THE THE SCOPE SCOPE ISSUE 13 ISSUE ISSUE 13 12
(Wo)man in the Mirror
Isla Williams discusses why we need to
celebrate women in the music industry Nowadays, inequality, in terms of how certain races, genders and sexualities are treated, is still a massive issue. This needs to change, and one way in which improvements could be made is through the music industry. Music is a huge part of our lives and the music industry is a large, impactful part of society. However, inequality is a serious issue in the industry. Some people may think that sexism is not an issue anymore. But the truth is that in many cases, women are still thought of as being less worthy and intelligent than men. This is not okay. Women make up about 21.7% of all artists, around 12.3% of songwriters, and roughly 2.1% of all producers. Although these statistics represent a fair portion of the music industry, they are much lower than the statistics for men. Is it because women fear going into the music industry due to the fact that it is male-dominated? Additionally, it is harder for women to become successful due to the sexism that still exists in our society today. Interesting research to do with sexism was carried out recently. It involved 75 female musicians who described their experiences so far in the music industry. This research came back with shocking and sad results, but they are the results we expected. About 40% of the women claimed that their skills were being underestimated by the people they worked with, who were mostly men. A quarter of the women said that they had experienced being the only woman in the recording studio. Finally, 40% yet again said that they were often sexualized and that stereotypes were also a big issue. IThe way that Taylor Swift has been treated throughout her career highlights how unequally musicians are treated.
@TheScopeLHS
In a CBS Sunday Morning interview, she talked about inequality in the music industry: “There’s a different vocabulary for men and women in the music industry.” She then went on to give the interviewer some examples: “A man does something, it’s strategic. A woman does the same thing, it’s calculated.” Additionally, she stated that “A man is allowed to react. A woman can only overreact.” Slut-shaming is also very common when it comes to female celebrities and this is something that artists like Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande have experienced on several occasions. For example, when it is discovered that a woman has dated five or six people in a short period of time, they are labelled as sluts, frowned upon for not settling down, and often told that they move on too fast. On the other hand, when it is discovered that a man has been with a larger number of people in a short period of time, society often doesn’t seem to care or have a negative response towards it. Something that Taylor Swift has talked about in the past is how society makes female artists feel as if they have to change every few years in order to stay in the spotlight and maintain their popularity. They are seen as exciting for a couple of years and they often become irrelevant in society by the time they turn 35. The only way that this can possibly be prevented is if they work hard to reinvent themselves whenever people seem to be losing interest or getting bored. Some women in music have even taken a new direction with their style and career around twenty times. Society believes that female artists need to live a life that is exciting and entertaining, but not too busy and unhinged.
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The only way that this can possibly be prevented is if they work hard to reinvent themselves whenever people seem to be losing interest or getting bored. Some women in music have even taken a new direction with their style and career around twenty times. Society believes that female artists need to live a life that is exciting and entertaining, but not too busy and unhinged. On the 11th of May at the 2021 Brit Awards, Little Mix became the first ever female group to win the award for Best British Group. In their acceptance speech member Leigh-Anne Pinnock stated, “We’ve seen white male dominance, misogyny, sexism and lack of diversity. We’re proud of how we’ve stuck together, stood our ground, surrounded ourselves with strong women, and are now using our voices more than ever.” Even though Little Mix were completely deserving of the award and were incredibly happy about it, some people responded negatively to their achievement. Liam Gallagher responded to their win by saying, “Little Mix, with the greatest respect, are not in the same league as Oasis. Not even in the same f***ing sport. It’s a symptom of the music business chasing the numbers - and there not being any bands or songwriters in those bands.” Attitudes of people like Liam Gallagher highlight how sexism is a big issue within the music industry. But these sexist and misogynistic attitudes have to come to an end. Women in the music industry deserve to be treated the exact same way as men. Female musicians are talented and amazing individuals that should be celebrated.
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A Thousand Words on Misogyny Elena Devilin tackles why we still need to be talking about misogny
In Scotland, from 2018-19, just under 40% of domestic violence incidents occurred in the victim's home. That same year, more than 4 out of 5 domestic violence cases had been female victims. That’s 80%. While women can be abusive in a relationship, the large majority of abuse is committed by men. Sexism teaches men from birth that no matter what the situation, they have authority. With the exception of their victim, there is no one telling them no. So they don’t stop. Domestic violence continues, as well as the psychological damage that comes with it. 97% of women who walk our damaged planet have experienced psychological abuse. That’s why misogyny is so hard to get rid of, because it’s so easy to fall victim to. The victims are women who have experienced domestic violence or abuse which has impacted them psychologically. This could be through mental health or trauma related issues or cases of women who purely are being psychologically abused whether that’s by a partner, “friend” or someone at home, like a guardian, for example. I am a true believer in the argument that if we were all equal, no matter what gender, ethnicity or religious beliefs, then the world would not only be a better place, but one of peace. If you're a misogynistic man who believes he’s above women, then open your ears because this is important for you to hear: the saying “treat people the way you would like to be treated” is one that should resonate with all of us. The meaning behind it needs no explanation - it’s simply treating people with kindness and respect, no matter who they are, as that's the way you would want someone to treat you. Ironically, equal rights and misogyny go hand in hand as the fight for equal rights is prevented by misogyny.
You're going to have a hard time pointing your finger at someone for this one. You can’t throw the blame on the government, the generation above your own or your nosy neighbour. Misogyny is a social construct that, even though it may be foreign to some ears, everyone is responsible for. The dangerous thing about misogyny is how unnoticed it goes and this is why many people will fall victim to or participate in misogyny, lots unknowingly. For the people who are confused, misogyny, simply put, is hatred or mockery towards women and girls. It is a way of keeping women at a lower status than men; it encourages sexism and prevents the fight for equal rights. However, it can go further than that, dipping into racism and discrimination against religious beliefs. It also ventures online, making it harder to stop the spread. If you are sitting here thinking “that’s awful, but it's not me,” you’re wrong. It is you, but don't feel special. It's also your parents, grandparents, friends, your boss and your boss's boss. “Stop the spread.” That makes it sound like it came straight out of a COVID-19 awareness poster. That’s because the vicious COVID-19 virus, which is still affecting thousands around the world, perfectly symbolises the world of misogyny. Much like the virus, misogyny is a lingering issue that has damaged our world since day one. Women who refuse to follow the standards of misogynistic men are punished, whether that’s physically, like sexual harassment and/or domestic violence, or purely affecting them psychologically, making them feel smaller than a mouse. In late 2020, it was estimated that in England and Wales, just over 1.6 million women from the ages of 16 and 74 had experienced domestic abuse in the last year. If that’s not hard-hitting enough, let’s hit it a little closer to home.
If misogyny didn’t walk this earth like men do, then equal rights would have been achieved a long time ago. However, misogyny is a potent stench that, for the time being, is stuck in our earth, like poisonous roots. As for the tree that has grown above, it can only be described as revolting. The branches are rotting, they represent our patriarchy and how unkind our society is towards others.home, like a guardian, for example. Even though men and misogyny go together like bread and butter, women as a community are also the cause of misogyny. This is more commonly known as internalised misogyny. Gender stereotypes fill a woman's mind like water does a cup, as a result of the patriarchy’s influence. Catchphrases like “don’t talk to her, she looks mean,” and “what an idiot for doing that...” cling to us like a second language. We put each other down and judge like we are better. We whisper and whisper about a girl’s hair, personality and money only to claim our feminist views after we leave the room. Why do we do this? Envy. We despise another’s beauty, the fact that she may be better than the rest or have nicer things or that she sings. We use this as fuel, and try to reason that if we are jealous it makes it okay. It doesn’t. You can’t play the victim when you're also the bully. Girls, before we fight others on the matter, especially men, we have to be able to sincerely say that we are not like them. From an early age, the majority of us have been taught behaviour and actions of gender stereotypes, making it an uphill battle to try and unlearn everything. But we must. Without trying, we will never be able to fully reach our potential for society and if we don’t help make a change, we are just leaving more of a mess for the next generation. So do better.
Driving into the Future Isla Williams presents the case for an electric future
Celebrating Key Workers
Michelle Yu and Olivia Gardner talk to some everyday heroes in the NHS The COVID-19 pandemic took the world by surprise, but the NHS persevered, never missing a beat, working tirelessly and doing their best to fight against this novel virus. Finally, we get to meet the people behind the masks and hear about their experiences on the frontlines.
Lihua, Staff Nurse at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary What role do you play at the hospital? I'm a staff nurse and I have been working on the acute surgical ward for the past 12 years. How did your work change due to the pandemic? Working in the front line as a staff nurse, this pandemic has a huge impact on every one. We have to be very careful with hand hygiene and wearing the right PPE. Communicating with the patient's family became more difficult than usual and we had to swab for Covid in every patient to prevent cross infection. Do you feel appreciated by the public? How did you feel about Clap for the NHS? Yes, definitely I feel appreciated by the public. Adjustments such as early shopping hours for the NHS, free parking for staff and schools for key workers’ children etc. definitely helped us manage our everyday lives whilst dealing with our busy work schedules and Clap for the NHS made us feel valued and lifted up our spirits. What was it like working during the pandemic? When the rest of the country was shut down, we were still working directly with the risks that everyone else is being told to avoid. At the beginning of the pandemic, lots of us felt stressed and anxious, as we were dealing with something completely new but now that we know more about the virus, we feel more confident looking after COVIDpositive patients.
In ten years’ time, will the majority of people be driving electric cars? Electric cars are becoming a lot cheaper and more and more car companies, such as Tesla, Porsche and Ford, are starting to produce electric cars as well as petrol cars. My family actually owns an electric car - we have a secondhand Nissan Leaf. We love it, because although it can’t be driven as far as a regular petrol car without being recharged, it is much better for the environment. Electric cars work by using an electric motor which gains power from batteries that can be charged up again and again as they store electricity. Electric cars can speed up and slow down quickly, giving them a ‘light’ feel that regular petrol cars do not have. There are, of course, advantages of petrol cars. New petrol cars are, on average, cheaper to buy than new electric cars due to the fact that electric cars are quite a new invention. As well as this, petrol cars make a noise when they are being driven whilst electric cars don’t unless you turn on a special setting which causes the car to create a noise so blind people can hear them coming.
Without this setting, blind people are more likely to be run over if the driver of the electric car does not see the person crossing the road. However, petrol cars have a massive negative impact on the environment. They pollute the atmosphere, contributing to climate change. This happens when they are being produced, used, and disposed of. Of the carbon dioxide emissions of a car’s entire life, about 10% come from it being made, 5% come from it being disposed of, and 85% comes from the use of petrol or diesel to power the car. Petrol cars also impact our health in a negative way. Vehicle emissions contribute to ground level ozone. This can cause health issues such as the worsening of asthma, decreased lung capacity, and an increased risk of getting respiratory illnesses such as pneumonia and bronchitis. Electric cars have several advantages. They don’t use petrol as they are electronically powered, so the more people who drive electric cars, the more people’s carbon footprint will decrease. A study found that electric cars emit 43% less carbon dioxide than regular cars. They are also very lowmaintenance and they perform in a high-quality manner.
However, there are currently fewer charging stations than petrol stations and electric cars take a long time to charge. In spite of this, the way in which they charge is quite convenient because you can easily get a charging unit installed to the side of your house which you can simply plug your car into at night for it to be recharged when it is not in use. It is necessary to make sure that you get the correct EV electricity tariff so you can get the best deal when it comes to recharging your car. Unfortunately, at the moment, electric cars have a limited driving range. On average, they can only do 181 miles on a single charge, whilst regular petrol cars can do around 300 miles on one tank of petrol. Electric cars also have high initial costs which can be about £2,500. Although there are both advantages and disadvantages of electric cars, there can be no doubt that they can play a part in trying to stop climate change getting even more out of hand.
From Stage to Screen
Kacey MacPherson discusses the journey to the big screen for one of Hollywood's biggest stars
Celebrating Key Workers Sibo, Medical Student, Final Year at University of Edinburgh How did your work change during the pandemic?
You'd have to be living under a rock to not know the famous actor Timothée Chalamet. But it wasn't so long ago that he was just another normal boy walking down the street. So how did this young star rise to be the success that he is today? Timothée has been acting practically his whole life, whether making small appearances in TV shows, or getting stuck in at the LaGuardia High School of Music and Performing Arts. He grew up in the city and was constantly surrounded by the performing arts. If that wasn't enough to inspire him to take up acting, then the actors he looked up to must have topped it off. It was Heath Ledger's performance in The Joker that inspired him to try out for roles in the movie industry. “I just had no clue what was going on in his head, and I thought it was the coolest thing in the world,” he said. In 2013, Timothée made an appearance in the movie Interstellar, but unfortunately did not gain much attention from it.
In 2017, Chalamet starred in the heart-warming romance movie Call Me By Your Name. Critics described it as ‘powerful’ and ‘emotionally touching’ and viewers around the world agreed.
The film won the BAFTA award for ‘Best Adapted Screenplay’ and Timothée won the ‘Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead.’ Timothée’s outstanding performance in the film was not ignored and this seemed to be the turning point in his career as he was taken more seriously as an actor after this movie was released. From TV show interviews to press conferences, Timothée was beginning to live life in the world of fame. But what he wasn’t prepared for was the amount of public attention he was about to receive in the years to come. L Timothée later starred in Elijah Bynum’s Hot Summer Nights which gave him more public attention and this was also when he started to gain a fan base. Timothée was beginning to work himself higher up into the industry and this new fame he had was helping him gain roles elsewhere. Timothée got the chance to star in the Netflix original movie The King which was based around King Henry V’s rise to power. This was also when Timothée got to show everybody his range of skills in acting as this was a very big role to take on and wasn’t like anything he had ever attempted before. He then played as the ‘bad boy’ in the Netflix original movie Ladybird, directed by Greta Gerwig.
His movie roles were now beginning to be consistent and the amount of successful work he had done had made him almost worthy to have the title of ‘movie star’. With his reputation shooting higher and higher, Timothée landed a role in Greta Gerwig’s recent adaptation of Little Women. Greta had clearly fallen in love with his natural talent, hence why she decided to include him in her next project. He did not disappoint. He played the role of witty and charming Teddy Lawrence perfectly. His most recent work is in the upcoming film Dune where he will share the screen with Zendaya. As we can see, Timothée has successfully worked his way up in the industry to the point where he is starring in real Hollywood style films and working with many famous actors. His sudden rise to fame helped him gain many supporters and public attention on all social media platforms, from 1 million Instagram followers in 2018 to 9.7 million today. I guess you could say he made it.
To be honest, there has not been much change - people still get sick and have to come to hospital. However, I have noticed people were not coming to hospital until their symptoms became more serious. This meant dealing with more medically complicated patients. Additionally, I had serious complaints with the hypocrisy/lack of consistency with personal protective equipment protocols. One minute you are all squeezed into a packed room shoulder to shoulder for multidisciplinary meetings, the next moment, you are having to wear a face shield, apron and gloves to see a patient. It just doesn’t make sense! How did you feel about Clap for the NHS? As for Clap for the NHS, I'm somewhat ambivalent. Glasgow and lots of areas in England were overwhelmed with COVID-19, but Edinburgh was relatively unimpacted. Solidarity is also good, I feel, however. And the general feeling is that it made key workers feel more empowered and less disenfranchised. What was it like working during the pandemic? The wards that I worked on were actually lower capacity than usual. From what I heard, the COVID-19 wards were "over-prepared" for an influx of patients that never appeared. As an environmentalist as well, the extensive use of PPE seemed slightly over the top. The amount of plastic and other waste produced due to the NHS protocol of having to change gloves, aprons, masks for each patient must generate a huge amount of waste. This also meant seeing patients took longer because of the constant PPE changing.
Mother Knows Best
Olivia Gardner challenges the viewpoints of those who question a woman's right to choose Abortion is some people’s best option. The decision to have an abortion is a woman’s choice and no person or group of individuals should have the right to make that decision for them. The medical procedure should be able to be accessed by women living all over the world. Unfortunately, this is not the case and many women are severely restricted when it comes to having an abortion. According to a poll conducted by Planned Parenthood, 73% of Americans want abortion to remain safe and legal, but this safety is taken away due to the fact that many states have put in place a large number of limitations regarding abortions. Some states in the USA such as Texas, Louisiana and Alabama make it incredibly difficult for women to access safe abortions. This is due to having bans put in place so that women needing an abortion are not able to obtain them once they have passed a certain number of weeks in their pregnancy. The single most common reason women cite for wanting an abortion is because they cannot afford to raise a child. According to the American Journal of Public Health, carrying an unwanted pregnancy to term quadrupled the odds that a new mother and her child would live below the federal poverty line. Raising a child costs a huge amount of money. According to the Department of Agriculture Data, middle income parents will spend $284,570 by the time a child turns 18. Parents need a substantial amount of money in order to make sure their child lives a happy and healthy life. If a woman who is not financially stable is unable to access an abortion then their child is going to grow up in a very unstable environment and the child may not even be able to be properly cared for. A study conducted by the University of California compared the credit histories of two groups – people who were near gestational limit, but received an abortion and people who were past gestational limit and were denied abortion.
They found that in the years before seeking abortion, credit ratings for both groups were similar. However, the group that was denied abortion had a 78% increase in debt that was 30 days or more past due and their chances of having negative public records, such as bankruptcies and evictions, increased by 81%. You can clearly see from this study that although abortions helped save some of these women from entering financial debt, the women who had exceeded the gestational limit were left with serious financial problems. A woman may have to terminate a pregnancy for health reasons. If they know that their baby is going to be born with a serious condition the best option may be to terminate the pregnancy so that the child doesn’t have to live a life full of pain. According to Very Well Health, 12% of abortions are carried out due to health-related reasons. If a woman knows that her child has a very slim chance of survival during birth, she may wish to terminate the pregnancy in order to avoid both trauma for the baby and herself. If you knew your baby was going to die as soon as it was born would you really want to go through that? One of the most important reasons a woman should be able to obtain an abortion is due to sexual assault or rape. If a woman is raped and becomes pregnant because of this she may choose to terminate the pregnancy. This could be for a number of reasons such as she just may not want to carry her abuser’s baby or the baby could cause the woman to experience PTSD. f a woman is forced to have a baby caused by rape she may not be able to fully bond and connect with her baby as it will most likely remind her of the traumatic experience. IA woman who is forced to bear a child born of rape will re-live that experience every day of her life. What chance is there that she could really love the child?
A horrific example is the case of an 11 year-old rape victim in Argentina. The Guardian reported that the 11 year-old girl, who became pregnant after being raped, was forced to give birth after Argentine authorities refused to allow her the abortion to which she was entitled. After 23 weeks of pregnancy, she had to undergo a procedure similar to a Caesarean section and was told that her baby was unlikely to survive. So can you imagine how traumatic that ordeal was for that little girl? This is completely outrageous and is why abortions should be able to be accessed by anyone. Some women may choose to have an abortion because pregnancy interrupts their education or just happens to come at the wrong time. According to Very Well Health, 36% of abortions occur due to bad timing. If a woman is at the peak point of her career, a baby may interfere with this or if she already has enough children she may not be able to cope with the pressure of having another. The Guardian interviewed several women who had abortions. One woman, who wanted to remain anonymous, gave her reasons for wanting an abortion which tied in with her employment: “I have a very busy life with a high pressure job - I’m the breadwinner and already have three children of varying ages. Having another child would have put enormous strain on my family, our finances and ultimately my ability to cope. This would also have been completely unfair on a new born child. It would have been nearly impossible to meet everyone’s needs.” From this we can see that it can be incredibly hard to look after a newborn if you are already caring for other children as well as working in a very high pressure job. Overall there are many valid reasons why a woman should be able to terminate a pregnancy but if she is restricted in accessing these services then it could cause a huge amount of problems. Abortion should be able to be accessed by women of all ages, all over the world. Abortion is a human right. Abortions can save lives.
Get Your Vax Right
Michelle Yu presents the case for vaccination
Celebrating Key Workers Phil Stevens, Surgeon at Glasgow Royal Infirmary Do you feel appreciated by the public?
Initially for a few weeks, but now more and more people are unhappy about the waiting time period for elective operations. People have also become more vocal about it and are more likely to complain about waiting times, making it more difficult to manage. How has your work changed during the pandemic?
The operating theatre lists stopped for a while as well as the endoscopy lists. We changed to do more emergency work and more staff were on call at once in case anyone got sick. We were reallocated temporarily to cover COVID-19 wards and everyone had to start wearing masks and PPE. What was it like working during the pandemic?
Very odd. Everything we usually do stopped there was no operating lists, no endoscopy.All clinics went to telephone and staff absences increased due to self-isolation. It all felt very surreal and we’re only now seeing some normality return.
Refusing a vaccine is dangerous, not only for yourself but for the others around you too. With that being said, why are there still such large and active anti-vaccine movements?
Additionally, our stubborn brains are more likely to trust evidence that aligns with our pre-existing beliefs, meaning any underlying paranoia or distrust would only be amplified by these increasingly common tales, so the most susceptible to any scaremongering would be those that already have doubts about vaccines and medical professionals.
There are a variety of reasons ranging from trivial (e.g. feeling under-informed, ignorantly believing you don’t need the vaccine, being too lazy to go and get it) to worryingly extreme conspiracy webs involving the Thanks to social media, it’s all too government, Big Pharma and easy to publish misleading or more. blatantly false news and reach larger audiences than ever before, However, regardless of the thus the anti-vaccine movement specific reasoning behind their has been expanding quicker than hesitancy, there seems to be ever, especially with the new certain psychological and Coronavirus vaccines. emotional factors that lead to this “anti-vax” mindset. According to BBC, the top antivaccination Facebook pages have Anti-vaccine sentiments are grown by 19% in the past year spread differently, targeting our and anti-vax Twitter accounts emotions, rather than using logic. have increased their following by Technical terms and stuffy threefold. WhatsApp is also a statistics are difficult to breeding ground for rumours and understand and connect with, conspiracies. Many of these sites whereas we can empathise with are more popular amongst older any gut-wrenching vaccine horror audiences, who are perhaps less stories we may hear and mistake tech-savvy than younger them as proof against scientific generations and are more likely to facts. believe purposely authenticlooking posts.
This user demographic is a danger in itself, with the elderly population facing graver risks if infected with COVID-19. The best way to avoid falling down the anti-vax rabbit hole? It’s simple. Don’t get your news from social media. Understand that the anti-vax voices are not looking out for you - they’re in this for a profit. Like most other things, there is a multimillion dollar business built around vaccine refusal, with profit coming from selling alternative therapies or exploiting the vulnerable for donations. Official sources such as the NHS website or trusted reporters like the BBC are always your best bet. The COVID-19 vaccine is now available for everyone over the age of 12, with a simple online registration process. Getting vaccinated is an easy way to play your part in fighting this virus that has impacted all of our lives.
Collecting Dust: Are the Oscars Still a Thing? Michelle Yu asks - is the Oscars over?
Quiz Time! Nobody can say no to a good quiz, which is why we’ve come up with 10 fun and challenging questions for you to put your skills to the test. On your marks, get set, go! Name the coffee shop in the US sitcom ‘Friends’ The Oscars. The most prestigious awards in the entertainment industry. Every year, millions of viewers tune in, hanging from the edge of their seats, desperate to know who will take home one of the twenty four coveted statuettes. Or do they? The 2021 Academy Awards TV viewership plummeted to an all-time low, with a measly 10.4 million Americans tuning in, a decline of over 50% from the 23.6 million viewers in 2020. Although this is a particularly dramatic drop, this downward trend has been going on for the past decade. Each year, we seem to become more and more disillusioned with the glamorous ceremony. Why?
However, as mentioned before, declining viewership is not a one-off thing. The world is changing and the Oscars just aren’t keeping up. Today, ad-free, on-demand streaming services are taking over the entertainment industry and fewer people are watching cable TV every year, especially young people, which is the audience the show should be targeting. Teenagers are used to the short 15-second blasts of entertainment found on TikTok, clearly favouring a more fast-paced, uninterrupted flow of content, whereas the Oscar ceremony averages a mind-boggling 3.5 hours, with almost an hour of ad breaks and only 30 minutes of time spent on acceptance speeches. The rise of social media has also allowed users to access live updates, with the nonsense filtered out, cutting straight to the winners, outfits and highlights. Sadly, it seems the structure of the awards are just not compatible with the habits and tastes of today’s youth.
We tend to like films that we can see ourselves in and resonate with, and it’s for this reason that the unbalanced demographic of the voting board is a problem; because films that reflect white male experiences seem to dominate the board each time. These disparities led to a boycott of the 2016 Oscars, and the famous #OscarsSoWhite. Since then, the Academy has added diversity clauses to the eligibility requirements and aimed to diversify the judges panel, but is it too little, too late?
It may also be the case that as time progresses, people will just stop caring. As seen with the 2021 Oscars, The 2021 Oscars can partially blame the selected films were practically the COVID-19 pandemic for its unknown. Most of the nominees for sharper decline. The ceremony was Best Picture were available on the certainly more toned down than biggest streaming sites, yet nobody previous years, with a sociallyseemed to pay much attention to distanced audience of just 170 them because there was so much people. Additionally, lockdowns had a more to choose from. One may even huge impact on the cinema industry, go as far as to say that the media with many highly anticipated releases market is oversaturated. being delayed and Best Picture Additionally, the awards have not Furthermore, the innovative contenders consisted of quirkier, been free of controversy. The Oscar algorithms in place to give us the best arthouse films, which, as wonderful as nominees and winners are chosen by recommendations have trapped each they are, failed to generate the buzz the 9,362 voting members of the of us into our own internet bubble, so that blockbuster nominees such as Academy of Motion Picture Arts and movies that don’t fit into our niche will Black Panther, Joker and The Wolf of Sciences, all of whom have a never make it onto our radar. It’s Wall Street did in previous years, distinguished career in the film possible that even in future years, partly down to their niche target industry. 84% of these members are where movies do make it onto the big audience and the lack of press buzz white and 68% are male. This screens, we just won’t be interested as a result of their restricted theatrical membership demographic shines and the theme of low-profile releases. through when we look at nominee nominees will be a recurring one. lists. It is crucial to note that this is not Even with household names In fact, a survey following the me saying the Academy is “racist” or nominated, the Oscars still fail to announcement of the nominees “misogynistic”, rather, it’s inherently generate a much larger audience, revealed that Nomadland, the movie biased. Our personal tastes are perhaps just a marginal spike. that went on to take home Best shaped by our own unique Picture, was relatively unknown to the experiences and this matters when So, is there still a place for the majority of people, with only 35% we are judging something as Academy Awards in our constantly being aware of the title. It seems like subjective as film. changing society? The power is in this year there just wasn’t anything to your hands - and your TV remote. grab the attention of the masses.
What is the capital of New Zealand? What was the most popular girl name in the UK in 2019? How many valves does the human heart have? What was the most streamed show on Netflix in 2020? In ‘Harry Potter’, what was the name of the Weasleys’ house? For two points: if all of the states in the USA were placed in alphabetical order, which would be first and which would be last? Which of these actors is Scottish? Jamie Dornan, Michael Sheen, James McAvoy or Daniel Craig. What star sign would someone born on March 26th have? What was the name of Britney Spears’ first single?
Pages Ahead: Writers Who Paved the Way Marnie Izatt takes an indepth look at the writers who were ahead of their time Some authors wrote books that society was not ready for. They were ahead of their time; revolutionising genres, breaking down barriers and envisioning future worlds. Often, their works were blackened with criticism, scorned or disregarded because the era in which they were written did not understand them or because of their “shocking” contemporary values and themes. In time though, these books made their way onto our bookshelves and have changed society forever. Arguably, for most of history, any female writer who chose to put pen to paper was wildly ahead of her time. “Literature cannot be the business of a woman’s life and it ought not to be'' Charlotte Brontë was told in 1837 by Robert Southey, the poet-laureate of the time. His comments did not rid her of her passion for writing, but as a result Charlotte and her two sisters, Anne and Emily, adopted the male pseudonyms Currer, Acton and Ellis Bell to disguise their true identities when publishing a joint collection of poetry: “We did not like to declare ourselves women, because – without at that time suspecting that our mode of writing and thinking was not what is called ‘feminine’ – we had a vague impression that authoresses are liable to be looked on with prejudice.” But as they pushed against the limits of their world the Brontë sisters were not alone - female writers who came before and after them likewise persisted in the face of society's prejudice. Mary Ann Evans similarly adopted the male alias ‘George Eliot’ to discourage female stereotyping; at the age of eighteen Mary Shelley penned Frankenstein, what is considered to be the first science fiction novel; Maya Angelou reinvented the autobiography; Virginia Woolf dealt with themes of mental health and experimented with stream-ofconsciousness writing. The list could go on. Yet, against the backdrop of the lonely Yorkshire moors, the three Brontë sisters were ahead of their time in more ways than one.
.Together, they broke new ground in the world of literature by writing from personal experiences, injecting their lives into their novels, flaws and “taboos'' alike. Such raw and intense narratives appalled Victorian audiences, particularly that of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights which was controversial upon its release and attacked by critics, with one deeming there to be a “great power” in the book, “but a purposeless power”. With its shocking characters and fragmented Gothic narrative it was not like any novel seen before. But the Brontës were not afraid of swimming against the current: Charlotte’s Jane Eyre was ingenious for its chilling Gothic romance which was both intellectual and of literary merit and Anne’s The Tennant of Wildfell Hall was named by scholars as the first overtly feminist novel. The Brontës had always dreamed of being writers but in the end, they became much more than just that: in only a handful of books and tragically short lives, they changed the face of English literature forever. That still seems revolutionary. Fast forward from 1800s Yorkshire to America in 1925. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby had just been published but tragically, was a commercial failure, with few literary critics identifying anything special about the book. One critic even remarked that she could not find “one chemical trace of magic, life, irony, romance or mysticism in the entire novel.” Critics called Fitzgerald an “ultra-modernist” and dismissed his work for its themes and writing, deeming it “overrated” and “forgettable”. Perhaps they were unwilling to accept the inevitable end to their ‘Golden Age’. Readers of the time could not yet appreciate that beneath the dazzling glamour of the Roaring Twenties which Fitzgerald so vividly depicted, lay a strikingly darker message of the destructive power of the American Dream, almost too prescient, providing an uncanny glimpse of the future ahead. Fitzgerald knew the festivities of the ‘Jazz Age’ wouldn’t last forever and he was right: five years after Gatsby was published, the Great Depression began and America's stock market crashed. To think, now, that when Fitzgerald died in 1940 his books were out of print and that he considered his work to be a failure seems almost unimaginable.
In truth, it took more than a decade for Gatsby to find a following but ever since, the novel has remained in print and been endlessly quoted and admired worldwide, giving Fitzgerald the ‘Great American Novel’ to his name. “I want to write something new, something extraordinary and beautiful and simple and intricately patterned,” Fitzgerald once said to his editor about Gatsby. Over 90 years later, it is that and more. More than twenty years after Gatsby and his lost love were first introduced to the world came George Orwell’s 1984, the work that was to become the ‘definitive novel of the 20th century’. The chilling dystopian novel depicts a nightmarish vision of a world in which society is controlled and observed by three totalitarian states through technology and propaganda. Written in 1948 on the Scottish island of Jura in the bleak aftermath of the Second World War, Orwell wrote of a future nearly half a century away from the time in which he was writing. And now that the present has caught up with Orwell’s future, was he truly ahead of his time? The same argument recurs every decade or so: Orwell got it wrong. But 1984 was never meant to be a prediction, rather a warning about the nature of state power. “Don’t let it happen. It depends on you,” Orwell urged, yet parallels can be drawn between the novel and today’s society. Take ‘telescreens’ for example, the eerily watchful technology not dissimilar to the way the internet tracks us today. Then take ‘Big Brother is watching you’ and look at how modern society seems to demand ideological conformity, instilling in many people the fear of sharing views in public spaces and on social media. You see, more than 70 years after it was first published, 1984 is more relevant than perhaps it ever has been. Thus, it’s no wonder that terms such as “doublethink” and “newspeak” have become embedded in today’s society and that the novel is continuously regarded as the ‘handbook for difficult times’; the book society turns to when facts are distorted and news manipulated. It only goes to show just how groundbreaking it was. The fact remains that without living through the times of these writers, we can undoubtedly never truly comprehend just how revolutionary they were, nor just how pioneering and innovative. We can never perhaps fully realise the extent of the prison-house of gender the Brontë’s fought against, nor Fitzgerald’s “ultra-modernist” writing or even just how visionary Orwell’s creation was, but we can understand this: by being ahead of their time these writers made a mark on the world that cannot be erased.
Renovation RunDown
Michelle Yu discusses the ongoing changes at Larbert High
Nightmare Fuel By Isla Williams
If you are into horror and you have some spare time on your hands, here is a list of amazing, action-packed and terrifying horror movies you are bound to enjoy in the lead up to Halloween!
It (Rated a 15)
Here at The Scope, we are all excited about the upcoming renovations at Larbert High. One of our editors, Michelle Yu, was given the opportunity to talk to Mr Reid and find out some more about the plans. Why did you decide to make these changes? What inspired you? Larbert High is now the largest school in Scotland, so over the last few years we have kind of been planning for that. We’ve already made lots of alterations, such as knocking two rooms into one and many other changes. The biggest change we made recently was when we were able to move into E-Block, which allowed us to provide all faculties with a bit of extra space. This was fine for teaching space, but what we did not have extra space for was pupil toilets, social spaces, dining spaces etc. which were all really small, because they were all the original spaces from when the school was designed 20-25 years ago. So really, I wanted to make sure there was a lot of social space for pupils.
What are the benefits of spending money on these renovations, rather than something else? I think pupils deserve first class learning spaces, which I think we’ve got. But I also think they deserve to have enough toilets and to be able to sit and have their lunch, because that’s part of going to school as well. So, for me, it’s just as important as what happens to all of the teaching spaces as well.
Which part of this are you most excited about?
Are there any drawbacks to this plan?
All of it, really. But I like the way that the spaces are going to be multi-use. I really like the way we can change it from a games hall into a dining hall with the click of a few buttons (and some manpower!). Also, we’re going to have features like a climbing wall and I don’t know many other schools in Scotland that have got a climbing wall, so it’s going to be great to have that as part of the PE curriculum. I think it will just give a completely different ethos; it’s a big, open plan area, we’ll be able to have senior students mixing with the younger students again, which we’ve not had for so long and I think that creates a different atmosphere, so I’m looking forward to that.
I don’t think so. I think it’s all going to be positive. There will be a little bit of time required to turn it from a games hall into a dining area, or from a dining area into the performance space.
Did you come up with any of these ideas personally? Yes, I obviously worked with a team of people to put them together, but I think my main brief was that I saw a lot of the spaces that we had sitting empty for 80% of the time, so the Hub would be used at break and lunch time then it would sit empty and the Assembly Hall might be used throughout the day but most of the time it was sitting empty. I think the overriding thing in my mind was that I wanted spaces that could be used 80% of the time and only sit empty 20% of the time - kind of flipping it around. This was the centralplanning concept on my mind when we were discussing all of the ideas with the team.
However, any new school that’s built these days is designed around the same premise: multipurpose areas. So, no. I don’t see any drawbacks at all. Additional Comments I think we’re now at a stage where I hope that the pupils in the younger years will really benefit and be grateful for the plans that are being put in place for them, and I’m only sorry for the senior students who won’t get to enjoy the facilities for as long! They should have had them a long time ago. It’s been horrendously delayed because of Covid, Brexit and money and legal discussions that were taking place but I think we’re going to end up with something that will be impressive and I hope that everyone appreciates the facilities when they’re there.
It Chapter One (2017) and It Chapter Two (2019) are based on Stephen King's 1986 novel and in both films Bill Skarsgard plays Pennywise (It). As well as Skarsgard, the first film stars Finn Wolfhard, Sophia Lillis, Jaeden Martell and Jack Dylan Grazer. It is about seven kids who go looking for one of the character’s brothers who has disappeared. They search for the person responsible for his death and discover he was murdered by Pennywise, a clown who can transform himself into children’s biggest fears. In turn, the children find themselves in a battle against the psychotic clown. Eli (Rated a 15) Eli (2019) is a thrilling and exciting film that stars Charlie Shotwell, as the main character Eli, along with Sadie Sink, Kelly Reilly and Lili Taylor. It is a twisted story about a young boy who is taken by his parents to a special place where he is supposed to be cured of his unusual disease which prevents him from going outside unless he is wearing a protective suit. However, Eli begins to see things and gets suspicious about his treatment, although the doctor says he is experiencing side effects. The Turning (Rated a 15) The Turning remake was released this year and is based on The Turn of the Screw by Henry James which came out in 1898. The supernatural horror movie stars Finn Wolfhard, Mackenzie Davis, Brooklynn Prince and Joely Richardson. In the film Kate Mandell gets a job as a nanny for orphans Miles and Flora at a creepy mansion in the country.
Painting the PostPandemic Era Marnie Izatt discusses the future of the art world
What's Hot? by Olivia Gardner
When Covid brought the world to a grinding halt in March 2020, theatres turned dark, libraries were shuttered, galleries shrouded and festivals and concerts that thousands had been looking forward to were postponed then later cancelled. Almost overnight, the trillion-dollar global creative industry was turned upside down. Furloughed jobs were highest in the arts, entertainment and recreation sectors and the livelihoods of those creating art all but disappeared. Even now, more than a year and a half later, the arts and culture sectors continue to be devastated. Glasgow Life, the charity that runs the city’s museums, concert halls and galleries, recently announced that 80 of its 171 cultural hubs will remain closed even when, and if, Covid recedes. That means the loss of 500 jobs over the next five years and the closure of St Mungo’s, the UK’s only museum of religious art. It’s a disaster for the charity and for the city which had once been crowned the UK’s top cultural and creative city. But the sad truth is that it is a similar story elsewhere: in the pandemic’s wake, cities across the world are bleeding cultural businesses at alarming rates. Half of all music venues and 70 percent of theatres in the UK will face permanent closure as a result of the pandemic and iconic cultural institutions including the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York City, Madrid’s Pavon Kamikaze Theatre and the Navy Pier IMAX Theatre in Chicago have drawn their shutters one last time, never to reopen .
When the Livraria Campos Trindale bookstore in Lisbon announced its closure earlier this year, locals placed flowers in front of the shop window after the owner shared a message via social media: “Fill my shop with flowers. All great stories come to an end. Now it’s our turn. Your street bookstore …” It’s a sign of the significance of these cultural businesses in communities, however small, and the unfillable voids they leave behind. After all, what are our cities without culture? Arts and culture are their life and soul: without them they are nothing more than a crowded skyline. Venues like theatres, concert halls and galleries are their beating heart and cities rely on these creative industries to develop. Arts programmes address inequalities, explore issues in society and promote social cohesion. It is through the arts too that skills, confidence and a sense of community are gained as seen through initiatives like the Trojan Women Project in Glasgow which works with Syrian women to help tell their stories through drama. As well as this, culture is economically beneficial, creating job opportunities and boosting tourism: in 2019 arts and culture contributed £10.8 billion to the UK economy and four out of five tourists said culture was the reason they visited London. Culture and the arts, you see, are our story. What did we turn to when life as we knew it abruptly and significantly changed?
Whether we realised it or not, it was during the pandemic crisis that the role of the arts became more central to our lives. The TV shows we watched, the countless books we read, the music we listened to, it was all the arts. For so many of us these things were anchor points in the upside-down world, keeping us engaged, entertained and, perhaps most importantly, sane. From choirs singing on balconies and rainbows on windows, to Zoom orchestras and virtual art exhibitions, the arts provided solace and connection and in a time of literal restriction, and allowed us to escape to a world which was at that point out of our reach. The pandemic may well have had the arts and cultural industries sinking to their knees but now the important thing is that they can rise up again, stronger than ever. Not only survive, but thrive. Because the fact remains that they can play a crucial role in helping to rebuild society postpandemic. The road to recovery will be difficult to say the least; challenges will have to be faced; it will require problem-solving and thinking deeply about the society we want to rebuild. Open, innovative, and creative minds will be needed and with this too, culture and the arts can help. In the months to come, it would be easy for leaders and the government to overlook the arts and culture sectors as “optional extras” amidst the other challenges being faced. But after all the arts have and could do for us, that would be a grave mistake.
Film Black Widow is a recent movie released by Marvel Studios. The film is set just after Captain America: Civil War and follows the story of Natasha Romanoff as she must deal with her history as a spy and the broken family relationships left in her trail long before she became an Avenger. The film is an action-packed spy thriller that not only dedicated Marvel fans will enjoy, but new fans of the franchise as well. Album Sour by Olivia Rodrigo is one of the top albums of this summer. After being extremely successful with the release of her first single 'Drivers License’, 18 year-old Olivia Rodrigo released her debut album as a surprise. Some of the songs on the album are inspired by artists such as Taylor swift and Avril Lavigne as the album displays both a mix of soft pop and punk. The overall theme of the album can relate with teens all over the world as the songs are both about teenage angst and failed romances, something that teenagers are very familiar with. TV Show Season 2 of Outer Banks was recently released in July 2021 and it looks like the show is just as popular as it was in its previous season. Season 2 picks up with John B and Sarah Cameron riding on a boat after escaping the police during a storm. The show follows John B and Sarah’s journey to try and return to the OBX and retrieve the gold that Sarah’s father stole from them. The show is a great one to watch if you enjoy teen dramas with a hint of mystery, action and friendship.
AALARBERT LARBERTHIGH HIGHPUBLICATION PUBLICATION