Unbiased Representation?

     After reading George's article on Helen Keller and Burke, and after watching the film Up The Yangtze, I realized that there will always be a bias when something, or someone, is being represented. It is inevitable. It cannot be helped. So then what representations should we believe? Which should we discard or investigate further?      The representation of Helen Keller as a saintly woman who is able to get past unimaginable disabilities is one that is great for textbooks and great for motivation to overcome anything that life throws at you. This representation discourages us from looking into the political, radical side of Keller. It causes us to think of Keller as one-dimensional and only in the terms of her disabilities. It is a biased representation of this complex woman.

     There are two different representations shown in the film. Each one of them is biased towards one group. One represents the good that will come out of the Three Gorges Dam. It shows the progress that the country will make due to the dam and shows the actions being taken to help the relocatees which will be effected by the dam. In this biased representation, the relocatees are getting a better deal out of this dam. They are going to have air conditioning in their new homes, all provided by the government. The tour guide showing the tourists the relocatee houses in the movie says, "They all are happy!" But this representation is juxtaposed by another. The other represents the Three Gorges Dam as the doom for many Chinese people. It shows all of the towns that will be flooded, all marked by signs signifying the meter level. In this representation, these "unclassified citizens" will have to find a new home by themselves. In this representation, there are no relocatee homes. There is only darkness ahead. 

     Which representation are we to believe? Which are we to think is exaggerated? Should we even pick a representation or question both? I have to question both because both are biased, and if it is inevitable to biased when representing someone or something, why try to represent anything at all? From this unit on representation, I have come to one conclusion: nothing and no one can be truly represented. Such a great realization, I know. But I believe this realization has to be made in order to tackle any representation in the future. If one is naive about biases in representation, no honest conclusions can be made. The truth about biases must be realized.

-Valerie Gardner