English

Thriving of Merely Surviving? A look at Parent-Child Relationships in Margaret Mahy’s The Changeover and Paula’s Boock’s

Dare Truth of Promise

Course name: Adolescent FictionStage: threeAssignment description: research essayGrade awarded: B++/A-

During the adolescent years, many people experience an increased frequency of disagreement

and tension when socialising with their parents. In her article titled “An End of Innocence:

The Transformation of Childhood in Twentieth-Century Children’s Literature”, Anne Scott

MacLeod describes a shift in the familial relationships depicted in American children’s

literature published during the 1970s. No longer are children growing up in happy, stable

home environments as they were in previous generations, but instead parents in these

fictional stories suffer addictions, abandon their children and relinquish parental

responsibilities, effectively forcing the adolescent offspring to become the adult figure within

the family unit (103; 107).

MacLeod concludes by asserting that the goal endorsed for adolescents in these works of

fiction is survival or coping, not mastery (114). Yet two New Zealand adolescent fiction

novels - Margaret Mahy’s novel The Changeover published in 1984 and Paula’s Boock’s

literary piece Dare Truth of Promise released in 1997 – suggest that MacLeod is only

partially correct. Parent-child relational problems do play a part in each of these texts and

survival is briefly presented as a theme. However the conflicts that do arise are significantly

more surmountable than those described by MacLeod. To a large extent then, the adolescent

protagonists’ sustain or create a positive relationship with their parents. Thus, in addition to

Boock and Mahy also creating positive resolution for parents in their respective works,

MacLeod’s assessment of survival and coping being the endorsed goals in contemporary

adolescent fiction is too narrow to contain these two more recent works.

Before beginning, it is first necessary to note that the texts discussed in this essay both have

in common the genre of realism. Whilst the term itself is problematic, realism is generally

described as “an author’s honest attempt to depict people in ordinary situations” (Nilsen and

Donelson 101). Dare Truth or Promise fits neatly into this category, however The

Changeover is a novel containing a hybrid of genres, one of which is indigenous fantasy.

Stories within this genre take place in the ordinary world, but also contain supernatural

forces. For the purpose of this argument however, only depictions of characters in ordinary

situations will be examined in order that the narratives can be compared from a common

platform and so that they more clearly link back to the texts discussed in MacLeod’s article.

As mentioned, MacLeod is somewhat correct in her assertion of survival being a goal - or at

least a theme - in young adult fiction (114). Survival can be defined as “continuing to live

after some event” and in the context of MacLeod’s argument the implication is that, despite

parenting that is detrimental to the adolescent protagonist, he or she must live through this

difficult relationship (Oxford English Dictionary). Survival is a theme that relates to teenage

protagonist Louie in Dare Truth or Promise, albeit briefly. After Louie’s mother Susi

discovers Louie and Willa in bed together and prohibits them from seeing each other, Louie

struggles to consume food. At the climax of the narrative, she is found seriously injured in an

overturned car (169). However, this period of struggling to survive ends for Louie shortly

after the accident as Boock turns the situation around. Susi accepts her daughters relationship

choice, albeit reluctantly. Consequently, survival is not so much a goal in this novel as it is a

temporary theme.

Willa and Laura also temporarily lend themselves to assertions presented in MacLeod’s

article. MacLeod states that the adult-child relationship hierarchy is destroyed in

contemporary fiction, as are the systems of responsibility that separate the child’s role from

that of the adult (114). Willa and Laura both occupy the role of a parent in relation to other

family members at different stages within their respective narratives despite not being parents

themselves. In Dare Truth or Promise Willa brings a cup of tea to her mother Jolene’s

bedroom one morning. This scene, where Jolene is introduced as a character for the first

time, informs the reader that Jolene typically has headaches in the morning as she both

smokes and drinks and consequently it seems that Willa needs to assist her in getting

mobilised (Boock 10). However, whilst Willa is briefly portrayed as the parent-like figure,

this idea is undermined when Willa asks her mother for lunch money, effectively switching

Willa and Jolene back to their proper roles within the relational hierarchy.

Though from a different angle, Laura also is framed as a parent-like care giver. On Thursday

nights when Laura’s mother Kate works, Laura is required to attend to her “domestic

responsibility” of babysitting her younger brother, Jacko (Mahy 27). Then when Kate

decides to attend a classical music concert with Chris, a man she has recently met, Laura is

also called on to babysit Jacko despite having looked forward to handing Jacko over to their

mother that evening. In this last example we see Laura occupying the role of caregiver, a

placement that reflects MacLeod’s notion of the teenager having to take responsibility

because the parent has reverted back to teenage behaviour (MacLeod 113, Boock 60). Yet

although Laura could have fought with Kate over her frequent requests to babysit Jacko while

she experiences the freedom Laura desired, Mahy shuts down any opportunity for conflict.

She does this by offering dialogue consisting of banter between the two characters, such as

when Laura informs Kate that she is suddenly making money stretch now that Chris is on the

scene. Kate, though mistaken, views this as sympathetic and in turn replies “Bless you,

Laura, isn’t it just!” (Boock 61). Thus, although Laura’s character does somewhat align with

MacLeod’s sentiments regarding children taking on the adult role in the parent-child

relationship, the matter never develops into an issue.

In contrast to Laura and Willa’s homes however, conflict becomes an issue that erupts in

Louie’s home once her mother forbids her from seeing Willa (100). After Louie is made to

visit a doctor because of her homosexual involvement, Susi progresses from “understanding

and concern to fits of exasperation” (Boock 120). This conflict can be understood in terms of

what Julia Kristeva calls “loss of paternal function” (Oliver 45). In this scenario, the

narcissistic mother fails to “differentiate herself from the child and the child from her” (46).

This absence of differentiation is evident when we learn about Susi’s obsession with having a

wall-free open plan living area in the family home (Booch 25). This structural style

symbolically represents her desire to merge her identity with those of other family members,

including Louie, and therefore explains why she struggles to accept that Louie has a sexuality

that differs from her own. However, at the novel’s resolution Susi is arranging to have a

fireplace and woollen curtains installed in the lounge, suggesting that she has – at least on an

unconscious level – decided to separate Louie’s identity out from her own, proving that the

relational problem is surmountable and effectively allowing Louie to establish her own

unique identity (Boock 166). Such conflict resolution further demonstrates that even Louie,

the protagonist with the most challenges in her relationship to her mother, is able to do more

than just survive or cope, she is able to thrive.

Unlike Susi, Louie’s father Tony avoids expressing his opinion about her sexuality in a

negative manner. Indeed, Tony is framed as a positive father figure who is supportive of

Louie and willing to meet her present challenge. He does this by sharing with her details of

how he had a fascination with and a great awe of a boy during his school years (Boock 122).

He then gently advises Louie not to be pressured into making any decisions too early. Unlike

MacLeod’s belief that parents in adolescent fiction by the 1970s are inadequate in their role

as parents, other scholars testify that young adult authors are now “developing parents who

are not quite as one-sided as they used to be” (Nilsen and Donelson 111). This shift in

representation is reflected in Tony’s character as he considers the perspective of his daughter

whilst also offering his own point of view. In effect then, Tony meets Louie’s challenge by

utilising confrontation in a non-vindictive manner (Winnicott 27). This confrontation is not

only necessary in order for Louie to establish liveliness, it also weakens MacLeod’s argument

regarding parental inadequacies in adolescent fiction Winnicott 28). With the advice from

her father, Louie is able to move into a calmer space where she can think things through more

clearly (Boock 129).

Indeed, Tony’s non-vindictive approach when communicating with his daughter is not

dissimilar to that seen in Jolene when she speaks with Willa. Jolene hears Willa crying night

after night and although she is initially reluctant to force the issue, she realises she needs to

respond. Regardless of having not liked the relationship that existed between Willa and

Cathy in the past, Jolene is now supportive of her daughter’s choice. Her claim that “Mothers

can grow up too” brings to light her awareness that parents can decide how to respond with

the implication being that if she can reach a point of understanding, perhaps Susi can too

(Laurs 131).

Moreover, as authors both Boock and Mahy are kinder to the parental figures in their

respective novels than the authors informing MacLeod’s argument appear to have been. In

Dare Truth and Promise and in The Changeover parents who have previously failed in

familial relationships are given a second chance. In Kate’s instance, despite being divorced

from Laura’s father, she meets Chris who often stays over and whose relationship to Kate is

solid enough that they consider the possibility of marriage (Mahy167). Jolene, on the other

hand, is widowed, but she is close to Sid, and on the night that Willa returns home from

Signal Hill decidedly drunk, Sid stays over suggesting his relationship to Jolene is intimate in

nature (Boock 108; 127). Deborah Laurs believes that the destabilisation of traditional family

roles has led to a presentation of parents as “characters in their own right, rather than just

authority figures” (123). In this sense, both Mahy and Boock establish positive relational

outcomes for single parents in their respective novels, thus highlighting that the goal is not

just the fulfilment of adolescent characters’ desires but also fulfilment for parents who are

given a second chance at meaningful adult relationships.

Likewise, Laura’s father Stephen is also given a second chance: in this case, a re-established

relationship with Laura. While at the hospital Laura witnesses her father’s pleasure and

gratitude over seeing Jacko’s health improve (Mahy 236). Laura then finds herself able to

forgive Stephen for the day he felt their family for another woman. Indeed, as Lucy Norton

argues, Laura’s changeover is not just concerned with becoming a witch and saving Jacko,

she also “gains a new understanding … and learns … how she needs to look at life” (32).

This forgiveness and new understanding allows for Stephen and Laura to re-establish a new

father-daughter relationship where Laura is both encouraged and inclined to visit with her

father and his new family. Moreover, this metaphorical changeover for Laura also allows her

to “recover from a secret illness” that had previously gone unrecognised and untreated, thus

highlighting how she does more than just cope within her family environment (Mahy 267).

Laura and Willa are also given new opportunities in a way that benefits not just themselves

but also their relationship to their parents. In the case of Laura, her increasingly intimate

relationship with Sorensen Carlisle not only allows her to experience her first romantic

relationship with a boy, but Sorensen also aids her in coming to terms with new shifts in her

family, such as Chris’s presence and Stephen’s child he is having with Julia (Lawrence-

Pietroni 34). Nilsen and Donelson add that contemporary authors soften their narratives with

motifs supporting wishful thinking, the most common being a boy arriving on the scene to

help a girl solve her problems (Nilsen and Donelson 111). Definitively then, adolescent

characters are portrayed as flourishing and not merely surviving or coping.

Similarly, Willa’s relationship with Louie also aids in restoring Willa’s relationship with

Jolene. Although the tension between Willa and Jolene are never as obvious as that found

between Louie and Susi, when Willa is preparing to go out one day - Jolene, on learning

Willa is seeing Louie - receives a hug from Willa as though there is unspoken gratitude on

Willa’s part for Jolene’s acceptance of her choice (Boock 71). This hug leaves Jolene

blinking back tears, as it is the first hug between the pair since “the Cathy mess”, thus

demonstrating how Willa’s relationship with Louie benefits both her and Jolene (71).

Unlike MacLeod’s assertion that parent-children relationships represented in young adult

literature have broken down, Dare Truth and Promise and The Changeover both seem to

suggest the opposite: that the relationships between parents and children, though not without

episodes of conflict, are either so solid that the individuals need to form new attachments to

other significant others - as is the case with Laura and Kate - or they are on the journey to

being rejuvenated, as seen between Laura and Stephen (275). Willa and Jolene, having only

each other in their immediate home, are accepting of each other’s decision to enter into

meaningful relationships, which strengthens their bond. Scholars in the area of adolescent

fiction are quick to point out, however, that whilst such fiction may seem to be concerned

with growth, such growth takes place in the context of power (Cart317). Though Susi has the

power in hers and Louie’s relationship, she renegotiates this power, thus allowing Louie to

form a relationship with Willa. This factor in turn allows relative peace to be restored

between the mother and daughter. Whilst MacLeod’s theory regarding contemporary

adolescent literature’s endorsement of goals concerned with survival and coping does not

hold true for these two novels, she is correct in her assertion that “a child’s story, however

‘realistic,’ must end on a note of hope” (55).

BibliographyBoock, Paula. Dare Truth or Promise. Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt,

1997. Print.Cart, Michael. "Reviewing Children's and Young Adult Literature." Handbook of Research

on Children's and Young Adult Literature Ed. Wolf, Shelby Anne. New York: Routledge, 2010. 455-66. Print.

Laurs, Deborah Elizabeth. "Ungrown-up Grown-Ups." (2004): 1-260. Web.Mahy, Margaret. The Changeover. London: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, 2003. Print.MacLeod, Anne Scott. "An End to Innocence: The Transformation of Childhood in

Twentieth-Century Children's Literature." Opening Texts: Psychoanalysis and the Culture of the Child. 1985. 100-17. Print.

Nilsen, Alleen Pace, and Kenneth K Donelson. Literature: Today's Young Adults. 4 ed. New York: HarperCollins College Publishers, 1993. Print.

Norton, Lucy. "Seeing Is Believing: Magical Realism and Visual Narrative in Margaret Mahy's the Changeover." MLA International Bibliography 36.2 (1998): 29-32. Print.

Oliver, Kelly. "Kristeva's Imaginary Father and the Crisis in the Paternal Function." A Feminist Miscellany 21.2/3 (1991): 43-63. Print.

Oxford University Press. "Oxford English Dictionary." (2014).Winnicott, Donald Woods. "Playing and Reality." Psychology Press, 1971. Print.

Liable to Run

Course name: Introduction to Creative WritingStage: twoAssignment description: short fictionGrade awarded: A

Perhaps this was all part of the scheme. Let me turn up, hang around for a bit, maybe even

make myself cosy. Then, as I’m starting to feel at home again, they’ll spring on me as

though I’m some unidentifiable creature that has just meandered out of the bush. Actually,

that isn’t far from the truth. Unidentifiable is the only guise that gave me the nerve to come

out here in the first place. Thirty-one years and not so much as a photo or a Facebook invite,

so unless I really am a chip off the old block then they’ll just see me as some sorry punter.

Retrieving the advertisement from my pocket I once again confirm that yes, the opening time

is definitely ten am despite the fact that it is now ten-seventeen. Hell, I don’t know which is

worse really: them turning or no one turning up. Of course it occurred to me in the days

leading up until now that my well intentioned determination might falter and fail me. Instead

I get to stand here feeling like a victim once more, as though the simple act of being here

might be the bit that tips me over the edge and finally sees me come crashing down with such

horrific force that my few remaining fragments of contentment simultaneously combust and

cause me to do something unthinkable. Bit like Dad, really.

“I know revisiting the place will be a struggle to the max, potentially even dangerous, but that

is exactly why I’ve decided Julia should know where I’m going” I’d said to Lorna, my

therapist, last week during our usual weekly session.

“You just feel that someone should know where you are in that event that anything….

untoward happens to you?” Lorna responded with a quizzical look on her face.

I studied her for a moment. Could a woman close to retirement who spends all her time

sitting inside these sterile office walls with half-circle glasses balanced delicately on the end

of her nose possibly understand the first thing about precautions?

“Sure, I mean, this is a big deal – not something that should be entered into rashly,” I

confidently replied.

Some men need to buy flashy sports cars during their late forties; I needed to know if mental

instability really was hereditary. In my reasoning, if genes have motives those motives could

quite likely be to carry on specific patterns of behaviour in subsequent generations. If that is

the case then I really am their only hope, being an only child and all. During my first

session Lorna asked if I had any questions. Yes, are a parent’s neurotic attributes innately

inherited by their offspring? I pelted out inside my head. I’d hinted many a time to her

about my parent’s dispositions, but never had she come right out and asked me what exactly

it was that they’d done that forced me to have this repugnant perception towards them.

After some months of seeing Lorna I decided it was in my best interests not to ask about

instability having a biological basis. After all, how would I cope if – come the following

week – I arrived to find the therapist had included a third person in out chat: a bodyguard

cleverly disguised as an intern? After some months of thinking like this, I punched in the

words ‘genes/insanity’ and anxiously awaited the crystal ball that is Google to reveal my

biological destiny. Twenty minutes and twelve websites in I began to feel like I was taking

on the sort of neurotic persona that the sites described, just by virtue of reading them. I

resolved to never question the matter again.

My train of thought is abruptly broken by a car door slamming from the road. My heart

begins to hammer to such an extent that I’m unsure how long my chest cavity will manage to

contain it. Then a thought runs through my mind: what if I hadn’t wiped my Facebook

profile picture down on time? What if Dad is one of those technology-savvy old guys who

copied and pasted it, made it into his desktop wall paper even, and would be able to pick me

out in a line-up of one hundred different men? Crap, maybe I should run into the bushes and

hide. For one moment I seriously consider this, but then I realise if they capture even the

tiniest glimpse of me I’ll have to live out my life as a derelict in forest surrounds. As I allow

my eyes to trace all possible exits from the property, a woman leisurely appears from around

the side of the house. There is already a smile on her face as though she suspected I was here

waiting all along. However, closely on her tail are a young couple holding hands and

grinning at each other. I take comfort in the fact that I am not her only focus.

I avoid gazing her way while she unlocks the front door and lets the eager couple inside. If

she’s trying to sell the house then she obviously knows my father and I can’t risk her

detecting any family resemblance. On the other hand, if she’s in on some kind of Capture

Barry Operation then she knows I’m liable to run and as such has got to play out her part as

unsuspecting real-estate agent.

Scratching my head for a final act of stalling, I force my legs to support me up the steps to the

front porch. With great delicacy I then proceed to walk towards a wooden framed window to

the left of the door. My careful foot placement is not merely a means to lessen the blow

should I see Dad starring back at me from inside, it is also an act of practicality: I’m not

entirely convinced this tired wood will support my weight. Inside on the dining room table

my eyes fall on the real-estate rag that I retrieved this open home advertisement from ten days

ago.

It’s funny. I hadn’t looked at the real-estate section of a paper in years. Then out of the blue

I arrived at work one morning and there laid strewn across my keyboard were the real-estate

pages. Straight away I knew there was significance to this; that somehow something within

the confines of those pages was going to change me in a massive way. Massively bad, that is.

I looked around to see if anyone was about, like Stan perhaps, he is always asking me what

I’ve got planned for the evening as though he secretly thinks I’m also working for the

opposition one block over. But no, it was astronomically worse than that. There, on the

inside cover of the front page was my very own house of childhood horrors. Of course the

ad made it out to be this idyllic wooden cottage on the outskirts of Titirangi. Yet certain

inalienable truths could not be ignored: someone knew what this house’s connection was to

me, but more importantly, they knew that I was the son of the monster who owned it. So,

despite my life-long determination to never speak to or lay eyes on my father again, I

couldn’t help but feel that there was something more to this and that it needed to be acted on

accordingly.

Collecting my courage, I venture inside. The agent and the young couple are now casually

assembled in the living room area as though the couple already own the house and the agent

is there as a welcoming neighbour. They’re busy telling her how this is the only place in the

housing section that caught their fancy. Then, in the most unnatural form, they stop talking

and look at me. For a split second I see something in the guy’s eye, something that tells me

running off into the bush might have been a better option after all. He takes out his phone

and begins texting. The other two just stand there looking at him knowingly as if to say,

‘Good time to let the old man know it’s definitely him’.

I side step into the kitchen. A man enters through the door a few metres away from where I

stand paralysed with fear; he looks at me and then looks at me again. As though on cue my

heart starts involuntarily ponding again, and I wonder if I could possibly pass out this time.

With my eyes bearing down towards the floor below, I continue to feel his brimming-with-

discovery glare burning into my face. Suddenly something about the floor’s appearance sees

a hideous memory penetrate my consciousness: this is the exact spot I was standing in when

Uncle Kevin came around all those years ago to tell me The News.

“Yeah, listen ah your old man, he’s not coming back mate. He shot Mr Robinson this

morning”

Presumably my face said it all: why Mr Robinson?

“Cause your mum, you know, they were in the car about to run off together. Sorry mate, I

thought you knew. Your mother, she’s always… been a bit like that”

No, I didn’t know was all I wanted to say. For the next two weeks mum couldn’t look me in

the face; whether it was from shame or sorrow I’ll never know. In the end, she decided to

migrate to Australia anyway, even without Mr Robinson. Even without leaving any

forwarding address too.

Out of the corner of my eye I see another man coming towards the door. The young guy who

was texting earlier strides confidentially towards him and they break out into a chat on the

porch.

“…..Here?” the older of the two voices quips.

Ten seconds pass. Patiently waiting on the response I realise this is the response: silence.

Silence that says it all. A few seconds more pass. Raising my hand I wipe beads of sweat

off my forehead and, with near-crippling anxiety, I walk out with my head down to avoid any

eye contact. Perhaps this was all part of the scheme. Let me turn up, hang around for a bit,

maybe even make myself cosy. Then, as I’m starting to feel at home again, they’ll spring-

I break out into a run and don’t stop running until I’ve reached the end of the block. With

shaking hands I scroll through my contacts list before lifting the phone to my ear.

“Hey, Lorna, it’s Barry. I think I’m gonna need to bring next week’s appointment forward.”

Exegesis for Liable to Run

A recent online article depicting the sale of a house with a twist to it was what motivated me

towards this assignment (http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/8667535/House-sale-revives-

murder-trial-memories). The idea of imagining up a fictitious person who was somehow

implicated in a real news story was a narrative starting point that was recommended in a

lecture. Partly attracted to the house for its historic appearance, and partly drawn by the

oddity of what went on there – a husband shot his wife’s lover as they tried to leave the

property - I sketched a story from the view point of their son who returns to the home on

open day. After writing my first draft, I saw elements of paranoia in Barry, the male

protagonist, and consequently decided to elaborate on that frame of mind in my subsequent

redrafts. Thus, both Barry and his psychological inner space became the primary

representations of this short story.

Utilising Exercise Six of the course pack, I made a list of all events relevant to the story.

Rather than wasting words on character introductions or setting a scene, I then selected an

event from half way down the list. I found that this functioned well as a means to delve right

into the psychological state of Barry. I felt it necessary to spend quite a bit of time sharing

historical encounters that further framed his paranoia in addition to answering why his

turning up to the open home was of significance. By adding passages of text that came with

no explanation, such as ‘bit like Dad, really’, I was also able to keep the reader guessing as to

what it was that caused Barry to have a negative view towards his father. Furthermore,

because the affective centre of this text is so reliant on Barry’s psychological state for its own

conveyance, I felt he needed to possess a first person voice. By portraying Barry as someone

with a permanent, general state of paranoia rather than a single episode, the feeling kept at the

foreground of the reader’s awareness.

In an effort to vary what was explained in detail and what was kept minimal, I also used

suggestions from Exercise Three. After having created the list of all events in the story, I

then allocated descriptive weight to several of the points. I chose to focus more on describing

Barry’s recollections relevant to the story and his experience of being at the house than on the

actual house itself. By doing this, I hoped to create an affective centre that carried through all

paragraphs of the texts. Additionally, I also used various imagined props, such as a

newspaper on the kitchen table, as a springboard to begin talking about necessary background

information. This I envisaged would give the text a natural flow. As such, the only

significant break that occurs to this flow is between the second to last and last sentence. Here

I have reused the first few sentences from the beginning of the story to reinstate that same

impression created at the onset. I then catapulted Barry from the harrowing property and

onto the phone to his therapist to create a noticeable gap in time that would serve as a unique

feature to the story’s end.

Film, Television and Media Studies

Historical Inaccuracies and Singular Perspectives in Alan Parker’s film Mississippi Burning

Course name: Race, Indigeneity and the MediaStage: threeAssignment description: a research essay on historical-realist filmGrade awarded: A

When Mississippi Burning was released in cinema in 1988, it sparked much controversy

(Toplin 44). The tension was resultant from the film being based on a real-life event – the

Freedom Summer of 1964– which took place in Philadephia, Mississippi. Whilst many

Mississippians present at Freedom Summer claim African Americans who fought tirelessly

for Civil Rights were the real heroes, what Hollywood released was a film that offers no

credit to the black community, instead portraying white Federal Bureau Investigators (FBI)

who arrive to solve a ‘missing persons’ case in the face of Southern racism as the conquerors.

One could well argue then that this portrayal is inaccurate (Toplin). However, according to

Ella Shohat and Robert Stam, what matters more than accuracy relative to historical-realists

films is the text’s ability to relay the perspectives and voices of the community represented

(Shohat and Stam 214). Furthermore, concern should also be afforded to the construction of

discourses, as – for the viewer - struggle over meaning arises from these. Upon examining

Mississippi Burning in light of such concerns, it is evident that Eurocentric discourse takes

centre stage, a positioning that pointedly denies the perspective and contribution of African

Americans towards the real-life inspiration and reaffirms that centrality of whiteness.

It is first necessary to address why a historical-realist film would distort the Civil Rights

success remembered by so many Southern Americans. Chris Gerolmo, the script writer for

Mississippi Burning, decided to shift the film’s focus from being Civil Right-orientated to

being about the FBIs fight against the Ku Klux Klan in an effort to bring justice to the three

missing Civil Rights activists (Toplin 31). Whilst Gerolmo openly admits this deliberate

shift, such a disclaimer does not evade the notion of the film making historical claims given

its real-life prototype (Shohat and Stam 178). It is, however, this shift to a narrative focus on

the white law enforcers, and the positioning of the African American people to mere

background figures, that creates the Eurocentric discourse apparent in the film. Furthermore,

this choice allows viewers who are unfamiliar with American history to potentially believe

that the Mississippian African Americans were passive and quietly living in fear while the

FBI fought for justice on their behalf. Yet the collective and individual memories for these

people recollect how they were trained in nonviolent resistance tactics in an effort to bring

about equality, a representation they are denied in the film. This choice also ensures that

undeserved positive framing is given to the FBI who, according to witnesses of the actual

murder investigation, bought about the criminals’ arrests by giving monetary rewards in

exchange for information, and not by aggressively interrogating the suspects as the narrative

suggests (Toplin 35). It is any wonder that judgement has fallen upon this film then, given its

contrasting historical evidence.

A disclaimer such as that made by Gerolmo can also not disarm the fact that media constructs

for its audience “a definition of what race is, [and] what meaning the image of race carries”

(Hall 11). The image of the black race in Mississippi Burning film is undeniably one of a

stereotypical helpless, colonized people unable to fend for their own cause. This is

problematic not only in that it is a disempowering ideology that strips the black community

of their deserved credit, but also, as Casey et al argue, it is a narrow capturing that denies the

complexity of these people (Casey et al 229). Surely any community of people exhibit more

characteristics than a singularly passive one. Such a stereotype is also connected with issues

of power, whereby making the black man powerless and a background figure, and the white

man powerful and in the forefront of the action, thus allowing a paternalistic form of white

supremacy to infiltrate the ideological framework of Mississippi Burning.

But simply observing white supremacy and racist discourse relative to a historical film is not

enough when considering realism. Shohat and Stam maintain that what is more important

than a film’s accuracy is its relaying of the perspectives – plural – of the people within that

community (Shohat and Stam 214). Mississippi Burning fails to meet this requirement in its

overarching bid to accentuate the FBIs success. Admittedly, there are a few scenes where

FBI agents Alan Ward and Rupert Anderson interview African Americans during their

missing persons search. Thus, though the coloured man is functioning within the image, at

no point does the filmmaker, Alan Parker, allow him to detail what having one of his own

activists – James Chaney – go missing means to him personally. Additionally, whilst there

are a number of scenes depicting the arson inflicted upon the black peoples’ homes, the

viewer is denied knowing what their perspective on the Klan and terrorism is and, for that

matter, how they think the law enforcers should deal with it.

It is apparent, too, that this exclusion of the black man’s perspective is deliberate,

highlighting Mississippi Burning’s Eurocentric discourse. It would have been possible to

primarily focus on the FBI whilst also giving some voice to the African American people.

This is evident when examining the process of editing that took place post filming. A scene

which depicted several black and white Civil Rights organisers meeting with Ward and

Anderson contained the dialogue of a young black man stating his distrust in the FBI (Toplin

38). By omitting this scene from the final cut however, not only is the black man denied a

voice but also Parker has gone a step further: he has encoded the representation of the FBI as

though they are heroes in the eyes of the Civil Rights workers, despite such reservations

having existed within the real-life prototypes.

This notion of a FBI hero is most evident when examining Ward’s character. Ward, who

arrives from out of town to investigate the so-called missing persons’ case, is framed as a

white saviour, here to rescue the suffering, helpless blacks from the torturous Klan. True to

the narrative structure of such films, he experiences offense towards the racial tension, albeit

vicariously on behalf of an elderly African American man who suffered a beating after

witnessing the Klan torching the activist’s voting booth. Notably, this victim confessed only

to the activists, who were later shot, and withheld from confiding in law enforcers until Ward

showed up. Seemingly, Ward’s anti-racial conscience develops radically at this point; we see

the fruits of this when he calls for 100 naval personnel to search the swamp. As a testament

to Eurocentric discourse, by the end of this film the representations of Ward and Anderson

lead the viewer to believe that, as an army of two men, they rescued the black community

from on-going oppression. Yet the real life prototypes for the FBI agents were in fact

historical enemies who were racist towards this ethnic community, thus the assertion of a

saviour in this historical-realist film is an absurd one (Shohat and Stam 179).

Despite the predominant representation of the FBI agents putting in the work to lift

oppression, there is the occasional yet brief glimpse of the black man’s efforts for his people.

During a scene where the Klan are torching a black church, amidst the fleeing congregation

one young black boy kneels to pray, thus heralding a ‘good’ or ‘positive’ image of how the

blacks respond non-violently towards terrorism. But as Julie Codell argues, these so-called

‘good’ images are frequently flat and idealised (Codell 217). What makes this image flat is

that we are denied revelation of what the boy is praying for. Perhaps he prays for the Divine

to protect his people, but it is also possible that he is praying for God to strike down the

forces of the Klan as an act of vengeance. Furthermore, whilst this positive image might

have been used to expand the complexity of the African American people, it is but a very

brief moment in a film that is otherwise heavily laden with Eurocentric discourse (Hall 292).

Mississippi Burning offers one other positive image that is also worth exploring. Towards

the end of the film, a black FBI agent is presented. He sits calmly before the Mayor and

interrogates him regarding the killers’ identities. In essence, he is aiding the FBI – those

Eurocentric characters at the forefront of the film – in their bid to see justice served. Indeed,

Shohat and Stam explicitly discuss how the positive image approach assumes a conventional

morality “intimately linked to status quo politics” (Shohat and Stam 203). This scene clearly

depicts the linking of the African American man to “status quo politics”; he will contribute

by doing as Anderson has instructed him to do. Yet what is spectacular about this character

is that he is not based on a real-life prototype; he is an instrumentation of fictional discourse.

Moreover, when filmmakers include a forced positive image in their media text, a lack of

confidence in that minority group is evident (Shohat and Stam 204). Specifically, the lack of

confidence Parker has in the ability of blacks to fight against their own oppression outside of

the law enforcement structure is highlighted. Additionally, this image is positive perhaps

only for the white viewer, as it suggests to them that blacks are capable in bringing about

change, albeit if they work alongside the powerful white man within the system. However,

for the black viewer this portrayal would offer a poor substitute for the efforts afforded by

thousands of Civil Rights workers during the Summer Project.

Indeed, Eurocentric discourse that inflates the powers and presence of white law enforcers

can also be detected when examining the cinematic mediation within Mississippi Burning

(Shohat and Stam 208). A close analysis of the scene detailing a Freedom March reveals in

the initial shot African Americans marchers, physically active, yet still holding to passivity

by way of deadpan facial expression. Ethnic marchers as the main focus of the scene is only

momentary, and just enough to set the scene of black political action. Following this, most

subsequent shots are of Eurocentric characters, such as Sherif Stucky and his staff, as they

monitor the proceeding. There are two tracking shots where we see Anderson trying to make

his way through the crowd to reach Mrs Phell, the Deputy Sheriff’s wife, at the hair salon.

The presence of Anderson at this moment reminds the audience that the FBI’s search for

justice is still at large; the obtainment of justice is secured through their success, and not

through the marching of well-meaning coloured folk, as the subtle implication within the

representation suggests. The ethnic perspective can be detected more through the

background music where a black singer soulfully describes the struggle of the black people,

yet this voice is removed from those blacks present in the scene. Aside from this singer, we

are offered the voices of the blacks through the point of hearing of the white man: repetitious

chanting, numerous voices deflated into one. At no point do we hear an individual black

man’s perspective. One shot reveals television reporters interviewing some of the coloured

activists, yet because their dialogue is inaudible their views are silenced, another cinematic

choice that speaks of Euro-centricity and the black’s low rank in the hierarchy of status and

power. We faintly hear their chants once the salon setting is utilised, but they are positioned

now in the back of the frame as Anderson and Phell talk. Finally, we are offered a close-up

shot of Anderson and Phell from outside the salon window, Phell’s mouthed confession is

sentenced to silence to maintain the narrative suspense, a focalisation that immediately

distracts from the marchers and their plight.

With such Eurocentric production then, it is perhaps no surprise that the audience too is

envisaged as European. Parker acknowledged that Mississippi Burning deliberately focused

on the white FBI agent’s investigation rather than the struggle for Civil Rights in order to

gain box office popularity (Toplin 36). A focus on the African American struggle, said

Parker, would not elicit such a strong attraction. Yet simply acknowledging that Parker chose

to frame the film from a Eurocentric perspective does not mean “nothing is at stake” (Shohat

and Stam 178). Films have largely replaced books as primary sources for information, and

the struggle over meaning regarding the real heroes of the Summer Project matters because

audiences who are not familiar with the historical facts may end up “idealising the FBI and

regard African Americans as mute witnesses of history rather than the makers” (Toplin 44;

Shohat and Stam 179). Consider, for example, that the activist who was actually driving the

car in the lead up to the shooting was Chaney, but Parker instead placed him in the back seat

and had the two white activists up front (Toplin 35). Cinematic choices like this suggest to

the audience that, in terms of history’s inspiration, the white men are the most active in

striving for social change, and the black man is merely going along with their plans.

With the striking contrast between the portrayed characters – Ward, the white saviour and his

fleet of white FBI agents - and that of the original inspirations - racists who were enemies of

the black community – it is not difficult to see how harsh judgement has fallen upon this film

that is based on real events (Shohat and Stam 179). The Eurocentric discourse denies

acknowledgement of the invaluable contribution the African American community made

towards social change and justice in Mississippi during the summer of 1964. Furthermore,

the cinematic choices Parker and Gerolmo made mean there is very little relaying of the

perspectives and voices of this ethnic society. Whilst they made no secret of the film’s focus

being on the FBI’s investigation rather than the Civil Rights activity, this bias could easily be

misinterpreted by the audience as meaning the white FBI with their interrogation methods

brought about justice, as the black people sat passively awaiting salvation. The distorted

historical-realist claims within Mississippi Burning do, as Historian Harvard Sitkoff states,

such injustice to the events they are representing that ultimately the film is lynching history

itself (Toplin 40).

Bibliography:Casey, Bernadette, et al. "Television Studies: Key Concepts." London; New York: Routledge,

2002. Print.Codell, Julie. "Race: Stereotypes and Multi-Realisms." Genre, Gender, Race and World

Cinema. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2007. Print.Hall, Stuart. "The Spectacle of the "Other"." Representation: Cultural Representations and

Signifying Practices. Ed. Hall, Stuart. Thousand Oaks, California; London: Sage in association with the Open University 1997. Print.

Hall, Stuart. "The Whites in Their Eyes: Racist Ideology and the Media." The Media Reader. Eds. Alvarado, Manuel and John O Thompson. London: BFI, 1990. Print.

Shohat, Ella, and Robert Stam. "Stereotype, Realism and the Struggle over Representation." Unthinking Eurocentricism: Multiculturalism and the Media. London; New York: Routledge, 1995. Print.

Toplin, Robert Brent. "Mississippi Burning: A Standard to Which We Couldn't Live Up." History by Hollywood: The Use and Abuse of the American Past. Urbana; Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1996. Print.

Impersonation and Exploitation:What Bullying Has Evolved to in the Modern Age

(a look at two cyberbullying case studies)

Course name: Technoculture and New MediaStage: twoAssignment description: a discussion on the role of the internet in relation to bullying.Grade awarded: A+

When thinking of bullying, one often thinks about a school child taunting another in the

schoolyard. Yet with the advent of the internet came a new social medium from which to

treat another with mockery. In fact, data suggests that students who have never bullied

another at school are taking to the cyber world in an effort to prey on victims (Willard 35).

The term used for this type of bullying is cyberbullying, which is defined as aggressive and

intentional acts performed by persons who utilise electronic platforms to contact a victim

repeatedly over time (Kowalski, Limber, and Agatston 70). In this essay I will discuss

impersonation and the spreading of nude photos in relation to online bullying. What draws

these two avenues of bullying together is that both are intended to sabotage the reputation of

the victim and cause hostility between the victim and other persons. I will draw on two

specific examples where teenagers have fallen victim to this practise via the social

networking site Facebook. Through analysing these two cases, this essay highlights the

frequently negative pitfalls of the cyber-web via Facebook.

Impersonation within the social networking arena is when “a perpetrator poses as the victim”

(Kowalski, Limber, and Agatston 64). Through a fraudulent account, these cyberbullies

communicate with the victim’s friends in an effort to sabotage the reputation of, and cause

humiliation for, the unlucky individual. This is exactly what happened to fourteen year old

Alex Boston from Georgia in the United States (Bond). Via impersonation, Boston’s

cyberbullies posted destructive and untrue comments on her friends’ walls. Boston’s

suffering brought on by aggression then grew as Boston’s Facebook friends began responding

negatively towards her (Bond). Moreover, because Boston’s perpetrators chose the highly

popular Facebook site to portray her as a wayward individual, the pain and embarrassment

incurred may have been amplified upon Boston realising just how wide the audience of this

injustice was (Kowalski, Limber, and Agatston 85). In all likelihood, it was not just school

friends Boston interacted with via Facebook, but also family and members of other groups

she is associated with. Resultantly, the reputation of this teenager is damaged among

potentially numerous social circles in which she belongs to.

In addition to potentially tainting Boston’s name before a large audience and creating friction

on the social front, another unique feature of impersonation is that it affords Boston’s bullies

– two girls from her school – anonymity as they seek to create friction. Conceivably,

Boston’s bullies may have avoided traditional bullying - like name-calling, from example -

because they did not want to damage their own reputation. Indeed, research suggests that

when a bully poses as another, they often say and do things that they would not ordinarily do

if their identity was known (Kowalski, Limber, and Agatston 86). As such, it is difficult to

deny how the internet has played a part in both extending the ways one can victimise another

and, by virtue of anonymity, the number of people who would enter into this behaviour.

Defenders of the internet may well state here that because this medium identifies users by

noting their IP address, Boston’s bully’s’ protection shield of anonymity may well be a false

sense of security. I believe there are a few prominent problems with this suggestion,

however. Firstly, if Boston’s impersonators are clever, they may engage with the fake

Facebook account from any number of locations making them hard to pin down. Also, an

unfortunate side-effect of aggressive and persistent taunting is that the victim may eventually

snap and retaliate online. Once this has occurred, the victim would conceivably stand less of

a chance in convincing anyone investigating the matter that they too were not bullies.

Conceivably, Boston’s bullies may also have seen the computer screen as a removed, and

perhaps therefore easier, target for retaliation and this could also be why they chose this

avenue of bullying. If they are caught between a rift of wanting to damage her reputation and

concern about how effectively they can carry it out in practice, they may have chosen

impersonation online because it both harms Boston’s reputation and it utilises technology

with a more predictable response than what can be expected from a human being. Moreover,

as Weber and Dixon state, once a new technology is integrated into everyday culture, it

becomes significantly transformative, thus arming it with the ability to shape social norms

(Weber and Dixon p5, cited in Kowalski, Limber, and Agatston). When we consider the

percentage of teenagers using the internet today –one American internet project reported 93%

- Boston’s bullies could well believe that the internet exists as an avenue to attack Boston

should they feel unable to do it in person (Lenhard, as cited in Kowalski, Limber, and

Agatston 4). As such, the social norm becomes to revert to attacking via the internet should it

suit the bully and the internet is once again seen as an accessory for inflicting harm upon

another. The counter-argument to this of course is that it is the user, not the technological

device, which is causing the damage. After all, it is not cars that kill people on the roads but

the people who drive those cars carelessly. Again though, this view appears to me over

simplistic. A bully who victimises someone directly in person ensures the victim feels unsafe

around them. Yet as described earlier, the ability to capture a much wider audience by

brandishing someone’s reputation means that person then lives on edge around many

individuals as they try to register how they are now perceived by numerous others.

Importantly, impersonation is not the only way to taint someone’s reputation and cause them

distress. Fifteen year old Amanda Todd from Canada was victimised by a man she knew

only from the online world. He constructed a fake Facebook page under her name, used a

topless photo of her as her profile picture – she unwittingly provided it by going topless

during a webcam chat - and then befriended her friends (Popkin). The picture circulated

among Todd’s class mates and led to constant online bullying. Like in Boston’s situation,

Todd also suffered the consequences of the internet’s ability to reach a wide audience.

Similarities can also be seen between Boston’s bullies and those of Todd’s. As stated, I think

it conceivable that Boston’s victimisers did what they did to her online because the internet is

seen to be a viable root to antagonise another without entering their physical sphere. Indeed,

by establishing an environment where people could act aggressively towards Boston online,

the social norm within her school may have been to jump on the bandwagon and have a go at

her. In the instance of Todd, studies suggest female teenagers who know of other teenagers

that are captured sexting, often then associate that teenager with several derogatory terms

(Walker 74). This implies both that, in the eyes of her peers, Todd acted outside of socially

accepted norms and also that these derogatory terms are cast upon her in light of the

incriminating online evidence that she behaved in this way.

Despite the possibility that Todd violated a social norm by having a nude picture taken, it is

likely that as time progresses this action will be seen with less disgust. One study found that

20% of teens have sent or posted semi-nude or nude images of themselves, and that Facebook

was the most common networking site through which to make these posts (McLaughlin 7-8;

Walker 73). While one could argue that, until such a time that sexting does become a social

norm, people like Todd have only got themselves to blame for the negative attention they

receive by making images of themselves naked available to others. Consider, however, that

sexting has its origins in “the erosion of the public-private divide” (Walker 15). In light of

this, it is difficult to place blame entirely upon individuals like Todd; indeed, she was born

into a world where the internet was already embraced by much of the Western world.

By examining cyberbullying in light of two different real-world cases, it seems that when all

is weighed up between the internet and bullying, one does have to attribute much of the

reputation corruption and suffering of individuals to this pervasive medium. In the case of

impersonation, Boston’s Facebook contacts believed her to turn aggressive towards them

online. Consequently she was harassed by an even wider group of people than just the two

from her school that created the fake account. Moreover, the anonymity afforded to such

perpetrators means they may push limits in derailing another that they would not have had

they been limited to purely in-person interactions. For Todd, this reputation sabotaging was

resultant from a topless photo of her that was posted on Facebook. Had the internet not been

invented by this point, perhaps the distribution of this image could have been limited to only

a cluster of students whom she was acquainted with, thus saving her reputation at least in

other social circles. Additionally, the act of posing topless before a webcam was conceivably

in part resultant from the erosion of the private and public which the internet has helped

facilitate (Walker 15).

Bibliography:Bond, Anthony. "Teenage Girl Who Claims She Was Bullied on Facebook Sues Classmates

Because Police and School Are Powerless to Help." Mail Online 2012.McLaughlin, Halloran. "Crime and Punishment: Teen Sexting in Context." (2010). Web.Kowalski, Robin, Susan Limber, and Patricia Agatson. Cyberbullying: Bulling in the Digital

Age. 2 ed. UK: Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2012. Print.Popkin, Helen. "2 Girls, Ages 12 and 13, Face Felony for Fake Facebook Account."

Technology. NBC News 2012.Walker, Shelley. "Sexting and Young People: A Qualitative Survey." (2012). Web.Willard, Nancy. Cyberbullying and Cyberthreats. Illinois: Research Press, 2007. Print.