While Pick of the Litter was a cute and heartwarming film, I felt that the guide dog training program was a bit like a dog factory. When one of the dogs was evaluated for the breeding colony, the program staff measured her hip width, among other measurements. This felt cold to me, as if the dogs were just breeding machines. Even the training process felt cold, in that dogs who failed guiding tests were called “career changed,” and that they were in some ways treated like guiding machines who were given a certain amount of time to learn commands and failed otherwise. Of course, overall I do agree that this program is beneficial for the blind (and the dogs aren’t mistreated in any way of course). I was just surprised at the calculated nature and “factory efficiency” of the program. It was very different from what I had expected.
Author Archives: tst37
Slumlords
The Pruitt-Igoe film discussed public housing and its relation to race and socioeconomic status. An intriguing point brought up was how slumlords would take advantage of economically disadvantaged people who desperately needed a home, by providing homes that had terrible living conditions. I’m surprised at how little regulation there was for slumlords, and how the government and organizations in positions to help did little (or if they did anything, acted very slowly) to improve living situations, even though the housing situation was dire and definitely required immediate attention. I think that the Pruitt-Igoe film shows how governments should work on improving socioeconomic statuses for citizens, which will decrease situations where people are desperate for a place to live but have no means to afford it or to find a better place to live.
Obsessions and Relationships
Beth is obsessed with chess, and it gets in the way of her relationships. Chess is her number one priority, and her only purpose in life for the most part, so she doesn’t see a need to form attachments with other people. This is, of course, a dangerous path for Beth, and I wonder as the episodes progress whether we will see Beth learn to prioritize chess less. But for now, given how Beth is already addicted to pills and has few friends, any future trauma might send her into a full-blown breakdown and I’m not sure if there will be anyone there to help her recover. On the flip side, since Beth is young and still gaining independence, it might be the best time for her to not have a romantic partner so that she can concentrate on learning to navigate life without her adopted mother.
Overdoing It
In the film Kiki’s Delivery Service, a character talks about how she loved painting and was obsessed with it. She painted so much that one day, she couldn’t paint anymore, and she learned that she needed to take a break. While this was far from the main point of the film, this part really resonated with me. I think that especially as a college student, it is very easy to overwork oneself and to become burnt out, even if you are working on something that you enjoy. Kiki experiences this too in a sense, when she is perhaps so desperate to become a real witch that she loses her powers for a brief period of time because she is putting so much pressure on herself. I think it is important to have the mindset that taking a break is progress, too!
Beth and Death
In Episode 4 of Queen’s Gambit, Beth’s adoptive mother dies suddenly. From a plot point of view, I’m not sure why this was a necessary event. Beth has already faced a lot of trauma, especially since her real mother killed herself. My theory is that the author did this in order to show, in future episodes, how Beth’s emotional state affects her chess ability. The death of Beth’s adoptive mother also reminds the audience how cold and uncaring Mr. Wheatley is towards his family, which is an important development because he hadn’t been mentioned in the show for a while. Overall, I thought it was depressing that Beth’s only parental figure and even friend was killed off so early, and so abruptly, when Beth had just begun to be happy again.
What it’s like to lose
Beth Harmon loses the US Open. While she’s lost chess games before, this one is harder for her to digest, especially because she badly wanted to beat Benny Watts for the title. Beth’s mother points out that the reason Beth didn’t see Benny’s winning strategy was because she was too focused on winning, which shows how perceptive Beth’s mom can be. I also think that it’s an important point, because sometimes being overly competitive and focusing only on the end goal makes it easy to miss out on the journey. This is a major milestone in Beth’s character development too, since she is humbled by the loss and is learning to not let her competitiveness affect her focus.
Girl Power
In Episode 2 of Queen’s Gambit, Beth beats seasoned players to win the state chess championship. I really loved this episode because it portrayed Beth as a strong, independent character, who is an underdog in the chess world but is quickly meeting her potential. It’s inspiring to see a girl winning in a male-dominated field. I was on the edge of my seat the whole episode rooting for Beth and hoping that she could succeed despite all of the setbacks and tragedy in her life!
Living History
In the film Faubourg Treme, one historian discussed how textbooks tend to portray African American history in a simplistic and segmented way, while in reality the history is more dynamic and complex. This made me think about how the way history is written has a huge impact on future generations. If something is omitted from history textbooks, future generations won’t have any way to know about it, unless they research themselves. History is always warped a little through the lens of the historian, and only the people who actually lived through the moment know the unfiltered truth. I think it is important to teach students that textbooks aren’t always an unbiased source of fact.
Portrayal of Drugs in Queen’s Gambit
The first episode of Queen’s Gambit depicted tranquilizers being given to orphans, some as young as elementary students. The main character, Beth Harmon, quickly became addicted to them at the age of only 9. Though this practice was common for the time period and there likely wasn’t enough scientific research about the negative developmental effects of drugs, I was still surprised at this reality. The Queen’s Gambit adds some humor to Beth’s serious and terrible addiction to drugs by having her comically steal tranquilizers from the medicine cabinet. However, in a way, the Queen’s Gambit also mentions positives of drug use. Beth finds that taking tranquilizers helps her stay up at night and “see” a chessboard on the ceiling, allowing her to improve her chess skills. While Beth has a natural ability for chess, it is not clear whether she is able to see this chessboard without the use of tranquilizers (she hasn’t yet tried), which may be a problem for her later in the series if she can’t get the drugs. Overall, I like how the Queen’s Gambit manages to combine two distinct themes, chess and drug addiction, into a cohesive story that highlights the many obstacles Beth faces, both as a woman in the male-dominated field of chess and as an orphan struggling with drug addiction, with no family to help her.
Skating and Culture
I went to the screening of United Skates not knowing anything about skating, and left with a new understanding of how roller skating can be the foundation of a culture and community. I was most intrigued by the national skating parties, where people from all over the country come together to share their unique regional skating styles and to just have fun. I admire the passion that people have to travel so many miles to skate together, and I would absolutely love to participate in something like this if I knew how to skate. It was also heartbreaking to see how many skating rinks were heavily policed and how there was discrimination through policing how big skate wheels could be, which made me realize how subtle discrimination can be. However, the film did end on a more positive note, where it showed a roller skating rink going back in business. While the pandemic is probably hurting roller skating rink businesses, I am inspired by this film to go to my local rink (if it is still around) after covid to try skating!