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Shot/Reverse Shot:
How we view others and how others
view us
By: Shiva Delpazir
From my experience of growing up in Kansas around many spoiled,
rich, and selfish peers, I have come to view and judge people and
places very differently than most people. When I was younger and I
lived in Kansas, we lived in a small, simple, inexpensive house in a
nice part of town. Since I was a minority in the community that I
lived in, being half Persian and half Russian, I was treated as an
outsider most of the time, so I am very familiar with being judged
for my culture or skin color.
 Since
we lived in a middle class neighborhood, everyone that I grew up
around was very happy for everything they had. When my family and I
moved to Phoenix in 1999, the atmosphere and outlooks were much
different. I had never been in such a materialistic setting as I am
today. My friends point out how certain parts of neighborhoods are
trashy and they show me what is acceptable, and this began to
influence my thoughts of certain neighborhoods and people.
From my experience of South Phoenix, in my eyes I find it to be some
sort of little Mexico. I’ve visited places such as Cancun and Senora
Mexico, and I almost felt as if I were actually in Mexico while in
South Phoenix while walking in and out of the little shops and
boutiques. I enjoy being around the town and seeing how festive the
people are, but in the eyes of the shop owners I feel like I am
being watched very closely.
 Our
group visited many little shops and boutiques around the strip of
shopping centers along Central and Southern, and when we went into
every one of them I felt as if I was being watched very closely,
almost like I was going to steal something. The funny thing is, in
the upper class Anglo dominating city of Scottsdale for example,
many white shop owners watch the Hispanics in the same way that the
Mexican Americans watch Caucasians in their stores out in South
Phoenix, as if they are planning to steal something. Although our
group had a very mixed diversity, I watched how closely Charity was
watched, who is a Caucasian female, in comparison to me, who has
dark skin and hair and actually looks Hispanic. They were monitored
her more closely, while asking me questions in Spanish about what I
was looking for.
In an
article by Paris Spleen titled The Family of Eyes, she
explains how people’s perspectives differ on how they view people,
places, and ideas. She points out that what one person might see as
beautiful, another may see as unbearable. This idea just goes into
the topic of ethnocentrism, where many of us have blinders on that
keep us from seeing anything other then what others tell us to see.
In this case, I believe that not only do a lot of people from the
upper class areas of Phoenix and Scottsdale have blinders on, but so
do some of the Chiconos from South Phoenix. We view what is unknown
or different as bad in most cases, and it’s only through experience
that the “blinders” are taken off. In my experience of South
Phoenix, I have not only learned that it’s reputation of being
dangerous and scary are not true, but I also have learned that it is
a beautiful city that deserves a chance.
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