Power Of An Illusion: Documentary Analysis

Are we really that different? When looking around, what do you notice about other individuals? As a society, we tend to focus on physical features such as eye color, eye shape, hair type, skin color and body physique. We also tend to use those physical features to stereotype individuals into categories such as intelligence, athletic ability, or even the possibility to be violent in nature. In the documentary, “The Difference Between Us:- The Power of an Illusion.” it talks about how genetically we are not that different from one another compared to other species, but because we live in a racialized world our similarities in biology are forgotten.
During the video, a class of students was all using their own DNA to compare who they were
This is common in sports. We see certain races dominating sports. In the documentary, one student believed that she would be faster than a white athlete and a white athlete said she heard blacks had an extra muscle that helped them even though she didn’t believe it she mentions it. Another athlete said he believed certain races dominate certain sports because of what he saw in the Olympics. Just from my own experience with playing and watching sports, I believed that certain races were better at some sports than I was. They seemed to be faster and taller.
We are not that different. Biology proves that by comparing our DNA. As animals, our DNA amongst one another is the closest to a match than any other species. Our physical features are just that physical features. We may look different from the outside but we are really a lot more alike than we know it. Alan Goodman, a biological anthropologist, said “race is a biological myth. Race is not based on biology but race is rather an idea that we described to biology.” So Basically, we created race. A way of thinking about another group of people whether it is good or