Queer Analysis and Heteronormativity

This week's topic focuses on the topic of queer and how our society views it from different perspectives. The definition of queer is to make strange of something and is at odds with the normal, the dominant. Therefore, there is no precise meaning for what queer really is! Something can be made strange if the majority thinks it is weird or if something is different from what the "norm" is.

The most debated topic is sexuality because we all have the emotional, romantic and sexual attraction toward others. The "norm" of how a relationship should be is between a man and a woman, because they are made for each other and that is how they can have children - this is a heteronormative view and that is how most people are taught to view things since the very beginning of time.

But as people are getting more open minded about this topic, most people no longer think of homosexuality being classified as a "disorder" because no matter what gender one likes, the love they feel is the same type of love that exists between any couple. Although the media is still portraying gays and lesbians in a misleading way, there are some others who are trying to give a message that same-sex couples shouldn't be judged. An example would be the song "She Keeps Me Warm"  by Mary Lambert which is a song that advocates an equality for same-sex couples. It promotes the pure love between a couple and it also lead to the collaboration with Macklemore (singer), bringing the song "Same Love" which has been a worldwide hit and letting people open their eyes about the love no matter what gender you are. 

Feminist Anaylsis (Part 2)

Moving on to 1984, 31 years later after Marilyn Monroe's performance of Diamond's Are A Girl's Best Friend, Madonna sings a different song but with similar meanings and performance.

 Madonna, like Marilyn Monroe, were surrounded by men with their eyes fixated onto her. She was the center of attention as well and singing about how we are all "living in a material world, and i am a material girl" which enforces the point that women are materialistic only and the only thing powerful about them is spending money or only desire men that will spend money on them. The "Feminism" in this video was only at the end of the video when she was dressed more modestly and got together with a man that gave her flowers instead of diamonds or jewelry. So perhaps that shows that not all women end up being materialistic like that in the end.

In 2010, contemporary music still portrays women as highly sexualized and the view that they are materialistic have not yet changed. The picture above is Christina Aguilera in the movie Burlesque singing the same song that Marilyn Monroe sang in 1953 - Diamond's Are A Girl's Best Friend. When the professor asked which one would we rather be in, my thoughts are that i don't want to be in any of them. I don't feel that women are all powerful only when it comes to spending money and i don't feel that it is right to portray them that way. Also, women should not be objectified by men, just because of difference in gender does not make women any lower as a human being.

Feminist Analysis (Part 1)

Women have gained more and more rights and power over the past 50-100 years and they are still fighting to gain more equality and rights in other countries. Women have often suffered from the stereotypes that are imposed on them. Some of the most obvious ones are that women are objects of men, weak and fragile while men are seen as powerful, rational, and the subjects that own women.

In this week's lecture, we were shown 3 videos about how the media portrays women in postmodernism as the typical materialistic girl. The first video we see is Marilyn Monroe, known as a major sex symbol, singing Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend (1953). In the video we can see the presence of the "male gaze" and she was the center of attention the entire time. With the "power" that she has, this video doesn't seem like it is portraying feminism at all because firstly, she is wearing revealing clothing - showing off her body , secondly, the message of the song expresses that diamonds are a girl's best friend which enforces the stereotype that women are all materialistic and thirdly, she was the center of attention and wherever she went, all the men had their eyes fixed on her.

The Male Gaze

It is not new that when someone is being objectified, it is always a woman. Till this day i still wonder why is it that it seems to be always the woman who is objectified and the man is not. Just looking at magazine covers, movies and music videos, the woman is always being looked at in an erotic manner by males - also known as "the male gaze". The way that the media portray women is almost always in a sexual way where it makes men desire them.

 A simple Google search "woman magazine" show woman with revealing clothing or wearing something that accentuates their body. One thing that i find common in every image is that no matter if the pose of these women are sexually provocative or not, the subtitles all relate to sex: words like hot, sexy and sex are all the main point of these magazines!

Now i did a search for "man magazine" and this is what i found, all men are shown wearing a suit and tie, proper poses and very professional like. The magazines are usually about businesses and this one i found is about fashion. Nothing about this magazine cover is about anything sexual. 

This, i think is the problem. Men are never objectified and wherever they appear, they are always associated with hero, power, authority, and professionalism. Why is it that there is no female gaze? and are women going to be inferior to men forever? 

Production Codes

In this week's lecture, we were introduced to The Motion Picture Production Code of 1930 (Hays Code) and i thought that this production code is brilliant in the way that from limiting the amount of indecencies on the screen, it could affect and improve the morality of people.

The many sections of the Hays Code have guidelines for what is allowed and not allowed on screen. For example, acts of murder is allowed but the way they are presented have to be in a way that it encourages people to imitate the act. Most actions have to be presented in a vague way - the less detail it shows, the better it is. Other acts includes sex, dances, costumes, locations (bedrooms), titles, scenes with vulgarity, obscenity, and profanity.

My thoughts about Hays Code is that it shows how people back in the days are more concerned with our morals and improving the behavior of mankind. Now a days, a lot of the things that were not allowed on screen in 1930 happens every single day now whether it is on screen or real life. For example, profanity (swearing) for some people, occurs in every sentence they speak. Today's people are more morally corrupted compared to the people back then and it is disappointing because children now are more likely to be exposed to these subjects at an earlier age. People should improve their behaviors as they have to role models for the younger ones and the generations to come.

Ideology and Race

After the lecture, we were assigned to watch a 1 hour long video called Reel Bad Arabs - How Hollywood Vilifies a People. Throughout the whole documentary, it was sickening and depressing seeing how a race is vilified everywhere especially in North America. The video stresses that Arabs were always portrayed as the antagonist in countless Hollywood films all the way from 60 years ago till today.

About 90% of all the Hollywood films that were analyzed showed Arabs as villains, carrying guns, shooting anyone in sight, inhumane, dumb and perverted. Not only were men portrayed with all the stereotypical "evil" villain, but Arabian woman were always shown belly dancing, seducing men and wearing sheer clothing.

Even in the infamous Disney movie Aladdin, Arabs are vilified as men that would slaughter people if they felt like it. This is extremely offensive and sickening since it was shown to millions of children and families. The media, typically the media in North America doesn't show the innocent side of Arabs, they don't show the innocent civilians that are killed for no reason, beaten, or captured by the Americans. It seems that it is justified if Arabs were punished but loathsome if Arabs kill.

We all need to learn to not believe everything we see in the media, especially stereotypes and depictions of a particular race being only 'evil'. Hollywood needs to stop vilifying a race because how would Arabs feel watching Hollywood movies? Hollywood is giving no chance for them to be entertained without being offended and insulted. We should all think about the the results of all the acts if injustice through our history and learn to not repeat our mistakes. The holocaust and many detainment of innocent people do not, and should not ever need to happen again. 

Ideologies

Ideologies are a system of ideas that can be forcefully imposed of willingly subscribed by our society. Things that we see in our daily lives, such as washroom signs, or signs in general, are all ideological because they convey authority and the idea that "that's just the way things are".

There are 3 ways in which ideologies work, and they are (1) Myth, (2) Doxa, (3) Hegemony. Myth is a sacred story that confirms and reproduces ideologies in relationship to a cultural object such as media artifact. Doxa is the "common sense" aspect of culture and hegemony is the unspoken message. After being shown a touching and inspiring video where a scarecrow is sad about how all the food is produced with poor treatment to animals, it turns out that it was just an advertisement for Chipotle's app on Apple's App Store.

The mythical element of this advertisement is a living scarecrow that scares away crows from the farmer's produce. The same for how the scarecrow dislike Crow Foods Incorporated. The doxa is that we can be a vegetarian or a vegan and therefore avoid any intake of all meat that were treated in a inhumane way. However, the most interesting part is the hegemony, the unspoken message is that WE as an individual is at fault for not avoiding the brands that produce meat that were slaughtered. They never show that it's the industry's fault when all major food brands or restaurants get their meat from the same factory! It is all just plain advertising to promote Chipotle.