I’m proud of my dedication to get this done, even though my schedule gave me little to no time to complete it.
in grade 12, I hope to have more free time to work on homework so that I can polish it more, I wish I could’ve gotten this more tuned to what I invisioned.
secondly I want to improve my writing, I find that I write how I speak, which isn’t terrible, but it comes with a time and a place.
America’s Declaration of Independence states “all men are created equal” which is what is being fought for most when conflicts [may] arise between a minority and society. Homecoming king by Hasan Minhaj as seen on Netflix is about his own life, from being born and raised in America by his father, an immigrant from Aligarh and his mother and sister who immigrated from Aligarh as well when he was 12. To his unfortunate experiences of racism that proceeded following the tragedies of 9/11. Minhaj created a much-needed humour around racism that circled the effects that it can have on one’s self-confidence.
50 shades of gay by Io Tillet Wright an experimental girl, who spent her youth as a girl dressed as a boy, later deciding she was a girl that wants to dress as a girl, grew up to create a series of images depicting people who range themselves on a scale of 1-100 based on how gay they are. It seeks to humanize everyone and show that everyone is different and just because of such a trivial attribute to one’s personality, they should not be judged or have the possibility of losing their job.
Homecoming king by Hasan Minhaj and 50 shades of gay by Io Tillet Wright both engage their audience and teach them what it’s like to feel pushed aside by society. Ultimately they create a path for themselves and others alike to give hope for s bright future, despite what they or anyone else looks like or their sexual preference.
The values of one’s character creates their perception of what is good and what is bad, both Minhaj and Wright have values that reflect on what they believe. One may be born into a family of abnormally accepting individuals, surrounded by other exceptionally open-minded people, she may be under the impression that such is a common occurrence outside of her community in New York. Io Tillet Wright, a New Yorker raised to view all as equal regardless of one’s beliefs, whom they love or how one looks. Wright saw the actions that were being taken against others as a result of their sexual preferences, as she realized she had been in a box her whole life, she wanted to do something about it, her goal from them then on has been to escape boxes. She wanted to feel free. “Where I come from, if weren’t a drag queen or a radical thinker or a performance artist of some kind, you were the weirdo”(Io Tillett Wright).
Wright’s values were shaped according to her surroundings; she saw and felt acceptance. Therefore she was a benevolent candidate for human rights and pushed for everyone to relieve themselves of their boxes and see the world in their own new light.
However, Minhaj being born in America, he had different values to his father, and after their experiences and the racism they endured following the terrorist attacks on 9/11, they had it worse than ever before. “My dad’s from that generation like a lot of immigrants where he feels like if you come to this country, you pay this thing like the American dream tax: like you’re going to endure some racism, and if it doesn’t cost you your life, well hey, you lucked out. Pay it; there you go, Uncle Sam. I was born here, so I actually had the audacity of equality.” (Hasan Minhaj). Minhaj doesn’t want anything extraordinary, just the right to feel and be equal to others. Minhaj had endured a handful of major acts against him solely for the colour of his skin. Furthermore what enduring such acts taught him was “I really believe love is bigger than fear.” (Minhaj). Minhaj has shown what humour can do to fix an issue, he continues to make people laugh in a way that they realize how naïve being racist is. The much-needed humour gives an easily understood point of view to a once native perspective, he believes it’s necessary when discussing such a controversial topic.
Wright has created a successful life for herself based off of the minority she supports and embodies. Throughout the years that Wright has pursued her goal photographing the youth and the people who identify on a scale of 1-100% gay and as of now approximately 2,000 different individuals have been photographed. Wright has created a life where she travels around the world with the goal of giving a new perspective. Her net worth is currently not available online, although it can be expected it is middle-class income, possibly higher than average. However to Wright success isn’t money, she isn’t looking for riches and fame, just the spotlight of her ideas, to show her work and teach people; she has created so many contacts and friends through her travels and project, as the years come she has stated she wants to get as many headshots as possible. It has created a community, and she’s changed the lives of those that she’s touched, which is a true success.
On the other hand, Minhaj creates his success through his comedy and acting career. Minhaj’s career is very loosely tied to his minority and primarily gained his success by creating genuinely humorous skits and routines which can engage on his own life experiences, such as his Homecoming king show as seen on Netflix, he creates his atmosphere where his topics are important but seen under a comedic light. Minhaj has a talent for appealing to people. He understands the value of a joke, especially for a minority, being funny can do a lot for someone; people are drawn to like someone who’s funny, therefore it creates a positivity around him and essentially a positivity around his race. Minhaj’s biggest success was undoubtedly his self made, Homecoming king Netflix movie; Minhaj uses his experiences of high school and later life to share his struggles that he was challenged with regarding his race and ethnicity.
Wright’s work is an important and powerful movement, Wright is a genius with such a simple idea that creates a powerful message; people have a hard time with agreeing with things that one has not grown up knowing or been taught to understand it. Wright implements a method that gives people a whole new perspective, normally people don’t line up and say they’re gay; but Wright got exactly that, which makes her work so important, she has two major intentions, First is to get one of their metaphorical box, give them the power to feel confident about their sexuality without feeling different, because everyone else Wright has photographed is the same as them, all on the scale of 1-100% gay. Secondly it pushes to create not only one face for the LGBTQ+ community but an army of faces, and it seeks to show that anyone could be gay and gay doesn’t look like any single person, style or gender it shows people that dress and look like someone that is a non homosexual person, could be in fact gay.
Whereas Minhaj’s life lesson that he teaches is much different, In fact, it is essentially equality. Minhaj was not the best or worst kid around and he had hard times like all kids but he had one thing that made his childhood and teenagehood a lot harder than the majority of Americans, he has undoubtedly received racism he did not deserve to receive, from his prom date ditch to the kids that terrorized him for being Muslim after the 9/11 incident. Minhaj was a smart kid who sought nothing but happiness and on the days that he had the toughest times, such as 9/11, he gave one lesson that as an American and a human whose only crime was being in a Pizza Hut advertisement, he shouldn’t have to deal with the ignorance and bigotry of the people who see nothing but his colour. Although Minhaj has trouble dealing with racism, he taught the world that dealing with racism is as easy as telling a few jokes, humour makes smiles and nobody hates someone that makes them smile; as easy as that.
In conclusion, Hasan Minhaj and Io Tillet Wright take their conflicts head on to teach that someone’s self-worth is determined by oneself and by one’s actions. Overall this synthesis essay explores the diversity that one can see within the world and the different perspectives people take on while debating such controversial topics such as racism and LGBTQ+ equality. It speaks upon the fact that throughout history the world has slowly become more and more accepting of new and different ideas, cultures, religions and sexualities; it has come to the forefront of social issues and throughout the 21st century has created a dozen riots and countless crimes for and against the battle of equality. One can never truly be equal unless one is the majority of the population, thus only a single category may be considered equal within the world.
Citations
Minhaj, H. (2018). Hasan Minhaj: Homecoming King | Netflix Official Site. [online] Netflix.com. Available at: https://www.netflix.com/title/80134781 [Accessed 10 Dec. 2018].
Wright, i. (2018). Fifty shades of gay. [online] Ted.com. Available at: