But Enough About You... (Extra Credit)

Oh, wow, guys, this is my last post :( I'm gonna miss you all but I'm so glad I'm done with these (at least for now :P) Try not to get too emotional.

So yeah, I was back on YouTube again and ran into this horrid video by some guy named DuckReconMajor. I don't know who this guy is, but if I ever met him I'd probably sock him in the face. When I go to the video there's an option that says "Edit Video". I guess this monster had some form of remorse so he decided to let some unlucky person come along and clean up the mess.

Well, for one thing (which happens to be the only thing I'm going to talk about), there are no women in this video. Well, you may observe, there are only two people in this short film. True, but why should it matter? Are women something you just stick in if you have room? Are they an accessory to your male-dominated playset?

Something tells me (can't tell you what) that this guy couldn't have made his main character a female because he thought that making a female main character would require a different story structure. Instead of focusing on the main character's journey into the fantasy land of space, he would have to concentrate more on
developing the main character. He saw that he would have to make her have strong emotions because she'd be a woman and he really didn't want to get into that. Nope, to fit in with the atmosphere of the rest of the film, he had to make the main character as generic as possible. And, of course, generic = male. He learned part of this from watching Pixar films as a child, but people all over the world were blowing the same horn in his ear. Yep, to keep all character related questions to a minimum, he couldn't do anything "different", like having a female lead the action onscreen. Cause, you know, then the video would be revolved around that. Just like when women play sports we gotta treat em special. Yeah, I could go on all day.

Wait, this main character seems to be somewhat genderically neutral. Oh well.

Beyoncé's got a DS (makeup)

So I saw this on TV and knew I wasn't going to have any trouble picking something to write this week's pointless rant on. Video games have been an important part of my life since I was jumping on flying turtles and shooting ducks as a four-year-old. And gender is a prevalent issue in the male-dominated industry.

Let's put aside that this is Beyoncé for a minute. Well, before that, let me explain, for those who don't already know, that since Nintendo can't compete with it's competitors with more advanced hardware and better graphics, they're instead going to make games that everyone can play. Yes, as many have seen, that includes grandmas, grandpas, and legions of soccer moms (yes I said it) who found out that video games are about more than seeing how much blood you can splatter on the wall.

So, anyway, here, Beyoncé, sorry, some girl, has been put into a DS commercial to show off that this product is so playable, even girls can play it. Yes that's right, you dumb girls, even you can play it. But no, you can't play anything that might require thinking, like maybe Mario or even Star Fox: you might have to learn what the buttons are for! Nope, you have to play games like Rhythm Heaven, where you play senseless mini-games and bash way too hard on the touch screen like a savage while you mimic the sounds coming from the speakers.

Okay so I've been harsh. There's nothing wrong with games that are nothing but senseless fun. But why does everyone act like that's all girls are capable of playing? Even when they are shown playing games with some value, why do they still act like Nintendo has just invented light or something? In her behind-the-scenes feature, Beyonce talks about how much she loves the game and how much she likes to play it. Yeah, and Jeff Gordon has Pepsi and Fritos for breakfast, lunch, and dinner too, right? I'm sure when she does find time to play it, she plays as long as any normal person would, until it's given all it has to give to someone who's older than four, and then one of two things: she'll put it down and do something else, or she'll find some other games. I'm sure there are many who agree with me in saying I hope it's the latter.

One thing about this whole ordeal, though, is that I've seen from first hand experience that this is an issue that has been taking a turn for the better. As a new generation of gamers grows older, not only does the age demographic of gamers grow wider, the gender lines start to blur. I mean, the first time I played the excellent Banjo-Kazooie was at a girl's house. And no, she wasn't some pocket protector nerd, either. And this was more than ten years ago.

Hell's Kitchen

I never really stopped and realized until now how genderalized one of my favorite shows is. Of course, once you learn to spot these things, this tends to happen quite often. Hell's Kitchen, now in it's fifth season, is a reality TV show where the world class Chef Ramsay puts a group of aspiring head chefs through demanding challenges to whittle out one who will take head position in another outpost of Chef Ramsay's far reaching empire.

Now that I've thought about it, I realize how much Ramsay's image is portrayed as "manly". He curses, he swears, his temper flares, yet he still draws respect from millions of people. Why? He's a man who is extremely good at what he does. He shows disregard for any traces of personality that don't contribute to a command of the kitchen. And why, besides the obvious notoriety, do thousands line up every year to try and place themselves at the top with this part madman-part acclaimed culinary mastermind? Well, with all of the success and fame that constantly surrounds him, people regard him as a man who knows exactly what he's talking about. Thus, when he turns to you and shoots off a stream of his trademark profanity, you know it's you who has the problem, not him. You go and try to make yourself better to try and earn the respect of Chef Gordon Ramsay, one of the manliest of men, knowledgable, professional, and relatively unemotional.

No, Chef Ramsay is not a bodybuilding musclehead, lifting benches with women on them and throwing anchors across the beach. Yet his traditionally manly composition has had networks renewing contracts for him for years. And it shows no signs of stopping.

Dinosaurs

You remember Dinosaurs. It was a sitcom. But with dinosaurs. However, no matter how far back it was, it still surprisingly shows many similarities with more modern sitcoms.

The show followed the same formulaic setup that many shows today use as well, with the overweight, lazy father, the responsible, doting mother, and the children, whose character traits are selected at random from some unseen dirty barrel wherever these things are produced.

Looking back on this has the same feel that looking back on other shows did. You get the jokes you didn't get as a kid, while at the same time, you wonder how they slipped some of that stuff in there. Except this is worse. Not only did it hint at subjects such as steroid use and sex, it went from abc to the Disney Channel. The same Disney Channel that's so child friendly it's depressing. And people want to throw a fit about today's television.

Gender, of course, is among many of the real life issues that finds its way into the show. In this episode, for example, the pressure to live up to the 'big and burly' image of a traditional man drive Robby to use "thornoids". Of course, the bicep-boosting mega-drug also raises his level of aggression, causing him to be violent and pushy to those around him.

Though this is the obvious example that shows itself in the episode, there's also another not-so-noticeable one that pops up all the time. Yes, it seems even the females of the classic Dinosaurs have the usual lack of romantic free will. After Robbie drugs himself into a meat pack, he goes and beats up his crush's boyfriend. Of course, as you could probably guess, she goes to the upcoming dance with him, as if she had no choice. In the events leading up to Robbie nearly physically abusing his date, she lets him know that she liked him before he grew muscles, and that she never went out with him before because he "never asked". How convenient. You've managed to work up to an "Aww" moment, while teaching children how exploitable and predictable women are. Thanks a lot.

No really, thanks a lot. Even with the gender slip-ups, this was a great show and should have lasted longer than it did.

Oh, and check 4:30 on the second video. Someone's got a dirty mouth.

Bad Economy: Nobody's favorite reality show

Well, of course, at the forefront of many people's minds is the state of the economy. Unemployment reaches record highs in what many call "the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression." While hard times affect nearly everyone, many will respond differently than others. This is where many lines form, including gender lines.

I still remember reading in history books about the many men who went through psychological depression during the Great Depression, many to the point of suicide. They felt inadequate because they could not fulfill their societal role as the "provider" and "gatherer". Of course, like many things I've seen in history books, I thought those days had passed. Apparently I was wrong.

Watching the news in the past few days I think I've seen about three different stories on men dealing with the economy, and how they try to cope with the same feelings that plagued men of the Great Depression. An interesting story (which I couldn't get a hold of *sadface*) was a short cnn report on men who "got manicures" and lived a "relatively metrosexual lifestyle" who themselves could not even shake the feelings of inadequacy brought on by their inability to work and provide. Statistics are showing that many more men are getting laid off than women, since the jobs men traditionally do are getting more layoffs. Many men are unemployed as their wives continue to work. This forced gender role reversal has many men shaken up and confused.

I'm starting to see that these traditional genderical values are rooted deeper into our lifestyles than I thought. Maybe we can start to learn a lesson and rethink our values during these rough times. Maybe this thing will have a silver lining after all.

Snickers Are A Homosexual Catalyst! Beware!

Wow, during my usual drunken (no not really plz don't arrest me) stupor through the trash lined hallways of YouTube, I stumbled upon a cherished piece of my childhood memories. This commercial, which aired during the Super Bowl, was taken off the air soon after, after an outcry from the gay community. However, there is no time to discuss that, I have deadlines to meet and we're here to talk about mans and wimminz, remember?

Of course this is a perfect choice for a blog post, as in the commercial, the men even exclaim, "Quick, lets do something manly!" So, of course, they have to take their chest hair, a very masculine physical trait, and pull it out to cause pain to themselves, as men are expected to be able to handle physical pain. Further contrast is developed by the men being mechanics, an occupation that is very often generalized to be a "man's job." These portrayals are furthered in that the reason these men found themselves in this bannable predicament is that their "masculine" primitive desire to eat drives the second mechanic to try to take some of the bar no matter the consequences. This commercial used traditionally masculine characteristics to sell candy. And I think it worked.

Man, these are getting hard to do (no pun intended cause it would be dumb).

Um, I guess this means spring break nao? YAY!

Criminal Minds

Well, last week's due date found me asleep at the keyboard, so I wasn't able to get my post in on time. You'd think I'd learn, but nope, once again, here I am, Friday night, typing up another blog post. At least I'm awake this time.

And I return with yet another crime show. Unlike most crime shows, which use evidence, mostly from the crime scene, to piece together what happened, the characters of Criminal Minds study the suspect's behaviors and their psychological connotations to try and predict his or her next move. This week's killer turned out to be a woman, more specifically, a high-class prostitute, so naturally I had to jump at this chance.

The killer uses her position to mete out her own form of justice to men who abandon their families and get away with it since they have the money and power to make it all just go away. What is prostitution, though, but an epitomical demonstration of sexual hierarchy? While the man lives his life out in the open and participates in the social world, the woman takes "the side elevator" to get where she's going and does her work behind closed doors. Not even the criminal realm of illegal activity can escape the influence of traditional gender roles.

Throughout the episode, the team takes into account that this is a woman they are dealing with, and change their thinking accordingly. Knowing that the suspect is a female, they rule out the possibility that the killings could be for sexual reasons, because women are too good for that, right? That or they just aren't driven like men are by sexual desires. Therefore, she obviously must be killing the men for some emotional reason, because women are Oh So Emotional! Well what do you know, their killer plays right into it.

Because that's just the way life is.

Did you guys miss me? 'Cause I sure did.

Well, this is nice. We get to write this week's blog posts on Girlfight, which we watched in class. It stars Michelle Rodriguez, who went on to appear in the ABC series Lost, before it got...well, I'll let you finish that one, I'm sure you're just as tired of that joke as I am.

This turned out to be a great fit as my previous post dealt with women in contact sports. And what sport could better sum up the essence of contact sports than boxing? The film has Rodriguez's character, Diana Guzman, training to become a boxer in a world where boys are taught not to hit girls. When she finally becomes skilled enough to compete, she has no choice but to go up against boys, since there are so few female boxers.

Diana tires of the hype and attention that came of her entering the ring, as she "just wants to box." Today, there are many women who just want to be able to play sports just like men do. Maybe many see a push toward equal gender representation in sports as a way to cause a scene or get publicity. It would be a very quick transition indeed if our generation could break the trend and stop making such a big deal out of this. However, with gender lines imprinted so heavily onto our way of life, this is far from an easy task. We would have to change our views that were given to us at an early age, something many are reluctant to do.

Super Bowl XLIII

This past Sunday we witnessed the forty-third iteration of the biggest event in sports, the Super Bowl. I found this perfect for this week's blog, because, well, there were no women playing. Of course, women can't play on the same field as men because of safety and other reasons. However, this does not negate the fact that most sports in general, especially those of great physical exertion, have always been associated with men. Steps are being taken in the right direction, as women's leagues are forming, though they struggle to stay alive.

So why, seeing other sports such as soccer and basketball make progress in women's competitive sports, is football taking so long to change? Could it be that the sport is famous and people are afraid that change will drive away some of its popularity? Could it be football's root in a male dominated traditional way of life? Maybe people haven't seen women as capable of performing in such a contact-based sport. Whatever the reasons have been through the years, it's highly unlikely that sports like football will stay male exclusive for much longer, even if much longer happens to be fifty or even a hundred years. I'd count on it being much sooner, though.

Bones

Ok, so I've chosen yet another crime show, Bones, to blog about this week. This seemed like an alright choice, as gender issues pop up often in the show, and the series's treatment on this subject may even need to be addressed again in later posts. The series's main relationship, between the two main characters, Dr. Brennan and Agent Booth, often has them questioning aspects of their respective genders.

The most recent episode was centered around hockey, one of the world's most aggressive sports. Many men use the aggressiveness of the sport, with its lenient rules on fighting, to show off their masculinity. The game has become a sort of modern day arena, where physical strength often prevails over skill in the sport.

This strive to attain and keep the image of "manliness" turns out to be the motive of the killer, once the case is solved. The victim had taunted his friend and teammate and insulted his masculinity, which set the killer off in a rage to prove himself, resulting in the death of the victim.

Is the show trying to give an insight to the sometimes destructive pressures of masculinity, or is including such subjects a ploy to bring in more viewers? Of course, this is subject to your own interpretation, and depends on your opinions on these types of television shows.

I've put up what I could find of the episode on YouTube, thought it should hopefully be enough to give some visual aid.

CSI: Miami

So you find yourself looking (perhaps oggling?) a certain David Caruso on your television screen, with his calm and commanding demeanor, trying to make heads or tails of the crime scene at hand. After putting on his Silhouette Titanium Model 8568 sunglasses and spouting one of his trademark one-liners, you're stuck watching this show for the next hour. Well, you know, as one of the most sensational shows on television, CSI: Miami has to cover some sensational topics as well. Of course, you're probably thinking guns n' stuff with criminals' rights, but this blog is about gender issues, so that other stuff will have to be put aside.

Detective Calleigh Duquesne, Assistant Crime Lab Supervisor and lead female role on the show, has been in many different relationships throughout the series. Somewhat recently, she found out that her partner, Eric Delko, had fallen in love with her, but she can't seem to decide whether to shoot him down or start something with him.

Meanwhile, in this week's episode, Horatio Caine (Caruso), finally puts away a Russian mob leader who's been on his list for some time. Of course, as in almost all shows with conflict, the bad guy never really goes away. The ending sequence suggests that he is going to tear the CSI team apart from within, with the relationship between Duquesne, who is showing interest in a horse trainer from the case, and Delko as one of his prime targets.

So the question is: is Duquesne portrayed as an independent woman, who is intent on making her own choice in a love interest, or as a destructive presence, leaving behind trails of hurt feelings and broken relationships? Certainly this is an issue that is very common in today's media, so I'm sure it will come up again in posts to come.

O HAI

Well, looks like I gotta make a blog for English Comp about gender roles in television and film. I don't watch much TV, but as gender issues wind up just about everywhere, I'm hoping this shouldn't be too hard. Thank God for YouTube.