The Indian Woman in Movies

Miss India America begins with what seems like what would be a show about an ambitious Indian girl, Lily, who has her whole life planned out, and never lost until she loses her boyfriend, a supposed petroleum engineer. She does puts herself in the only situation that makes logical sense. She enters a beauty pageant so she can win Miss India California and then go on to win Miss India National, which just so happens to be the title that Reshma, her ex- boyfriend's current girlfriend, holds. 

Lily is presented as not only the stereotypical smart Indian but also as the stereotypical female that is presented in rom-coms, high achieving, wants to be a brain surgeon (like her father) and incredibly needing her boyfriend. Almost every single parent has a strong accent and high scholarly jobs: doctors, engineers, physicists. Most of the parents also play the typical indian parents that culture makes them out to be, pushes ideas forward, family is everything and so is tradition

In the pageant; however, Lily meets a variety of people who challenge the traditional Indian stereotypes. Sonia, who appears will be the antagonist, is actually friendly and kind to Lily, Lily actually becomes the one who sabotages Sonia and despite sabotaging her Lily still wins the pageant. One of the competitors is really perky and also really into tennis One of the judges is a famous Indian actor who is a drunk who distraught over an ex girlfriend. The dancer who teaches Lily who is presented as the “perfect Indian daughter” has a secret white boyfriend, and does not get along with most of the female characters. And one of the judges is a famous Indian actor who is a drunk who distraught over an ex girlfriend.

After the pageant Lily acknowledges her mom as a writer, she writes poems and while she is successful, her job is more free and artistic than the other parents. And. while competing nationally instead of trying to appeal to “Traditional Indian Beauty” she presents herself as who she actually is instead of that Idea. Lily never gets back with her boyfriend or finds a new guy.

Let Her Go: A Universal Truth

"Let Her Go", which is on the album All the Little Lights by Passenger and debuted in 2012, is a beautiful song whose words create a new and relatable way to allow the listener understand what it means to lose things that you take for granted. This idea forms the quite evident deeper meaning of the song: you do not know what you have until it is gone. This song is a form of poetry because is uses poetic devices such as personification, hyperboles and repetition and has a deeper meaning than the words lead on.

"Let Her Go" is poetry in the form of music because it uses poetic devices and the words lead to a deeper meaning for the song as a whole. This idea is shown when Passenger sings about how he cannot seem to help himself from ruining everything when he says, “Everything you touch surely dies.” Not only does the artist use the words to disguise his self-doubt, but also uses a poetic device, a hyperbole, to make a striking line. The verse is a hyperbole because, as many things in his life may be unsuccessful, everything he touches does not actually die so he is making an overstatement. This verse helps establish the theme of the song because the artist believes he ruined his relationship and cannot forgive himself because of it. The next poetic line uses personification and imagery to continue the theme of self-reflection and remorse as it says, “Staring at the bottom of your glass/ Hoping one day you’ll make a dream last/ But dreams come slow and they go so fast.” Personification is used in this verse because a “dream” is doing the actions of a person, such as walking and running. This line is also a great example of imagery because it creates the image of a remorseful man, drinking away his feelings and missing the love of his life. These lines help establish the greater meaning of the song because the artist is at a low point in his life because he did not realize what he had until he lost it. Finally, in the first few lines of the song and repeated throughout, the artist uses repetition as a poetic device as he sings, “Only know you’ve been high when you’re feeling low/ Only hate the road when you’re missing home/ Only know you love her when you let her go.” The line displays the deeper meaning of the song as a whole as it says that the only time you appreciate the things that you have is when you do not have them anymore, such as an underappreciated good day when you are having a bad one. This is the most striking verse of the whole song and is repeated throughout to emphasize the main idea of the song, which is to tell people to appreciate the things they have before they are gone.

The use of poetic devices in the song "Let Her Go" justifies the idea that it is a form of poetry in a musical sense. The poetic devices also help to emphasize the greater meaning behind significant words. In conclusion, "Let Her Go" by Passenger is an extremely poetic song because it uses a number of poetic strategies and reflects on a universal truth: overall, you can only appreciate love when it is lost.

Living in postmodern America impacts how we've have grown up. It impacts how we see ourself and others, it impacts things so complex as the uncontrollable thoughts that cross our mind. We don't realize it, but everything around us, the people, the internet, the media, it effects everything we call our own. 

Do we truly like a certain article of clothing? Or is it just that a person we think is pretty wore it and now we unconsciously like it. But what makes that girl pretty in the first place? Ever sense we were born we've been fed descriptions and images of what a girl or guy is suppose to look like. So is what we think is truly our own opinion, truly ours? Because if ever sense we were born we've never been given a real chance to just look at something, with no background knowledge at all, and just say how we feel about it, or what it makes us think of. 

All of our thoughts, judgments, and opinions our based off of someone else's, whether it's disagreeing with someone or agreeing, it's never truly our own. I don't think that we ever will truly get to have a completely genuine experience, of our very own unbiased opinion on anything because the world we live in will always have something to say about it before we do. 

So once you except the fact that your opinions aren't truly your own, you must try to swallow the fact that truth itself is a relative term. If all of our thoughts aren't our own, then who truly decides what is true and what isn't. 

All in all, the postmodern society we live in, forces us to be okay with ultimate uncertainty, as there is no way to ever truly know what are solely our own ideas. Every single little thing we see or hear impacts how we see the world whether we realize it or not. 

The Reality in Commercials

Postmodernism battles with the image of truth, reality and how to perceive different things in society. This MAC cosmetic commercial represents postmodernism in two ways. The first way it represents postmodernism is because of the fact that it is portraying how we should look. This commercial is selling a product that will enhance our visual appearance and make us look more appealing. In society today, looks are very important. You need to look a certain way or you are not “normal” and do not fit in. By telling us to buy this lipstick to enhance our lips and face, this is feeding into the idea that the image we see in media is reality. So many opinions and views are put into the media in the postmodern era, and they should not define our reality. This artificial image from the media of what we should look like has become so important in our lives and tells us the new reality of what is normal and fake.

The second way this commercial represents postmodernism is the visual aspect of it. This commercial is full of abstract and different visuals that are not common or normal to see in a commercial or art. This commercial’s use of color, movement and shapes expresses an idea that is a contradiction to the “normal’ art we have seen. This abstract form of art breaks the classic art mold that was formed many years ago.

Postmodernism is portrayed in many types of media and influences our everyday lives. It ultimately has a great impact on who we are. Because there are so many "truths" or opinions are being thrown at us, we need to filter them out and make up the definition of who we actually are. Being aware of all of the images that are thrown at us is important in finding ourselves today.

Postmodernism in America

If you look around our world today, their are many different examples of Postmodernism.  If you look specifically at the news and how truth is established in our society and in earlier eras you can see this.  Most news shows, specifically ones that talk about politics, show people debating a point with opposite view points and a mediator in the middle of it.  There is often little attempt to decide what is ultimately correct or to call someone out when the things they are saying false information.   This seen in political interviews when someone is asking another politician a question.  Most politicians take whatever question they are asked and shift their response to benefit them even if what they are saying is wrong.  Before the Postmodern era there was a specific standard and fixed ideologies and theories. Their is no longer a gold standard of truth that people are looking for, their are just many different versions of the truth.  Instead of a strict interpretation of truth and ideologies, we now see looser interpretations.   Everybody interprets information differently and have different interpretations on what the truth really is.  In our Postmodern society people are able to interpret information and see things in different ways rather than being told what is right or wrong.

Postmodernism has allowed people to turn away from ideologies and theories that you need to follow.  It has allowed people to interpret information rather than being told how to interpret it.  You no longer have to follow strict guidelines, you can create your own ideologies and theories.