current affairs

‘If I Stay’ – Cinematic Adaptation Review

Original Writing

“Sometimes, you make choices in life.
And sometimes, choices make you.”

After watching Forman’s novel come to life, I was overcome by both extreme sadness that the film was over, and complete ecstasy that the film was exactly how I envisioned it to be.

Mia, a girl with her whole life ahead of her, suddenly finds herself in a coma after a fatal car accident which took the lives of her parents and younger brother, Teddy. The novel, and the film, takes us through a series of flashbacks into Mia’s life and memorable moments which predominately surround her love interest, Adam. The reader is left right up until the end of the story to find out whether or not Mia survives the crash, and the journey from start to end is both tragically endearing and overwhelmingly exhilarating with a few life lessons along the way.

The character of Adam is strangely and seductively compelling, played exquisitely by Jamie Blackley, and represents the conflicts of love and morality thrown into question when someone we love is almost lost to us. I fell in love with his character from the moment Forman introduced us to him; a leather jacket-wearing rockstar who wears his heart on his sleeve and falls for the girl who remained invisible to all but him. Boys wanted to be him. Girls wanted to be on him. Right up until the very end of the story, Adam, and Blackley, did not disappoint.

Chloë Grace Moretz was brilliantly casted to play Mia Hall. She conveyed every emotion I felt whilst reading the novel, and I don’t think anyone else could have captured the essence of Mia Hall the way Moretz did.

I find that the music complimented the film perfectly, too. Very well chosen in accordance with the novel.

I cannot express how amazing it feels to read a book, fall in love with it, then see it on a screen exactly the way you imagined it would be.

So thank you, Gayle Forman, for manipulating me into thinking that true love exists in the form of a rocker, and to the cast of If I Stay, for bringing my imagination to life.

The Lynching of Farkhunda; The Lynching of Women

Current Affairs

They portrayed her as a woman who suffered from mental illness, and was mentally unstable when all she was doing was standing up against lies being told in the name of religion. She was the voice of truth, of reason, and her voice was suppressed by men who believed their voices were louder, more important and should be listened to instead of hers.

I find it strange and slightly shocking that Farkhunda’s killers did not once question the mullah’s claims of the victim burning the Qur’an; they jumped to attack a woman, innocently defying a man who was selling lies to vulnerable women. I think the real issue here is the fundamental flaw in the Middle Eastern society; the male attitude towards women. Women have always been perceived as inferior in society; in many, they still do.

However, I believe that the despicable attitude towards women in countries such as Afghanistan is predominately due to the cultural conditioning men are exposed to. They know no other way of treating women, this is the attitude they have adopted from their fathers, brothers, grandfathers and uncles. Not all men have this attitude, but the society
cannot move forward unless there is a reformation of this culture.
Afghanistan has suffered at the hands of violence for years, could it be that these men who killed Farkhunda are a product of the violence in which they have been raised – because they know nothing else? Can we find it in ourselves to forgive them because it’s not really their fault?
I think not.
I think it takes a great lack of human nature in order to punch, kick, stand on and jump on a young woman until her face is unrecognisable, only to then SET FIRE to her body at a riverside. I don’t believe for one second that these men have a conscience or humanity.

An educated woman was condemned to death by a group of men who believed the lies of a man who could not bear to be
defied, confronted for manipulating young women. The fact that an official investigator claimed there was no evidence for the mullah’s claims of Farkhunda burning the Qur’an (BBC News, 24th March) reinforces the male perception of women. The mullah, along with the barbaric murders, took it upon themselves to take away a life. The heavy irony of this situation is that Farkhunda was accused of blasphemy, and in the name of Islam, the men killed her. An act of murder is a sin in the Qur’an;

Whoever slays a soul, unless it be for a manslaughter or for mischief in the land, it is as though he slew all men;
and whoever keeps it alive, it is as though he kept alive all men.(Surah al-Mā’ida 5:32)

Farkhunda was murdered for speaking out.
Her voice was silenced through horrific violence.
A mob of men killed her and showed no mercy or remorse.
It’s time to reform the outdated culture in the Middle East and Asia.
Women should not have to be killed for us to realise that it is time for change.

#JusticeForFarkhunda
#Kabul
#JusticeForWomen

Perspective

Current Affairs

It’s all a matter of perspective.
We cry about failed relationships and write poetry about bloodstains on our bathroom floors.
But what the blood splatter from that young child in Gaza, who was gunned down in a playground for being Palestinian? ‘Collateral damage’, they murmur with shifting gazes.
And let’s not forget the innocent men and women slaughtered by police for the colour of their skin.
Or the journalists who were decapitated for simply doing their job in informing and protecting the world, once camera reel at a time.
Have some perspective.
Let’s forgive those who’ve wronged us, and fight the institutions that oppress and condemn us, instead of each other.

Putting A Stop to Rape and “Rape Culture”

Current Affairs

Burqa or naked, rape is unacceptable, and it’s always the victim that suffers for the rest of their life. A rapist will be let off after serving a minimum of half their sentence, yet for the victim, they have to life with a death sentence involving shame and fear.

In a recent survey in North Dakota, men were asked if they would consider raping a woman if there were no ramifications afterwards. And one in three men said they would rape a woman if there were no consequences. They would essentially accept taking a woman’s right to say no, and forcing her to have non-consensual sex simply to satisfy their own needs. Is that how selfish we have become, that we would commit an unlawful and unethical crime to satisfy ourselves, ignoring the emotional and physical (permanent) damage this would inflict on the victim?

It’s sickening to comprehend that some men in today’s society believe it is perfectly okay to rape a woman, and then condemn her for her outfit choice or suggesting she even “led him on” or was “asking for it.” There is no excuse or justification for forcing someone to have sex. And it makes me question why on earth we are telling women how to dress, as opposed to teaching men NOT to rape and to show some self-restraint when it comes to their sexual desires. I think it’s time we started teaching people that forcing someone to have sex is rape, and there are no two ways about it. Non-consent is rape. It is a criminal act that could lead to your imprisonment. It damages the victim’s physical and psychological welfare permanently. It’s time to stop putting the victims in the spotlight, and telling them what they did wrong that caused them to be sexually assaulted and raped. It’s time to stop predators committing these acts of sexual violence.

Paris Shootings 2015

Current Affairs

#jesuischarlie

As a Muslim, I am outraged at the attacks that took place in France. There is no justification for murdering innocent men and women, especially not in the name of religion. The intention of these terrorists is to evoke fear and panic, however, they achieved quite the opposite; people across the world publicly united in their condemnation against fanatical extremists. Of course, I do not approve of their blasphemous cartoon: portraying the Prophet as gay is controversially distressing, not to mention disrespectful. Nonetheless, to retaliate against a cartoon from years ago with murdering the cartoonists and other innocent men and women is disgusting and disgraceful.

We will not be isolated in our condemnation of terrorism. We will stand together, united, in our disgust of extremists committing murder on a daily basis. Killing innocent people will achieve nothing other than increased anger. We have had enough, and we will stand against you until you fall.

“We did everything adults would do. What went wrong?”

Original Writing

As of recent, I have come to the conclusion that Mr Golding was not far off with his novel of a dystopian society run by children. As a matter of fact, I believe we are on our way to achieving this. When you explain this novel to someone who hasn’t read it yet, their first impressions of it are shock and disbelieve, a disregard for the nature and moral message of this fantastic novel. To them, the idea of a child committing acts of such savagery is incomprehensible, let alone an adult. Yet I am one of the very few who actually agree with Golding’s notion that savagery is within us all; all it takes is the right (or wrong) environment to trigger our inhumane, cannibalistic savagery. It may seem like a far stretch to compare the savagery that took place within the novel, to the current affairs in places such as the Middle East, but children are being forced to grow up in an environment where all they know is how to protect themselves from the frequent onslaught. As a result, the abused becomes the abuser, the hunted become the hunters, and thus a vicious cycle emerges. A child’s innocence is so easily snatched from them today.

“Maybe there is a beast… maybe it’s only us.”