Flores 1

Christopher Flores

Ms. Alvaro

ENG3UQ

25 July 2019

The Theme of Identity in Various Media: An Annotated Bibliography

Adames, Kalhil. “Identity SHORT FILM (Award Winning Inspirational Short).” YouTube, 24

May 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikGVWEvUzNM.

This short film takes the concept of “wearing a mask” to an extreme level. It

focusses on a school where everyone is wearing literal masks that are hiding their faces.

At the end of the video, a girl realizes that she should take off her mask. On the topic of

identity, the film’s main message is that people act differently around their peers, hiding

their true selves. People learn from a young age to follow social norms by not acting like

themselves. In turn, that makes them socially compatible with others, giving a fake

feeling of satisfaction. The girl removing her mask symbolizes that she will now just be

herself.

Angelou, Maya. “Still I Rise.” The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou, Random

House, 1994, pp. 460–461.

In this poem, Maya Angelou lists her positive qualities (i.e. sexiness and

optimism) and repeats the phrase “I rise” to indicate her contempt against anyone that

tries to discourage her. In other words, no matter what anyone says to her, she will not let

that falter her. Her writing relates to the theme of identity because she is loving who she

is as a person. It is effective because it can encourage readers to do the same.

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Appiah, Kwame Anthony. “Can We Choose Our Own Identity?” The Guardian, 31 Aug. 2018,

www.theguardian.com/books/2018/aug/31/who-owns-your-identity-kwame-anthony-

appiah.

“Can We Choose Our Own Identity?” says that social constructs and personal

identities will come into conflict. For example, the author mentions the example of

Caitlyn Jenner. She identifies as a woman; however, many people disagree by calling her

“a man pretending to be a woman”. The article’s ending says an important thing about

identity; it basically says that peoples’ identities cannot be labeled by themselves; they

must negotiate with others so that their identities meet social constructs.

Chopin, Katie. “Desiree’s Baby.” Katie Chopin: Complete Novels and Stories, 1899, pp. 242–

247.

“Desiree’s Baby” takes place in a time period when black people were kept as

slaves. In the story, Desiree is abandoned by her biological parents, then, two white

people adopt her. When Desiree grows up, she marries a white man named Armand and

has a baby with him. Then, Armand notices that the baby is black. Armand assumes that

Desiree possesses a black lineage; so, he disowns her and the baby. In a surprising twist,

in a letter written by Armand’s mother, it states that Armand has black ancestors;

therefore, he is the reason why his baby is black. This story relates to the theme of

identity by making the reader realize that race is an essential property of one’s identity

and it is unfair to judge someone because of it. Whether Armand likes it or not, he has

black heritage and that cannot be changed. The story also says that discrimination against

someone’s racial identity was prominent back in the day.

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Mack, Marlo. “Episode I: Mama, I'm a Girl.” How To Be A Girl Podcast, 7 June 2014,

www.howtobeagirlpodcast.com/episodes/2014/6/7/episode-i-mama-im-a-girl.

To summarize this podcast, a mother tells the story of her 3-year-old transgender

child; the child was born a boy but identifies as a girl. At first, the mother is hesitant to

refer to her child using female pronouns; however, she ends up doing so. On the theme of

identity, a message of the podcast is that gender identity should not be determined by

someone’s biological sex, rather, by someone’s own feelings of who he or she is.