O dia em que apresento No.6 em inglês

Já há algum tempo  que estou para mostrar esta surpresa: decidi apresentar como trabalho de inglês a história de No.6 (com mais foco nas novels) e relacionar os temas da obra com direitos humanos e afins. Como tal, decidi colocar o trabalho praticamente na íntegra aqui, mostrando os desenhos que fiz para ele - LERAM BEM, eu desenhei o meu próprio trabalho! - o Power Point e ainda o texto. A apresentação será feita amanhã, e dado o trabalho que deu, espero realmente ter uma nota prestável. Mas mesmo que não tenha servido de nada, eu já fico contente com o resultado, e estou ansiosa por exibir isto no tumblr >.<

Os desenhos: www

» Nota: Esse link tem a sua *cof* importância *cof* já que é onde eu falo do trabalho que os desenhos deram e ainda mostro passo a passo a edição, já que a qualidade das digitalizações estava nojenta. Bah, ainda bem que comecei a preparar o trabalho no próprio dia em que se decidiu a data,ou não teria tido tempo de acabar a complicação daquilo em que me meti.

O Power Point: 

{Aqui estão alguns prints}

O texto: 

{Não traduzi o texto, mas essencialmente não diz mais do que as coisas que já disse no blog}

I’ve chosen the Free topic and I’m going to talk about a story that I consider more people should meet.

Number 6 is a series of 9 novels and an extra wrote by Atsuko Asano, later adapted to manga and anime – I don’t like the anime very much despite it was my first contact with the series, due to the omission of important details and for falling in some stereotypes. It was originally written for children and young teenagers, but I choose these books because they portray with naturalness some issues we had been talking about in the classes – better than most of the adult novels. In this work, I won’t focus much in the plot, I will pay more attention to the themes. But first…

I want you to match this quotes with some human rights:

EQUALITY:

 Hey, Shion. Don’t you have any sense of hierarchy in your heart? Don’t you draw lines between groups of people at all? Don’t you ever feel contempt towards other people, and then feel you’re better because of it? Shion, as humans, are we really all equal? 

GOOD LIFE CONDITIONS:

 Try living a life where you're so, so hungry that all you can think about all day is food. Try spending your days licking pebbles on the road to stave off your hunger. Loneliness? That's just a luxurious toy for you people who don't have to worry about filling your bellies.

JUSTICE, LAW:

 "Really," said Shion grimly.
 "Like the train that you're about to get on. With that ID card, you can bypass the General car and ride in Special Class. That's the kind of city we live in. Everyone's sorted out into categories based on skill, wealth, and all these other factors."
 "Don't talk about it like that," Safu protested. "You don't 'sort' people like you 'sort' garbage and merchandise. People are people. They're humans."
 "Safu, in this city it doesn't matter whether we're people or not. It matters how useful you are to the city. That's it."

Number 6 tells the story of two boys and one city-state. It starts with a twelve years old prodigy boy named Shion, who had a privileged life in the utopian city of Number 6, till the night when Nezumi, supposedly a murder of the same age, invaded his house. Instead of denounce Nezumi, Shion helped him to escape. Nezumi disappears during 4 years, while Shion lost all of his rights as a citizen, and through time the city decided to get rid of this useless citizen. That’s when Nezumi appears again to take Shion to a secure place and pay his debt. Shion will need to face poverty and some hard truths about the city, lots of things happen, and both of the protagonists will end overthrowing the government. In the end, Shion takes an important role in the new government and Nezumi leaves the city to travel around the world.

As I said, I think this series is incredible for sharing lots of messages for all the ages, without dramatizing anything but in an unpretentious way. And here the most remarkable themes:

• Past mistakes to avoid: The story is imbued with reminders of past wars, with symbols that can be connected with the Nazis. Also, the Mao Folk, to which Nezumi belonged as a child, was decimated by the city of Number 6 in a similar way with some past “aboriginal cleanings” of our world. Even after taking a role in the government, Shion feels the pressure to avoid that kind of events and not to let himself be corrupted. After all, he have seen people in West Block who were so mistreated, that they didn’t even believe that they were equal to the others, and Shion wants to make they  aware of the good life they deserve. Of their rights.
• Human rights and manipulation: The city treated people as tools, so every time a citizen lost his usefulness, the city takes their rights – that happened with Shion, and was very common among elders, who couldn’t work anymore. That was done with subtlety, for other people continue believing that the city was flawless. People were manipulated, even by some means of communication, and blind to the poverty outside the wall of the city. We talked about human rights, so this one is an important reason to pick these novels.
• Environmental issues: The Mao Folk was a Folk that lived in a huge forest, and the city-states were created after a big part of the planet were destroyed (mostly by pollution), something that is happening even in our planet. People were needing a safe place to live, in good conditions, without pollution. The intention behind the creation of 6 city-states was good; the problem was that the human’s greed corrupted the government. Animals are also important and very capable in this story, and it’s possible to see some parallels between No.6 and some Shakespeare books. Shakespeare was Nezumi’s favorite writers, so he quotes a lot one book in particular, Macbeth, where the nature was in chaos and marched towards the castle of Macbeth, to punish the king for being such a bad leader. Which is another message and a warning to the characters of No.6.
• Equal gender rights: The women have important rules in the plot. Safu, a girl who loved Shion, was even smarter than him, and I remember Shion was a prodigy – however, her future was stolen from her. And Shion’s mother, Karan, is important for different reasons – she accepted the loss of privileges and started a life with her own hands - independently of the government – in a bakery, she cared of Shion without a man to help, and she continued to live even after discover that, to don’t be arrested, Shion should leave away from her. Safu and Karan are both strong women.
• Genders don’t matter: Anyone, neither the readers nor the characters, knows the gender of Inukashi. The English version of the novels treat Inukashi as male, but there are some Japanese pronouns neutral in gender and they are always used to refer to Inu – and the most incredible part is that the readers don’t need to know the gender of a character to instantly consider him charismatic. Also, Nezumi is a very skillful actor in a theater and his main role is as a female character, but despite dressing like a woman to do that, that is never used to humiliate him or to consider him “less man”. 
• Acceptance for different sexual orientations: Nezumi and Shion kissed twice, and though the inexistence of an explicit declaration, everyone can see how they love, support and trust in each other, despite their opposite past – Shion grew in abundance, Nezumi in losses. That leaded to different opinions, but they learned a lot with each other and ended fighting for the same goal. One of the things I like in their relationship is how it never was stereotyped as many series and movies do, and how it shows in a very acceptable way the shares of their daily routine and their bickers, not just the good things of a relationship – considering they lived together. Also, nobody judged them for it, so dramatic scenes related to the acceptance of society were never shown. And, anyway, the plot don’t focus much in the romance, and I think people need more stories where queer protags have an important role in a bigger story – Number 6 it’s almost a soft version of Hunger Games where the romance is between people of the same gender. I think stories like this one would help to integrate “different (are they?)” people in the society, and it will also remember society that everyone is a person, everyone has a goal, everyone has an identity beyond their amorous life. 
• Physical appearances are irrelevant, and everyone is important despite the age: Inukashi is very young and is black, Shion’s mother is plump, Shion turns into an albino, Nezumi has pale skin and dark hair, Safu is a common Japanese girl, Rikiga is almost an old-man, and there are lots of children that are important to, at least, connect people. 

Do you want to suggest any story – a book, and animation, movies, series – where some of these themes were discussed too, and explain your choice? ---------time to hear the answers-----------

More than pointing problems, or saying what everyone should do, I think the means of communication should SHOW how to really live in a multicultural society: they should show solutions and real examples of people who already changed the world, or of how is possible to coexist though the differences. It’s a question of representation. And, for me, stories are the most powerful weapon to do that.

To finish, here you have one of my favorite quotes, mostly about support:

I told you before. I’m me, and you’re you. We can’t do the same things. We can’t be the same. But we can support each other like this. Both of us. Back there, you supported me, and gave me water. You were probably thirsty as hell yourself, but you saved every little drop for me. Shion… you were born inside the walls, and I’ve been living outside of them. That’s the reality of it, and we can’t help it. No one can change the fact. But when the other is about to fall, we stretch our hand out without even thinking, and try to support him. We can’t help it. We give him water. We try to protect him. That’s another truth about us. 

— (Nezumi) No.6 Volume 6, Chapter 5

Voilá, era isso. Espero que não me tenham achado demasiado doida >.<