artigo
ON WHY HEALTH INEQUALITIES PERSIST: ANALYZING THE LEGEND OF ZHENHUAN (2011) THROUGH FREIRE
SOBRE POR QUE PERSISTEM AS DESIGUALDADES EM SAÚDE: ANALISANDO A LENDA DE ZHENHUAN (2011) POR MEIO DE FREIRE
John Hu
This paper analyzes the Legend of Zhenhuan (2011) through the writings of Freire to discuss persistent health inequalities. With the increasing use of drama and film in medical school education, the Legend of ZhenHuan presents acute commentary on classism and inequality by breaking a host of harem romance stereotypes. It first places emphasis on the lives of a cast of slave characters, challenging the marginalized and invisibilized status of the oppressed class as humanized characters in media representation. Beyond a discussion of human rights and disability issues, it further questions the purpose of following rules when the existing system of rules permits health inequalities to persist. Transgression of rules is not simplistically encouraged in its in-depth analysis. The narrative presents multiple tiers of privileged individuals acting as oppressors, with lower tiers of oppressors revealed to be living in oppression themselves. With this, it challenges a binary between the privileged and the oppressed to pose the question of who and what exactly society should be fighting against in a quest for human equality. The conclusion of the narrative does not follow a reductionist approach to solving inequality but outlines the importance of countering two important strategies the privileged have designed to perpetuate inequality. First, the divide-and-conquer mechanism of fostering a fight among the oppressed requires acute awareness and a dedication to solidarity - a painful state requiring sacrifice, which Freire describes as a “radical posture”. Second, a collective refusal to participate in inequitable systems is needed, as it counters the strategy of the elite in educating new generations of leaders who are ready to help lead and maintain inequitable systems, as the education system is designed to “inoculate a bourgeois appetite for personal success”, inequitable hierarchies may be challenged, but quickly rebuilt by young generations as illustrated in the concluding episode.
