VOL. 27 MARCH 2022 ISSUU.COM/GLIDES
DISNEY'S DIVERSITY Representation or Box-Ticking Inclusion?
THE TROJAN HORSE IN BROOKLYN NINE-NINE Why the show has been a tremendous success
WHAT'S YOUR DAMAGE? How Mental Health Issues were Represented in the Hit 80's Movie, 'Heathers'
TABLE OF CONTENTS 01 04
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Disney’s Diversity: Representation or Box-Ticking Inclusion? by Jawad Yuwono
A Broken Fairy-Tale Story from the Movie "The Duchess" (2008) by Anggita Khansa Paramitha
Kamila Andini Share Her Message Through Yuni to Fight Patriarchal Culture by Nadia Salsabila
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The Trojan Horse in Brooklyn Nine-Nine by Sophie Amani
Familial Responsibility and Small-Town Stunting in "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" by Sofia Dewi
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What’s Your Damage? How ‘Heathers’ Exposed a Problematic Society by Clarisa Rebecca
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Proposing Fallon a short story by Annisa Rifani Editor In Chief Handiko Wijaya Advisor Paramita Ayuningtyas, S. Hum, M. Hum. Editors Vera Benita Yasmin Anggraini Ahmad Fikri Adzhani
Writers Anggita Paramitha Nadia Salsabila Jawad Yuwono Clarisa Rebecca Sophie Amani Sofia Dewi Designers Cherrylita Ollyvia Adisty Fachrani
EDITOR'S NOTE GLIDES #27
Hello there, General Kenobi,
March 2022
Can you guess our theme for this volume yet? Yes? Good! We are in March right now, and so many things happened during our process of writing this volume. Before we start, I would like to express my great condolences for many lost souls during the Russian Invasion of Ukraine that happened this February. May the world heads towards better peace and harmony. Now let’s go to our topic. What is your favorite movie? Why do you like that movie? Is there something special from it that you can’t find from other movies?
On this volume, our members are preparing many intriguing articles about movies that will make you think (and perhaps add some titles to your watchlist). Also, if you’re a cinephile, why don’t you join the Movie Club! Follow their Instagram for more information on @movieclub_ed This volume also marks the return of another short story submission. We want to thank Annisa Rifani, a creative sophomore who sent her work titled Proposing Fallon. From the old-classic Disney animated movies to the crazy Heathers from Westerburg High, welcome to GLIDES 27th Edition. I hope your days are amazing and kind. Han.
Handiko Wijaya Editor in Chief
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by Anggita Khansa Paramitha
Rating: 4/5
A Broken Fairy-Tale Story From the Movie
“The Duchess” (2008)
Movies have always been the fastest way to deliver a current perception or even points of view towards society. This became a basis on why many moviemakers tend to go deep with their analysis and research to create well accepted movies for a wide range of audiences that are suitable with their perceptions in their current era. However, not little production houses also step out of this way. Their goal is to create a brave movement, while spreading awareness towards issues that have been happening for such a long time. Sometimes, for a new perception to be successfully delivered to society, we need to have a brave act to start with. This is what those moviemakers are doing. It may be a risky move, because if they fail then criticism is what they'll receive. But if we want to deliver something new and un-noticeable by society, this can be very much useful if it succeeds.
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The Duchess was taken from the true story of Georgiana Cavendish, the Duchess of Devonshire. The story revolves around the struggles she went through during her time of being a duchess in such an era where men were always dominant. Whether it is in conducting anything they wish, or even in how they treat women, especially with the addition of power. In the story, Georgiana was arranged to marry the Duke of Devonshire. Little did she know, he was only focused on producing an heir towards his throne. He did not care about anything else that his duchess needed. Worst part, he was also obsessed with doing prostitution with other women, even those that has no-relationship with him, even when he knew that his wife was pregnant with their own child. And when Georgiana finally dares to speak up, she receives a series of abusive treatment from her husband. Despite having enough of her husband’s abusive behaviors and wanting to seek help from her own family, she still had to face the harshness of the royal rules. This made her unable to ask for a divorce in any way, nor use any excuses.
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The Duchess is one of many pioneers who was brave enough to deliver a tale about the dark sides of the British Royals from the past. Later on, it is followed by many more movies and series. For instance, Spencer (2021), the Crown (2016), The Favourite (2018), and such.
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Even when the ending of the movie was closed by a happily-ever-after scene, there was still not much freedom that Georgiana can receive, even after all the violence that her husband has done to her. At the very end, she was again forced to accept all of her husband's selfish decisions; she decided to just go along with them. She did it not because she could finally accept her own husband, but rather because of her love towards her children. This is actually such a sad fact that a lot of women had to face off.
In real life, the Duchess resonates with the feminism issues happening in the British royal family. What’s interesting is that the British royal family’s life has always been a center of attention by people from all over the world ever since hundreds of years ago. Everyone wants to know more about how the royal fairytale life truly is. However, being a part of the royal family has never been as wonderful as it seems. It has always been a male-dominated ecosystem, which often puts more pressure on women. Men from the royal families, especially from past eras, mostly have the perceptions that women have two purposes: to obey men and to give birth. This perception made the life behind the castle wall wasn't really like fairy-tales; more of a nightmare for women. This is what movies such as the Duchess tried to speak up for. For thousands of years women, even from a high level of caste inside of the society, have received a series of harshness and bad treatment from men. However, never were they able to speak up about their struggles, due to society's perceptions about how women are.
These cruel things don’t just belong in the movie, it's not just make-believe. It's an issue that has been and is being experienced by society. Normalizing abusive traits only to please men, and their acts to be superior, makes women weakly accept that unfairness and harshness from them, which is definitely wrong. However, culture and perceptions like this can be very hard to erase from society. Even today, where human rights, equality, and freedom are more open, we still can see many similar issues happening around us. However, movies like the Duchess often get criticized by society, due to the perception that the act of criticizing and revealing dark truths seems to vilify the discussed subjects. But seeing it from another perspective, it is actually a great way to not only describe how feminism actually are but also to raise awareness towards abusive behaviors such as sexual harassment. This can be another way to give education and a better view of problems that need to be fixed immediately. By the appearance of movies with these genres, hopefully, society can be more educated and pay more attention to similar problems, which are happening globally.
This movie has been a great portrayal of how women struggle in a male-dominant world. The cultures of normalizing men's act of superiority, and perceptions of women that should accept their behavior make it look like women are weak. It was also projected in the movie scenes, where Georgiana and many women in the era were being portrayed to be in struggles regarding freedom matters all because of the rules of manpower. They never had the chance to speak, nor do any actions they see beneficial for their own lives. 5
Kamila Andini Share Her Messages Through Yuni to Fight Patriarchal Culture by Nadia Salsabila Rating: 4.5/5
Do you all have a favorite movie that you enjoy? From comedy to horror or western to eastern; cause every single movie is worth the penny to be watched! But, let's also focus on the message and the movie's stories that can make you all learn about the current issues and the movie’s meaning, like the movie that I’m going to talk about.
An example of patriarchal culture is when men hold control and make all the rules while women stay home and take care of the kids, showing that men display some superiority due to their gender status. Indonesia's patriarchal culture makes women as the marginalized members of society worry about the future they will face. That’s the reason Kamila Andini made Yuni.
All of you cinephiles must know Yuni (2021), an Indonesian movie released last December. It’s famously known to have received an international award (Platform Prize by Toronto International Film Festival) because of its top-notch stories and acting! This movie, directed by Kamila Andini (Laut Bercermin), (Aach... Aku Jatuh Cinta), succeeded made the audience shaken up. The reason? It’s because Yuni really depicted the patriarchal culture situation in Indonesia, the problem that made all of us mad.
What is patriarchal culture? It’s the unequal allocation of power between men and women in certain parts of society. Patriarchal culture can happen in every field: economic, education, politic, and law.
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What is Yuni about? This movie tells the story of Yuni, the brightest student in her high school, dreaming of taking a scholarship to study at a prestigious university after graduating. She’s a girl who lives in a village at Cilegon, Banten. But, her dream can’t come true. One day, an unknown man proposed to Yuni; she refused it, and the gossip spread among the locals. The second marriage proposal came, Yuni still refused because she was more concerned about achieving her goals. However, a local myth haunts her; the myth says that if a woman rejects marriage proposals twice, she wouldn’t be able to find her soulmates forever.
The locals also have the mindset that young marriage must have good fortune: merit and wealth. But in reality, it does not. Precisely, it brings the negative impacts to adolescence. The economic problem has arisen, their mental condition worsens, and they are more susceptible to sexually transmitted disease. That’s why child marriage is the highlight of the movie. It obviously shows that decisions are always in the hands of men without showing any control and concern because of the consequences that women will bear. Because of it, women live with the double life society standard that must be endured. Yuni and her friends are forced to get married earlier due to local pressure.
Now, let’s talk about the patriarchal culture issues in Yuni!
According to Kamila Andini, Yuni's movie depicts the anxiety and confusion experienced by young women when they need to face marriage demands by society. It records people's struggles with different sexual orientations and women's disadvantages under a patriarchal culture.
Another case that needs to be highlighted is when Sarah, Yuni’s best friend, is forced to marry her boyfriend. They are discovered being together in the park by the inhabitants and slandered for violating sexuality-related behavior. Ironically, mingling with the boy can get entangled with slut-shaming. The prejudices against the couple in villages are awful. Many uneducated locals are judgmental; they think the couple is doing deviant behaviour (having sex in the public area).
The rural inhabitants where Yuni lives can only see women as objects for men to marry, do the house chores, and human reproduction. They have a stigma that it’s futile for women to continue their studies in higher education. The locals only see women as housewives and lust satisfactory for their husbands; how sad it is to see the old generation of the rural inhabits to glorify patriarchal culture.
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Marriage also can’t shun domestic violence issues; as this case is still much we encounter in this country. Domestic violence has also happened to Suci Cute, a woman Yuni met in the stall. Suci Cute mentioned that her past was awful. She was dealing with young marriage, and her ex-husband consistently abuses her. Gladly she’s already free from her exhusband and currently pursuing her dream. But remember, some women still withstand these hardships and need to be saved right now.
Here is the conclusion! Indonesia is still fighting for gender equality. The educated Indonesians are always telling the message to end the patriarchal culture. Stop the prejudgement against women. That’s the message behind Yuni. Kamila Andini shared that the movie was right; the movie's situation still arises. We need gender education to educate citizens that patriarchal culture is definitely wrong. Let’s start the movement and continually update about these issues as a youth generation. This culture needs to be stopped!
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by Sofia Dewi
Rating: 5/5
FAMILIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND SMALL-TOWN STUNTING IN
What’s Eating Gilbert Grape Family and small-town living are both common—and incredibly cliche—themes found throughout Hollywood’s filmography. The “family is number one” angle adopted by many movies is so overdone that memes about the Fast and Furious franchise have nothing to do with its plot, but instead satirise Dominic Toretto’s (one of the franchise’s protagonists) constant evocation of family. As for small-town living, Hollywood movies constantly portray small towns as places of stagnation, spots located in the middle of nowhere where nothing ever happens and ways never change. Using small towns as a movie’s primary setting is practically an invitation to make the protagonist a plucky, smart, and determined youth who is different from everyone else in some way and, as a result, is desperate to leave their sleepy town for the city’s shining lights.
Although both approaches imply different paradigms (“family is number one” is a theme that appeals to tradition, while “ugh, nothing ever happens around here and I want to leave!” appeals to modernity), there is one thing they have in common: both ways of handling these themes are seldom challenged. What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (1993) is another Hollywood movie that tackles the themes of family and small-town living, although in a much fresher way. This adaptation of a novel of the same name by Peter Hedges follows the struggles of Gilbert Grape (Johnny Deep), a young grocery store worker who lives in Endora, a fictional small town somewhere in Iowa.
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Ever since his father died by suicide, Gilbert has been the sole breadwinner and caretaker of Arnie (Leonardo DiCaprio), his intellectually disabled brother, in his family. Meanwhile, his two sisters are occupied with household chores and their mother Bonnie is too obese to even get up from the couch from spending all her time eating and watching television following her husband’s death. One day, enthusiastic Becky (Juliette Lewis) and her grandmother are stuck in the town. As Gilbert falls for her, he finds himself wedged between their promising romance and his duties to his dysfunctional family.
An example of this struggle is shown when one day, Gilbert decides to leave Arnie in the bathtub after bathing him in order to spend more time with Becky. When he comes home the next morning, he discovers that Arnie is still in the bathtub, shivering because the water has gone cold. This outcome makes him feel guilty and invites the ire of his family. Whether or not you find his actions irresponsible, the movie’s prior events unfold in such a way that you can’t help feeling sorry for him anyway. As for small-town living, Endora is a typical small town: it’s remote, sleepy, nothing ever happens there, and its foundations are threatened by most young Endorans leaving for the city and a chain supermarket encroaching on Lamson’s Grocery, the family-owned grocery store where Gilbert works. Like any protagonist who comes from this sort of place, Gilbert wants to leave. He wouldn’t be the first to do so, either—not only has everyone from Gilbert’s high school graduating class (except for himself and his friend Tucker) left the town, but he also has .
An obvious theme of What’s Eating Gilbert Grape is familial responsibility. As previously stated, Gilbert is both the sole breadwinner of his family and Arnie’s primary caretaker. This situation leaves him with little time for anything else—the only opportunity Gilbert has for any me-time is his affair with a married woman named Betty Carver. As his relationship with Becky develops, however, Gilbert is forced to choose between her or his responsibilities. 13
two older siblings who left home years ago and never visit. The intersection between this movie’s central themes lies in the fact that the only thing stopping Gilbert from leaving is his feeling of obligation to his family. What’s refreshing about how What’s Eating Gilbert Grape handles these two overly-done themes is, firstly, its bittersweetness. The Grapes are a screwed-up family, to say the least: the siblings, especially older sister Amy and younger sister Ellen, fight a lot, everyone feels alienated from each other and they all feel tired of one another and the burden of keeping the household, which has not recovered since their father’s suicide seven years ago, afloat. If this were another typical Hollywood flick, maybe things would have ended purely in a happy way for the family, either by some stroke of luck or an improvement in their interpersonal relationships. This, however, never happens: the strain of life continues to wear them down until Bonnie, feeling guilty for being a burden on her children, gets up to climb the stairs to her bedroom for the first time since her husband’s death. The exertion, at her weight, kills her, and it is only due to this that the Grape children are able to start anew. I think it was nice for the story to progress like that because it’s an acknowledgement that sometimes, things never really do get better, and they sometimes improve in ways you wouldn’t have wanted them to. And that’s okay. You don’t have to become a perfect cereal packet family by the end of things to be validated.
Besides that, I also find it interesting that Gilbert gets a new lease on life without completely abandoning every aspect of his old one. By the end of the movie, Gilbert joins Becky and her grandmother to travel, but he also brings Arnie along with him. In my view, this was a nice touch because in most movie narratives, disabled and neurodivergent people are, either implicitly or explicitly, portrayed as nothing but burdens. Because of this, Gilbert taking Arnie along isn’t only less cliche than him going off to the big city by himself and leaving absolutely everything behind, but also more inclusive compared to the common narrative for movie featuring characters like Arnie. To be clear, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape does feature some typical narratives for movie of its kind, such as the sleepy Midwestern small town, sticking with your family, and a protagonist who wants to move away. Yet, it also approaches the themes of familial responsibility and small-town life in new and fresh ways, such as by approaching the concept of family in a more bittersweet way and not having the protagonist leave every single part of his old life behind at some point. This makes What’s Eating Gilbert Grape a more emotional and memorable experience, and therefore worth watching.
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