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.
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.
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.
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:
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.
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?
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.
The television show, Scrubs, displays both perspectives of masculinity, dominant and subordinate. The dominant male in the show is Dr. Cox and subordinate male in the story is J.D. Dorian. Dr. Cox marks his own masculinity throughout the show by doing and say things that question Dorian's masculinity. For my masculinity paper I focused on the one episode called "Our Drunken Friend." There are so many times during that episode when Dr. Cox shows his dominance by intimidating many students in the Sacred Heart teaching hospital. A primary target of Dr. Cox just happens to be J.D. Since J.D. looks up to Dr. Cox he doesn't care how mean he is to him sometimes; he is still loyal to him and listens to every form of criticism he gives him. Here is the first part of the episode I focused on:
During this episode, the opening scene is very telling. It is already portraying which man is the dominant one in this show and which man is the subordinate one. Dr. Cox acts like J.D. doesn't even exist and is rather rude to him when J.D. tries to have a conversation with him. Then when he encounters the student he calls, #1, J.D. is extremely jealous of him because he wants to be recognized like that by Dr. Cox, but he never is. Not only does Dr. Cox mark his masculinity in the presence of J.D. but he also shows his dominance when talking to an intern, Lucy. She tries to hide from him, but he finds her anyway and gives her unecessary work that he wants done and also gives her a lesson on not getting involved with patients.
J.D.'s masculinity is questioned greatly when they show him up in the tree teaching his class and him needing his fellow doctor to come rescue him. He cannot get down by himself and is is caught like a baby when they shake the tree to get him down. No man wants to be called a baby.
I believe that Scrubs is a great example of dominant and subordinate masculinity and that is shown just in the first part of this episode. There are many more examples of marking masculinity later in the episode. I recommend checking it out!
After watching Die Hard 4 in class, it really made me think about other movies and shows where there are extremely masculine figures like John Mclane shown. The first movie that came to mind in the Bourne serious. Jason Bourne is a secret agent who is now a hit man and is traveling around the country trying to get away from people who want him dead. He is played by Matt Damon. He is muscular, intelligent, powerful and incredibly intimidating. He just screams masculinity and toughness. No one wants to mess with him because somehow he manages to get himself out of every difficult situation he gets himself in.
There are 3 movies in this series and eventually in the last one he gets caught, but not until he has cause mayhem throughout the country. To prove his masculinity he single-handedly fights off numerous men at a time. The men he is fighting have weapons, but they don't stand a chance against Bourne. He's too quick and smart for them to catch up with him. He plays mind tricks on his enemies. For example, in the last movie, The Bourne Ultimatum, when he is talking to the guy who wants him dead, Bourne tells the man to come alone but he doesn't listen. So once he sees that he doesn't come alone he leaves and doesn't meet him at the the place they were scheduled to meet. He then goes into the mans office and calls him. The man tells him that he's in his office, but then Bourne says, "Doubt that. If you were in your office, then we'd be having this conversation face to face." To me, that is just the coolest thing ever and so unexpected and it just proves that he is always one step ahead of everyone that is out to get him. It's crazy and these movies are great. I highly recommend them.
Have you ever backyard wrestled? Have you ever watched the guys on the WWE and dreamed of being like them? Well I can't talk for myself, but I know my older brother and all his friends used to watch Monday night RAW every week as well as Friday night Smackdown. It became the "it" thing and they always talked about it. This obsession all started when they were in 8th and 9th grade. It was the cool thing to do.
They started out just watching it, but eventually it got to the point where they started idolizing these wrestlers. They wanted to be just like them. My brother and his friends each picked their favorite guy and at the time we had a trampoline, so they treated that like the ring. My house had a shed placed right next to it and they would treat that like the stage walking out from behind the scenes. They downloaded all of the wrestlers entrance songs and they would bust out of the shed and do the same entrance as their wrestler. Not only would they walk out like their guy, but they even made belts out of paper and CD's. If they were the Heavyweight Champion or the World Champion they would have a belt over their shoulder as they walked out of the shed. Then they would get into the ring and do some of the moves that were made famous by each of their guys. Nothing too serious, but they liked to have a good time.
I can remember to this day, my brother's favorite guy was John Cena. He thought he was toughest guy out there and no one wanted to mess with him. He was also cool because he was a rapper and his entrance song was written by John Cena himself.
They had so much fun acting like the guys on TV and luckily none of them ever got hurt. From my experience of backyard wrestling, I don't see it as a problem.
Have you ever bought a product that advertisements said it was guaranteed to work? If so, I'm sure you were extremely disappointed and wanted to return the product immediately. There are so many products out there like this. For example, all the weight loss commercials are guilty of false advertising. There are weight loss pills and weight loss meal plans which claim they work, but they may not work for everyone. Sure some people may actually lose weight from these plans, but more times than not it does not end up working. Plans like Nutrisystem, The South Beach Diet, Weight Watchers, and Slim Fast are very popular. Pills like Alli, Hydroxycut and Apatrim are very popular. In the advertisements for these products they show men and women that are in great shape and happy. This is not always how people look after using these products. False advertising happens quite often in the media, more often than people think and it's something people should consider before buying a product. If you have been scammed before then you can relate.
In the world of television, I definitely think there is a high standard for beauty. In many shows and movies the actors and actresses are always extremely good looking. In reality not everyone looks like that and I feel that people are judgemental of themselves when they don't think they are as pretty as the people on tv. For example, in the movie Mean Girls, there are the popular girls that everyone looks up to and wants to be just like. They are beautiful and all the other girls find themselves craving that popularity, attention, and beauty.
