Miss America 2014

 

Nina Davuluri is crowned

 

Nina Davuluri is a 24 year old American of Indian descent. She represented the great state of New York in the 2013 Miss America pageant and won. Nina is the first Indian American to win Miss America as well at the Miss New York title.

 

Nina was attacked on the popular social media website, Tweeter. Although Nina received a lot of support from people around the world, the ignorant comments made on Twitter caused an uproar. Several news stations and talk shows reported the reaction of Americans around the country.

 

After hearing about the reaction on Twitter, I investigated to see why people were so upset. I pulled up a few photos taken during the Miss American show. I found a few photos of Nina during the talent portion of the show. She performed a fusion of classical Bollywood dance and wore at traditional sari. The dance was beautiful, fun and energetic, it was the first appearance of Bollywood in Miss America history. 

 

Nina's Bollywood performance

 

The performance that Nina gave was a mix between traditional Indian dance that she studied every summer in India, and Bollywood. Bollywood dance is a dance the is modeled after tradition Indian dance, mixed with western styles. The sari Nina wears is traditional dress foe women in India. It's patterns and color mean different things in her culture, as well as the jewelry she wears.  When preparing for the competition, Nina was originally going to sing. But later she decided she would like to dance because she had been dancing her whole life. She was advised not to dance but she said it was something she was passionate about and stuck with it.

 

After Nina was crown Miss America 2014, on September 14, 2013, she was attacked on Twitter. A few of the tweets that I came across are listed below.

 



 Nina was attacked on Twitter, for her ethnicity. As you can see people were upset that she was representing our country from the Twitter comments. Nina was born in the United States, so she is an American.

 

The comment about Nina being part of Al-Qaeda, made me do some research. The map below is of the middle east. As you can see the red represented Al-Qaeda influences, the green is Taliban and the yellow dot is where Nina's family is from. Even though India is near Taliban and Al-Qeada activity, they are not active anywhere in India. Indian is not in the Middle East, it is considered to be in South Asia.

 

 

 

So why were American's so quick to associate Nina with these terrible allegations? I can't speak for the people who made the comments, but my own idea behind the matter has to do with the 9/11 anniversary. Nina was crowned 3 days after the 12th anniversary, a day that most American people are still very sensitive about. I'm not making excuses for these tweets as no one should be attacked for their ethnicity, religious practices or sexual orientation. I just want to understand why these people were so quick to judge, besides being ignorant to the facts.

 

 

I believe the 12th anniversary surrounds the back lash that Nina received. Our country is still upset, even after all this time. 9/11/01 was a traumatic day for us all. It's sad to see the way some people handled the situation. It just shows that people need to get the details correct and think before they speak.



 

 

9/11

 

EarthCam time lapse of Ground Zero

 

September 11, 2001 was the most traumatic day in American history. At 8:45am in New York a plane hit the north tower of the World Trade Center, eighteen minutes later the second building was hit. At 10:00am the South tower fell, thirty minutes later the north tower also fell. Not only did terrorists attack the World Trade Center, they also flew a plane into the Pentagon, killing 145 military personnel. A fourth plane connected with the terrorist threat didn't make it's destination and fell in a field outside of Pennsylvania. George W. Bush addressed the American population at 9pm and said "Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shatter steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve."  After 12 years the USA is still trying to grow and cope with the lost and fear that we all encountered that day.

 The time lapse movie above shows how ground zero has been rebuild and incorporated with a memorial and museum to represent the lives lost. In the clip as the music grows stronger the building gets taller, as if saying you can knock us down but we will always get back up.

Symbol: Ground zero has become a symbol to Americans, it has a deeper meaning larger than steel and concrete. The new memorial and museum represents what used to be a workplace, business relationships, friendships and also, unfortunately a gravesite.  To remember the day, we honor the people we lost, the war against terrorist, and the hope to stand strong as a nation. 

 

Icon: The old twin towers were an iconic part of the New York skyline. Without them it seems strangely empty. The new tower  has been nicknamed Freedom Tower (Tower One) and has the likeness of the old world trade centers. Freedom Tower has been build to insure its security, so although the building is not identical to the towers, it is similar. Which makes it a new icon in New York.

 

Index: Every time we look at the new world trade center towers, we will always be reminded of the twin towers. It's cause and effect. The people in today's world will continue to relive 9/11, it has left a indelible mark on the city.

Before the attack on September 11, 2001

 

The clip above only shows Tower 1 or Freedom Tower being constructed. You can also see the 4th tower coming along near the end of the clip. Tower 4 should be done by the end of the month. Two more towers are going to be built in-between 1 and 4. The second tower has been delayed due to economic issues. The third will be completed by 2016. All of the new buildings have been manufactured and tested to ensure the maximum strength possible. It was important to the architects that the buildings design was reinvented to support all safety measures.



What the skyline will look like when all four building are complete

The new skyline has been reinvented. Many people came together to rebuild what was lost 12 years ago. The memorial and museum have been completed. Now people around the world can visit and remember the civilians, military and the scores of dedicated city employees who lost their lives that fateful morning.

 

 

 

 

The CAMPAIGN

I want to take a close look at how politics are referenced in movies, based on the idea that I believe that politics are a well rehearsed performance. The clip I have chosen is from The Campaign directed by Jay Roach. The movie is a comedy; it is about Cam Brady and Marty Huggins who live in North Carolina, running for a seat in Congress. In the clip the current Democratic Congressman Cam Brady (Will Ferrell) and Marty Huggins (Zach Galifianakis) representing the Republican Party are having their first debate in their small town.

Warning: This clip contains explicit language.

After watching the clip, how do you feel Roach is trying to represent politics? If you have never seen the movie before, what would you think about this clip? I’m going to break down the scene and tell you what I think this one scene means or insinuates about politics. Not the politics in the movie, but how I feel the director are writers of the film interpret politics.

Well I want to take a closer look at the location of the scene. It looks like the crowd is set up in a gym. This makes me assume that the town is very small, too small to have a large auditorium or arena for the debate. So Roach is displaying small town involvement in current political events.

Next I want to take a look at the crowd, how the Average Joe is represented.

The first things I notice in the crowd were the blue and red clothing and accessories. You can see who supports which side of the argument by the color they are wearing. Red for Huggins and Blue for Brady, which is interesting to me because the Obama/Romney 2012 presidential campaign was a very similar color scheme. Obama who is a Democrat used a light blue in the “Say Yes” campaign, almost the same color of the Brady supporters in this clip. While Romney used a lot a bright red; you can see Huggins’ supporters are wearing the same red. Can we say that there is a connection? I think we can.

It seems like the politicians have been placed in the middle of a ring. If we compare the visual similarities of the following picture.

The gym in the film was smaller, up the set up looks very similar to the on the in the clip. the lighting is also very similar, those circular lights around the top are like the ones used in the clip.

A few of the men in the crowd started hitting each other with metal chairs. A classic wrestling move.

Do you think Roach made this debate look like a wrestling match on purpose?

I think it is a safe assumption to make. The idea that politics are a well-rehearsed wrestling match is something I mentioned in my last blog entry. So I find it very interesting that we are seeing it reoccur in this clip. It is insinuating the popular phrase, ‘May the best opponent win’.  Usually politicians use debates to give a tongue slashing to one another. But in this clip the topic gets so intense that a physical fight breaks out. Why do you think Roach would push it that far? I’m not sure, but I know that when I watch debates, I feel like the people debating are on the verge of a fight. Roach is probably trying to convey this idea.

 

What does the word 'politics' mean to you?

According to Merriam-Webster, it means the following:

• the art or science of government
• the art or science concerned with guiding or influencing governmental policy 
• the art or science concerned with winning and holding control over a government

Some of my friends have said the word means various things such as: scams, fakes, baloney, a bunch of hoopla, and plain old junk.

So what does the word 'politics' mean to me?

I don't really keep up with what is going on with our country. Although I probably should, I don't. Sure I vote and I try to vote for who I think would be best. Some of you might think... how could I possible vote for someone without really knowing what they stand for or what the believe in? The answer is easy. I choose who I think "looks" the best.

Yes "looks", as in who looks more superior in the media. I choose by picking the one who "looks" the part. The one whom I think can run our country based on presentation.

In my opinion what politics is to me is a well rehearsed performance. I feel like the person that puts on the best performance gets the most votes, thus is the winner.

Donkey vs. Elephant Boxing match

 

In this blog I will discuss the way political based films interfere with modern day politics. I feel politics longer ago were held at a higher standard then todays politics. I want to know if the use of mass media is a cause resulting in this outcome.

 

 VS.