Breaking the Boy Code - November 06, 2024


The Importance of BIPOC Representation for Boys

The Labels on Boys’ Masks The Reason We Keep Talking About Miles Morales

Episode Stats


Length

39 minutes

Words per minute

161.27

Word count

6,311

Sentence count

304

Harmful content

Toxicity

22

sentences flagged

Hate speech

20

sentences flagged


Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 Like on Miles Morales?
00:00:01.380 Yeah.
00:00:02.580 I, like, one scene I liked is when, like,
00:00:06.500 when he jumped off, like, that building,
00:00:07.880 like, he did a backflip on that building.
00:00:09.320 Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:00:10.220 Like, it's called The Leap of Faith.
00:00:11.220 What's up, Danger?
00:00:11.880 Yeah, what's up, Danger?
00:00:13.580 That's all it is, Miles.
00:00:15.340 A leap of faith.
00:00:30.000 Hi there, and welcome to the podcast.
00:00:53.220 My name is Jonathan, and I've been working on this podcast for years now.
00:00:57.540 As you know, it's about the perspectives and experiences of boys.
00:01:03.240 I'm currently piecing through audio from a grassroots podcast project that we did at a local school.
00:01:09.000 One of the things that my co-facilitator, Adrian, and I wanted to explore was the impact of media representation on boys of color.
00:01:17.380 Our group of boys, sort of 12 and 13-year-old boys, talked in the first couple of recording sessions about prejudice,
00:01:22.760 about being viewed as angry or being seen as someone who is going to steal from a store,
00:01:28.740 that kind of thing. And those ideas come from somewhere. Now, obviously, it's not as simple
00:01:35.820 as media representation, but media plays a part. There's a subtext, right, in the stories that we
00:01:42.520 tell. And for boys themselves, like we all know the saying, you can't be what you can't see.
00:01:48.320 the tropes of black masculinity in media are incredibly limiting i'm sure like i'm sure that
00:01:56.060 you know this but like it's worth spending a moment to revisit back to the 1940s with the
00:02:01.720 trope of the quote-unquote magical negro and i'll say i guess an example in the disney movie song
00:02:06.540 of the South. Or in the 1990s with Wesley Snipes playing the trope of the athletes in White Men
00:02:20.820 Can't Jump. And even with increasing diversity in film media, these stereotypes continue to
00:02:36.300 be perpetuated one more would be the angry black man trope if you picture ice cube right in one of 0.99
00:02:43.580 his action comedies this is funny messing with the tv with your goddamn computer telephone no i'm not 0.98
00:02:49.260 the one doing it i'm gonna show you what's funny everybody i want you to hashtag l m f a 0.96
00:02:58.700 Now there will be no more interruptions in my class.
00:03:03.500 None!
00:03:04.820 We started out the conversation by asking our group of boys
00:03:07.460 to list out the characteristics that they wanted to be seen as.
00:03:13.300 And you can see their answers are not stereotypical at all, right?
00:03:16.640 Some of them fit within the traditional narrative, and that's fine.
00:03:20.360 But that's not all of who they are.
00:03:24.720 One more thing I'll say before I say,
00:03:26.580 I feel like I'm saying this every time,
00:03:27.660 but the audio is far from perfect. One of our microphones stopped working, and what you hear
00:03:34.040 is the best of what we've got. I even considered not publishing this because of the audio. Like,
00:03:38.600 what is the point of a podcast episode that doesn't have something that's easier to listen to, but
00:03:42.920 it would be a disservice to their time and their energy. So bear with us. Like, you'll hear all
00:03:49.320 these cuts and all that kind of thing, and I guess you can, instead of judging, you know,
00:03:56.820 what we've got. Appreciate all the time that we spent manually trying to balance the audio levels
00:04:00.640 to give you something that honored the voices and perspectives of the voice that we worked with.
00:04:16.680 Okay, so what we're talking about today is representation. Overall, what examples of people
00:04:22.960 who look like you do you see in the media what do you see around you like in sports celebrities
00:04:27.380 movies different things like that how does that impact you how you see yourself and how you relate
00:04:32.600 to the rest of the world in terms of who you can be when you grow up so the first thing if i'm not
00:04:37.180 mistaken is spend like 30 seconds and think about if you were to watch a documentary about your life
00:04:46.280 at the end of that film or not you if someone else was to watch it at the end of that film
00:04:51.700 How would you want people to describe you?
00:04:54.480 What's an adjective again?
00:04:55.480 An adjective is describing words.
00:04:57.120 Like, seriously, like, how would you want to be described by the people who, like, look at you?
00:05:00.440 Kind.
00:05:00.800 Over the, yeah, over the scope.
00:05:01.900 Visible.
00:05:03.400 Can visible be an adjective?
00:05:06.280 Adjective.
00:05:06.760 Did you say invisible?
00:05:08.000 No, visible.
00:05:08.980 Visible is an adjective, yeah.
00:05:10.220 Wait, is respectful an adjective?
00:05:12.140 Yep.
00:05:12.640 How about sporty?
00:05:13.700 Yep.
00:05:14.360 Okay, I put three.
00:05:16.480 Visible?
00:05:17.120 I'm sorry. 0.63
00:05:17.620 I'm going to do.
00:05:18.140 I put kind, hearted, respectful, and sporty.
00:05:21.700 I'm going to do sporty too.
00:05:24.520 Yo, my boy, don't use the whole paper.
00:05:25.900 You're going to use me to write more.
00:05:27.520 Who?
00:05:28.760 You're going to write more things on this.
00:05:30.620 Watch this.
00:05:32.080 You're writing so big.
00:05:33.300 What's another word for confident?
00:05:35.620 I don't have time.
00:05:36.560 Brave.
00:05:37.800 No, I'm doing that.
00:05:39.840 Highhearted.
00:05:41.280 Respectful.
00:05:42.500 And sporty.
00:05:43.320 You're slow.
00:05:44.280 Where is that?
00:05:45.120 I've been finished.
00:05:46.580 We're going to run out of time.
00:05:47.920 Sadiq, you can finish up, but the rest of you, that's perfect.
00:05:50.020 just like a bit of grounding on how you want to be seen yourself now what we're going to look at is 0.87
00:05:54.980 how the media sees basically a bunch of figures who are not white okay so there's a big stack of
00:06:02.980 paper right here on each of them there's an image on the table in front of you and your job for now
00:06:10.680 is just to choose one that sparks your interest that you know a lot about so as long as you have
00:06:15.920 have an opinion or have knowledge about them, that's enough.
00:06:18.920 How do you spell Morales? Oh, I got it.
00:06:27.920 Okay, now I see how people describe him.
00:06:29.920 Yeah.
00:06:30.920 Big, scary, cold-hearted, no emotions.
00:06:34.920 Nice.
00:06:35.920 Am I wrong? 1.00
00:06:36.920 Goddamn myself. 0.99
00:06:37.920 What do you like about how this person or character represents 0.99
00:06:40.920 Black or South Asian masculinity?
00:06:42.920 case I think all of you selected someone who's black identifying so how do you think this person
00:06:48.040 what do you like about how this person represents black masculinity what resonates with you
00:06:53.420 and what's impactful what feels impactful for me what I like about Kobe is how he's a motivational
00:06:59.840 speaker he never gives up how he worked and what I like about what he represents for black
00:07:06.120 masculinity is how he worked hard to get respect from other people but something that I think is
00:07:12.620 missing that he has missing is how he he talks to his teammates when they do something bad like
00:07:18.860 instead of encouraging them like remember I don't know if you guys seen this before but
00:07:22.960 Nick Young and things like that and Yao Ming they were celebrating about about they're celebrating
00:07:30.080 even if they lost but Kobe was mad so he took all their shoes right so I just feel like yeah so I
00:07:36.260 just feel like something that's missing is he could instead of reacting that way he could
00:07:40.320 encourage them but also try to make them do better next time instead of but the way he does
00:07:46.160 things it also does work but that's something I think that's missing yeah it went a little bit
00:07:51.680 too extreme oh another thing I like about Kobe is also how he was mentally tough and he was a leader
00:07:58.880 and he took um he took like he wanted to be responsible for his losses like he didn't he
00:08:04.760 wasn't afraid to make mistakes because he said he learned from it he was basically like and then
00:08:09.980 And he's really, like, another, like I said before, he's actually a motivational speaker.
00:08:14.220 Because when he talks, I just search up on YouTube Kobe speeches,
00:08:19.760 and it really motivates me to just work hard because he gets my veins pumping and everything.
00:08:26.660 May he rest in peace.
00:08:28.640 And Gigi.
00:08:30.720 And the other people that were on the plane.
00:08:33.240 On the helicopter.
00:08:34.640 I'll go.
00:08:37.260 So, you know, Colin Kaepernick.
00:08:39.980 He's a freedom fighter because of how, like, he kneeled down during the U.S. National Anthem.
00:08:46.920 How he was brave enough that kneeling down could, like, lose his job, like, being an NFL player.
00:08:54.020 So, and he was a hard worker because, you know how there's, like, a show about him calling him black and white?
00:09:03.980 in the in the show it talks no sport this is technically don't spoil it it is a sport don't
00:09:11.560 see yeah it is a sport but basically it's just him and his childhood and how he liked for his
00:09:18.840 stereotypes and racism yeah he had he dealt with racism because as you if you guys didn't know
00:09:26.000 Colin Kaepernick was adopted by a white parent and then yeah it's a white
00:09:31.700 parents so along his childhood he dealt with discrimination and racism and also
00:09:38.660 people were looking at him differently and they were also surprised that his
00:09:43.580 parents were away and everything so they treat his parents nicely but differently
00:09:49.100 yeah and I also like I also like how he being black without having white parents because like
00:09:56.880 you'll get you would get hate like from the black community of like having like going like becoming
00:10:02.600 like having white parents and from white community they would if they would like they wouldn't shoot 0.96
00:10:07.920 you right because like they wouldn't think it's right for white parents to have a black child
00:10:12.140 I also like how he's like mentally strong and doing the right thing at the right time so what
00:10:25.240 I'm talking about is like when he kneeled down that's the only thing I like it's in my to my
00:10:31.060 head because you know because other other people like him wouldn't have done that so like the
00:10:37.980 People who were playing with him, some people who were black, 0.87
00:10:41.000 they wouldn't have done that because probably they wanted their job.
00:10:45.560 They wanted to succeed.
00:10:50.640 What I like about Colin Kaepernick is how he took action and he was a leader
00:10:56.120 and he wasn't afraid to do what was right.
00:10:57.880 Like Akshayne said, he was a freedom fighter.
00:11:00.300 But basically, he was the one that first took action
00:11:05.240 and he was the one that kneeled down.
00:11:06.600 Then as, like we see in the picture, you see another teammate did it.
00:11:12.240 But Colin Kaepernick, it was him.
00:11:14.120 He knew that it wasn't right, so he kneeled down and everything.
00:11:17.780 That's what I like about him.
00:11:19.120 It's like he didn't hesitate to do what was right.
00:11:23.340 Spoiler alert.
00:11:26.880 Spoiler alert.
00:11:28.700 Like, so he experienced racism, like.
00:11:32.040 You already said that.
00:11:32.780 No, I said that, I said that.
00:11:34.260 I got an example.
00:11:35.020 He experienced racism, but he played baseball.
00:11:39.300 And then after, he loved baseball because he grew up playing it.
00:11:43.080 He didn't like it.
00:11:45.300 He played it because he was good at it.
00:11:47.300 But his passion was football.
00:11:49.520 He got braids.
00:11:52.200 And people were saying he was a thug.
00:11:55.160 And his mom called him a thug because he had the braids and everything.
00:12:02.480 Who was the adopted mom?
00:12:05.020 His own mom kind of shut him down. 0.79
00:12:07.040 Yeah, she said he looked like a thug. 0.76
00:12:08.900 And then she was like, take off the bates so you don't look like a thug.
00:12:11.560 She was scared about him because he went to get his braids. 0.98
00:12:14.860 He had to go to a store, black-owned, bunch of black people in there. 0.98
00:12:20.000 She was scared. 0.88
00:12:21.160 When he first got the bates, his mom was like,
00:12:23.060 do you think your coach will like your hair looking like that?
00:12:26.580 Okay, let's go to Sadiq.
00:12:27.680 Who did you choose and when did you come up with Sadiq?
00:12:30.620 Like, I chose Miles Morales from Spider-Man into the Spider-Verse.
00:12:33.940 Okay, so, like, I wrote, like, a short script about him, like, a short story, and, like, the spoiler alert for the people watching and stuff.
00:12:43.000 All right, so, basically, Miles Morales is a teenage kid who was bit by a radioactive spider, and that's how, like, he got his powers.
00:12:51.380 He was encountered by, like, a Spider-Man from another universe called Peter B. Parker.
00:12:57.360 He's, like, from another universe where, like, stuff are different from Miles' universe and stuff.
00:13:02.800 then like he gets like he like the whole town like the whole city will get destroyed by this
00:13:10.180 like device thing kingpin yeah kingpin and like miles has to uh destroy the the kingpin the
00:13:18.020 collider it's called the collider miles has to destroy it so like people don't get hurt and stuff
00:13:22.860 and he gets like the help from other spider men from other universes so then like the spider go
00:13:29.960 When there's, what's his name again?
00:13:32.040 Disney.
00:13:32.660 Disney, he find out that his uncle was a bad guy.
00:13:35.340 Yeah, his uncle was working for Kingpin.
00:13:38.460 Yeah, his name was Aaron.
00:13:39.520 His uncle was working for Kingpin and stuff.
00:13:43.060 Yeah.
00:13:44.360 And, like, what I think about Miles, I think he's, like, brave.
00:13:48.300 Because, well, at first he wasn't brave, but then in the end of the movie,
00:13:51.420 he was, like, really strong.
00:13:55.020 And he tried to save the thing, the people from the collider.
00:13:58.680 because he turned into, like, Spider-Man and stuff.
00:14:01.640 And I think he's confident because he wasn't, like, afraid to, like, do what he was going to do.
00:14:08.040 And I think he's, like, pretty funny because, like, he kind of jokes a lot in the first scenes.
00:14:13.980 So, yeah, that's what I think about him.
00:14:15.960 Anybody else have Miles or Alice?
00:14:18.700 No.
00:14:18.980 Okay, let's do it.
00:14:19.680 One thing about Miles for me, and I don't think it's a limitation with Miles,
00:14:26.540 but, like, how people see Miles is that
00:14:28.280 I knew about Miles Morales, like, prior
00:14:30.600 to the movie. I was a huge fan.
00:14:33.900 There's a part of me that hates 0.96
00:14:34.760 that people are like, oh, no, it's the black Spider-Man.
00:14:36.980 Like, I hear a lot of people say, oh, yeah, he's just
00:14:38.560 like the black Spider-Man, black Spider-Man.
00:14:41.020 When it's like, they just
00:14:42.760 see him as a black,
00:14:44.760 like, it's almost like he doesn't belong
00:14:46.800 when people refer to Miles Morales
00:14:48.520 sometimes. Because they have, like, oh, there's
00:14:50.560 the normal Spider-Man. You have, like, your
00:14:52.480 Tom Holland, Andrew Garfield, whatever.
00:14:54.340 but it's always like when it comes to referring to Miles
00:14:56.700 it's always the other one
00:14:58.520 I just found like that's kind of weird
00:15:00.640 because it felt like
00:15:01.660 as a character in that whole movie
00:15:04.540 it was him just sort of like
00:15:05.520 coming to terms with how he can be Spider-Man
00:15:08.880 and it feels like
00:15:10.200 I don't know it's starting to be neglected
00:15:12.460 being like the other person
00:15:13.600 it's just always something that stood out to me
00:15:15.460 when it comes to other people referring to Miles
00:15:17.100 last but not least we have Ice Cube from Joelle
00:15:23.000 what did you write down or think about ice cube ice cube um he was a man who was an nwa i won't
00:15:31.560 say what it stands for because it's not child appropriate or podcast appropriate and then he
00:15:37.160 also made the friday the friday the friday i can't say friday properly friday series also boys in the
00:15:44.280 Hood. He worked with Tupac Shakur, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, etc. Easy E. Easy E, etc. Rest in
00:15:53.020 peace. He can be funny at times. He was loyal. He was big and scary and always
00:15:59.220 intense. And like, yeah. What else would I say again? How he represents black
00:16:07.480 oh yeah he represents black masculinity by supporting causes like black lives matter
00:16:15.160 movements etc things like that also like he he was like in movies he played it was mostly black
00:16:23.480 movies so like it kind of showed how much he like cared and supported the black community
00:16:30.600 yeah what i liked about ice cube is how he didn't care he doesn't care what anybody thinks of him
00:16:37.320 and he basically has like a cool guy attitude and he just he's like he presents himself as a king
00:16:44.840 and everything he thinks like he's a boss and he and he has confidence so that's what i like about
00:16:50.360 him his confidence and everything um also it's like usually that guy like he doesn't he doesn't
00:16:58.200 give he doesn't give two shits about anything like i remember and she had a confidence i think they
00:17:04.680 they didn't get him his money right so he he brought a couple friends and a bat it was in the 0.71
00:17:09.240 show it was in the movie it was in the movie he broke um he broke like the whole like the record
00:17:15.080 label he broke all his records everything there was a big fight as well but just swearing
00:17:22.120 yeah he can be funny at times too yeah especially like when he would like movies like ride along
00:17:29.320 22 Jump Street, 21 Jump Street, right?
00:17:33.560 He's always like that guy.
00:17:35.100 He's always the boss in every single one of those movies.
00:17:37.880 He's always just to make me feel like the little guy.
00:17:41.360 Right?
00:17:42.440 Yeah.
00:17:43.260 It's always like, for example, in Ride Along,
00:17:46.280 in Ride Along, the guy Kevin Hart played us
00:17:49.140 marrying his sister, so he hated him
00:17:51.460 with all his guts.
00:17:53.040 He was also his police partner.
00:17:55.660 Because Ben, yeah, Ben was the name.
00:17:58.100 Kevin Hart played as Ben.
00:17:59.320 He wanted to make up to him, like he would like him being like his brother-in-law, right?
00:18:05.820 So he joined the police academy, stuff like that.
00:18:09.560 At first he was a security guard at high school, then after that he got promoted.
00:18:13.700 And after that he ended up, no Ice Cube was like a person that wanted to do everything by himself.
00:18:20.000 He didn't need no partners.
00:18:20.940 He didn't like nobody.
00:18:21.920 He just wanted to do it all by himself.
00:18:24.040 and after that as time goes on they ended up building a bond and they liked each other and
00:18:28.720 everything like that oh yeah i mean often that happens in 22 times you too like what he's angry
00:18:35.240 about is uh like a girl or a woman oh yeah his daughter remember yeah he begged his daughter
00:18:41.720 yeah oh my god so but like so for me something that's missing is like why does ice cube feel
00:18:48.300 like he's so entitled to like his daughter or his sister like it's sort of like it's up to his
00:18:54.860 daughter and his sister to like decide who they're in relationship with and what like what they're
00:18:58.520 kind of doing with the person they're in a relationship with he doesn't want his sister
00:19:01.760 doing like or like because he knows how because he knows he's like overprotective because he knows
00:19:06.600 how how boys act or something like that because yeah because he's been like that so he doesn't
00:19:11.520 want them he doesn't want a seeing guy like him coming around to his sister or his daughter and
00:19:17.180 everything like that right which to me like takes a bit of like it takes a bit away from like the
00:19:21.440 autonomy of his daughter or his sister to like live their own lives and not have to just like
00:19:27.660 totally be protected by their brother or their father and then the other thing for me is like
00:19:32.300 his default is anger which is often funny in like an action comedy but it also kind of like
00:19:38.060 what else could possibly be going on in his life that he's like it's not like every person
00:19:42.800 I'm just angry all the time. 0.99
00:19:44.700 He's a big, fat, scary man. 0.99
00:19:47.660 I'm surprised. 0.99
00:19:48.940 Actually, no, let me experiment with something.
00:19:51.340 Can you name all the movies that Ice Cube is in?
00:19:54.060 Ride Along, Straight Outta Compton, Friday, Friday After Next.
00:19:58.260 No, Friday.
00:19:59.200 No, next Friday, then Friday After Next.
00:20:00.820 Yeah, next Friday, then Friday After Next.
00:20:03.020 21 Jump Street, 22.
00:20:03.880 22 Jump Street.
00:20:06.080 What else?
00:20:06.780 Fist Fight.
00:20:07.720 Yeah.
00:20:09.380 Sunday.
00:20:10.560 I forgot.
00:20:10.920 yeah sunday i think um um what's it called are we there yet yeah and then are we there yet two
00:20:18.260 or are we done yet are we done no are we there yet there's no one and two no there's like a one
00:20:23.680 are we there yet and are we done yet with this there's two questions i have what are the majority
00:20:31.920 of the types of characters like who is he usually in those movies he's usually like the nice funny
00:20:36.760 guy the man who does not do a fudge yeah and he's also he also he's also the the overprotective guy
00:20:43.880 too like in all of those movies he's always overprotective he's always carrying like a 12
00:20:48.280 gauge shotgun on the side like if they try to fight or something it's like i think you made
00:20:53.320 a good point there because i was thinking or a decent chunk of those movies you know you mentioned
00:20:57.880 that ice cubes is known for being angry uh-huh and i think there's a huge stereotype of being
00:21:01.800 like the angry black man that's reoccurring but in addition a lot of the stuff he's been
00:21:07.080 he always had he had his own career as a rapper yeah but usually seeing him as either 0.66
00:21:14.120 a rapper potential criminal oh yeah yeah first part of his life he was a criminal yeah he was
00:21:20.680 so kind of makes you think as well when it comes to those portrayals of him
00:21:24.120 do you think that's a problem is it limiting he was a good rapper
00:21:27.960 continue oh no like what was limited about that is it limited yeah is that a problem yeah
00:21:36.120 because then after that this um that's like that's what starts the stereotypes because since
00:21:41.900 like they seen he's uh like he's famous right so he's big so since like they see um a black guy
00:21:47.720 doing these type of things they're gonna start stereotyping other black people and they're gonna
00:21:51.940 assume and make assumptions that we do those type of things as well because they seen um like the
00:21:57.680 basically like he's almost basically like a leader or something because like he could use his platform
00:22:02.760 to do whatever he wants so if they see his platform they're gonna base it off of everyone
00:22:07.220 else but even if that's not the case but they'll still do it so that's like that's limiting
00:22:13.420 that's a good point betta i think the one that's interesting piece when it comes to thinking about
00:22:18.820 actors i'm really into like drama and acting and if you look at a lot of the the characters that
00:22:24.480 you see people play or especially who are people who are rappers who end up going on tv
00:22:29.920 they're usually like nine times out of ten they're like the angry guy they're either 0.82
00:22:34.240 the angry black man maybe a criminal like you look at like 50 cent yeah you can see you think
00:22:38.400 about like the shows and stuff that he was in they're like get rich or die trying if you work 0.98
00:22:43.680 with young people you know you're an educator or a coach or a volunteer i want to just want to say
00:22:49.120 two things. First of all, I appreciate you to be spending, you know, your free time listening to
00:22:55.700 boys' voices and thinking about how to support their well-being and positive development and
00:23:00.040 also to show up for them day in and day out. That's huge. Second of all, I know you're probably
00:23:06.700 hungry for training, for resources. I mean, that's where the most passionate and committed educators
00:23:12.700 I know are at. So listen, we've been developing this for years now, a series of professional
00:23:17.680 development sessions on positive masculinity, mental health and well-being, anti-feminist
00:23:23.640 influences like Andrew Tate, and consent education with boys. All tied to the Next Gen Manual
00:23:30.060 Program Guide. This past school year, 100% of participating educators said they learned
00:23:35.300 something new and that it was relevant to their work with students. 92% of them said that they
00:23:40.000 felt like they had a clear actionable next step to put something into action, and 70% of them
00:23:45.020 actually did be the one to make a difference for the boys in your school. Become a champion
00:23:50.480 of the next generation of men at nextgenmen.ca slash mentors.
00:24:00.840 From there, we delved into an exploration of the Black celebrities and characters that drive the
00:24:05.480 media narratives around them. Our group of four ended up choosing Kobe Bryant, Colin Kaepernick,
00:24:11.640 miles morales and ice cube and you can see in this conversation like this conversation is not a
00:24:18.000 lesson we're not trying to prove a point we're just approaching the conversation with curiosity
00:24:23.140 and hearing what they have to say about those media's sort of representations around them you
00:24:28.700 can hear for example that kobe bryant means a lot to them as a basketball icon colin kaepernick means
00:24:34.800 a lot to them as someone who stood up for what he believes in. And Miles Morales is
00:24:44.640 relatable, and Ice Cube makes them laugh. Like, all together, I would say, you know,
00:24:53.020 these four characters, the other guys that we talked about in the scope of this conversation,
00:24:56.660 like, they demonstrate that representation matters.
00:25:04.800 there's a couple more questions i'm going to ask one of them is either think back on the
00:25:12.600 conversation or look at what you wrote and then remind yourself how you wrote that you would want
00:25:18.180 to be described in a documentary about your life remember at the very start like an hour ago we
00:25:24.060 wrote down we wrote down three adjectives from that documentary about our lives yeah so compare
00:25:28.480 the two look at what you wrote about what how you would want to be described and then look at what
00:25:34.020 you wrote or what you heard about how these representations are typically like viewed and
00:25:40.380 described oh we're the opposite how are they similar i'm curious to well let's start with
00:25:44.260 similar what do you notice that's the same in both uh well hard worker yeah hard worker leader
00:25:49.820 sporty and mentally tough everybody no not everybody oh no like for our thing like our
00:25:55.260 character right so my character was kobe and for me what i put for like what i would want to be
00:26:01.140 describe as some adjectives was like a hard worker, leader, caring,
00:26:09.200 mentally tough, responsible, confident, courageous, loyal, and funny. And Bucero
00:26:18.960 has it. He has it. Everything. Okay. What about other people? What were the
00:26:23.960 characteristics that overlap? Actually, what were the ones that were the same for you?
00:26:27.340 Something I was saying between me and Colin Kaepernick.
00:26:34.340 Or the other characters that you heard about.
00:26:37.340 I'll just do me and Colin Kaepernick, is that me and him, you know, I'm a hard worker.
00:26:41.340 I like being brave, brave enough to at least get me somewhere.
00:26:48.340 and uh and he's we're both sporty so he plays football which makes him an athlete and I play
00:26:59.000 basketball which makes me an athlete a student athlete yeah student athlete okay so you have
00:27:05.340 the toughness the bravery the sportiness what overlap for you what was the same um
00:27:12.580 I don't really know.
00:27:15.420 Did you have any that you kind of felt like overlap?
00:27:18.240 Me, I want to be described as in, like, kind.
00:27:21.680 I don't want to look at it as, like, mean or angry, aggressive.
00:27:25.760 And, like, funny, kind of.
00:27:29.220 And just brave at some points.
00:27:31.900 Okay.
00:27:34.900 And, Yoel, what was the same on your list between you and I?
00:27:38.120 Loyal, that's it, pretty much.
00:27:40.060 Okay, so what about what was missing?
00:27:41.460 What was on your list that didn't come into the representation?
00:27:45.260 Oh, Colin Kaepernick was visible to several people.
00:27:49.220 And, like, now I'm, like, I'm not visible.
00:27:53.160 I'm invisible because, you know, like the stereotype I said before,
00:27:59.100 like how people thought of me as an Indian and a Muslim.
00:28:02.880 So, like, that makes me that I'm not, like, I'm basically the air
00:28:09.140 that no one breathes in.
00:28:11.460 yeah okay thanks that's a nice day of speech so visibility is missing for you right now yeah
00:28:17.300 yeah same with me because i'm like a normal ordinary school boy but ice cream's that big
00:28:25.040 rapper that everybody knows and everybody loves right like we haven't made like something big
00:28:30.960 yet right well that's gonna yeah i mean that's that's that's gonna change that's gonna change
00:28:36.020 what about what other qualities apart from visibility what other qualities did you write
00:28:40.520 down for yourself that were not included in the representations oh how he how
00:28:46.220 Colin Kaepernick went to had to go through struggles in his childhood and
00:28:51.140 like how I'm going to struggle but like not that much right not as bad as yeah
00:28:56.960 it's not on yours but what's on your list that's not on theirs oh okay let's
00:29:04.760 So, like, so Citi, what else was on your list for yourself?
00:29:07.800 Like, um, like, I'm, like, brave.
00:29:13.540 I'm confident.
00:29:14.520 I'm strong, mentally strong.
00:29:16.900 And, like, for Miles, like, for me and Miles, like, he is, like, how do I say this?
00:29:25.380 Um, popular, kind of, because he has, like, a lot of friends around the streets and, like, lots of people know him.
00:29:31.600 um yeah he's a kind of popular i'm not that popular but like he's
00:29:38.960 brave as in like like not like brave as in he can jump off buildings and do stuff like that i i can't
00:29:47.800 do that that by the question though because the question isn't just what's different between you
00:29:52.240 and this character what's different between you and this media figure like the struggles
00:29:56.780 there's going to be lots of differences specifically what i'm wondering is is there anything
00:30:01.740 that you aspire for yourself that you care about in terms of your identity and your relationships
00:30:07.100 with people like one potentially city to explore is like you and i think a bunch of you wrote like
00:30:11.980 kindness and like being kind-hearted and thoughtful towards other people so anyways i'm wondering is
00:30:17.580 there anything about you that actually isn't as represented in media representations of people
00:30:24.060 will look like you um like it's like how like something that i have that other people don't
00:30:31.260 have kind of something that you want to be that isn't as fully represented in media so like okay
00:30:39.580 okay i get it so something that i want to be that other people are are like not kind of yeah i want
00:30:45.100 to be known as a good person kind of yeah because of the stereotype that happens to you the security
00:30:53.580 off of the security guy yeah i just want to be known as a good person and not a bad person
00:30:59.740 right which may be overlaps with miles morales but maybe a little less so with like other people
00:31:06.860 yeah like the other characters on this list that we had i also i don't know i want to be
00:31:15.900 i don't know i don't know at all that's what were you gonna say something i was gonna say
00:31:21.260 I want to be a, like, known to be a good person and a person that, like, that gives back and that takes the time to be with his community and things like that.
00:31:35.500 Because there's other people that, like, fake it in a sense or something.
00:31:39.300 but I want to be known as a person who, like, really cared about his community
00:31:43.760 or, like, who really loved, like, spending time with people
00:31:48.840 and also known as a person who loved giving back and who was just kind, you know?
00:31:57.420 Mine is the same thing as the Osirika and the Bessayel.
00:32:00.920 I want to be, like, a person who gives back to the people indeed.
00:32:05.560 and I want to be seen as a good person
00:32:09.780 outside of school
00:32:12.400 and I just want to be like
00:32:16.360 I'm visible to this place
00:32:18.980 I'm visible wherever I go
00:32:22.060 that like I won't be seen as an Indian or a Muslim anymore
00:32:27.400 yeah
00:32:28.920 what would you be seen as?
00:32:31.980 what's your identity then?
00:32:33.620 Sri Lankan
00:32:34.280 oh yeah okay yeah okay so I'm gonna put out there that we don't just need stories of like
00:32:45.740 I don't know like Luke Cage or like Dwayne The Rock Johnson or like people smashing stuff or
00:32:51.000 getting lots of money or like winning the NBA finals but we also need stories of people being
00:32:57.680 like kind-hearted and giving back to their community and like making connections with
00:33:03.580 Well, there was a time, and I'm pretty sure, yeah, it was in grade five, after we played the finals, the finals, yeah, and then we got McDonald's, and then right beside the McDonald's shop, there was, like, this homeless man, and he was, like, he was white, so at first, he was, like, he looked, he looked at us, like, it was, like, he thought, like, we were going to do something to him, like, in a bad way, and then, me, and then a friend, me and a friend, we,
00:33:32.680 bought something and then gave him like
00:33:35.260 half of what we bought
00:33:36.920 for him to eat.
00:33:39.040 Nice.
00:33:40.340 What was it like?
00:33:42.120 I gave him some fries.
00:33:45.060 Yeah.
00:33:46.200 We had a lot of food too. I gave him some fries.
00:33:49.380 And then I'm pretty sure
00:33:50.140 I gave him like a fries and fries like a chicken nugget.
00:33:52.180 I'm pretty sure my friend
00:33:53.840 he gave a little bit of money
00:33:56.300 I think.
00:33:58.100 Have you ever seen
00:33:59.340 a movie or a TV show
00:34:01.920 or anything like that
00:34:03.140 where someone who looks like you
00:34:05.100 did something like that?
00:34:09.400 No, but I think
00:34:10.960 many BIPOC people have done that. 1.00
00:34:13.540 Yeah. 0.98
00:34:13.900 You know.
00:34:14.700 Well, we can probably come up with
00:34:15.900 movie after movie after movie 0.72
00:34:17.160 where someone who looks like you 0.97
00:34:19.320 smashed a window
00:34:21.700 or picked up a gun
00:34:23.000 or dealt drugs.
00:34:24.560 And maybe I'm just being really uninformed,
00:34:28.060 but what comes to mind is
00:34:29.140 I could name any number of movies
00:34:30.980 where, yeah, some ex-rapper is now a drug dealer
00:34:34.160 and there's a story about it.
00:34:36.000 And some of them are good stories,
00:34:37.360 but I think it's valuable if there's also stories of, you know,
00:34:40.960 like young Sri Lankan kids giving some stuff to someone.
00:34:45.080 Something that is missing in movies that I don't really see a lot
00:34:50.080 is, like, the story that has to be told is racism.
00:34:55.540 them basically how people were more privileged and how it shows like both sides like basically
00:35:03.780 a movie that shows how it felt to be a BIPOC person and how it felt at the time when it was
00:35:10.320 like when they had less privilege and when they were and like when they were treated differently 0.83
00:35:16.320 and they were treated horribly and they were treated like some terrorist basically just 0.52
00:35:23.460 have like both of their
00:35:24.980 point of view or something like that
00:35:27.220 or what they were thinking of at that time
00:35:29.680 and then basically put the movie
00:35:31.560 I think it should go
00:35:33.260 throughout the whole world and it's basically like
00:35:35.240 a message almost
00:35:36.220 and then at the end they could put like
00:35:39.220 a message
00:35:39.840 I'll see you all signing off
00:35:42.320 and what I think should put in movies
00:35:45.600 especially if you pay attention
00:35:47.180 like in horror movies you always see 0.98
00:35:49.260 the black guy dies first 1.00
00:35:51.260 yes 0.99
00:35:51.900 it's always like in a horror movie it's always the black guy that dies first and after like
00:35:57.600 it's always like people like people that not buy pocket people like i'm gonna say something
00:36:03.440 that's missing in like most popular movies i'd say like there are like there's not a lot of
00:36:09.200 people of color actors because most of the actors are like white and stuff and like well it's
00:36:15.440 increasing though people that are of color are like it is increasing there's a lot of people
00:36:19.680 It's something that could change.
00:36:20.940 People that are of color.
00:36:21.880 Yeah, it could change.
00:36:22.880 It doesn't bother me, but like,
00:36:25.220 I just wanted to point that out.
00:36:27.140 This is Axein signing off,
00:36:28.600 and one thing I wanna see in movies 1.00
00:36:34.780 is like Sri Lankan actors,
00:36:38.120 cause tell me one Sri Lankan actor in Hollywood. 1.00
00:36:42.940 There's none. 1.00
00:36:43.720 Axein.
00:36:44.880 I'm not an actor.
00:36:46.180 This is Adrie signing off,
00:36:47.760 and I'm not Axein.
00:36:48.860 Like, we were literally looking for flanking actors.
00:36:52.960 We just fall short.
00:36:54.220 We tried.
00:36:55.820 And I think being able to find out, like, 1.00
00:36:57.740 what are the other, like, BIPOC identities
00:37:00.360 that aren't present in film and giving them the space.
00:37:03.880 I'm just curious.
00:37:05.220 I think I've become super aware of it
00:37:06.780 within our conversation to yourself.
00:37:08.980 That's what I want.
00:37:10.220 Hopefully, this message, like, inspires, like,
00:37:13.540 people who are listening, hopefully,
00:37:15.140 they get inspired and they want to have a dream
00:37:17.840 of becoming an actress like or like a sports player or anything they just want to be seen
00:37:24.960 my name is jonathan and this is breaking the boy code together with my friend and past colleague
00:37:30.080 adrian we've done some other cool projects look it's important that young people are able to see
00:37:35.600 themselves reflected in the world around them and that's why adrian and i designed the boys will be
00:37:40.160 blank affirmations card deck if you're getting sick of me plugging supporting next gen men tell
00:37:44.640 you why. Take a look at this card deck. It's designed to foster a full expression of boys'
00:37:49.200 authentic strengths. The determination of Kobe and Vetsa, the bravery of Colin Kaepernick and
00:37:54.880 Akshan, the authenticity of Miles Morales and Sadiq, the loyalty of Ice Cube and Yoel. Boys
00:38:01.360 will be whatever they see around them. They will be what we give them the space to be. And so that's
00:38:08.080 sign you. Pick up a deck at nextgenmen.ca slash cards. You can get in touch with me at boypodcast
00:38:15.940 at nextgenmen.ca or at boypodcast on social media. Ask your boys who their role models
00:38:21.820 in media are. The answer might surprise you.
00:38:38.080 We'll be right back.