Discuss the similarities and differences in the representation of masculinity in American Beauty and Donnie Darko Both of these films portray various different aspects of masculinity and the different roles a man is expected to play in his life. However as well as depicting these stereotypes both films also challenge them, particularly American Beauty. Women seem to have a massive impact on the male’s behavior in these two films particularly when it comes to Donnie and Lester. The first time we see Donnie speak around the dinner table he is quite assertive and aggressive, especially in his use of language, he is therefore representing quite a male chauvinist and virile character. He is initially very rude and abrupt with his sister however she doesn't seem to be too fazed or affected by his aggression as her response is, to laugh.
David Denby creates a strongly negative view of a popular movie. He first builds a strong ethos via a wide range of background knowledge, builds the common ground between readers who might holds different views and him through logos, and uses great connotation and influential vocabulary and metaphors to validate his illustration by pathos. In terms of ethos, with valid academic background from Columbia College and Stanford University, David Denby is a well-known film critic of the New Yorker. His identity suggests his authenticity in film reviewing and background in the film industry. For instance, he mentioned in the second paragraph that, “The ‘All about Eve’ business with dancers preying on one another was retained from a discarded screenplay by Andres Heinz, who worked on the final version of ‘Black Swan’ with Mark Hyman and John J. Mclaughlin.” By showing the audience insiders’ insights from the film industry, Denby shows his familiarity with
In Beauty (Re)Discovers the Male Body, Susan Bordo takes a perplexing stance towards the outlook on recent male modeling. Bordo begins the essay displaying a number of ads from Calvin Klein and presenting a positive outlook on male objectification. Her position at the end of the essay reveals a paradox in her perspective; she suggests that image obsession is a bad thing. Bordo begins with a positive stance towards male objectification but ends with inconsistency--revealing her true opinion concerning visual culture. Why would Bordo lead on the reader with opinions that are not really her own?
Men-It’s in Their Nature Christina Hoff Sommers is given to us a clearly, closely look about the masculinity’s characteristics in the “Men-It’s in Their Nature”. Sommers showed the differences between males and females through realistic as well as researches from scholar, scientific, biologic, and sociologists. We all talk about the differences between genders many time, but in this essay Sommer focused more on the Men. Why does the men have tendency to be violent and aggressive? Actually, I was confused about men are naturally violent or is it a matter of conditioning.
Aaron Devor explores how these factors, gender behavior and various entertainments, potentially affect everyone in “Becoming member of society: Learning the social meanings of gender.” Not only do Kilbourne’s ads ridicule men by showing the obsession of males, but also the other two authors show how other modern society’s entertainments are meant to ridicule men and most importantly women with their acts of violence and sexuality. The males are the majority species that get hurt through music we hear and programs we watch, whereas advertisements hurt females. The entertainments substantially imply most men are violent, and the advertisements imply women as material objects. In A sense, men and women learning the consequences of violence and sexuality in daily life would help them to find a common ground with another built on respect and compassion because both genders are getting hurt
Additional differences between men and women are that they differentiate as they often inhabit different social roles as well as occupational. Finally, sexual reproduction is a biological constant that is ultimately related to men and women being different since a woman is defined as childbearing and child rearing (Eagly, 1987) and promotes intimacy between the men and women. Furthermore, men often employ their power over women as well as their sexual relationships, which at times women counter power through sexuality by using sexual attractiveness to control the man. Therefore, concerns about power and the differences regarding the sexuality are bound together. Modern context in where social movement and increasing gender and equality threaten the traditional male dominance may be directed on those woman who challenge the power of a man and the status (e.g.
Film noir movies were interesting and compelling because of all the twists and turns the audience didn’t know how it was going to end. Film noir is a different look at the world and gave directors and writers a new way to tell a story. Visually, film noir is important when looking through film history. The films typically have low key lighting, low angle shots, wide angle shots, and the use of shadows to give the films a dark and moody vibe that kept the viewer into the story. Along with the unique style, the themes of cynical attitudes and sexual motivations are just as important in these movies and it was something different from what had been in movies previously.
Asian American culture is being hurt by Hollywood as well, since they are continually the sidekick, or the damsel in distress in movies (Galang, 2003). Not to mention that hardly ever is a distinction made in films between Chinese Americans, Japanese Americans, Korean Americans, Thai Americans, Vietnamese Americans, and so on (James, 1999). The identity of each of those cultures is being threatened by such generalizations on broadcast news, films, and the Internet. Even though his thesis is aimed specifically at the Asian American Avant-Garde director target that narrows his focus too much, his strong research has no doubt broadened Asian American studies as a
In the cinema, "connotation is nothing more than a form of denotation, and the choice between different ways of structuring denotation is the most fundamental way of signifying connotation" (p. 118-119). Daisies is a Czechoslovakian dadaist film about two girls with almost identical personalities. The girls decide to act spoiled because the world around them has become spoiled. It was directed by Věra Chytilová in 1966. The film partakes in third world cinema as a vehicle for social transformation by mocking the socialist Czechoslovakian government through the rebellious actions of its main characters.
Lara Mulvey brought the idea of the intended male gaze by the filmmakers to light. (Study.com, 2015) As in the narrative of cinema according to Laura Mulvey is that men play active roles that out numbered the roles in which women would get and the roles of the women would be roles that were laid back and not as active as the male roles and used for erotic scenes or scenes to prolong the story line. (Mulvey, 2015) Women were cast in roles in which they were portrayed as weak an in need of a man as she would appear powerless or as sexual object. (feminism and film theory,