The Bluest Eye

The Bluest Eye is written by Toni Morrison, the first African American woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. Morrison presents this novel in a very authentic and compelling way to her audience. This book was selected for Oprah’s Book Club and has a powerful lesson that is taught to the reader. Issues of white supremacy and race are the most prevalent throughout the story. The Bluest Eye is set in Lorain, Ohio in 1941 where the main character is that of an 11 year-old black girl named Pecola Breedlove. The Breedlove family is portrayed as ugly and Pecola receives the most disgust because of her ugliness.
Pecola is a young girl who fantasizes of having blue eyes because to her they are symbolic of American white beauty. She is captivated by the child star, Shirley Temple whom is the definition of this American beauty that is talked about throughout the book. Pecola is convinced that if she were to have these blue eyes that people would ultimately love her and not consider her to be “ugly”.
Claudia, Pecola’s best friend, is the opposite to that of Pecola’s beliefs. She despises the idea of this American white beauty. Claudia cannot seem to understand why Pecola longs to have these blue eyes. Everyone tells Claudia of this beauty, but she can’t find or understand this novelty of beauty. Throughout the book Claudia searches for these answers.
Pecola throughout the book is shown as yearning to be the opposite of what she is. This is only because she is continually spat upon, ridiculed, and ultimately raped and impregnated by her own father. Pecola is subjected to several aspects of ugliness and in the end becomes the scapegoat of not only her family but also the community, in order to make them feel beautiful.
The entire book is a real tragedy that was very difficult to read at times. Morrison writes this book in a captivating way that it was also hard to put down. The point of view all throughout the story is passed along from character to character with Morrison being the unifying voice throughout. Morrison ends the book not like most traditional stories are concluded. It was refreshing to read something that seemed to be very close to Morrison and left me, the reader, thinking about the several issues that are presented in the book.

What is a documentary??

In my opinion, I feel as though a documentary can be a very complex thing. In my own words I think the definition of a documentary is a story of someone or something where their goal is to try to expose reality in some sort of way. The primary goal of a documentary is to “document” reality through the use of film, media, or another type of media. I can recall only watching a couple of documentaries before. Some I have watched on TV. while others at the movies. I have watched such documentaries as Super Size Me, the Blair Witch Project, Bowling for Columbine, and Fahrenheit 9/11. These examples are each very good and popular examples of a documentary. So what is it that defines a documentary? As I previously stated, a documentary exposes reality through telling a story. Our definition of a documentary is limited by the scopes of our reality. The pictures in our head help to develop more complexly what a documentary is. If a person were to watch documentaries made by one person, their view or definition of a documentary would be different than from someone who has watched a variety of ones. These people would probably assume that a documentary is a movie that tries to shed light on controversial or political issues. On the other hand, others whom have only seen documentaries such as Super Size Me might consider documentaries to be a film about someone doing something completely outrageous and un-necessary.

When talking about reality shows on television, I think that most of us have all seen or have our favorite reality shows that you watch. I know for me and especially my roommate, we love the reality shows that are on networks such as MTV. Most of us have seen shows like Survivor, The Real World, Laguna Beach, and The Amazing Race. Now could reality shows be considered a documentary? In my opinion, if the show is unscripted then it can fit into my definition of documentary. But all of us know that most of the reality shows on t.v. can be staged and definitely scripted. For the reality shows that I watch, which are mostly on MTV, those are definitely not considered documentaries. I personally am a big fan of reality shows but they are definitely not considered documentaries. I think that reality TV. is in its own category of entertainment.

For this course, a documentary should be defined as a part of reality in someone or something’s world that is exposed to an audience. Documentaries usually focus on telling a person’s story that will have an impact or lesson to the viewers. For a documentary to be credible, it should include people, facts, and evidence to support the views they are exposing. The evidence of the story that is being told should be presented in a clear and thoughtful way. Any facts or evidence presented in a documentary should be credible and apply to the story being told. Most documentaries apply to minority/majority relations. Documentaries usually also have a narrator that helps the audience to focus on the direction of the story. There are all documentaries which we watched in class that also fit my definition of a documentary (A Class Divided).
While doing research on documentaries I found several opinions on documentaries. The opinion that I found to be the best definition of what a documentary is was from Michael Moore. This was in an interview where a reporter was asking him if Fahrenheit 9/11 was a documentary and here was his response:

"Of course it's a documentary, it's a non-fiction film, it's a documentary," emphasized Michael Moore, during a conference call with a group of journalists earlier this week. "Documentaries by their very nature are supposed to have a point of view. The word has also been used over the years -- from 'NBC White Paper' to any of a number of forms of documentary. My form of doc is an op-ed piece. It presents my opinion that's based on fact. I am trying to present a view of the last three-and-a-half years that I don't feel has been presented to the American public."

All in all I think that several people have their own definitions of a documentary and what exactly it can be. My hope is that this semester when we are asked to co-produce a documentary that we are able to convey and apply our definitions a documentary through the story we tell.