Film

English 1 Sample Introduction/Topic Sentence:

Vasquez Film Analysis

In the film White Man’s Burden, director Desmond Nakano creates a world that’s totally reversed: African-Americans hold positions of power and prestige while whites inhabit “inner-city” neighborhoods. Even though some of the film’s characters and situations echo certain stereotypes, Nakano’s main characters, Thaddeus Thomas and Louis Pinnock, illustrate the realities of institutional racism: Thaddeus lives in an affluent, racially segregated neighborhood and isolates himself from the factory workers he employs; in contrast, Louis deals with sexual and racial stigmatization and police brutality. Such role reversals, in conjunction with texts like Paul Kivel’s Uprooting Racism, amply define the problem of institutional racism in America.

In fact, Kivel points out that most Americans live in “racially segregated neighborhoods” (987), and Thaddeus’ living situation testifies to the “all-white world” (987) in which most wealthy white Americans reside. His neighbors all just like him, …

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Ramon Menendez’ Stand and Deliver exposes the academic apathy that hinders far too many students of color in America. For instance, the character Anna copes with a father who isn’t a very good academic ally; another classmate, Francisco, underestimates his own learning abilities; their friend Angel tries to balance his social inclinations with his academic aspirations. Although these students’ situations seem almost overwhelming, they defeat their respective barriers with Jaime Escalante’s mentorship. Still, Escalante himself must overcome other related hurdles: inadequate facilities, apathetic faculty, and racist Educational Testing Service (ETS) officials. This phenomenon of institutional racism...