rebekah-rice
In this episode of Redfern Now called "Stand Up" there were five characters that were able to use power to an extent to get what they wanted and to stand for what they believe in. These characters were able to demonstrate this in different ways.
The Board of Directors are main source of people demonstrating power in the episode of Redfern Now called ‘Stand Up’, now even though we don’t see them in the episode they are the people that seem to hold the most power because they have power over the teachers at the school and have to power to expel students who don’t follow the school rules. The Board of Directors are the reason one of the students got expelled from the school and is the reason that one of his friends got into the school.
The media are another example of power being showed throughout the episode ‘Stand Up’ of Redfern. They hold power through the ability to be able to blackmail people into thinking the school is being racist by expelling a black student. The media are powerful because they are able to get people to be on there side for reasons, like how Joel got expelled the media changes the story and says things to make Joel seem more innocent and to make the school he attends look bad.
Joel is another person who shows power within Redfern now. In the beginning of the episode of Redfern Now called ‘Stand Up’ Joel doesn’t show much power, but as the episode progresses he shows a lot of power by standing up for what he believes in but also has to face consequences. He stands up for his right to not sing the Australian National Anthem because it doesn’t feel right to him. In the multiple school assemblies that get shown you see him not standing up for the Australian National Anthem and not singing it. He gets held back after the assembly to say that when he signed up to go to this school it was compulsory to sing the Australian National Anthem and he got asked why he didn’t, he basically said he didn’t sing it or stand up because he doesn’t believe in singing something that has nothing to do with where he came from and because he doesn’t believe in singing something that doesn’t mean anything to him.
Mrs. Macann who is the principle of the school that Joel Attends also shows power through the Episode of Redfern called ‘Stand Up’ by being able to rule over all the students who attend the school. Throughout the episode Mrs. Macann start with a lot of power but sort of loses it because of the Media. during the episode when Joel won’t sing she sort of threatens him by saying something like you signed up for this school and its compulsory to sing the Australian National Anthem, if you don’t we could always given your position to someone else. When Joel still didn’t obey the school rules she came to the her last resort which was expelling him and guiding him off of the school grounds, which the media was there when it happened and got a photo of the principle leading him off of the school grounds and made up a rumor about the school. This is were she starts losing her power because some of Joel’s friends decide to take a stand after he was expelled by not singing the Australian National anthem either, cause them to get in trouble and almost lose their place at the school. She is then told by Mr. Parish that this wouldn’t stop until Joel was brought back to the school, making her lose he power because she ended up bringing Joel back to the school.
Mr. Parish who is one of the teachers at the school Joel attends shows power throughout the episode by helping Mrs Macann come up with the decision to expel him. He also shows power in a way by getting a guard out the front of his classroom to try and stop Joel from coming to school each day even though he was expelled.
