A couple months ago, I might have had fewer postings on television series and films due to the school-and-work juggle. Another reason for my slight lack of film-going and movie-watching was a result of a trial that had me glued to a few of the news stations that were covering the story.

It was in early February that I was flipping channels and landed on Court TV's IN Session, I noticed Jodi Arias on the stand and thought to myself, "Who is this innocent girl? And why is she on trial?" This thought alone led me to continue watching and I soon found out that the girl was not really as pristine as I had assumed.

Jodi Arias. 2013. Arizona Court. Found at USA Today.

Arias was on trial for the "brutal" murder of her ex-boyfriend and was later found guilty for murder of the first degree in June. The trial might not seem so captivating but it was widely publicized with the focus on a few of the several bizarre sequence of events and subject-matter that was discussed in the courtroom. I was surprised at some of the really strange recounts of past events and almost shocking topics that were even brought into the courtroom. The jury was not able to come to a unanimous decision regarding the sentencing of Arias, which led to the decision of a retrial to be scheduled for the sentencing later in July.

About a month after the majority of the trial, Lifetime premiered a movie based on the events prior to the trial, Dirty Little Secret. The film starred Tania Raymonde, known for her role in the Lost series, as Jodi Arias. Raymonde's performance was great, almost spot-on as the love-torn Jodi. Dirty Little Secret smoothly visualizes the relationship between Jodi and Travis, emphasizing her strange behavior and his unkind, callous treatment towards her. Watching it, I felt as though I had already seen the film, since I had followed the trial so Lifetime did a pretty good job- considering the fact that it was even difficult to imagine the events that took place so many years ago.

Jodi Arias. 2013. Arizona Court. Found at USA Today.

Note: To go off on a tangent- I know the Trayvon Martin case has just concluded with the worst outcome, but I knew I could not handle watching/following the trial so I didn't do a review either. We all know and all should acknowledge how disgustingly awful racist and sexist crimes are especially those with the intersection of race and gender.

But it is quite shocking how a small girl like Arias who could have been abused by their significant other gets convicted with murder of the first degree -and possibly even the death penalty- while someone else like Zimmerman who hunts a young, dark-skin, innocent boy, gets convicted of nothing. There is something severely wrong with that.  The Jodi Arias case was criticized biasely, in that we knew she committed the crime, but no one bothered to ask why. And everyone favored the guy (who might not have been the best guy as he was described), without even knowing how he really treated her. The fact is no one outside of a relationship really knows exactly what happens except for those involved through it all. So I don't know.

The fact is racism and sexism, inequalities and discrimination of all types is still very much existent in today's society. So anyone who thinks/says it doesn't, either just doesn't care (because they are not of discriminated group) or use the term "post-racial" to justify discriminatory actions in order to continue the oppression. It is the clear existence of racism and sexism exists, which makes me afraid to go outside at all, being a female with dark skin.

In a Capitalist nation, equality is nonexistent.