Michael Varriano, Period 2, 11/7/2022

Socio-political Consciousness

Our place in the world and our experiences throughout life are largely shaped by power and status. Looking back as far as thousands of years ago, power has ruled the world. Roles in society were assigned based on the power you inherited at birth. Social classes and power pyramids foreshadow the oppression you edure throughout your life.

In the case of Greek mythology, power is everything. In the creation story the titan Cronus overpowered his children and ate them. Even though there were many more of them than him, and they were innocent, his overwhelming power enabled him to act however he wanted. Unfortunately, this concept still exists in the real world today. The people with the most power use it to control and oppress the less powerful even though there are many more of us.

The movie, “A Bug’s Life”, demonstrates a similar concept. In this movie the ants are oppressed by the grasshoppers because they are individually weaker. However, when they unite together they are able to end the oppression they previously faced. The reality is, modern day America faces this same problem. Our government turns us ants against each other using gimmicks such as political party systems. As the discord and divide between ants grows the stronger so does the power the grasshoppers have on the ants. Through the decoy of political parties we are losing the meaning of a country of freedom. On one hand, red takes control over the bodies of our wives, sisters, and daughters by restricting the freedom they are meant to uphold. On the other hand, blue allows criminals to run free and let terror reign where there should be safety. Regardless, many will only focus on the color of the party and not the overall corruption. As we lose more and more power we turn against each other instead of uniting to end the corruption as the ants did in “A Bug’s Life.”

Power affects us all on a micro. In Cinderella, the protagonist is taken advantage of. She is oppressed and not treated fairly due to circumstances she can not control. There are many circumstances in which we can not control the transfer of power and how it is used against us. However, we all have power over ourselves. The strongest power of all is the ability of free will and decision making. No matter how oppressed and powerless we may feel we always have the opportunity to better ourselves and our effect on others. We all have the ability to fight the larger oppression caused by power. We have the median to do this one positive interaction and humane action at a time. As Michael Jackson said, “If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself, and make a change.”