as a true U.S. citizen or whatever that means. The ideology associated with how the world is viewed through the eyes of the West is ridiculous. American cannot simply be the land of the free?? Instead, maybe the star spangled banner should remove that stanza. I am not degrading my country, because I for one could not live outside of a Western way of life, or do I just not want to, because I am so accustomed to such privilege, if that’s even true for a Black woman in the U.S.

            The Asian family was a little peculiar to me. This nakedness of the young girl along with her being deaf was a bit much. She seemed to have maternal issues, which dates back to Global Migration of the mother not being present in their children’s lives. Not to say her father wasn’t nurturing, but just that the nurturing was not that of her mother. This nurturing may have well-equipped this young teenage girl for sex and emotion. The displaying of her sexual parts was too much to handle on an every 5min basis, but it only showed the way in which she used her sexuality as a female to supposedly get what she wanted. This reminded me of the stereotypical hyper sexuality given to women of color (Asian women). Overall, the movie was great, and I do realize the amount of Western lifestyle I hold as well. It’s scary almost. Finally, knowledge is power so use it very carefully, but then again this is just my opinion, and hey on the other hand, who and what gives me the right to speak for this Asian girl, Mexican house maid, or White woman??