Decolonial Media

Hello, this is Pierre, and my final portfolio piece aims to serve as a virtual documentation through use of text and images to showcase media that I have found particularly impactful in my resistance to colonialism and capitalism. A quote that I found while doing my research summed up my thoughts well: "Decolonizing people’s minds involves being able to imagine the death of the institutions we work for and the simultaneous survival of the world [1] ." The ideas of decolonization and the aftermath of abolition are really hard to imagine. Media can often be the frontier (in colonial terms) for resistance and the rebirth of society. It can be the testing grounds for new ideas. Within these posts are some artists and TV Shows that I have watched and have helped me to familiarize myself with what a decolonized future might look like. [1] https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-03376297/document

  When I was about 10, I was introduced to System Of A Down's album Toxicity. A family friend who was really into progressive metal shared the artist with my parents, and the album ended up on my iPod. While it would be a while until I listened to Pop Punk like Rage Against the Machine and Green Day, songs like "Prison Song", "Chop Suey!", and "Toxicity" introduced me to topics of the Prison Industrial Complex, the War on Drugs, American imperialism, police brutality, capitalism, and genocide.  

  The series tells the tale of an orphan named Adora, who leaves behind her former life in the evil Horde when she discovers a magic sword that transforms her into the mythical warrior princess She-Ra. Along the way, she finds a new family in the Rebellion as she unites a group of magical princesses in the ultimate fight against evil. [1] I first came across this show when Covid-19 hit, right after I had taken the Men & Masculinities WGSS class at OSU, so ideas of patriarchy and colonialism were ripe in my mind. What I loved about the show was its complex relationships that dealt with trauma, prejudice, and isolationism, as well as colonization, imperialism, and genocide (as result of Hordak and Horde Prime's colonial world-views). [1] https://she-raandtheprincessesofpower.fandom.com/wiki/She-Ra_and_the_Princesses_of_Power_Wiki

  Among other artists on my iPod, Bob Dylan was one that was a regular. While I may have been too young to understand the themes of his songs, they instilled ideas of resistance and anti-war sentiments in a time defined by the War on Terror. Here is a list of resistance songs by Bob Dylan: On class rule as the root of racism  Let Me Die in My Footsteps  Blowin’ in the Wind  A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall  Only a Pawn in Their Game On rejecting American fundamentalism  With God on Our Side Taking on the military-industrial complex  Masters of War As well as "the gleefully vindictive ‘When the Ship Comes In’ and the magnificent ‘Hattie Carroll’, a clear-eyed account of a single injustice that becomes an indictment of a system and its liberal defenders." [1] [1]  https://www.redpepper.org.uk/the-politics-of-bob-dylan/

  I don't want to spoil too much of the show for those who haven't watched it, so spoiler warning! Steven Universe is an American animated television series created by Rebecca Sugar for Cartoon Network. It tells the coming-of-age story of a young boy, Steven Universe (Zach Callison), who lives with the Crystal Gems—magical, mineral-based aliens named Garnet (Estelle), Amethyst (Michaela Dietz), and Pearl (Deedee Magno Hall)—in the fictional town of Beach City. Steven, who is half-Gem, has adventures with his friends and helps the Gems protect the world from their own kind. [1] The largest themes in the show surround love, identity, and healthy interpersonal relationships. And of course it is very queer. The two things about this show that I felt pertained to topics of decolonization and compulsory heterosexuality (comphet). Throughout the show we discover that the Gems are an alien race that is colonizing the universe. The Crystal Gems are a group that discovered the beauty o...

Nina Simone was one of the defining artists of my childhood and a few of her protest songs stick with me to this day:   Mississippi Goddam ( 1964) : her first civil rights song.   Four Women ( 1966) : African-American stereotypes in society, analyzing of the damning legacy of slavery. Backlash Blues (1967) : another one of Simone's civil rights songs.

Avatar: The Last Airbender (ATLA) is by far one of the most influential shows of my childhood. Themes of decolonization, biopolitics, and resistance to the status quo are present in all three seasons. ALTA takes place in a world of four nations: the Water Tribes, Earth Kingdom, Air Nomads, and the Fire Nation. Some people within this world have the ability to "bend" these elements. The Avatar is a physical manifestation of a higher spiritual being, and exists in a cycle of reincarnation, embodying a person from a different nation each time. The Avatar has the ability to wield all four elements and upholds the duty to keep balance in the world. The story follows Aang and his "Gaang" to fight the Fire Nation, who have thrown the world out of balance through their imperialism. While the show does not examine queerness as it pertains to gender, there is an exploration of gender roles and power within the two sibling pairs: Sokka/Katara and Zuko/Azula. The former comin...