MULAN

After watching the present day "Charlie's Angels," it made me think of other movies where women are given power through violence and playing roles that typically men would play. The movie that came to mind was a childhood classic of mine, Mulan. Mulan is about a young Chinese girl who wants to fight for her country. She wants to fight because her father can't and he has no sons to go to war. So already this is extremely stereotypical. This is highlighting the stereotype that women do not go to war and only men were sent to fight for their country while women stayed at home and took care of things around the house.

Mulan wanted to forget about that stereotype and fight because she wanted to prove that women are just as strong as men and they can show bravery too. However, they won't let her go if she is a girl, so she has to make herself look like a boy. She chops all her hair off and changes her voice to be more manly so no one will notice that she is actually a women. She doesn't change in front of anyone, but once they find out that she actually is a woman they are so disappointed and they send her home. Even though she had become one of the best fighters in the group, they made her go home just because of her gender.

Today, that would never happen because women are often encouraged to join the military and fight for our country, but in that time period that is how things were. This movie shows women that they need to stand up for what they believe in and it has brought to the attention that women should be able to fight just as equally as men can and that has led to the change that women can now fight in war.

Charlie's Angels: Empowering?

When we watched "Charlie's Angels" in class it was very interesting to actually analyze how the women were portrayed in the television show. Sabrina, Kelly, and Jill were very sexualized and were shown as these loyal women who worked for a mysterious man named Charlie. No matter when Charlie called, no matter what the women were doing, they would drop everything and run to where Charlie needed them to be. This behavior is shown in the introduction of the first Pilot episode of "Charlie's Angels" in 1976. Here is the beginning of the episode:

In this video clip, it shows how, almost possessive Charlie is over these women. The second he calls them and says they need to come into work, they are there in a heart beat and it isn't even taken as a big deal. They have a smile on their face the entire time they are on the phone. Also I thought there was something very important in this clip. Something that could potentially go unnoticed if you didn't deeply analyze this episode. When the narrator is speaking in the very beginning he says, "Once upon a time there were three little girls." That is extremely demeaning for these women because they are grown women, yet they are being referred to as girls. That is not empowering for women when they are being put down and being spoken to like they are less than what they really are. I find that very shocking. "Charlie's Angels" is meant to empowering but when things like being called girls and being possessed by a man occur, that is not necessarily the case.

Facebook: Good or Bad?

People all around the world view the social network, Facebook, very differently. Some people think it is an awesome thing, while others think it is a serious invasion of privacy and young kids should not be exposed to something so invasive. Personally, I can see where both sides come into play.

When it comes to an invasion of privacy, I remember reading in our book a story about an African American male who applied to Harvard and was accepted, only later to be denied because of suspicion of being involved in gang activity on his Facebook page. I think this is a sad incident because I do not think it is right to judge a person by what is on their Facebook page, but at the same time, I think he should be held responsible for the things he posts on the Internet for the whole world to see.

On the positive side of Facebook, it is a place for people to stay connected even though they can be miles away from each other. I have experienced this personally. About 3 years ago, my best friend had to move across the country to Seattle because of her dad's work. Facebook has allowed her and I to remain close and communicate and share experiences just like before she moved away. I believe Facebook can be positive and negative, it just depends on the personal experiences you have had.

Dora the Explorer: Educational Programming for Children

    Now that we are focusing on children and children's cartoons and television shows, I agree that Dora the Explorer is a very progressive cartoon. Dora, the main character, is hispanic and a woman. This could have been scary for producers because they weren't sure how children would react to this new cartoon. In fact, children and their parents accepted Dora with open arms. During every episode she asks the viewers at home to participate with her and she has a mission every episode and that is to find something or help somebody. Since she is of hispanic origin, she also teaches the viewers at home some spanish in all her shows. She starts them out with single words or phrases, nothing too extreme.

    Also, Dora is very positive. She is so exuberant and excited to help people that her attitude is infectous and you can't help but like her. She can't even hold a grudge against Swiper, a fox who steals things from her constantly. That shows great character on her part, that she is willing to see the good in people and not focus on the negatives. Dora also value her family and tries to introduce a little bit of her culture to the viewers at home. I believe that Dora the Explorer is such an accepted cartoon because of the different elements it brings to the table. She's kind, ethnic, educational, and she is just different from all other cartoons out there. It's refreshing and I believe that all kids should watch her because I think it's a great experience and they will learn life lessons and accepted behavior. Here is a video where she helps a baby fox and introduces some Spanish words:

PLAYBOY

Today, in class, when we were watching The Girls Next Door I was thinking about how much the porn industry has really sky rocketed over the past years. There are so many different websites and magazines out there that provide different ways to access porn. Anyone who has access to the internet can get all types of porn. People can now access porn from the privacy of their own homes so there is no shame in watching porn; this is unlike it used to be. People used to be scared to purchase porn for the fear that they would be seen by others around their community. In order to see porn you would either have to rent it from the local video store, or go to a theater and watch it. However, now we have the opportunity to buy porn on Pay Per View on our televisions or watch porn on websites on our computers. Because of this new technology that allows the public to access pornographic material so easily, it is becoming more popular because people no longer find it as awkward as it used to be. People are finding themselves becoming more comfortable with their sexuality and the sexuality of others. I believe there is a major contributor to this new found comfort: Playboy.

Playboy has been around since 1953 and was founded in Chicago by Hugh Hefner. Marilyn Monroe was the very first centerfold and she was a sex icon during that time, for both men and women. Many different celebrities were centerfolds for Playboy; singers, actresses, models and of course, playmates. Playboy allowed women and men to explore their sexuality. Women would see this women as idols, people they looked up to and people they wanted to look like. They looked at these women and realized this is what men find attractive. Men looked at these women and were aroused by them; they find these women sexually attractive. Playboy was a revolutionary gateway to pornography and it is extremely profitable to those who sold it.

Jerry Springer: Real or Fake?

Have you ever watched Jerry Springer? After watching it once, have you never watched it again? Jerry Springer is one of those shows that people talk about really badly, but yet some people find it extremely entertaining and watch it every morning at 12. Most of the shows have the same type of theme. They almost always revolve around cheating relationships and almost always involve some sort of fighting. There is a question as to whether the show is scripted just for public entertainment and whether the people on the show actually do fight or not. On the show they have a bell that is signaled in real boxing matches and then the people who are in a fight start punching each other and pulling each other's hair. It gets pretty violent and the security guards have to step in and minimize the fighting that goes on. Sometimes wigs go flying and people really go at each other with the cruelest intentions. Here is an episode called "Bad Boys Breaking Hearts" and it is about guys who are breaking up with their girlfriends because they have cheated on them:

                            I have to wonder though, if these stories are real or if they are just made up for entertaining purposes. Do the people really fight each other or do they just do that for the show? What are your thoughts?

Emasculating Commercials

Today in class, when the guest speaker was showing us all those different commercials, I was thinking to myself if there were any other commercials that I have seen that emasculate men? Then I thought about male products that advertisers try to sell. Advertisers main goal is to get men to see that they will be a "real man" if they use the product they are advertising. On the other hand, if they don't buy this product, then they will be a girly man until they decide to change their mind and buy whatever it is that is being advertised. I found a commercial that is advertising Old Spice body wash.

In this commercial the man persuading viewers to buy this body wash is an extremely muscular and built man. He has the physique of a "real man" which is why I think it has a more effective argument as to why the men viewing should buy this product. If he was a scrawny, weak man, I don't think it would have the same effect. In the commercial the man even says things like: "anything is possible when you're man smells like Old Spice and not a lady." By this quote he is implying that if you are a man and you aren't using Old Spice body wash than you aren't a real man and you smell like a girl. This type of implication can be very insulting to a man, especially one that takes pride in his manliness. There are many commercials out there that emasculate men; this just happens to be one of the many.