For my remix project, I decided to reinterpret a video posted by Edward Blum. The 1973 alum of the University of Texas led financing for the case through his non-profit organization. The video was an attempt to sway public opinion in their favor. The original video was comprised of a myriad of images, interviews, and sentimental music. Each revolves around the victimization of Fisher. Her denial, it argues, was based on no other factor than her race. To their support, they feature testimony by Fisher who claimed she both had higher grades and was involved in more activities than the students of color who were admitted. The video explicitly places blame on policies that consider race in admissions decision. In a surprising twist of rhetoric, the film makes the case that not only has Fischer been an unduly victim of racial discrimination, but that policies favoring the admission of underrepresented minority students actually harm them the most by undermining their credibility in the eyes of white students and by sending them the message that they needn’t reach the high-standards of “other” (white) students.

In watching the video, I was disturbed by its attempts to identify with the civil rights movement. In a deceptive slight of hand, Abigail Fisher was likened to the Little Rock 9 or Ruby Bridges, whose efforts to advance school desegregation have been the object of much celebration in recent years. Although invoking ideas of equality and rising to action, Fisher’s efforts attempted to roll back the advances of this earlier generation. I decided to rework the video to establish a new “way of seeing” (to borrow a term from John Berger). My goal in doing so was to take their use of civil rights rhetoric to the extreme, and in doing so, rupture the narrative of color-blind justice that the origin creator invoked.

My video project is meant to invoke the idea of a movie trailer. Specifically, it is designed as a satirical trailer for a documentary film exploring Abigail Fisher as a civil rights hero. My primary source is the original youtube video posted by Bum, “Abigail Fisher vs. the University of Texas at Austin.” Using iMovie, I added a score reminiscent of the documentary genre. I chose short clips from the original youtube video to lay out the basic claims of the case: a girl determined to attend the University of Texas is denied admission and, in her belief that it was her race that determined her denial, brought a suit against the university with claims of reverse racism. Like Martin Luther King, she was a girl with a dream.

Responding to comments from our draft review, I began the film with the logo of “satirical films.” In doing so, I inform the viewer that what they are about to watch is a critique and not an endorsement of the case. I then interlaced the film with data from theAtlantic Wire article that critique Fishers’ claim, including admission figures for the admitted class. Also responding to feedback, I removed the Ken Burn effects from my data points. I also included stills that seek to underscore the parallels to the civil rights movement that Fisher’s supports seek to reproduce. For instance, I’ve created an image of two block quotes side by side. One is that of Fisher speaking against all forms of discrimination, the second is a quote from Martin Luther King’s infamous “I have a dream speech” in which he envisions a world where people are not judged by the color of their skin. Further, I included block quotes from Fisher’s supporters in the film, so that they appear as if the endorsement of a film critic in my trailer.

Within my video, I included images from the desegregation efforts of the Little Rock 9, nine high school students who risked attending a white high school in Arkansas following the landmark decision to integrate schools following Brown versus the Board of Education. My intention is two-fold. First, I attempt to critique the claims made in the video that we live in a colorblind society and that is the concept of color-blind justice which defines our nation. Clearly, that has not been the case throughout most of American history. Secondly, I seek to disrupt the idea that Fisher’s efforts can be likened to that of efforts to rid the education system of inequality. The violent protest encountered by these young students and their attempt to challenge the systematic effort to deny students of color equal access to high-quality sites of education is nothing like that experienced by Fisher, who although denied admission to the program of her choice did receive provisional acceptance to the University of Texas (which goes unreported in her youtube video). For dramatic effect, I end the trailer and then, after the screen has gone black, interrupt the silence with a short clip of Fisher stating that she wants people to know that she did not take her victimization sitting down. For me, her claim invoked the image of Rosa Parks. If Parks is considered “the First Lady of the Civil Rights Movement” for her defiant act onboard a Montgomery city bus, then Fisher very well might be the iconic figure of a conservative movement to undermine those gains in a cooptation of the legacy of the civil rights movement. I then follow the interruption by Fisher with the rolling credits to signal its actual conclusion.

Works Cited

“Abigail Fisher vs University of Texas at Austin,” September 4, 2012. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXSpx9PZZj4

“Honoring MLK Day,” The Official Blog of Park West Gallery, January 18, 2010.

Nikole Hannah-Jones, “Race Didn’t Cost Abigail Fisher Her Spot at the University of Texas,” Atlantic Wire, March 18, 2013.

Vaughn Wallace, “Brave Hearts: Remembering the Little Rock Nine, 1957,” Life Magazine.