The document summarizes connections between concepts discussed in class lectures and scenes from the movie "The Green Book". It provides five examples of how hegemonic speech, identity formation, recognition, policy of equality, and social reality construction in the movie relate to the oppression Black people faced in the time period depicted. The movie shows how Don Shirley faced discrimination and lack of respect despite his talents, struggled with his complex identity, and resisted social norms by refusing to accept unequal treatment at a restaurant.
The document summarizes connections between concepts discussed in class lectures and scenes from the movie "The Green Book". It provides five examples of how hegemonic speech, identity formation, recognition, policy of equality, and social reality construction in the movie relate to the oppression Black people faced in the time period depicted. The movie shows how Don Shirley faced discrimination and lack of respect despite his talents, struggled with his complex identity, and resisted social norms by refusing to accept unequal treatment at a restaurant.
The document summarizes connections between concepts discussed in class lectures and scenes from the movie "The Green Book". It provides five examples of how hegemonic speech, identity formation, recognition, policy of equality, and social reality construction in the movie relate to the oppression Black people faced in the time period depicted. The movie shows how Don Shirley faced discrimination and lack of respect despite his talents, struggled with his complex identity, and resisted social norms by refusing to accept unequal treatment at a restaurant.
Based on the movie “The Green Book” connect some of the scenes, dialogue and
situations with the concepts seen in class (1 concept and 1 connection per lecture):
Lecture/Presentation Concept Connection to movie
Philosophical Hegemonic During the years in which this movie Anthropology Speech takes place, the hegemonic speech was that White people were superior to Black people. This construction had been long- standing, and it had created structural inequality. As a result, the character of Don Shirley isn’t respected in the industry by White people, despite having as much education and talent as his peers. Chauchat & Serrano Identity At the beginning of the film, we get a formation glance of the identity that Don Shirley has developed, which is close to his African American origins. However, we realized throughout the film that the identity he has formed in the context in which he has found success is also a complex identity. He doesn’t seem to fit with neither the White community nor the Black community. Honneth Idea of We can briefly see the idea of recognition recognition during the moments Don Shirley plays the piano and is respected by the White audience. In those moments in which he shows off his talents, he is treated as an equal and he is recognized by that part of the society. Unfortunately, this contrasts with the lack of recognition he might face on the outside. Taylor Policy of At the end of the movie, we see Don Equality Shirley accepting to celebrate Christmas with the family of Tony, and the brief interaction we get to see between Don and Dolores, Tony’s wife, show us that they respect each other’s dignity. We don’t get to see much else, but we can infer they celebrated the holiday together despite the differences that the society of those years tried to focus on. Habermas Social During the climax of the movie, we see Reality an example of social reality construction. Constructio We see how Shirley resists the social n construction that existed in the restaurant, that prevented him to eat there but was OK with him performing there. This social interaction might have not yielded results right away, but those type of actions were necessary during those years to show that a change was needed. If Don Shirley was important enough to play for the White guests at the restaurant, he certainly should have had the right to eat there along with them. This resistance to the rules that are wrong and the support he receives from Tony are actions that once they sum up through time, they can change social norms.