Ava DuVernays Documentary: 13th, an Analysis

Ava DuVernays Documentary: 13th, an Analysis 13th Documentary Close Reading Analysis In the mid-1960s, Malcolm X said, If you stick a knife nine inches into my back and pull it out three inches, that it not progress. Even if you pull it all the way out, that is not progress. Progress is healing the wound, and America hasnt even begun to pull out the knife. And, to this day, Malcolm Xs words are just as salient and prophetic as they were during the Civil Rights Era. The exigent problem that American society recognizes but refuses to acknowledge is that black people have and continue to be excluded from the so-called white American humanity. Some Americans could argue that the 13th amendment left an encouraging and indelible impression on the racial fabric of American society. There is a historical and prevalent notion that America prides and extols herself in her pursuit for equality and justice. Furthermore, America worships herself on the alters of democracy, justice and equality. American patriots said that black people should be grateful for the 13th amendment. Bu t, the problem, like an ominous shadow, remains. American patriots said that they acknowledged the error of their ways and consequently conferred former black slaves with the 14th and 15th amendments; yet, the exigent issue remains. American patriots told black people to show some gratitude for the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and yet, the problem akin to an individual who tirelessly struggles to extricate himself from the invisible shackles, remains. Though some could argue that the passing of the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 reflect the racial progress of America, I would argue that these same laws that sought to include black people into humanity reflects white American societys estrangement and vehement opposition towards humanity. Furthermore, these amendments have also represented the painful struggle of black peoples quest to become legally human. In Ava DuVernays documentary, 13th, the use of storytelling is used to accent the reality that th e legacies of the 13th amendment and slavery are still very visible in black communities. The storytelling in the documentary is didactic in form, and this didacticism is ultimately used to expose the reality that the further white America runs from the truth, the sooner the truth will find her. The use of storytelling in the DuVernays documentary is used to illustrate the legacies of slavery and the 13th amendment. According to the documentary, from Nixons time as president to the present, the war on drugs has become more insidious and more lethal. During his presidency, Nixon tacitly said that the black population was a menace to society. Thus, Nixon created a system that exclusively targeted black people without explicitly expressing the underlying motivations and inspiration of an unjust criminal system. Instead of a war on black people, Nixon proposed a war on drugs. During Regans presidency, the war on drugs was consecrated. Throughout time, this war on drugs became more insidious and was born and reborn throughout various presidencies. To this day, the war on drugs is a war on black people. However, the primary users of illegal drugs are middle-class white people (Knafo, 2013). Interestingly, Americas illegal drug trade is a $151 billion-dollar industry (Knafo, 2013). Given the poverty and structural inequality in black communities, black people from urban settings such as the south side of Chicago, East Orange, New Jersey, or Compton, California are not the primary beneficiaries of this prominent industry. Through this, we witness the way state and federal governments use drugs to imprison black people. In turn, black peoples imprisonment has become a private venture. However, this is not a novel occurrence. There have been historical primordial forces that have contributed to the current racial inequalities and criminal injustices. Many American patriots view the 13th amendment as one of the most significant milestones in the history of America. Though the 13th amendment seemingly established all former slaves to legal human status, there was a caveat in the clause: Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or place subject to their jurisdiction (DuVernay, 2016). In essence, slavery was illegal except for those who committed a criminal offense, which means a black person can be re-enslaved. Before the 13th Amendment, most convicts in prisons were white people. However, after the 13th amendment, most prisoners were black people. In addition, these former slaves were imprisoned and fined for petty theft, vagabondage and lack of keeping a steady job (DuVernay). If black people could not pay the fines, some were sold to mining and timber companies whilst others were sold back to the southern plantations that they worked on before the passing of the 13th Amendment. Under the convict lease program, prisoners were forced to work in deplorable conditions and many convicts died from disease and abuse. In time, the convict lease program gave birth to chain gangs, in which black prisoners were chained together whilst undergoing laborious and menial work, effectively reinforcing and perpetrating the enslavement o f black males (Slavery by Another Name, PBS). During the 1950s, American society gradually illegalized chain gangs (Slavery by Another Name, PBS). Thus, American society forgot of the criminal injustices of the ancient past. The role of storytelling can be used to look at the current war on drugs and reflect on its historical utility in assuaging the conscience of white America. According to the documentary, the imprisonment sentence for the possession of crack cocaine is approximately 100 times more grievous than the sentence for the possession of powdered cocaine. Not only does the use of storytelling reveal the lineage of the 13th amendment, from convict leasing, to chain gangs, and ultimately to the epidemic of the prison industrial complex, but it also reveals that the legacies of slavery and the 13th amendment are still very visible in black communities today. In the documentary, the storytelling is didactic in form. Through this narrative storytelling, it seeks to re-educate American society, and challenge white Americas notions of democracy, justice and equality. Malcom X aptly said, History is a peoples memory, and without memory, man is demoted to the lower animals. I would argue that the didactic nature of the storytelling serves not only to educate, but to challenge white America. Furthermore, the instructive lessons of history that are characterized in this storytelling serves as a plea for America to wake up, and for America to claim the humanity that it has historically abandoned. In the early 1900s, it was common for southern whites to imprison black people in zoos for the general publics entertainment and satisfaction (ABS Staff). In addition, mothers would pull their children out of school to witness the exhibition of black mothers, fathers and small children in zoos. The exhibition of black people in zoos was a deliberate acti on in characterizing black people as members of a criminal, savage, and suspicious race. In essence, these human zoo exhibitions sought to represent black people as innately primitive, brutish and uncivilized. Though, some may now say that we do not commit such unspeakable atrocities, I would argue that the past informs the present. In the documentary, contributors described the media promotion of imprisoned black people as innately primitive, unhinged, amoral, and dehumanized beings. Though, we may not throw bread crumbs to African-American male prisoners, we still throw proverbial bread crumbs, when the media exploits black males humanities.   With the use of didacticism in storytelling, the narrative presented in the story seeks to re-educate, eradicate the amnesia of American society, and ultimately reveal the haunting reality: the further white America runs from truth, the sooner it will find her. In Ava Duverneys documentary, 13th, the use of storytelling is used to accent the reality that the legacies of the 13th amendment and slavery are still very visible in black communities. The storytelling in the documentary is didactic in form, and this didacticism is ultimately used to expose the reality that the further America runs from truth the sooner it finds her. In both content and form, this documentary sought to educate, inspire, confront, challenge, and expose the legacies of the 13th amendment in hopes that white American society will begin to humanize herself. Works Cited 13th. Dir. Ava   DuVernay. 13th. Netflix, 7 Oct. 2016. Web. 12 Mar. 2017. Chain Gangs. PBS. Public Broadcasting Service, n.d. Web. 13 Mar. 2017. Knafo, Saki. When It Comes To Illegal Drug Use, White America Does The Crime, Black America Gets The Time. The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 17 Sept. 2013. Web. 13 Mar. 2017. Staff, ABS. 13 Shameful Pictures of Europeans Placing African People in Human Zoos. Atlanta Black Star. N.p., 29 Dec. 2016. Web. 13 Mar. 2017. Ryanair: Porters Five Forces Ryanair: Porters Five Forces Ryanair, is Europes first and largest low fares airline. It was founded in 1985, set up by the Ryan family, with 2 aircrafts, 51 staff and 1 flight route from Waterford in the southeast of Ireland to London Gatwick daily. The vision of Ryanair start as no frills brand, low fares flight, raise ancillary revenue and finally to be no fares flight if available. Ryanairs objective is become the leader of the Europes low-fares airline through continued improvements and expanded offerings of low-fares passenger service. It aims to offer low fares to attract and queue up the passenger during the aircraft maintenance checking to ensure cost-containment and operating efficiencies for shorten the turnaround time. Nowadays, Ryanair own uniformed fleet of Boeing NG 737-800s in total of 210, hired 7200 staff and 150 destination points within 26 countries. The passenger traffic grew to about 65,300,000 passengers a year, it hold 28.67% of the entire passenger in the European Low Fares Airline Association (ELFAA). Ryanair had listed at the first place, as the champion airline with the most passengers in Europe which provide low fare short-haul travel. The low fare strategy provide Ryanair a shortcut to raise the profit and ancillary revenue, it made Ryanair kept success in the future. This is the reason that Ryanair has been so successful thus far. Five Forces analysis Threat of entry Ryanair is a well-known low-fares airline in Europe since 1985 and it was a strong airline brand. If there have any potential new entrants get into the airline industry market, they may need to outlay a large amount of advertising fee to compete on Ryanairs battleground, the European airline industry. Ryanair after setup the online booking and reservation system Skylights, it has heavily promoted its website through newspaper, radio and television advertising, there have been savings the marketing and distribution costs. Competitive rivalry Ryanair has an advantage over other rival airlines, no-frills and low-fares are the company policy. It expanding the short-haul flight routes, using point-to-point strategy and shorten the flight turnarounds to reduce the cost outlay. However, other airlines compete in cost increasing competition, for the more price sensitive customers with high customers benefit, using price wars between rival airlines. At the low price airlines, EasyJet is one of the competitor, but not really compete with Ryanair. The aim of the competitive rivalry is the threat to lead for sales decline. Bargaining power of Suppliers For an airline, suppliers are mainly limited to the aeroplane and fuel supply. Ryanair had made very good relationship to its unique aeroplane suppliers, Boeing. Ryanair made a large volume contract with Boeing within the economic downturn at 2002 while other airlines on hold the aircraft purchase, and Boeing need to provide up to 150 of 737-800 type aircraft for Ryanair. In addition, Boeing also provides various ancillary products, spare parts support and technical support for Ryanair. By the expanding to the aircraft, Ryanair can expand more destinations in Europe and provide low-fare ticket to the passengers, this make Ryanair become the youngest carrier in Europe and listed as second largest airlines worldwide which behind the Southwest airline. The fuel price is governed by world trade and fuel market dominated by the Middle Eastern countries. Ryanair was dependent on hedging, based on educated guessing for the fuel, to meet its low-fares policy. Bargaining power of buyers In airline industry, there have standardized product, flexible demand, airline brand and the service quality for consumers to determine and concern. Ryanair sold the flight ticket for customers through its website online system, this is the main reason can provide competitive price which in the industry level. Threat of substitute In continental Europe, it offers an excellent railway trains which connected to the major cities that Ryanair can fly to, but the train ticket is very expensive than Ryanair and also need to endure a longer journey. The second choice is driving car travel from place to place, but it is also time consuming than Ryanair and may meet lots of road problems and hassles. And the last one, it should be the video conference, this is not a kind of transport service, it is global communication technology which solves the travel time and timing problem for the meeting and dealing agreement via web-camera, computer and internet network. It should be much cheaper than Ryanair and most convenience for Business Corporation. PESTEL analysis (P)olitical There was political stability in the countries inside Europe, it attracts more people to travel within Europe and feel safety. Middle East OPEC had a political force for the fuel oil. European Union (EU) had expansion to 27 countries, and abolished the duty-free sales, this encourage Ryanair plan to open new flight routes to gain profits and raise ancillary revenue. The impact of political factors was low. (E)conomical The market which outside the Europe was undeveloped, their market and the countries economies was non-stable. Most of the Europe countries had joined into the EU, the economies and consumers was stable and growth. However, the fuel price had kept increase on a high price level, depreciation of US dollars make inflation in US economy and affected other countries currencies. In case, Ryanair can gain lot of regional subsidies to solve the high fuel price. In Europe, some countries had its own local high-speed trains as main transportation for citizens. The impact of economical factors was low. (S)ocial The economies of the EU countries was stable, this change the citizens lifestyles, such as increasing holiday travelling and business travelling. The consumer demographics were changing and consumer preferences also fluctuating. This brings the increase of the grey market. The impact of social factors was high. (T)echnological The use of Boeing NG 737-800s aircraft was low emission, low fuel burning consumption and environmentally-friendly. This reduces the flight cost to provide low fares for passengers. Ryanair also provide online booking and reservation service on its website (www.ryanair.com) which called Skylights, designed by Accenture Open Skies. It allows internet users to access Ryanairs host reservation system and to make payment for confirmed reservations in real time. The result of internet booking had growth rapidly since Ryanair launch the Skylights system. The impact of technological factors was low. (E)nvironmental Ryanair had changed its fleet from Boeing 737-200 aircraft to Boeing NG 737-800s Next Generation aircraft since the replacement and expansion programme start at 1999. Ryanair own and operate the youngest and most fuel efficient aircraft fleet in Europe. Ryanair as the Europes greenest airline has minimized and continues to reduce fuel burn and CO2 emissions combination with numerous fuel saving measures, such as using latest aircraft winglets design and engine technology. It helps to increase fuel efficiency and limit emissions. Ryanair is also the European leader in noise levels controls, and it is good at waste reduction of low-fare low-cost business model, such as no free meals, drinks or newspapers offer. (L)egal Ryanair was focus on airports terms and conditions and deal airport access and service charges agreement among airports, many airports has allowed Ryanair to negotiate favorable contracts with access airports facilities. Strengths analysis Ryanair had the first mover advantage and it is a low cost Airline Business Model that restructured European Aviation Industry as low cost leader with substantial growth. It use pioneer innovative cost reduction methods and established market share with high load factor. Ryanair had a good strong public image which provide various ancillary services and kept expanding flight routes. Ryanair also is the member of safety committee. Weaknesses analysis Ryanair had incompatible relationship with competitors, with fickle customer relations. It manages uncharacteristic expansion and only relies on Michael OLeary. Strategy evaluation Ryanair mainly focus on online bookings service and only provide one class travel with ticketless boarding and unallocated seats. Their flights just fly to secondary or regional airports with point-to-point flying and reduced turnaround times. Ryanair work their marketing in-house, no frills and no refund policy. It owns Europe youngest and large uniform new fleets of Boeing NG737-800s. It operations denominated in Europe and hedge fuel risk to avoid high fuel cost.