Archive for October 2009
Gran Torino – Hmong gangs
FBI : The Violence of Gangs and the Crime of Rape (You might need to scroll down just a little.)
Hegemonic masculinity can be difficult to define. In contrast to hegemonic femininity, which most people associate with being skinny, blonde, big chested, sensitive, motherly and male dependant, hegemonic masculinity is defined more in cultural terms. Some people associate big muscles and small brain to masculinity. Some associate fatherly, slightly sensitive, yet still able to be the bread winner as hegemonic. Still others associate violence and assertiveness as masculine. Katz explains that “stressing gender difference… means defining masculinity in opposition to femininity. This requires constantly reasserting what is masculine and what is feminine. One of the ways this is accomplished…is to equate masculinity with violence, power, and control” (351-352).
This is the exact definition of masculinity that is represented by the Hmong gang in Gran Torino. We see the drastic difference between Thao and his cousin, who appears to be the leader of the local Hmong gang, as a reference point to what is considered masculine and what is considered feminine in the Hmong culture. Thao’s grandmother doesn’t consider him as a man because he is washing dishes and does whatever his sister tells him to do. The contrast, Thao’s cousin, is a tough, gangster, someone who “no one wants to fuck with.” According to the FBI brief on Hmong Gangs above, Hmong gangs have expanded into many violent crimes such as homicides, auto thefts, and gang rapes; all of which are evident in the film. The initiation for Thao to join the gang was to steal Walt’s Gran Torino. Walt Kowalski, the old bitter neighbor, seems to find it more humorous that Thao couldn’t complete the task then angry about his Gran Torino almost being stolen. According to Walt, masculinity is a tough, white, heterosexual guy who stands up for what he believes in and doesn’t take crap from anyone. After witnessing Thao assist his elderly neighbor when she drops her groceries, Walt takes Thao under his wing, although not willingly at first, and tries to teach him what it means to be a “real” man. He mocks Thao in the basement as he lets the girl he has a crush on walk out with other guys. Walt teaches Thao the opposite of most Hmong young male culture is the true meaning of masculinity. Getting a job, getting a nice woman and being respectful to her, and helping out when others are in need. He makes Thao fix the house across the street and then gets him a job in construction; aka “real man’s work.”
Without Walt’s guidance Thao could have easily fallen into the Hmong gangster culture. Bell Hooks states that “gangsta rap celebrates the world of the material, the dog-eat-dog world where you do what you gotta do to make it even if it means fucking over folks and taking them out” (117). Part of doing what you have to in order to survive appears to mean abusing and raping young Hmong girls as threats to their families. The movie doesn’t focus on this real life problem as much as the FBI’s brief focuses almost seventy five percent on this issue. After shooting Thao’s house, the family quickly realizes that Sue could be in grave danger. She comes stumbling through the front door barely conscious, and doesn’t say a word. This behavior is consistent with real life problems of Hmong gang rape. The FBI states that victims are often afraid to come forward in fear of the gang’s backlash. The priest in the movie states that no one in the family is talking to the cops. The viewer is left to believe that they are doing this in fear of what the gang will do to retaliate.
As the movie progresses, we see Walt giving in to the crisis of masculinity because he seems to have a fear of what his neighborhood, a symbol of masculinity, is turning into. He makes comments about Thao being a “pussy,” and the barber must be half-Jew because he keeps raising his prices. He makes racist comments through the beginning of the movie but we see a slow transformation as the movie progresses. Walt shows that he understands that the only thing he needs to fear is other people’s safety because of the Hmong gang. He reaches out and protects his new neighbors, and even opens up to Thao’s form of masculinity. He states that Thao and Sue will never have a chance in this life as long as the Hmong gang is around and by saying this in contrast to saying Thao doesn’t have a chance because he’s a sissy shows that Walt is understanding that ethnicity has nothing to do with surviving in this world. Walt learned while he was teaching Thao that masculinity can be a mix of different cultures and there’s nothing wrong with that.
Gran Torino. Dir. Clint Eastwood. Matten Productions, 2008.
Hooks, Bell. Outlaw Culture: Resisting Representations. New York: Routledge, 1994.
Katz, Jackson. “Advertising and the Construction of Violent White Masculinity.” Gender, Race, and Class in Media. 2nd ed. Ed. Gail Dines, Jean McMahon Humez. California: Sage Publications, 2003.
United States. Federal Bureau of Investigation. 2003 Law Enforcement Bulletins. “ The Violence of Hmong Gangs and the Crime of Rape.” Washington: GPO, 2003.
1 comment October 27, 2009
Men as Sex Objects – Dolce and Gabbana Ad
Dolce and Gabbana have been known to use provocative and controversial ads as their major marketing campaigns. They use images of naked women and men to sell jeans, perfume, clothing, and so on. In the above ad, Dolce and Gabbana are using an interesting role reversal that is not typical for most marketing departments. In many Dolce and Gabbana ads, they use one woman and many men in various positions; many times appearing to gang rape or objectify the woman. In this ad, quite the opposite seems to be happening. The man in the front is being pulled by two women, and the man in the back appears to be getting scolded in a way that a little boy would be scolded by their mother after rolling around in the mud in his church clothes.
Susan Bordo states, “I don’t think it’s correct to say that these ads depict men as ‘sex objects’…what these representations offer is a body that is depersonalized, flat, a mere thing… [the] images are suffused with ‘subjectivity,’ they speak to us, they seduce us” (186). I think a part of Bordo’s statement could be seen as valid. Because the men are naked in this ad, in contrast to the woman being naked, they could appear to be just “mere things,” simply props in the ad for women’s dresses. However because of the facial expressions on the women, I feel the opposite of Bordo’s statement is true for this particular ad. The women are looking at the men like, “How do you like it?!” The women are acknowledging the fact that this whole ad is a reversal of the norm. The women aren’t the sex objects in this ad; the men are. And it appears that the men realize this with the way their bodies are positioned. They are also acknowledging the fact that this isn’t the norm; that their actions have caught up with them.
What makes this ad interesting is the fact that it completely breaks the norm. In most ads, Susan Bordo’s argument would be correct. Men who are normally naked in advertisements own it; they make the viewer want to look. This ad is so fascinating to me because it breaks the way society views masculinity. This ad questions masculinity. What is it really? This ad is saying men will act the way that they do, but ladies, with the right outfit and the right attitude you can fight back and make men cowards. This isn’t the way masculinity is supposed to work which is why it breaks the mold. It makes the viewer sit back and rethink masculinity is a sense that if these incredibly handsome, built men can be made to act like cowards, maybe masculinity isn’t what we’ve been assuming it is. Maybe masculinity has a soft yet cowardly side to it as well.
Bordo, Susan. The Male Body: A New Look at Men in Public and in Private. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giraux, 1999.
1 comment October 23, 2009
Blog Assignment Three – Nip Tuck Promo
The hegemonic ideal of femininity is being a size two, five foot ten, having c cup breasts, long flowing blonde hair, high cheekbones, thick Angelina Jolie lips, and a big Kim Kardashian behind. The problem with these ideal features is that they are completely unrealistic expectations. There might be the one in a million supermodel that has all these features naturally; however this is not what you see walking down the street in suburbia. The idea of a perfect woman is what makes shows like Nip Tuck last for six seasons. Nip Tuck pulls its ideas from reality television such as Extreme Makeover however it fantasizes the complications of plastic surgery. People are fascinated by the idea of being able to look perfect without the pain. Plastic surgery is a very expensive, painful and drastic way to change your appearance, and most people who go under the knife do it because they believe that it will make them feel like a brand new person. We have all seen what plastic surgery does for women on Extreme Makeover and it makes us all believe that a few “simple” procedures will help us feel the same way about ourselves. Most women step out of the shower and look in the mirror, pulling the skin on their face and stomachs, thinking, if only I could get rid of this fat. If I could just get the fat sucked out of my stomach and my neck then I will feel so much better about myself. Bordo states that “fat is the devil, and we are continually beating him… pummeling and purging our bodies, attempting to make them into something other than flesh” (454; ch. 51). All the women in this promo are tall, incredibly thin, white women who lead us to believe that they got these bodies through the plastic surgery in the show. The governmentality represented in this promo shows that plastic surgery is the only way to get the hegemonic look. Most women going in for elective plastic surgery will have a picture in their heads representing what (or who) they wish to duplicate by having this procedure. The problem with promos like Nip Tuck is that they make the viewer believe that they have something that should be fixed. Whether it be striving for the whiteness of the dancers, or having the thin bodies that they represent, women everywhere are focused on how much fat they could rid from their bodies. Dias includes a quote from an anonymous forum user on a pro anorexia website. She states, “let me tell you girls, I am in great shape, but NOT anorexic. I am 5’4 120 lbs. There is not an inch of fat on me” (37). Is this thinking any better than anorexia or bulimia? Is striving for a fat free body ok as long as we don’t make ourselves throw up after every meal? Personally I feel like believing we can have a fat free body is a step down from anorexia but still detrimental to ones psyche. Wouldn’t it be amazing if we could all feel awesome about ourselves and not want to change a thing about what God gave to us? Unfortunately this isn’t going to be possible and long as there are constant reminders about how we can better ourselves. As long as there are shows like Nip Tuck and they continue to use thin models to promote their show I’m afraid we will always sacrifice ourselves to becoming the hegemonic.
Bordo, Susan. “Never Just Pictures.” Twilight Zones: the hidden life of cultural images from Plato to OJ. 454 – 466. University of California Press, 1997.
Dias, Karen. “Journal of International Women’s Studies.” Vol. 4 #2 (April 2003): 31-44.
1 comment October 14, 2009
Blog Assignment Two “What is Sexy?”
Victoria’s Secret “What is Sexy?” Ad
What really is considered sexy? For me, I feel sexy when I make an effort to look nice in the morning. If my hair is done, my makeup’s perfect and I’m wearing a new cute outfit that shows a little but not too much cleavage then I can feel pretty sexy. So what’s wrong with this image? According to this Victoria’s Secret ad, nothing. This ad shows the hegemonic ideal of young womanhood is to be tall, thin, beautiful, white, and full chested. According to Lull, “Hegemony implies a willing agreement by people to be governed by principles, rules, and laws they believe operate in their best interests, even though they may not” (63). Do we all really willing agree to this ideal of sexuality? Most women watching this ad suddenly think, “If only I could look like that then I could find a man.” Maybe if we as women go out and buy black lacy underwear and a push up bra, we too will feel sexy about ourselves. It’s this thinking that shows that we do agree subconsciously with this ideal woman even if outwardly we don’t want to admit it. It’s almost impossible for me to watch a Victoria’s Secret commercial or even walk past the store and not think, maybe if I buy a push-up then I will finally find the right guy for me and maybe I’ll be more confident about myself. Unfortunately for most young girls, we all have televisions, internet, or at least one friend who gets the catalog in the mail. We can’t escape this ideology.
Another, perhaps more interesting part of this commercial is the use of props that are usually linked with men. This commercial uses the models to act out male fantasies. Have you ever walked into a Victoria’s Secret store and seen a male who obviously didn’t want to be there. I remember walking in and seeing a husband and wife with their teenage boy and immediately I noticed the uncomfortable look on both the husband and the son’s faces. So why in this ad do they show half dressed women acting as a sexy secretary and walking next to a sports car? They also have many models in revealing positions and even on a bed. While lingerie is most normally linked with sex, what woman doesn’t need to wear a bra and panties? So why is the ad trying to appeal to men through sex when they could just as easily have a commercial trying to explain how comfortable these two necessary items of clothing are. Jhally explains “In advertising, gender (especially for women) is defined almost exclusively along the lines of sexuality” (253). By appealing to the male fantasies, they are trying to convince women that this is what we have to look and act like to get a guy to want us the same way they want these models. And really, who walks around at night with only a bra, panties, and a trench coat on. Yet this thinking doesn’t go through my mind as I watch it. As I watch this ad I agree with their slogan. This is sexy. These women are sexy.
Lull, James. “Hegemony.” Gender, Race, and Class in Media. 2nd ed. Ed. Gail Dines, Jean McMahon Humez. California: Sage Publications, 2003.
Jhally, Sut. “Image-Based Culture: Advertising and Popular Culture.” Gender, Race, and Class in Media. 2nd ed. Ed. Gail Dines, Jean McMahon Humez. California: Sage Publications, 2003.
2 comments October 1, 2009
