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Essay / A character of Malala Yousafzai in the documentary
The film He Named Me Malala is a documentary about Malala Yousafzai who was shot dead by the Taliban. This movie is based on the book He Named Me Malala. In the film, his father said his name meant bravery. She was born “at the northern tip of Pakistan, in a region called Swat Valley, between Afghanistan to the west and China to the east” (Unger, 2015, p.105). Her mother left school because she was the only girl in her class that was shown in the film, she was trading her books and receiving candy (Guggenheim, 2015). Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay She realized that her cousins were not going to school and playing in the fields, so she decided to join them as well. “His father is a teacher “who founded a school committed to teaching all children, in one of the small towns of Swat (Yousafzai and Lamb, 2013)” (Unger, 2015, p.105). As shown in the film, his father was the director, manager and sweeper. Along with Malala, Shazia and Kaynat were also filmed, which was mentioned in the film (Guggenheim, 2015). While she was on the school bus, a “Taliban fighter stopped her school bus, walked in, asked which girl Malala was, and shot her in the head” (Unger, 2015, p. 107). “Then she survived and was then flown to England for treatment” (Unger, 2015, p.105). She was in a coma. When she was in the hospital, she had third world dreams in which she thought she was dead, as shown in the film. When she woke up, she asked where her father was. Malala continued her activism in England (Unger, 2015, p.108). She was only eleven years old. “At the time, the Taliban banned television, music and education for girls” (Medeiros, 2018). The BBC asked her to become an anonymous blogger “and write about life under the Taliban regime in Pakistan” (Medeiros, 2018). “The BBC feared for her safety and so she used a false name to write her writings” so that the Taliban would not persecute her (Medeiros, 2018). His name was changed to Gul Makai as shown in the film (Medeiros, 2018). Her blog mentioned that she was a young girl under the harsh Taliban regime “and fewer girls were showing up to school” (Medeiros, 2018). Ultimately, his school was closed by the Taliban (Medeiros, 2018). “In January 2009, more than a hundred schools were destroyed by the Taliban” (Medeiros, 2018). The Taliban also imposed a law banning girls from going to school (Medeiros, 2018). Since then, Malala has committed to being an activist rather than a doctor (Medeiros, 2018). When she woke up after nine days in a coma, she said: “They can only photograph a body but they cannot photograph my dreams” (Medeiros, 2018). At the age of seventeen, she won the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize with “Kailash Satyarthi, an Indian child rights activist,” (she said: “When the whole world is silent, even one voice becomes powerful” (Medeiros, 2018). The themes of this film are gender inequality and feminism is a movement towards an egalitarian society regardless of gender (Women's Rights News, 2017). based on gender, gender expression, gender identity, sex and sexuality as understood through social theories and political activism” (Women's Rights News, 2017,para. 1). Gender inequality refers to a “legal, social and cultural” situation in which gender determines “different rights and dignity (“Gender Inequality,” 2018, para. 1). ) for women and men, which is reflected in their “access to or enjoyment of rights” (“Gender Inequalities”, 2018, para. 1) which are unequal, and also assume “social roles and cultural” stereotypes (“Gender inequalities”, 2018, para. 1). In most societies, women are inferior and men are superior (“Gender Inequality,” 2018). We will now discuss the sociological theory that best explains the themes of this film. Theories that best describe these themes are feminist theory, Marxist theory, and conflict theory. Feminist theory speaks of “societal life in terms of women's experiences, with the assumption that women are oppressed by a system of patriarchy” (Casey & Unger, 2015, p.16). In patriarchy, women's lives are controlled by men (Casey & Unger, 2015, p. 16). Feminists took the lead in “achieving social change through conflict” (Casey and Unger, 2015, p. 17), such as “the suffrage movement when women demanded the right to vote” (Casey and Unger, 2015, p. 16). According to Thio (2000), women are treated unfairly in society which "feminists continue to fight against" (Casey and Unger, 2015, p. 17) and feminists continue to "tackle issues such as equal pay for equal work, barriers to career advancement, sexual harassment, rape, violence against women, and the feminization of poverty” (Casey & Unger, 2015, p. 17). I will now move on to Marxist theory. Karl Marx proposed Marxist theory (Casey & Unger, 2015, p. 9). He wrote The Communist Manifesto with Friedrich Engels, which explains that "society is divided into a ruling class and a working class" and that inequality exists when the capitalist leader is exploited (Casey and Unger, 2015, p. 9). In society, men belong to the ruling class, which shows their superiority, and women, which shows their inferiority. Another theory that best describes this film is conflict theory. Conflict or “critical theories focus on conflict” (Casey & Unger, 2015, p. 8) that exists in society “at many different levels” (Casey & Unger, 2015, p. 8). p.8). According to conflict theorists, “inequality is inherent to the system and those who control resources maintain their power by establishing rules that give them an advantage” (Casey & Unger, 2015, p. 8). Conflict leads to social change (Casey and Unger, 2015, p. 8). The conflict that was created was that the Taliban were banning girls' education. Barbara Mikulski says: “Each one of us makes a difference. Together we make change happen” (“Barbara Mikulski Quotes,” nd). Malala is a person who is making a big difference in society and others are also supporting her. Malala brought social change by promoting girls' education. I will now discuss how this film can inspire social change. This film shows how Malala is making a difference in society by promoting girls' education. This shows that a single individual can make a big difference in society. We will now discuss resilience. Malala is resilient. As the film says “it is better to live like a lion for a day than like a slave for 100 years” (Guggenheim, 2015). This means that it is better to be courageous, to act, than to remain silent. If one remains silent, no difference will be made in the world. The problems will remain. The Taliban declared.