Far from Heaven Essay Essay Example

Far from Heaven Essay Paper Far From Heaven Far from Heaven is a film about a 1950s period. It deals with some issues such as race, sexuality and class. There is Cathy, the perfect mother and wife married to Frank, the successful and charming man, who works as seals manager in a big company, having the perfect life. Until Cathy, finds that her husband; Frank is a homosexual. She cannot divorce from her husband because she does not want to destruct her marriage. At the same time, she meets with Raymond, and she goes to him for comfort. They spend good time together, but their relationship causes some bad consequences for him and his daughter. On the other side, Frank cannot suppress his desires of homosexuality. When he and his wife went to a holiday, he falls in love with another man. Their life becomes depressing, and at the end, they divorce and the film ends with sadness. Far From Heaven shows that racism and homosexuality were serious problems the society faced back in the 1950s; however, nowadays the problem is not as serious and intense but it is still prevalent in some societies. First, According to Britannica online, racism â€Å"is the belief in the inherent superiority of one race over others†. Many people believe that it depends on if a person was brought into the world as a racist or not, but that is not the case at all. In fact, an individual cannot be born a racist but only learn to become one as they grow from child to adulthood. For instance, in the movie, the two boys Chased Raymond’s daughter and hit her with a rock in her head because of her color and the boys were affected by their parents thoughts. Also, in the 1950s, people used to treat the African American without respect; like when Raymond grabbed Cathy’s hand, a man yelled at him saying â€Å"hey boy† and this is disrespecting way to call a person with. We will write a custom essay sample on Far from Heaven Essay specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Far from Heaven Essay specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Far from Heaven Essay specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Likewise, racism leads to many side effects, like intricacy in finding jobs for the colored people. For example, in the film, all the American Africans used to work as gardeners, servants or waiters and they were totally ignored by the society, without having chance to achieve a better job. Generally, homosexual people was known as a problem; psychologists and psychiatrists had mainly studied homosexuals who were either in prison, or in therapy. As an example, when Cathy knew that her husband was a homosexual, she told him to see a doctor to solve this problem. Evelyn Hooker (1907-1996) was the first person who compared between groups of non-clinical homosexuals with a comparable group of heterosexuals: Her first report was called The Adjustment of the Male Overt Homosexual. It showed that homosexuals were not inherently abnormal and that there was no difference between  homosexual and heterosexual men in terms of pathology. Besides, in the past, homosexuals were afraid to show their homosexuality, and they were doing that underground: Frank used to go to a gay club in secret and his wife didn’t try to tell anyone about that because it was a source of embarrassment. Yet, homosexuals didn’t have any rights, like the right to work, can be limited somewhat for reasons of external misconduct, without incurring in unjust discrimination Second, racism nowadays has been weakened. Compared to the past, racism has come a long way toward disappearing. For example, Oprah Winfrey has one of the most popular shows and in the past black people weren’t allowed to work in the media. Besides, the president of the USA is black, and it’s a major shift considering to the past because they were restricted to certain jobs only. However, racism is still active in some cities and countries. Sometimes, Racism is thrown at us in so many ways that some people are subconsciously or unwillingly enveloped in its wake. For example, racist jokes are becoming increasingly familiar among teens in our society: there are many people I know who have poked fun at blacks, Asians and Hispanics for no reason but to be funny and respected by their peers. In addition, in the past 50 years, many leaders showed when the black people were actually in need to follow someone and obtain their civil rights and end the racism. Two of the most powerful and influential leaders of the twentieth century had to be Malcolm X and Martin Luther King. These two leaders had different approaches, and different views towards white people, perhaps their different approaches of violence and non-violence stem from their original opinions of how capable the whites are of being good, but fought for the same goal, and without them we wouldn’t be able to reach this level of freedom; like when Malcolm X said in his speech, â€Å"You cant separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom. On the other hand, homosexuals in our time have many rights compared to what they faced in the 50s. In November 2003, the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled that the state cannot deny marriage licenses to homosexual couples. Following the Massachusetts decision, more gay marriages occurred publicly across the nation from San Francisco to New York. President George W. Bush responded to these activities by urging Congress to pass a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriages. On May 17, 2004, Massachusetts became the first state to grant legalized same-sex marriages. After Evelyn Hooker’s research, comparing matched groups of homosexually- and heterosexually-identified men. She found that scores from psychological tests of the two groups were indistinguishable from one. Furthermore, there is huge percentage of the people against homosexuals because it’s a wrong act and against contrary the religions. Finally, I think Racism is still alive, and will always be alive. Historically, South Carolina promoted the harshest treatment of slaves in the 1700s, as they prospered from their rice plantations. Slaves’ body parts were amputated if they ran away. South Carolinas torture of slaves was adopted by the other colonies to put fear into their slaves. Even today, a racial flag flies high in that state as a constant reminder to the African Americans of their past, and their past oppressors. Likewise, It should be remembered that Abraham Lincoln wrote a letter to Horace Greeley saying, Dear Sir: I have not meant to leave any one in doubt My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or destroy Slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it (Uprooting Racism, Paul Kivel, pp122). Scientifically, sex is a means to an end; the end being the propagation of the human race. This end can never be fulfilled by sex between males or females. Therefore, homosexuality is irrational and illogical. Sources: http://www. gibbsmagazine. com/Racism%20Still. htm http://news. deviantart. com/article/25096/ http://www. quotationspage. com/special. php3? file=w980517 http://www. famous-quotes. com. au/authors/quotes-by-Malcolm-X. php http://www. globalissues. org/article/165/racism http://www. adl. org/hate-patrol/racism. asp http://www. religioustolerance. org/hom_agen50. htm