CONFLICT ANAYLSIS OF STEEL MAGNOLIAS: CLIMATES, GENDER & POWER STRUGGLES Jason Striker NAU – GCC ABSTRACT “…the movie is primarily a celebration of the love, strength, and compassion of six Louisianian women which by examining the conflictual climates and how they are mediated, along with the differences in gendered conflict styles, while lastly understanding the power exchanges within relationships will allow us to relate these strategies to our own lives. We will see that although the relationships in this movie are steadfast and loving, they are also challenged by events that trigger conflicts that bring about introspection, growth, death, but above all an increase in the quality of the relationships making them as tough as steel magnolias.” Keywords: Power, gendered, conflictual, climates, introspection, struggle Steel Magnolias is the story of six small-town southern women who care deeply about each other and accompany one another through the conflicts that affect our human condition. At the heart of the story is M'LynnEatenton and her sweetly effervescent but diabetic daughter Shelby. The mother and daughter love each other, yet struggle for control of Shelby's life. Despite warnings from doctors that pregnancy might involve complications that could be life-threatening, Shelby decides - much to M'Lynn's chagrin - to have a child.
The shattering of classifications and stereotypes, and the subversion of traditional gender roles, and the concept of sisterhood or unity among women are among the main tenets of feminist criticism. In the words of Catherine Besley, she mentioned that the cultural construction of subjectivity is one of the central issues for feminism (qtd. in Con Davis and Schleifer, 355). All women are feminists. However, it cannot be denied that women still experience the effects
Furthermore, what women do and say through their hair care can shed light on how members of a cultural group use hair more broadly as a signifier of status. Although hair may seem like such a mundane subject, it in fact has a profound implication for how African American women experience the world. Everyday these women are faced
She felt the first two groups were more honorable in comparison to the last two. The concept of socioeconomic status is very evident in her approach. McDougald points out that the “superficial critics who have had contact only with the lower grades of Negro women, claim that they are more immoral than the other groups of women.” Just because a woman doesn’t go to college and maintain a career does not mean she is corrupted or shameful. This shallow view of women is the same view that some White Americans had of Black Americans. McDougald was participating in the torment of her own race and she did it with selfish reasons.
Subversive Female Characters In Alison Lurie’s “Folktale Liberation” she claims that the true folktales are subversive meaning that women and the middle class have power, they are original and clever. In the film “Grease” the main female character Sandy is exactly what Lurie would view as being beautiful, smart, and precisely the character a man would centralize as his female role. Lurie proves that the old folktales orally told to children in the past by women are much more powerful than those re-written by men now. She praises women empowerment and does not like them being downplayed. Although this film emerges to not be subversive by the end of the film you come to realize that with time and learning on Sandy’s part it truly is.
Others, including her mother and her Aunt, significantly shaped Sybylla’s identity. The impact of Sybylla’s mother’s words “you are lazy and bad” as well as “you’re really a very useless girl for your age” create a negative self-perception of her identity. The use of direct speech enables the reader to visualise and recreate the scene, therefore understanding the effects of other’s on the formation of Sybylla’s identity. Contrary to this, Sybylla’s Aunt Helen promotes positive growth in Sybylla by nurturing her. Her kind and gracious Aunt build’s Sybylla’s confidence and self esteem and is gentle and understanding, recognising her inner beauty, while reinforcing her physical beauty.
If it were to exist it would purely and simply be the style of Godard’” (Ezra 172). However, throughout Godard’s films we can see commonalities centered on his female characters that shape the unique thumbprint of his directing beyond the New Wave style. Patricia in Breathless (1960), Nana in Vivre sa vie (1962) and Odile in Bande à part (1964) share details in both how they are filmed and the subject matter they present on film. This paper will explicitly discuss these three heroines, though other works by Godard will be mentioned. Godard focuses specifically on the female gaze, camera’s treatment of the female form, the woman in genre and the thematic component of female sexuality in his films.
The way we were demonstrates a new approach to negotiating Jewish identity, and ultimately an opposition to assimilation. Katie overcomes the lures of the blond, gentile world to emerge as her "true" self. In so doing, she rejects the price of success paid by many Jewish characters like Jakie Rabinowitz in The Jazz Singer: a loss of heritage, personal identity and Jewish traditions. Her commitment is to her true self as a human being and as a Jew is dramatically represented by the fact that she doesn't force her irregular curls into straight hair as in the fashion magazines. Katie temporarily forsakes the part of her personality that makes her so compelling.
Medea is alienated by society because she is an intelligent, foreign, powerful woman. The first reason Medea is shunned is her gender. In the patriarchal society of Ancient Greece, femininity is a faux pas on its own. On top of being a woman, though, she is clever and intelligent; these qualities were not admirable in a woman of her time. King Creon states that “a sharp tempered woman, or for that matter a man, is easier to deal with than the clever type who hold her tongue.” Medea is, in fact, clever enough to hold her tongue and stay quiet.
However, Angela’s inner beauty is anything but beautiful. She treats others as if they are beneath her just because they are not as beautiful as she is. This ultimately leads me to loath her character because to me, outward appearance is nothing but looks, like an empty shell –which is only there for display. This was the first impression I got about Angela –vain and empty. Her personality deteroritates from her looks and it is easy to judge her on her actions without knowledge of her motives.