students, by students issue 106 - summer ‘24
Upcoming Indie Albums of 2024
The Lack of Asian Representation in the Film Industry
Hollywood is full of Asian stereotypes, and this is why it needs to change Suggestions and comments on the upcoming Indie albums for 2024
Knight
The narrator compares socialising to chess moves
Hi everyone, and welcome to the last issue of The Magdalen for 2023/24. The theme for this issue is ellipsis, a deep exhale, letting go. This felt so fitting for the final issue whilst the academic year is wrapping up, and some of us are getting ready to wave a fond farewell to university.
So we would like to wish a fond farewell to our time at The Mag. It has been such a joy and a pleasure, we’re so proud of everyone on the team. A huge thank you to Katy and Fiona for all of their hard work, and to Luna and Afia who will keep each issue looking as gorgeous as ever. Last but not least, thank you for reading! Have a wonderful summer and good luck for next year!
Arrivederci, - Roshni and Mariya
Hi all!
And... that's a wrap! It seems unbelievable (where did the time go?) but the last issue of the year is now complete. We can't wait to do it all again next year!
We want to dedicate a big thankyou to the entire Mag Team. Your hard work and incredible creativity makes this all possible; we're blown away every time.
To everyone, we wish you an amazing summer, whether that is a well deserved break or a job hunt!
- Afia and Luna
Feature
The Lack of Asian Representation in the Film Industry
Arts & Entertainment
Millenium Actress: Chasing Chiyoko
Lessons from the life of Indiana Jones
Why Live Entertainment has changed
Upcoming Indie Albums of 2024
Creative Writing
Milk Teeth Knight M92 to 124
Collapsing Constellations
Current Affairs
Why We Should Care: The History of British Colonialism & Palestine
Two Years of War in Ukraine
Society Spotlight
Latin Dance Society
OPSOC
Lifestyle
Save Me Student: Exclusion in Friendship Groups
An Introduction to Copaganda
Keeping Up with The Magdalen
Science & Technology
Glowing Gardens
When I was younger, my sister and I watched countless Hollywood films during our beloved movie nights, with many of these movies becoming integral parts of our childhood. There was just one inescapable problem: we could rarely find someone who looked like us on screen. The importance of diverse representation cannot be overstated; not being represented in popular media made me and my sister feel like outsiders – as if there was something wrong with us – when, of course, the fault lay within the predominately white film industry.
There has always been a lack of Asian representation in media, especially in the Hollywood industry, with only 19 out of the 2765 stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame being people of Asian descent. When there was Asian representation in American movies, it usually featured one-dimensional characters such as Cho Chang from Harry Potter or fetishized caricatures or villains as seen in Austin Powers and Kill Bill. Hollywood has a long history of anti-Asian racism including yellowface and racist stereotypes in their movies. This ranges from Disney’s The Aristocats, where a cat is depicted as a racist caricature of East Asian people and plays the piano with chopsticks, and Lady and the Tramp’s infamous “Siamese Cat Song” all the way to famous 80s romantic comedies such as Sixteen Candles with the character Long Duk Dong. This feels like a slap in the face for all the Asian kids and teens looking for representation or any characters with their experiences and backgrounds in popular media. A new study about Asian Americans
in the entertainment industry and the portrayal of their characters on screen revealed that audiences are meant to laugh at nearly half of all Asian roles in top grossing movies from 2010 to 2019. The screen time that an Asian American character is given is mostly relegated to comic relief or further stereotyped to feed the idea that Asian Americans can only play one-dimensional characters who cannot offer anything valuable to the main story. Furthermore, whitewashing is still unfortunately very prevalent all throughout
“just one inescapable problem...”
the Hollywood industry, for instance in films such as Bullet Train and Doctor Strange and the critically panned live action adaptions Death Note, The Last Airbender and Fate: The Winx Saga. Disappointingly, A-list actress Scarlett Johannsson
defends this practice after receiving backlash for her role in the Japanese cyberpunk film Ghost in the Shell, refusing to acknowledge her privilege and the harm caused in taking away already scarce roles and jobs from Asian actors.
However, there has been a renaissance of Asian stories onscreen with the rise of more mainstream Asian projects in the past few years, for instance in the form of adaptations of bestselling books written by Asian authors, such as Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko and Jenny Han’s romantic comedies and dramas. ShangChi and the Legend of the Ten Rings evidently gave Simu Liu more opportunities in showbusiness, as he recently starred in the most successful movie of 2023, Barbie. Other critically acclaimed and award-winning projects like Beef, Turning Red and Never Have I Ever truly reflect the real lived experiences of Asians, as Asian writers and directors have a newfound creative control in them.
Vietnamese Chinese actor Ke Huy Quan’s career and acting journey perfectly encapsulate the struggle of Asian-American actors and their lack of work and acting opportunities in the film industry. He started out his acting career in a rather
promising way, landing a role in the cult classic Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and later also starring in The Goonies. The actor described Indiana Jones as “one of the happiest times of my life”, but even this careerlaunching role was in a film steeped in dangerous and racist depictions of Hindu and Indian culture and people, with an overarching theme of white saviourism; both his character, Short Round, and Ke Huy Quan truly deserved better. Ke Huy Quan was eventually forced to retire from acting because there were so few acting opportunities for AsianAmericans in the industry at the time and he did not want to be relegated to play stereotypical and racist roles. So, he instead worked as a stunt coordinator and assistant director behind the camera all these years, until the movie Crazy Rich Asians came out in 2018. Crazy Rich Asians was the first film by a major Hollywood studio to feature an all-Asian cast centred around a modern Asian American story in 25 years. This revolutionary film became a huge successful American blockbuster that completely steered away from racist stereotypes and onedimensional characterisation of Asian characters. It was a true milestone for Asian representation in Hollywood cinema, similar to the success of South Korean film Parasite being the first foreign film to win Best Picture a few
years prior. commercial success and wide critical acclaim showed that there could be positive Asian representation in Hollywood films. So, after a break from acting for over two decades, Ke Huy Quan made his grand return to the screen with the ground-breaking film All at Once winning multiple awards including an Oscar.
Everything Everywhere All at Once creative and absurdist yet wonderfully heartfelt and tearjerking movie that truly moved me. I felt represented and seen in a way that had not been the case with any American movie in a long time. The film featured a Chinese family and explored the dynamics of a mother and daughter relationship alongside other important topics such as Asian-American identity, intergenerational trauma, neurodivergence, and the meaning of life. The film received widespread critical acclaim and commercial success, garnered numerous awards and nominations in various categories for its directing, writing, acting, producing, and editing, and made history as the most awarded film of all
Hollywood for doing the bare minimum amount when good representation in film. Asian-American actors are still struggling to overcome industry and should also be given roles that are simply American and not necessarily ethnic. Although this has it is still a rarity to see any Asian person cast as main characters in mainstream Hollywood movies that are not solely and specifically marketed as “Asian projects”
is important to give Asian actors the room to star in stories not entirely centred on and tied to their ethnicity. There is still a long way to go when it comes to Asian representation in the film
American community has successes and continue to bring their talent into the film industry. As James Hong said, producers used to say good enough and could not achieve box office successes,
Kon Satoshi’s love letter to art, Millennium Actress, continues to awe audiences over two decades after its release. The film is a formidable, albeit imperfect, homage to Japanese cinema, alluding to period dramas, kaijū movies (think Godzilla) and a number of Kurosawa pictures. The animation is stunning, and the colour palette is rich, which is often reminiscent of the great ukiyo-e works of the Edo period. Millennium Actress is also the first collaboration between Kon and the internationally more obscure musical pioneer Hirasawa Susumu, whose avantgarde score packs an emotional punch. The film is infamous for the disappointment that the ending brings to the viewer. I would like to offer an interpretation of the movie that might reveal the movie’s philosophy in a different light.
Millennium Actress centres on the life of a retired film actress, Fujiwara Chiyoko, a war-time child who has spent most of her life chasing after a man running from the law. She knows almost nothing about him, except that he is an artist from Hokkaido. Chiyoko ultimately becomes an actress in order to pursue this man that she is infatuated with. In Kon’s film she recounts her life story beginning from her younger years until her retirement. As she recounts her story, however, our aged main character obfuscates the line between her real life and the films she stars in over the span of her long career. All of the various movies that she stars in have a common theme: Chiyoko plays the part of a woman running after the man she loves. It is never quite clear what the precise details of Chiyoko’s life are outside of her art. Rather, all the audience gets is
an indication of the general direction in which the main character’s real life seems to have evolved. One of the emotional paroxysms of Millennium Actress arises by the middle of the film, when the retired actress bursts into tears because she can no longer even remember the face of the man whom she so adored. The audience cannot help but be emotionally invested in Chiyoko’s extreme romanticism. This zealous, naïve love that shines through in her pursuit of the mysterious man is even arguably what defines her. The disappointment felt by many viewers is caused by what seems like a complete undermining of precisely this apparent earnestness. Unsuccessful in the pursuit of her life-long love and now lying on her deathbed, as Chiyoko is comforted that she will be together with the man in death, the retired actress seems to express a kind of unwillingness to meet him in the realm beyond as she utters the final and arguably best-known line of Millennium Actress: ‘The part I really loved was chasing him.’
For many viewers, these final words ruin Chiyoko as a character and reveal in her a side that the viewer would not have expected at all. These words are often interpreted as implying that she never really wanted to attain the love that she sought after, as if she, in a cynical 20th-century vein, distrusted love attained, as opposed to the thrill and excitement of the endless pursuit of it. This apparent distrust underlying Chiyoko’s final words is precisely what clashes with the seemingly earnest love that shines through her. However, this reading of her words seems mistaken to me.
The final line of the movie is rendered in English more ambiguously than in the Japanese original. Translating directly from the Japanese, she says instead: ‘I loved the me that pursued him.’ These words do not hint at some kind of distrust of love but rather reveal our main character’s love for herself and for her life. By the end of the film, it is revealed that the man Chiyoko loved is dead, but the actress herself has had no intel of his death. Yet, perhaps we have reason to surmise that Chiyoko might have realised long before retirement that he had died. It is important to note that while we do not for the most part know the exact relation between much of Chiyoko’s life and her art, there is one thing we can be sure of: her final words are taken directly from a movie of hers. Perhaps, having intuitively realised that the love of her life had died, she no longer longed to meet him but instead learned to love her art. The focal point of every movie Chiyoko ever made was the pursuit of love, and at some point, her love for this mysterious man might have instead been redirected to the part she had always played — not only in film but in real life. Millennium Actress is a passionate love letter to art not because of its numerous allusions to different works and genres but because Kon so wonderfully celebrates art as life and life as art.
Words: Tom Christison, Design: Jasper Napier
A major inspiration to students for many reasons, but perhaps mostly because he is both an academic and an adventurer, Indiana Jones is an archaeology professor during semester time and a rogue adventurer with a passion for archaeological conservation and for battling evil (and punching Nazis) outside of the classroom. Although his work-life balance may sometimes be undesirable, Indy embodies the balance between academia and the outside world and students can learn some valuable lessons from him.
In the opening of Raiders of the Lost Ark (my personal favourite), Indy loses possession of the treasure he had been seeking. He is obviously disheartened but does not give up and instantly starts plotting his next steps to gain his treasure back. The lesson here is clear: have your eyes on the prize, but do not be discouraged by the pitfalls, keep on the crusade! For us students that treasure might be an A grade!
Across his globetrotting adventurers, Indy’s life is extremely frenetic and new challenges await him around every corner. While we will most likely not find ourselves falling out of an aeroplane with nothing but a life raft to get us down to Earth, the ability to think on our feet is still a valuable skill. Adaptability can be extremely beneficial, and it is always advisable to have our reflexes ready! Furthermore, being resourceful and being able to quickly think like Indy can aid us in our studies. Indy may be rather buccaneering, but he nevertheless always exploits his academic skills. His research is always done to a high standard, and he values and accomplishes critical analysis before “galloping away into the sunset.” A reason why Indy’s adventures have
become so popular is because he is a human, not a Superman, just a man. He is an academic looking for his “fortune and glory,” and aren’t we all? A study revealed that the Indiana Jones’ films brought prominence and popularity to archaeology; this demonstrates their impact and importance in introducing a “new style of academic.” The movies and Indy himself are a new source of inspiration. Through Indy, we observe and learn how to be resourceful, open-minded, and resilient in both our studies and the outside world. Through him, we can least aspire to his adventuring spirit.
Perhaps, the best lesson students can learn from “The Man in the Hat” is that sometimes to be the best in your field, “you gotta get out of the library!”
Words: Tom Gachagan, Design: Joshua
I have been attending concerts and stage shows since before I was 13, and therefore grew up experiencing the world of performing arts. I have thus witnessed changes happen, especially after 2021 when live music resumed after shutting down due to the pandemic.
A rise in ticket prices stands out the most to me, particularly when purchasing from Ticketmaster. I remember paying around £50 for a ticket to see My Chemical Romance, which I bought in early 2022. This was at the Ovo Hydro, so it was obviously going to be more expensive. Since 2023, waves of inflation have raised overall life prices and I ended up coughing up over £70 for The 1975 at the Ovo Hydro in Glasgow. Only a year and a half later, I was paying over £20 more for a concert at the same venue. In fact, prices have increased across all venue sizes. The industry professionals state that the reason for this is the considerable rising costs of energy and refreshments as well as a knock-on effect from having little income due to the pandemic. Furthermore, an increasing number of independent venues are closing and if venues want to remain open, they must increase their prices.
Something that has been pointed out is a major increase in camping before concerts. This is far from being a novelty and has been
done for decades. However, it is getting more common, and is consequentially catching the media’s attention. I have noticed this with both Harry Styles and The 1975, with the latter having people camp for 3 days. I genuinely do not know the cause of this. While the rising costs and closing down of venues can be attributed to the effects of COVID lockdowns and inflation, for this, I am unsure. Some people argue that it is a social media trend, e.g., TikTok, which I agree with to an extent. It is true that it can give people FOMO, but it does not explain wanting to camp outside for days. This has led to increased gatekeeping and to fans trying to exclude campers, calling them “TikTok fans.” They are not wrong as the latter seem to not even know the lyrics by heart.
Live entertainment has certainly changed, COVID changed it permanently, and the current economic state will destroy it. Things need to change. Social media bringing more attention to music is not negative, but it can be a bit jarring.
2024 has already been a brilliant year for music. If you are on the hunt for a novelty, or want to branch out your music taste, you should give these “underground” new albums a listen!
In case you have not heard already, February gave us The Last Dinner Party’s debut album, Prelude to Ecstasy, as well as Declan McKenna’s What Happened to the Beach? The Last Dinner Party first came to prominence with their single Nothing Matters, released in April 2023, a top 20 UK hit. I can only describe their music as unconventionally angelic; it reminds me of a spunky renaissance. I find McKenna’s music, on the other hand, to perfectly match the upbeat sunshine of the summer. I always catch myself coming back to songs of his such as Brazil and The Key to Life on Earth when I am in the mood for a dance party.
March is a big month for “sad indie girl vibes” with Bright Future by Adrianne Lenker and Underdressed at the Symphony by Faye Webster. Both artists are ideal for creating the perfect evening atmosphere as you craft or read a good book. I find Lenker’s music incredibly comforting, much like a big hug. If her newest album is anything like her previous, songs, I will be a very content fan.
April has numerous treats for avid music enjoyers with a variety of albums to choose from: Found Heaven by Conan Gray, Older by Lizzy McAlpine, Only God was Above Us by Vampire Weekend, and I’m Doing it Again Baby! by Girl in Red. Personally, I am most excited for both McAlpine and Vampire Weekend’s new albums. McAlpine’s music consists of folk and bedroom-pop, perfect for a self-care night in. Vampire Weekend’s most recent album, Father of the Bride, falls more under alternative pop rather than the alt-rock vibe of their older albums. It is most likely their new album will be like Father of the Bride which, like McKenna’s music, is perfect to have a dance to.
Finishing off the goodies, Stranger Things’ actress Maya Hawke is releasing another album titled Chaos Angel at the end of May. Inspired by folk artists such as Leonard Cohen, Hawke’s music is performed poetry, delicately partnered with dainty instruments and her gorgeous voice. Despite being best known for her acting, I would argue that Hawke’s music should be what she receives the most publicity for, as it is stunning and deserving of more recognition.
After taping the last box shut and putting it down in the hallway, I sit down on the edge of my bed. Or what used to be my bed, I guess. The room looks larger than life now that it’s empty, and a sense of melancholy fills my chest. Odd, how easy it is to strip a place of everything that makes it home.
Years of hard work have built up to this moment, when I can finally leave this town behind. Go on to better things, a better life. It’s all I’ve wanted for as long as I can remember. I lie down on the mattress, stare up at the beige ceiling. It has a grey stain that looks vaguely like a tooth.
Another twenty minutes before the moving van gets here.
I close my eyes and the imprint of that ceiling stain lingers on the back of my eyelids. A memory rises to the surface, one I haven’t thought of in years. Year two of primary school, lunch break. A cloudy day in October, or perhaps November, when a football kicked Tommy’s front teeth out.
One of them had already been dangling for a while. Every morning, Tommy would take the tooth between his thumb and index finger to wiggle it, and every time it moved a bit more than it did the day before. Classmates would ooh and aah before sticking their dirty
fingers in their own mouths, eager to find a tooth like Tommy’s. When all they found was disappointment, Tommy would grin and loudly claim that any day now the tooth would fall out, and then he’d be rich. His words didn’t make much sense to me at the time; I hadn’t lost any of my milk teeth yet, and my parents weren’t really the type to indulge in fantasies of tooth fairies anyway. I never voiced my confusion, but at night, in the privacy of my own room, I would feel around in my mouth in search for something loose.
For all his big talk and excitement, Tommy had looked far from happy with that dangling tooth gone. Then again, I’m pretty sure his big moment hadn’t quite gone the way he’d hoped. My spot on the outskirts of the playground gave me a perfect view of the entire ordeal. The football games usually didn’t interest me much, but the playground was quiet that day. A cold had been going around, so a lot of kids were staying home. With their numbers significantly reduced, the boys and girls decided to play football together. A handful of kids had pulled faces at the mere idea of it, but their reluctance seemed forgotten as soon as the game began. Ten minutes later, the boys were winning, and some of my interest began to dwindle. But then Mary stole the ball from Simon. She ran, and everyone’s energy seemed to soar. I remember leaning forward,
my attention solely focused on her. The other girls yelled encouragements while the boys hollered and tried to stop her. It was no use; Mary was unstoppable, her face red and her smile victorious. Once she was close enough to the goal she slowed down, and Tommy braced himself as she kicked the ball. I knew where it would land even before Tommy’s eyes widened in fear, even before Mary’s smile slipped and gasps rang out across the playground.
I watched the ball fly through the air and hit Tommy right in the face.
I can still see it happening now, like an endless loop. The kick, a flash of the ball, followed by that harsh impact. How joy turned into fear in a matter of seconds, victory melting into regret. Did I really spot specks of blood fly when the ball hit Tommy?
By the time the commotion settled down, Tommy’s cries had turned into sniffles. Teachers and classmates were crowding him. He had his hands cupped together, his eyes glued to his palms. I was too far away to see what was in them, but it must have been his two front teeth.
I don’t think he ever mentioned the incident again. Or the riches he was supposed to
gain. Then again, I never did become close enough to Tommy to know for certain.
Did he curse the times he’d spent wiggling that tooth, complaining about how badly he wanted it to fall already?
Mary’s face comes to mind again. Her black hair pushed back as she ran. How powerful she had seemed in that moment, rushing towards the goal without an ounce of hesitation. I think of my own goals, closer now than ever, and the hazy future that hides behind them. I wish I could ask Mary whether it was worth it. Were those few precious minutes she spent at the top of the world, above everyone else on that dull, grey playground, worth the pain she inadvertently caused?
I hope it was. For her sake, and for mine, I really hope it was.
The doorbell rings and I push myself up. Grab my bag and my coat. With one last look behind me, I leave the room and that toothstained ceiling behind.
Celestial guardian angels danced among the clouds while leaves of oak trees whisked above the horizon, creating gentle brush strokes within the planetary painting before me. I wanted to go there, so I walked toward the sky, my vision promising me that I was wandering through a garden of stars and planets and moons and whole galaxies, of constellations that waltzed with grace into a picture of green and blue auroras. The angels’ dance constructed a floral patterned trail after them as they slinked between the black spaces of infinity with green vines and ivy intertwined within these patterns of stars.. I endeavoured not to get tangled or lost as I followed the angels, but I thought it wouldn’t be that bad if I did— I’d at least be calm. It was obvious the sky was a maze, but I knew each star would guide me with its light along the ivy trails until I’d be free like those angels, to dance forever in that garden. It then became clear that this fragmented world did not seem so damaging as I usually would have believed…
But the maze fell apart in my mind, and so did the whole universe.
Comets soared down in front of me, and maybe I was falling with them. They crashed into the water, producing waves larger than the galaxies themselves, until the stars dripped down into the lake. Collapsing constellations tainted my mind as I watched, and the ivy vines wilted, crying out their bright colours of purple and blue and pink into the water, staining the salt waves. The garden became the lake; the sky became the sea, and time sprinted backwards. I seemed to witness the end of the world, and the beautiful disaster that occurred just before time shattered.
I wondered what it would take to regrow the constellations and place every ivy leaf back in their rightful place. The angels would need to learn to dance that enchantingly again, and the planets and moons would require their clouds to keep them warm. The galaxy was a vast garden, one that needed care and effort and salvation.
But if time slumps once, how long would it take for the universe to rebuild itself again?
The bus is a strange in between. An unnoticed liminal space. I have been on more buses in my life than I could possibly recall, so much so that I have riding one down to a fine art.
It’s cheaper than driving lessons and fuel for a car, however the mental strain these bus journeys cause me could arguably be a greater cost.
There are only so many trips you can take until the music you play makes your ears throb and the books you read causes such intense nausea you spend more time peering out the window than finishing a sentence.
When left with hours to go and only your thoughts for company, the bus transforms into a vehicle of existentialism, and I have yet to decide if this is detrimental to my health or vital to my humanity.
It is human nature to ask questions, and despite the impending doom that such a task brings forth, my mind races ahead pondering everything I have done or will do in this life. I am consumed by the fear that I will be only mediocre and such a notion disgusts me. I cannot comprehend a lifetime where I could not be great, memorable. Is it narcissism? Or an attempt at immortality?
This sends me spiralling. Am I good enough? Do I have the energy to be? What if life is only time spent slowly accepting how unimportant I am, a single speck in a vast universe?
It has been close to three hours. The bus slowly draws to a halt and passengers hastily grab their belongings in hopes of getting off first. I cannot say I blame them.
So, I wait politely to step off out of this place and back into reality, make my way through the small town I have been dumped in and search for the face of someone I love, someone
who knows the universe’s secrets. She will whisper in my ear how we are made of stardust and count the Orion’s belts she finds when she admires my freckled arms.
I will pretend that I was not plagued with an endless torrent of what ifs, that I did not analyse every aspect of my life. Instead, I focus on kissing her softly so I can see her smile and remind myself that this is why I still take the bus.
Conversation is an art like war is an art. Like chess.
Calculation, prediction, strategy, With illusory detachment. But the artist displays a piece of themselves. The general charges to battle as well. Speech unveils, Each chess move entails My appraisal of your acuity. Guessing your intentions.
I know you move based on what you assume That I believe you to be. I’ve gleaned what you see in me. I move to gain control of your mind, Claim your image of me as solely mine. I both play and am played by me.
To always be three moves ahead is to endure what will never be— The worlds of possibility, contained in The things I think you think of me. What if you take advantage? If your words are trapped? If you form thoughts I cannot manage?
I’m taken by statements made en passant (Too often the product of tactical thought), I plan to counter a strategy Four steps ahead of my three. On both ends, Conversation is Insinuation, Equivocation.
Based on you, Each implicit clue, Secret hopes I take from you, What you privately want me to do, J’adoube
Elaborate feigned chessblindness
‘I don’t know, I think, maybe!’ ‘Lucky guess’ feels less intense Than ‘I tried to enter your mind,’ Than ‘I can’t seem to find an exit.’
I’d strip humankind
Of our theory of mind, I’d erase our submission, part with pattern recognition, I’d rather be really chessblind, Than doomed to calculate each conversation.
Hell is endless evaluation, self-examination, Adjusting and distrusting, I know no way but to play both sides Yours and mine— —In the endgame there’s no difference. If I act on what you assume of me, Isn’t it you who moves my piece?
War and art and chat have rules Bent by daring greats If you bend a board it breaks. I forfeit all hope to escape. A chessman has no home
I’ve lived so long in the minds of others, I’ve blocked myself off from own.
Contrary to popular belief, this barrage did not start on the seventh of October. The intersection of Britain’s history with Palestine is drenched in blood and cruel colonial practices that would make even Winston Churchill’s stomach turn. Due to our intertwined history, it is not enough to listen, we have a duty to care, deeply, and protest against the callous actions of our government.
The piece of legislation that uprooted Palestinians from their homeland was the Balfour Declaration, signed on the 2nd of November 1917. The aim of the declaration was to create a Jewish state in Palestine.
This was a thinly veiled attempt at furthering colonialism through the actions of Zionism. It is important to note that this was not the decision of the Jewish people as a whole; this was a calculated decision by the British to avoid having Jewish immigrants move to the British Isles in response to the astonishing amounts of antisemitism in Europe at the time.
The influx of settlers arriving in Palestine led to the “Nakba.” The Nakba was a period between 1947 & 1949 where 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly removed from their homes and made refugees by Zionist forces propped up by Westminster.
This is an incredibly brief overview of how Britain has meddled in Palestine’s business by forcing colonial practices on them. These practices have been carried on in recent events where British arms companies are supplying Israeli armed forces with bombs that are murdering tens of thousands. This cruel reasoning will only carry on if we do not speak up.
But why care? Gaza is so far away and we have so many problems in this country already. I realise this sentiment sounds cold-blooded, but many people believe this ideology. It gets harder to show empathy when you are struggling to get through
The Nakba was a period between 1947 & 1949 where 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly removed from their homes and made refugees by Zionist forces propped up by Westminster.
everyday life already. The answer is simple: if we do not care then who will? Our world is one where carelessness rules, people are dying in Palestine from starvation and water-borne diseases, but the media turns their cameras towards Israel and not the people dying in Gaza. If even one person cares and refuses to forget Palestine, then the movement can never truly die.
Most importantly, we should care because the people suffering through genocide in Palestine are human; we should have empathy for them as no one should have to go through life seeing their loved ones die in front of them and wondering if they are next.
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began on the 24th of February 2022, beginning the largest military mobilisation in Europe since the Second World War. In the two years since, the war has sent shockwaves around the globe, with seismic effects on geopolitics, economics, and diplomacy. Of greater importance, however, is the individual dimension. With a death toll nearing half a million and the day-to-day lives of Ukrainian civilians marred by violence and destruction, the ramifications of the war for countless individuals do not bear thinking about. As the conflict rages on with no end in sight, the human cost must not be forgotten.
While the outlook for Ukraine now is highly uncertain, the early days of the war seemed comparatively hopeful. The initial Russian offensive that pushed in from the eastern Donbas region, Crimea and the northern border with Belarus was met with a rapid Ukrainian counter-offensive. After the initial plan to take Kyiv failed, there was a general feeling of optimism surrounding Ukraine’s ability to hold out, with international support for the besieged country at an all-time high. However, figures from the UN show that March-April saw the highest civilian casualties of the war. After meeting stronger resistance than was expected, Russian forces subsequently regrouped and entrenched themselves in the Donbas.
“Now more than ever, Western nations must band together to support Ukraine, to ensure that this tragic assault on the freedom of an entire people is ultimately unsuccessful.”
The summer months of 2022 saw a grinding tit-for-tat war of attrition, where the lines of battle moved little. However, Ukraine did regain territory near Odessa and managed to successfully weaken Russian naval influence in the Black Sea. Russia meanwhile strengthened their control in the eastern reaches of the country, taking the city of Lysychansk. This was followed by offensive operations in September and November, resulting in the reclamation of a large swath of territory near Kharkiv in the northeast, and the city of Kherson, near Crimea. Meanwhile, Russia held sham referenda in the occupied eastern territories on joining Russia. These were seen as merely to provide a pretence for their annexation and have not been widely recognised.
In contrast with this, 2023 saw a return to the gruelling stalemate between Russian and Ukrainian forces. Minefields, trenches, and constant artillery barrages have been the hallmarks of a battlefront that moved
little last year. In combination with this, a gradual slowing-down of military supplies and financial support from Western countries to Ukraine has brought down the pace of the conflict. This is not good, as Putin is far better equipped for a drawn-out war.
Following the invasion, anti-war dissent stirred within Russia. Protest marches occurred across the country, and posts appeared on social media condemning the war. This was met with a strong crackdown from the government. According to data published by the Russian human rights NGO OVD-Info, 14,000 arrests were made in relation to anti-war protests in the first 17 days following the invasion. More recently, Russian authorities have increasingly been using deliberately vague “anti-terrorism” laws, which have been arbitrarily used to convict members of the public accused of voicing opposition to the war. The most topical instance of this has been the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, for which many Western countries have blamed Putin.
Economically for Ukraine, the war has had devastating consequences, due to the destruction of infrastructure and the flight of refugees among other factors. The first year of the war saw the country’s economy shrink by 30%, with over 7 million Ukrainians now living in poverty. Meanwhile despite all
the sanctions, 2023 saw 3% growth for Russia. If Ukraine is to stay at fighting strength and remain in a position to pay off its debts, estimates hold that it will require $40bn of financial support from its allies this year. Pressure has grown for overseas Russian assets that were frozen in the wake of the invasion to be reallocated to fund an eventual Ukrainian recovery.
However, as the war has dragged on, resolve to support Ukraine materially and financially among its Western allies has cooled. While public support in the EU has declined slightly, a €50 billion support package was agreed in February 2024. In America, on the other hand, the possibility of a Trump victory in the next presidential election poses a significant threat. At Trump’s behest, Republicans in Congress have already blocked increased military aid to Ukraine to help alleviate munitions shortages.
The conflict of the last two years has served as a chilling reminder of the horrors of war. Despite the years of build-up, the full-scale land invasion of a sovereign nation, and the effect is has had on countless people, has been shocking to watch unfold. Now more than ever, Western nations must band together to support Ukraine, to ensure that this tragic assault on the freedom of an entire people is ultimately unsuccessful.
‘No move is unreachable’
Hello, we’re here to tell you all about a little dance club at Dundee called the Latin Dance Society. Our society is focused entirely on the Latin ballroom dance sport, separate from its waltzing cousin, Standard ballroom dance. Latin ballroom consists of 5 different dances: Rumba, Cha Cha, Samba, Jive, and lastly Paso Doble. These dances cover a variety of tempos from the romantic slow rhythm of Rumba to the swing-like high-speed high jinks of Jive. So, if variety is what you're after Latin dance is the one for you! But if instead it seems a bit intimidating, then we can assure you there is surprisingly a lot of overlap in terms of the fundamentals, and with our amazing teacher Polina (who has been doing Latin dance since she was five!) no move is unreachable.
The society is a really great place to learn, even if you have no experience dancing. We strive to calm any doubts and make everyone feel comfortable so that everyone can reach their full potential and have some fun! All questions are welcome (and encouraged!) so that we can help you improve and make some great friends whilst doing it.
We also host semi-frequent socials which, dare I say, are almost as fun as the lessons themselves. We recently had a joint social with the wonderful Areial Society, and it was a blast!
To conclude, please join our society
Please please, please please.
Warmest of wishes, Latin Dance Society
OpSoc has been on campus since 1963, having performed their first show of Trial By Jury, a comic opera. We’re now in our 61st year, getting ready to perform this year’s show, Cry-Baby: The Musical
OpSoc is a great place for all students, whether they have experience in musical theatre or not. We have opportunities for those who want to learn how to sing, dance and act. But we also love having members join who just want to help with props and costumes or staging and lights. There are opportunities to get stuck in and learn all aspects of what goes into a musical production.
Due to our extensive time as a society, we have achieved some pretty impressive things. Just to name a few, in the 1990’s, we were invited to perform at the Queen Mother’s 90th birthday celebration. In 2003, the society broke the Guinness World Record for the fastest theatrical production by performing the musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers only 23 and a half hours after first getting the scripts. Unfortunately, this record has been broken since, but maybe it’s time to reclaim it.
Even when COVID-19 shut down our in-person rehearsals in 2020, we still managed to meet each week over Discord, successfully putting on an online showcase of Made in Dagenham, so we didn’t miss out on a year of OpSoc.
We are currently in show week for this year’s main production of Cry-Baby: The Musical from the 13th to the 16th of March, based on the 1990 John Waters film of the same name. By the time this article is out, the show will have come and gone so hopefully you got a chance to see it! But if not, don’t worry, you can join us for our 2025 production of Young Frankenstein: The Musical!
Other than our main production, we have many other events during the year. We have multiple concerts which give everyone a chance to perform, a weekend show where we cast, rehearse and perform a show in a weekend. We also have a variety of social events from cast meals, bingo pub crawls, to trips to musicals outside of our own society.
If you’re interested in joining OpSoc feel free to message us on Instagram or Facebook, or email us opsoc@dundee.ac.uk. We’d love to see you in next year’s show!
“
My friends never ask me to hangout and I'm always the first one to try and make plans with them. It feels like they don't truly care about me. What do I do??
Feeling as though your friends do not care about you as much as you do about them can be a hard pill to swallow. This can lead to you feeling a range of negative emotions such as loneliness. It is important to examine the situation to try and figure out if they are truly excluding you or if there are potential other explanations, like your social anxiety trying to convince you that your friends dislike you. For example, if you are generally included but missed some impromptu event invitations, they probably did not set out to exclude you. However, if it is a recurring theme then that is more likely.
I would also suggest communicating with your friends openly and honestly about how you feel. You can mention how you have noticed having repeatedly not been included and ask if there are any issues. They may be unaware of how this is affecting you so this could help increase their understanding of you and prevent this in the future. You could also initiate making plans with them so that you can all spend more time together.
It may be worthwhile reflecting on whether the friends’ exclusion of you is a change in dynamic and you have just started being left out, or whether those friends within the group have always had a closer relationship. It is normal within a friend group for some individuals to be closer than others and this is not a direct insult to you. If this is the case,
I would try and foster closer relationships one on one with some members of the group that you feel closest to.
However, if these friends are truly excluding you and making you feel bad about yourself then it may be worth cutting ties or taking some space from them. You deserve to have friends that you can rely on and who want to spend time with you. You can always try joining a society or sports club independently to try and see if you can make some new connections which may be better for you. The dynamics of friendship groups can be very complex but fostering healthy relationships that make you feel good is the top priority. If these friends are not giving you the time of day, then it is probably best to look elsewhere for people who will.
right? You’d be right, they are, but fiction and the entertainment we watch is powerful. They’re just shows, !
After the murder of George Floyd by the Minneapolis police department there was an eruption of gatherings protesting police violence to black lives. Thus, it paved the way for important discussion of what racism looks like in this post-colonial society and what the role of the police is in the 21st century. One of those ideas that was called into question was copaganda.
For the eagle eyed readers out there, the word ‘copaganda’ is a portmanteau of the words ‘cop’ and ‘propaganda’. Copaganda is defined as propaganda efforts to influence public opinion in favour of law enforcement through TV, film, poster campaigns and more. However, it is especially present in media like ‘Brooklyn 99’, ‘Line of Duty’, ‘Law & Order’ etc. The fiction aspect of these shows makes it easier to relate to the officers on screen and disregard the very real issues with policing in our society and country. Instead of questioning why that cop is promoting police brutality, we can laugh at how funny these detectives are while standing around a murdered body. We might excuse sloppy police behaviour in fictional TV shows since the detectives were funny and relatable, but this translates to the world beyond fiction as well and might come off as insensitive.
CONTENT WARNING: POLICE BRUTALITY, RACISM, MURDER
But you may ask what the big deal is. They’re just shows, right? You’d be right, they are, but fiction and the entertainment we watch is powerful. It has the power to influence and change public opinion which can be seen after the brutal hunting of sharks after the movie ‘Jaws’ came out in 1975 resulting in the oceanic shark population declining by up to 70%. Just as ‘Jaws’ influenced the public as do the many TV shows featuring police officers at work. In them, they are no longer are they manipulating their power over the public, especially minority groups, but are portrayed bending the rules for the greater good. The arguments made by anti-police activists are overshadowed by these pieces of fiction that portray cops as relatable heroes while covering up police negligence and crimes committed by the police while refusing to delve into more serious topics such as police brutality and corruption. When these crimes are brought to light the police then do their very best to suppress it as seen in the murder of Sarah Everard. This type of media puts a smiling face over years of corruption and racially motivated murder to ensure people forget that these officers do not work for them; they work for private property.
However, people are allowed to enjoy media that holds the police in a positive light. It is just important to be aware that what you are being shown is cultivated in a way to get the public to sympathise with this oppressive force instead of questioning them.
Hey everyone we hope your holidays are a blast! Here's a bit of what your favourite Magdalen team got up to!
Like a picture straight from a fantasy novel, new glow-in-the-dark petunias are soon hitting the U.S. market and could represent a change in the tides for genetically engineered plants.
These petunias, called “Firefly Petunias”, are produced by the company Light Bio, collaborating with researchers across the world. These flowers have been genetically modified with genes from the naturally-glowing fungus, Neonothopanus nambi. By inserting four fungal genes, the petunias can convert caffeic acid (abundant in plant cell walls) to luciferase, and back again. This lets them glow as long as they’re happy, healthy, and well-cared for – no batteries required! They appear a pretty white in the daylight, but after sunset glow an eerie, magical green.
Fancy a bunch? They’re available to preorder for US$29 (~£23) now, but exclusively in the U.S. Why? Well, that’s down to the complicated regulation of genetically engineered plants across the world.
What is genetic engineering?
Genetic engineering involves the use of recombinant DNA technology to produce microbes, plants, and organisms with altered DNA. In plants, it’s much faster and more efficient than traditional breeding techniques.
For example, the crops we use in agriculture lack genetic diversity, which makes them very vulnerable to disease. But wild relatives of the crops may be resistant to the same disease! Breeding wild and cultivated species together can take a very long time and can carry undesirable traits –such as the wild relative’s bad flavour, small harvest, or even toxins! Instead, scientists can take the gene encoding disease resistance, and insert it into the target plant – making a transgenic organism with all the traits we want!
Genetic engineering has been successfully applied to pest and pathogen resistance, herbicide resistance, and to improve plant nutrient uptake. But they’re still largely banned in the UK and EU, with concerns for their safety.
Sometimes, transgenic crops are described as “Frankenstein Foods”, and they get a bad rep. The fact is, researchers learned the techniques for gene transfer from nature, where it happens all the time!
Agrobacterium, a bacterial species found in soils across the world, inserts its genetic material into a plant, changing its genetic makeup and metabolic activities.
Recent research suggested this “natural gene transfer” was essential to the evolution of sweet potatoes!
Genetically engineered plants are no more dangerous to human health than any other plant. If anything, it’s safer than conventional breeding: genetically engineering a wild tomato gene into a cultivated tomato guarantees specificity, however just breeding a wild tomato with a cultivated tomato could accidentally transfer the poisonous solanine compound produced by wild tomatoes (and deadly nightshade!)
However, there have been times when genetic engineering has threatened the environment. Large scale uptake of herbicide-resistant genetically engineered crops across the Americas has resulted in an overuse of herbicides and pollution of the wild environment. This highlights the importance of sustainable, scientificallyinformed agricultural management; genetically-engineered crops or not, poor management choices can lead to waste and environmental degradation.
So, are Firefly Petunias safe?
Yes! The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently declared Firefly Petunias possess no risk to the environment. In fact, the research team specifically selected petunias for this modification, as they are non-native to the states, but also non-invasive, so are unlikely to mix with wild species.
Jennifer Kuzma, Codirector of Genetic Engineering and Society Center at North Carolina State University, worries they could pose a risk to insects and pollinators with their gentle green glow. The patent application addresses this: because Firefly Petunias will be grown in domestic and urban spaces, these Firefly Petunias are a drop in the ocean compared to all other human light pollution.
But what’s the point of them?
Well, just decoration. Americans can preorder them now, and receive them around April time. Light Bio aims to make them glow brighter, and introduce the glow in other plant species.
However, Firefly Petunias may act as a public relations star for genetically engineered plants. People love the idea of glow-in-a-dark flowers! From this, researchers can set up a foundation for use of genetic engineering to sustainably increase agricultural yield.
Plus, researchers, like Diego Orzáez at the Institute of Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology in Valencia, Spain, are looking at this same system to produce plants which glow as a signal when they’re infected with disease, or under drought stress. Farmers could monitor their crops by satellite imaging, tracking their glow!
The Firefly Petunias could be the first of many. Maybe one day we’ll all have the opportunity to grow our own.
Editor-in-Chief
Roshni Baillie
Dep. Editor-in-Chief
Mariya Georgieva
Creative Directors
Luna Jezzard
Afia Zaman
Lilian Truong
Website Manager
Benjamin Arthur
Managing Editors
Rachel Goodman
James McLeish
Katherine Donaghy
Patryk Dybalski
Daniel Somoghi
Senior Feature Editor
Bronte Chalmers
Alexander Stewart
Afia Zaman
Publishing
The Magdalen is published by Dundee University Student Association (DUSA).
The gorgeous Cover Art for Issue 106 was done by one of our amazing Illustrators; Emma Vind!
Marie Pape Phiphi Tran Emma Vind
What's on?
5thMay
Dundee Dance Event Festival
The UK's biggest multivenue dance music event
TransitionKnit
The Wardrobe, every Wednesday 9:30 AM Stories From The Building V&A
Now31st December 6th May 8th June Weekly Wednesday A Murder is Announced: Dundee Dramatic Society Little Theatre
5thJune