The Risky Journal

Between Muslim and American Identity Kamala Khan, New Ms. Marvel. source: huffingtonpost I woke up this morning with a big surprise. As a part of my daily routines, I always check on my Feedly account and at around 8 am I read a post in Hufftington Post about a new character in Marvel universe. Marvel will welcome Kamala Khan, a Muslim woman and Pakistan immigrant to the US, as the new Ms. Marvel. Yes, it’s a Muslim woman who is bestowed the title of Ms. Marvel. As someone who really loves superhero universe and American Studies, this event is a pivotal key in the ‘outgoing’ superpower country’s culture. Ms. Marvel is a fiction character in Marvel comic books. Carol Danvers is the most notable character donning the mantle of Ms. Marvel. The hero has various abilities including superhuman strength, speed, stamina, durability, energy projection, energy absorption and flight. Therefore, Ms. Marvel, in my opinion, is one the most powerful character in Marvel Universe. ...

Cinderella, the Front Runner of Disney Princess The Most Famous Disney Princess according to Wikipedia What is in your mind if I mention Disney princesses? You probably will conjure images of Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel and other princesses. They all belong in a realm of American popular culture that is so hegemonic, even in Indonesian culture. We have been so accustomed to these characters that we take them for granted. Once we consume a popular culture product, we also consume the ideology embedded within. What do these princesses teach us, or teach your daughter?   Can I say that Cinderella is a bad girl? Or Snow White as an evil character? No, surely not. They all belong to the ‘good’ girl. They are the protagonist of the story. Then, what are the characteristics of a ‘good girl’ according to the princess above? First of all, a good girl is so kind hearted. She is indeed too kind. Why does Cinderella obey all of her step mother’s request?...

Reading Obama’s speech on the previous post is like reading a story about a hero who wins a great battle. How can’t it be? I try to do small analysis of the text’s structure. If it is observed well, it is like a short story narrative. It is started with the introduction about the story of September 11. It makes Americans remember their bitterest memories. It makes them remember the horrific tragedy happened to them. It craves to their deepest mind about the most painful wound in US’s history. This introduction functions to arouse these feelings, pain, grieve, loss and hatred. It also functions to introduce the problem of good vs evil represented by US vs Al Qaeda. It introduces us to the hero character and the evil character. The evil is Al Qaeda and Osama as the one who committed terrorism. While the hero is US (its government and its troops) for standing for its citizens, for the sake of securing them from further attacks.  The body of the text conveys the sequence of ...

Good evening. Tonight, I can report to the American people and to the world that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda, and a terrorist who's responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women, and children. It was nearly 10 years ago that a bright September day was darkened by the worst attack on the American people in our history. The images of 9/11 are seared into our national memory -- hijacked planes cutting through a cloudless September sky; the Twin Towers collapsing to the ground; black smoke billowing up from the Pentagon; the wreckage of Flight 93 in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where the actions of heroic citizens saved even more heartbreak and destruction. And yet we know that the worst images are those that were unseen to the world. The empty seat at the dinner table. Children who were forced to grow up without their mother or their father. Parents who would never know the feeling of their child's...

It's 10.45 am here in this part of the world. I opened my notebok, logged in my twitter. To my surprise, the twitter accounts of various notable media: NYTimes, BBC, Jakarta Post and Jakarta Globe all reported the death of Osama bin Laden, the person behind various terrorism attacks to US, including the notorious September 11 attack. Al-Qaeda founder and leader Osama Bin Laden has been killed by US forces, President Barack Obama has said [ BBC News ]. U pdate: Osama bin Laden is dead and his body has been recovered by U.S. authorities, U.S. officials say # BinLadenDead  [ jakarta globe twitter account ]   The death of the world's most-wanted terrorism group Al Qaeda's leader will end an almost 10-year long manhunt after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. [ Jakarta Post ]   President Obama   announced late Sunday that Osama bin Laden , the leader of   Al Qaeda   responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks, was killed in a...

Salah seorang teman saya dalam SUSI RPA 2011 meminta saya untuk membuatkan sejarah Amerika secara singkat. Dalam tulisan ini, saya tidak memasukkan semua bagian dari sejarah Amerika. Saya hanya memasukkan poin poin pentingnya saja. Rentang waktunya adalah semenjak kedatangan Puritan tahun 1600 an hingga era Civil War tahun 1865. Sejarah Amerika Secara Singkat : Awal Kedatangan – Perang Saudara Muhammad Rizqi A. Kebebasan, hal inilah yang menjadi kunci utama bagi berdirinya Negara Amerika Serikat. Pada awal mulanya, Amerika Utara hanyalah bagian dari benua Amerika yang dihuni oleh suku Indian. Namun, banyak orang yang tertarik ke Amerika. Bukan karena emas, perak atau minyak. Golongan pertama yang ke Amerika, datang karena ingin menghindari penyiksaan atas apa yang mereka percaya di negeri asal mereka. Merekalah orang orang Puritan pada tahun 1600an [1]. Semenjak itu Amerika terkenal dengan sebutan ‘the New World’ dan semakin banyak pula lah golongan – golongan agama lain yang i...

(From:  http://newsblaze.com/pix/2009/1031/pix/Precious-Movie-.jpg  ) In my previous movie review post, I reviewed Precious for its representation of Black Feminism thoughts. In this post, I would like to share my article after researching the movie. In conducting the research, I mostly employed semiotic film theory as the main tools of analysis. Besides, I also included a brief overview of what Black Feminism is so that we are in the same sphere and not lost in the texts. Happy reading, if u read it  The Construction of Black Feminism Thought In Precious (2009)

In response to my previous post about Movie Review: Precious which tells us about Black Feminism, hereby in this post I would like to share a power point presentation about Black Feminism. This is given at American Women class in November 24, 2010. Hopefully, it can be a clear introduction to Black Feminism. Black Feminism So, treat women of color with more respect !! For so long they are oppressed because of their race, social class and sex. Let us spread this awareness, starting from ourselves. No more women oppression. It is our chance as the next generation to better our future lives.

I got a task in my American Thought class several months ago. I had no idea what to write. But then I remembered one of my lecturer's saying, "Media is around you. You can get newspaper and you can make an analysis on it". So thanks to my inspiring lecture, I decide to analyze Hollywood Disaster Movie Genre. What was it?? why did i take it?? It was in the beginning of January if i am not mistaken that 2012 movie phenomenon occurred. People rushed to movie theater queuing to buy the opportunist movie. This phenomenon triggered me to analyze what kind of movie it is. I finally came into an understanding of disaster movie genre. Movies are categorized into the same genre if they have similar narratives (pattern of story). And disaster movie genre has long existed in Hollywood. We may still remember Armageddon, The Day After Tomorrow, Deep Impact and 2012 which all depict world destruction. So, I group them in disaster movie genre.

It is one of my assignments during American Media class last year. I uploaded the file to scribd. Then, Iink it here. It is not a copy paste work, it is mine. So please do not copy paste it. American Idol Analysis

Jazz music is one of music genres considered as a high class music now. But, do you know that it was a low class music? Jazz music is a mix of blues, ragtime, brass, band music, and dance music. Those musics were created and popularized by African American musicians. So, Jazz was invented by African Americans in the late 19th and early 20th century. To be precise is around 1920s, as it is an era of Harlem Renaissance - an era when Black culture started to rise. Then, was Jazz a high class music before? No. The roots of Jazz was even in the slave musics before the Civil War era (pre 1865). So, it is clear then that Jazz was a low class musics. So, how could Jazz raise as a high class music. In 1917, Jazz became popular not by its black musicians but by a band namely the Original Dixeland Jass which members were all white. In addition, the band debuted in New York. The uniqueness of Jazz captured all the attention. Then, more Jazz great musicians started to emerge including Louis Armst...

Lately, i often listened to this classic opera song. It's such a beautiful song with beautiful lyric. I firstly listened to the cover version of the song by IL Divo. Then i found that this song is covered by many artists raging from the legendary ones such as Barbara Streisand till the new comers such as Jennifer Hudson. For those who like classic/opera music this song is a masterpiece. Here is the lyric: Someday, somewhere We'll find a new way of living We’ll find a way of forgiving Somewhere... There's a place for us Somewhere a place for us Peace and quiet and open air Wait for us Somewhere There's a time for us Someday there'll be a time for us Time together with time to spare Time to learn, time to care Someday, somewhere We'll find a new way of living We’ll find there's a way of forgiving Somewhere... Somewhere... Somewhere... There's a place for us A time and a place for us Hold my hand and we're half way there hold...