Final Reflection

First, I will say that I was thankful to be placed in this course with Dr. Scott. I truly believe that I learned the true meaning of what it means to be a leader. Being that I attend a liberal arts college, I exercise leadership in many ways. I believe that leadership within the walls of a liberal arts education is defined as the ability to learn, grow, adapt, and even fail in certain situations while learning how to exercise power in the right way. In the beginning, we discussed Cronon’s views on Leadership. Cronon felt as though pursuing a liberal arts education tailored individuals to be leaders, meaning that leadership is literally embedded within several components of a Liberal Arts focused curriculum, because of the natural need for individuals to seek growth while working as a team. A liberal arts education is built on the value that it aspires to nurture the growth of human talent in the service of human freedom. Cronon believes that liberally educated individuals practice humility, tolerance, and self-criticism. I agree that having those three characteristics represent excreting good leadership. After writing a short paper on my views on Cronon’s views on Leadership, I now have a better understanding on how with every achievement, there was some failure that took place within the process. So acting with extraordinary leadership skills is important.

This course was solely based on the Women of Wakanda in the film Black Panther. We discussed various topics like, “How diverse is Hollywood?” That led to the discussion of the lack of diversity of female characters in film. Because of those discussions, I now am aware of how African American female actresses portrayal in film has transitioned throughout the decades. Beginning from small stereotypical roles to eventually transitioning to having women of color cast as main roles in film. It  saddens me to express how cruel the film industry is to women of color desiring a career. I believe that it is unfair for not only a women, but a women of color to be ostracized due to their sex or the color of their skin. Some may say that working in the film industry is a “Man’s job.” Yet, I’m here to clarify that a career should never have a gender or racial bias.

For our final project, I was paired with five other classmates, where we had to complete a infographic on black actresses in film. We discussed how women of color were given minor and stereotypical roles, and were often characterized as low class. Meaning that back in the 1940s – 1960s, women of color were given the roles of maids or nannies. Then, moving into the 70s, there was the era of the blacksplotation films, women like Cleopatra Jones and Foxy Brown were being casted in action movies, that were unfortunately highly sexualized, creating a hyper sexual portrayal of the black woman. After that time period, women of color began taking over the film industry, stepping outside of the common roles that they were used to portraying.