Fear of Death X The Under Representation of Minorities Within the Healthcare System Post 1 Group C

Fear is something that lurks deep in the mind of living things everywhere. Each individual, which is not limited to humanity, has a fear of something. That thing may be spiders, the dark, clowns, etc. Something that I fear is death. There is a saying that there are only two things guaranteed in life. Those are death, and taxes. That is an irrefutable fact. Death comes for everyone it does not discriminate, and you never know when it will strike.

This is something that many people today fear. Dying is even becoming common in the inner-city area where minorities are mainly located. There are diseases and illnesses that affect millions every year such as HIV and AIDS, and the failure of organs within the bod. A large percentage of people within the united states die from not being able to afford healthcare and the underrepresentation within the healthcare system. Many people besides myself fear dying, and in my own opinion, it is not the fact that it is unavoidable, but the fact that you never know when it will come for you. The unpredictability of being able to be doing your normal everyday routine, and your life ends in a snap.

The Health Care industry is worth billions of dollars and affects citizens. In American history, there have been several instances where minorities have died from simple disadvantages within health care. The several disadvantages such as they are uninsured, unrepresented, and discriminated against within healthcare system. The discrimination against minorities started all the way from slavery days in the republic and still affect minorities today. Thomas Jefferson, in Notes on the State of Virginia, wrote about lung differences between slaves and white colonists. Jefferson described many physical distinctions to justify the condition of slaves in the republic, and one was “a difference of structure in the pulmonary apparatus”. The interest in modern spirometers did not start until the 1840 in Europe after John Hutchinson, a London-based physician, published several studies.  The physician Hutchinson, described the technical features of the spirometer and its potential applications. Spirometry are commonly used to test how good your lungs work. The spirometry measures how much air you inhale. The devices used to help you keep your lungs healthy after medical procedures such as a patient receiving a surgery or when you have a lung illness (Orenstein).  The Doctors use the spirometer to measure lung capacity automatically make “corrections” for the patient’s race (Orenstein).  Research was done in the late 1990’s where African- American children were taller and heavier but had lower lung function (Braun). African Americans were poorer and had lower levels of the antioxidant vitamins A and C and α-carotene. Poverty, nutrition, and exposure to tobacco smoke may affect lung development (Braun). Users of the spirometer indicate that many operators are unaware that they are automatically activating race correction when they select a patient’s race (Braun).  The correction for blacks is reduced by about 13 percent of the normal settings for whites. It is crazy to go back and see that black and white lungs differ has a long history dating to the early years of the US slavery-based republic.

Minorities have been targeted in research and largely affected. Moreover, minority populations are not represented equally within the Health care industry. If, the United states doesn’t come up with a plan, to make better health insurance and policies the same problems will remain. physicians will keep having the ability to discriminate against unserved patients within healthcare system.  The percentage of people who die from health circumstance will always be high for minorities, and the rate people die from thing such as heart failure will stay high for the urban communities. The reason African Americas, and Latinos have more health problems are not from a genetic difference, it is because the discrimination they receive and underrepresentation within the healthcare system           

Fearing death is one thing, but along with that comes the strength to overcome that fear as well. Life waits for no man, and will continue to flow down its long stream, and does not stop for those who inhabit it. That is no way to live. Being able to live with your fears are something that humans must be able to do.  Death is a very scary thing. It is not a slasher movie murderer, or a scary monster that lives under your bed. It is much more real than those, and it is absolute.

Orenstein, David. Brown University . 3 6 2013. 1 3 2017. <https://news.brown.edu/articles/2013/06/spirometers>.

Braun, Lundy. Race, ethnicity and lung function: A brief history. Ed. RCTR 51.4. Canadian Journal of Respiratory Therapy: CJRT, 2015.

Cartwright, Dr. Samuel A. Diseases and Peculiarities of the Negro Race. Volume XI. Debow's Review . New York: AMS Press, Inc. , 1851.

Post 1, Group B - Character arcs in The Incredibles, by Jared Islas

The movie I decided to watch for this assignment was Pixar’s 2004 film, The Incredibles, which was written and directed by Brad Bird. Not only did I want to rewatch it in preparation for the long awaited sequel coming out this summer, but also because this movie was a huge part of my childhood. I remember playing "The Incredibles" at recess with my friends and even dressing up in a Mr. Incredible muscle suit for a birthday party. Oh, and I even downloaded one of the songs from the film’s score because I like it so much.

After superheroes are forced to go into hiding and live their lives as normal citizens, Bob and Helen Parr (Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl) have three children and have reacted to their newly established “normal” lives completely differently. Throughout the movie, both Bob and Helen go through complex character arcs that see them switching perspectives in a way.

Bob is shown as extremely depressed, working at an insurance agency in a tiny cubicle. He is shown trying to help his clients (against his company’s best interests) by offering under-the-table services much to his bosses dismay. This reminds the audience of how important it is to Bob to be helping others. Helen, on the other hand is extremely happy as a stay at home mom. It helps that Holly Hunter, who voices Helen, has the most perfect, stereotypical suburban mom voice.

Both of these characteristics can be seen at the dinner scene at the beginning of the movie. The scene starts with silence as the whole family is gathered around the table eating. Helen breaks the silence by telling Bob that their son, Dash, got sent to the principal’s office. His initial response, “Really? That’s good,” shows just how out of it he is. This also shows how Helen is really trying to get Bob to engage with his family. Helen is most likely telling Bob this in hopes that he will be able to talk to Dash and get him to stop getting into trouble.

When Helen tells Bob what Dash did (use his super speed powers to put a tack on the teachers chair), Bob instantly lights up and is extremely proud of his son. Bob, wanting just a dose of “superhero-ness” from anything differs greatly from Helen who is trying to put the fact that the family has super powers in the past.

These dynamics continues through most of the film— 

• Bob and his friend Luscious (Frozone) jump into action to save people from a burning building
• Bob is eager to accept a mission from Mirage to defeat a giant robot
• Helen is in denial of Bob’s increasing disappearances believing that he at a business conference or bowling
• Helen seems reluctant to even say her superhero name, Elastigirl to Edna Mode
• Helen is mortified that Edna Mode had created new supersuits for Bob, herself and her three kids
• Helen instructs Violet (their daughter) on what to eat for dinner, what time to go to bed, etc. before setting out to go try and find Bob

It is at this point in the movie where Bob and Helen’s roles switch, or at least even out. After missiles sent by Syndrome (the bad guy) hit the plane that Helen is flying and that Dash and Violet have sneaked onto, Bob (who is under interrogation and locked up), is obviously devastated.  For the first time in the movie, it is evident that his actions and his desires to be a superhero again have lead to what he though was his family’s death.

Luckily, they survived the fall because Helen stretched out like a parachute and landed them safely in the water… and then stretched into a boat in which Dash acted as a propellor for… This isn’t really important, I just think this scene is funny and these images are funnier. Especially, Violet just chilling in the "boat."

Anyways, eventually Helen and the kids arrive at the island where Bob is and Helen sets out to find him. The following video shows a scene that I find particularly interesting. 

It is the first time in the movie where Helen has been shown exclusively as a superhero, rather than a mother or a mother who happens to be a superhero (as seen in the parachute/speedboat scene). The scene shows Helen (Elastigirl) using her powers, finding her way through a series of hallways and well, being a badass. 

The rest of the movie is pretty “normal” for a superhero movie, so I won’t bore you with describing it in depth, but they defeat the bad guy and save the day.. cool! 

One last important scene was right before the final battle of the film and after Helen, Dash and Violet save Bob from the island. Bob tells Helen and the kids to stay behind while he fights off the giant evil robot. It is at this point that Bob and Helen’s character arcs come full circle.

Helen is telling Bob that there is no way she is going to stay on the sidelines while he goes out to fight by himself. Similarly, the reason Bob wants to fight by himself is because he says that he doesn’t want to lose her. Here, Helen is seen as more eager to be a hero and Bob is seen as wanting to protect their family.

I feel like I barely scratched the surface with this movie as there are similarly complex character arcs in other characters in the film. There are also really complex storylines in the movie (especially for one aimed at kids), that I hadn’t noticed until I got older including suicide, murder and extramarital affairs.

Post 1, Group A--The Best Scenes of LION by Aly Hernandez

The film Lion by director Garth Davis revolved around a young boy named Saroo from a small village in India who becomes lost from his family and is eventually found by authorities where he is taken to a local orphanage to be adopted. He is eventually adopted by an Australian couple and raised in Australia. The first part of the film is particularly interesting to me because the director Garth Davis, uses cinematography to draw in the view by allowing them to see through the eyes of a three or four-year-old Saroo. In an interview with Andrew Parker, Director Garth Davis says, “It’s about slipping into Saroo’s experience to a point where you know what it’s like to struggle, become part of a loving family, and then move on into this modern world.” The director does this by placing the camera at level with Saroo’s height, which is about 4 feet above the ground in some scenes. One scene that especially stuck out to me was when he was walking through the crowded train station, the camera is at level with his height and we (the viewers) are overwhelmed and experience the fear of being alone and ignored by the crowd of people in a hurry. This scene is meant to make the viewer feel saddened and fearful for young Saroo. 

A few seconds later Saroo climbs onto a small post to overlook the crowd as he screams for his brother Guddu. The lens shifts from Saroo’s perspective to a long shot of Saroo looking over the crown from the post he is holding onto. This allows us the viewers to grasp the anxiety that Saroo is feeling in seeing the infinite crowd and the unlikeliness of Saroo’s possibility of finding his older brother Guddu. The camera focuses on this scene for a few moments so that the viewer can bask in the depth of the moment. The remainder of the film unfolds from Saroo’s childhood onto his adulthood mostly from his perspective, but occasionally shifting to other perspectives. 

The first part of the film focuses on a young Saroo, yet he hardly ever speaks. The fact that the director can convey so much emotion without the use of words is powerful. The angles and perspective used are well thought and used to make up for the lack of words. The most memorable moments throughout the film are when the director uses the environment and camera to express the emotions Saroo is feeling or to get a response out of the viewer.

This specific scene is enough to distill fear and protectiveness for children in general. The director intended to have the viewer relate to not only Saroo, but also to Saroo’s biological mother. In another scene later in the movie, Saroo’s mother is seen walking along the shore of a sea yelling for Saroo, searching for him among other young children around his age and height. The kids playing and swimming in the water tune her out and as the camera captures the scene from a distant. In the same time but in a different country, an adult Saroo is also walking along the shore of a different sea. The connectivity between this scene is meant to bring mother and son together and bring out the viewer’s “paternal instinct”.  

This is one of my all time favorite movies because it had many emotionally raw moments. This was the second time I have seen this film, I had never noticed the way the director portrayed a scene, and the intended effect of it.