Sarah jones - Lecture notes 8 PDF

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notes on the Ted Talk where Sarah Jones was...

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Tasnia Ahmed Sociology Professor Erica Childs Sarah Jones In the TEDtalk video “One woman, five characters, and a sex lesson from the future, Sarah Jones performs a play called “Sell/Buy/Date” where she takes the form of multiple characters. She is also the teacher who plugs in the different roles of the characters. Sarah Jones changes into an elderly homemaker, a “sex work studies” major, an escort, a nun-turned-prostitute, and a guy at a strip club for his bachelor party. She personifies these different individuals to show their take on sex work, or prostitution as we call it. In the TEDtalk video “What does the future hold”? she changes into eleven of her “friends” from the future through wardrobe swaps to answer questions from the audience. We see her changing between a Latina and Indian lady to even a police officer. I believe the message Sarah Jones is trying to deliver through these performances in the videos is that human beings all have their own perspectives about topics (sex work being the one in the video). We are all different, and where we come from influences how we feel about certain things. She emphasizes the experiences these characters went through so the audience can feel those experiences and memories as well. Our encounters shape our outlook of the world and we cannot judge others without hearing their side of the story first. We learn that the escort (that Sarah acted as) went through multiple horrendous jobs and wanted to be paid more. She admits that there are certain things she hates about this job of being an escort, but the money is not one of them. She states that while her family is unaware of her “job”, they do know that their school fees, books,

computer, etc., are being paid. We also learn about the nun who married a drug addict and was turned to prostitution by her husband to support the both of them. Hearing about these experiences and watching Sarah act them out so well allows us to really feel what the characters went through. It allows us to feel their side of the story and see why they turned to prostitution. It is interesting how one woman can create characters of different backgrounds and change her voice multiple times. If I was listening to her change characters through a phone and not video, I would believe that there are actually different people talking. In the second video Sarah explains how she began developing voices of the people she knows and interacts with. She says that she started to inhabit these people by performing as them. Sarah explores an array of diverse perspectives on fascinating subjects all while preserving humanity and humor to the voices heard by the audience....