Reaction Paper in Leading Lady Parts: Comedy Short Film by Jessica Swale
With the recent COVID-19 pandemic crisis, more attention is currently being
account to world issues than ever before. As our global community suffers through this
virus crisis, we are realizing as never before just how our world is interconnected. The
Leading Lady Parts: Comedy Short Film by Jessica Swale portrays a stinging satire on
different social stigmas. The applicants are being labeled, stereotyped, treated
separately, discriminated against, and/or experiencing loss of opportunity because of a
perceived link with diversity. A black girl who wasn't even allowed to read. Asian girl who
they might consider, but only if she could be more white. The girl who they know by name
but it's too old. The girl who wasn't so thin, or sexy, or innocent and sexy. The girl had to
show her body to prove if she fits. The staff that tries to but instantly rejected given that
she is Asian. And a white guy who gets the part without having to work for it, and becomes
more privileged with his appearance overcoming several women over talent a person
has.
Discrimination and oppression towards other ethnicities is an alarming reality, one
of the points the short film wants us to be aware of for us not to become part of it. The
current COVID-19 outbreak greatly provoked social stigma and discriminatory behaviors
against people of certain ethnicity and race especially Asians. In the short film, the truth
perfectly painted across the screen how racism becomes prevalent even in different
agencies. Their skills and ability are being defined based on racial, language, and ethnic
diversity. Social justice for opportunities and privileges within a society is sadly being
deprived in this connotation of diversity.
It is also a good point that social stigma in the context of appearance is also
discussed. Body shaming triumphs how appearance mattered more than qualifications
and opportunities. In the short film, a woman is not slated for lacking the perfect body that
society accepts. This social issue is directly mandating people to change who they are
and how they look to fit different stereotypes. It gives a standard for people on how they
will be accepted by a society that greatly deals with their criteria of appearance. This
disagreeable social standard is not just for the leading lady part but pertains to women in
general.
Many significant points that made me realize are gender inequality. In the last part
of the short film, all the leading lady parts on the posters are all occupied by men. It depicts
that the antifeminism issue is also added to the Global issue portrayal in the short film
wherein certain groups of people are oppressed on how society acknowledges race,
sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status. It’s a sad reality in the world that women
still bares despite being able to prove that they are capable enough to do what men can
do and remains to be a stigma between genders. As a woman, I cannot agree with what
gender inequality insists on. I strongly believed that being a male or female differs only
on technical structures but yet they are all the same and share one commonality: their
opportunity to live with the same community and a citizen of this world.
Profoundly, this short film promotes multicultural and global literacy. Keep in mind
that despite diverse ethnicity and cultural perspective we are all subject to respect each
one's differences in terms of race, gender, religion, various perspectives, and diversity
because we still share common grounds like where we are leaving and this is our world.
All races have the right amount of opportunities and privileges since we are all citizens of
it. We should be mindful of how it is important to have cultural awareness, action, and
initiatives to promote order, educational opportunity, and global peace across our
interconnected world. As future educators, we should be also mindful of how to
acknowledge and address diversity issues to integrate multiculturalism information to
students as teachers are well placed to make informed decisions and has the greater
ability to pass this information to their students that serves as an instrumental factor in
the formation of student multicultural and global literacy.