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  • Essay / Analysis of the animated film “The Breadwinner”

    Table of contentsWomen = ObjectsThe laws of the TalibanThe world against the TalibanMen under the TalibanFrom the breadwinner era to todayThe Breadwinner is an animated film that reveals the harsh truth of powerless women living under an extreme patriarchal regime, real feminist issues and the strength of family ties. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essay The film, based on the adaptation of the young adult novel by Deborah Ellis, was produced by Mimi Polk Gitlin, Angelina Jolie and directed by Irish filmmaker Nora Twomey. In addition to being nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 90th Academy Awards, it is about 11-year-old Parvana's courageous attempt to support her family and save her father, who was falsely accused and arrested by the Taliban. However, to be able to go out on the street, she had to pretend to be a boy. This required cutting his hair and wearing male clothing belonging to his sadly deceased older brother. Women = Objects The breadwinner created a bitter but unfortunately to this day very real world in a Middle Eastern culture. Women are treated as second-class citizens and dependent on their husbands, fathers or brothers for everything, where men control almost every aspect of women's lives, where discrimination against women is official policy. In the film, everything takes place in Kabul. , during the era of the Taliban (Taliban is an Arabic word meaning students of Islam), a radical religious group. The Afghan people now living under the rules of the Taliban had to follow the orders they had set. The main rule was that women were strictly not allowed to leave the house without the presence of a man by their side. This rule imposed several conditions, one of which was that no women be seen in the market (merchants were forbidden from selling to female customers, otherwise they would be severely punished). Economic activities were exclusively carried out by men, while women stayed and waited at home. However, when going out, women had to wear a Burkha (a garment that covered them from head to toe). As it was only a small net at eye level, the Burkha gave a limited view of their surroundings. Additionally, women were not allowed to wear colorful clothing or white socks since white was the color of the Taliban flag. Disobeying these rules for women meant that they would not go to heaven after they died. In the film, the Taliban sympathizer checks the market from time to time; looking for anyone who dared to break the rules. If anyone disobeyed, they were then severely beaten in the street, raped, amputated, and other forms of violence, and asked to return home to where they belonged. Simply because of the stereotypical role of how women were perceived and portrayed (taking care of the house, cleaning and taking care of the children). Just like at one point this was shown in a specific scene from the animated film, where the protagonist's mother was beaten almost to death in front of her, because they were trying to reach the prison, where the father of Parvana was wrongly taken away. Women also had to be willing to become wives for other families, who had any man looking for a wife. . Unfortunately, in their culture, a girl is ready to be given in marriage from the age of 9, sometimes as recounted in their religious book the Quran (Sahih-Bukhari volume 5, book 58, number 234): girls were allowed to get marriedAt the age of 6, as a result of such immoral imposition, many young girls commit suicide to avoid rape and forced marriage. In the animated film, there is a scene where a member of the Taliban encourages the father of the protagonist who is only 11 years old to give her in marriage. And not only that, but Parvana's sister (Fig. 6) had to be ready and willing when her mother told her to marry their cousin in another town to survive. Since the film depicted the real condition of women in Afghanistan under the Taliban, as objects, women were not counted, their voices were not heard. Just like at one point, Parvana, after her father was kidnapped, went to the market alone and while trying to buy some items, no one answered her questions or sold her anything. Everyone ignored her completely, almost as if she didn't even exist; However, this situation quickly changed once she pretended to be a boy, and that day, Parvana learned a valuable lesson: "When you're a boy, you can go anywhere you want." » Taliban LawsBased on documented laws passed by the Taliban. , where they clearly showed their ruthless restrictions by writing laws banning women from education. As a result, the Taliban used violence to prevent female students from attending school. In addition to not being allowed to receive education, women were also treated unequally, because in terms of job opportunities compared to men, female teachers and doctors were very rare in Afghanistan. One of the consequences of the ban on women's employment was the closure of primary schools. not only for girls but also for boys because almost all teachers at that time were women. The main cause of death of Afghan women is the inability to obtain proper first aid when needed, due to the lack of female (male) doctors in society. medical personnel are not allowed to treat women and girls). The religious police further issued new regulations ordering people to black out their windows, so that the women would not be visible from outside. This is something that can be seen in the film where the windows of each house are clearly visible covered from the inside. The Taliban claim that their goal is to "preserve women's honor" and further assert that "restrictions on women are for their own protection." “The overall situation of Afghan women has improved over the past decade, particularly in large urban areas. However, those living in rural areas of the country still face many problems. The world against the Taliban The Taliban deprived almost all basic rights of women and the fact that Afghanistan was identified as the most dangerous place for women. According to the Tompson Reuters Foundation investigation, this is not a surprise. Additionally, the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security also ranked Afghanistan as one of the worst countries for women. Around 87% of Afghan women are victims of abuse and violence; they face a high mortality rate also due to the limited lack of economic rights. Furthermore, in 2013, the United Nations released statistics showing a 20% increase in violence against women, generally due to domestic violence justified by religious and cultural conservatives. On May 27, 2007, in an interview on Edge Radio, Khaled Hosseini, an Afghan-American novelist commented: “When the Taliban came; they imposed inhumane restrictions on women,limiting their freedom of movement and expression, preventing them from working and studying, harassing, humiliating and beating them. Most, if not all, Western media coverage of the Taliban has been overwhelmingly negative. However, in response to negative media coverage of the Taliban's treatment of Afghan women, former Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar expressed the following opinion on the Western world's treatment of women: "their interpretation of women's rights is only that of ugly and dirty Western cultures. and customs in which women are insulted and dishonored like playthings. Men under the Taliban While men believe that discrimination against women is something allowed by society, women believe that their fate is in the hands of men. Therefore, both men and women have a role to play in the founding of this discriminatory gender system, and due to age-old customs and traditions influenced by patriarchal rules, when the Taliban took full control of everything, the The majority of the population (mainly men) believed that these laws were necessary to maintain social order, which is why most Afghans seemed to accept what the Taliban dictated. Any restrictions they placed on women were deemed necessary by conservative men because they considered women socially immature, with less morality. physical control and restraint; therefore, women, based on the illogical and twisted logic of men, were not to be trusted. They therefore kept them within the walls of their own homes so as not to disrupt the social order. The need for their isolation was therefore more important than anything else. Men were required to grow a beard and those who failed to grow a beard and did not trim it were fined and imprisoned, extremists considered a full beard to be the mark of a Muslim, and few mercy was granted to convicted criminals. Male authority resided in the economic well-being of their families, in politics, and in their relationships with foreigners; Within the family, they were expected to be disciplinarians and providers for elderly parents and the entire family, and were further expected to make decisions for women. The right to make and control women's decisions for men and society was also a symbol of honor and respect. a man's reputation. Any evidence of independent female action was seen as evidence of the loss of male control, which negatively affected the entire family's position within the community. Therefore, the reputation of the men in the family and their highly valued honor depended on the good behavior of the women. While some traditional Afghan sports like dog fighting, kite flying and buzkashi (a game played on horseback with an animal carcass) were banned because they were “un-Islamic”. Volleyball, cricket and boxing have grown in popularity as the Taliban have banned other activities such as music, television and cinema. However, the sport was not for everyone. Women were strictly prohibited from participating and men were strictly prohibited from participating, provided they were dressed accordingly. Football players, for example, were required to wear long-sleeved shirts, long shorts, and knee-high socks that covered their bare skin. Another difference between gender inequality was that a man could easily divorce without needing his wife's consent. Whereas if a woman seeks to.