The Ideology of Television

In class today the subject was one that often times we acknowledge to a degree but never really analyze further. How does television serve to perpetuate the ideologies of the dominant culture? Does television shape our reality or does reality shape television? As a wise lollipop wielding owl once replied, "The world may never know"....



blaugh.com/cartoons/070122_mr_owl

The psychosis of American Psycho

In class today we watched on of the most gruesome and disturbingly freaky films I think I've ever seen. The name says it all "American Psycho". I'm not one that enjoys or finds any sense of gratification in violent or so-called "thriller" films. Watching the film I could not help but be extremely repulsed by the main character Patrick Bateman. I know it is "just a movie" but I cannot even begin to describe how disgusted I was as I watched this psychotic individual carry out his maniacal abominations.  Granted this is probably the reaction the director wished to incite in the audience, but this film has definitely made it onto the list of films I can live without. Yes, I can analyze the film through the lens of popular culture and see how it deals with the themes of identity and capitalism. Bateman is so consumed with “fitting in” and being seen as a “normal” person that he puts on a façade to disguise his gruesome bestiality. To think that there are actually individuals like his character that can carry out this charade of normalcy while simultaneously living a life of utter depravity and insanity is chilling to say the least. From the few scenes we watched it was apparent that the characters infatuation with material goods and labels was exaggerated the point is made that in America too often we get caught up in our materialistic mindset that like those around Bateman we don’t recognize the monsters that our capitalist society has created. I cannot help but wonder though if Bateman truly is a construct and by product of a capitalist society or if he really is just psychotic. Yes I know we have discussed Foucault And how he writes that our disciplines, discipline us and how we create disciplines such as psychology, biology etc. in order to maintain order and create norms about what is and is not socially accepted. However true that may be I can honestly say that if Patrick Bateman lived next door I wouldn’t care about Foucault theories at all. My only concern would be getting him behind bars in a maximum penitentiary. Foucault could argue that I have simply fallen for the brainwashing lies of society but frankly I choose brainwashing over brainsmashing. However I have digressed from the subject at hand…Throughout the film Bateman is compulsively obsessed with having and being the best in his field. He is defined by his suits, his business cards, his fiancés social status, his high-rise apartment etc. etc. He is simply a pastiche of commercialized products and even though he is a cold blooded murderer the only things that trigger panic and anger are the realizations that someone is higher up on the social ladder than he is. He himself says “ I have all the characteristics of a human being but not a single identifiable emotion…except greed and disgust”. Now is this simply because Bateman is a byproduct of the brutal dog eat dog business world or because frankly he’s just psychotic? I say toss the popular culture and theories aside and call it like it is, the man is a few cards short of a full deck. The scene in which he butchers Paul Allen is gruesome and inexplicably noxious. Throughout his tirade Bateman continues to spew an endless rant about a popular band, their lyrics etc. like some mad advertiser pushing his products. I couldn’t help thinking that it slightly resembled that scene in the film The Truman Show with Jim Carrey. In the scene where he is freaking out because he’s beginning to question the reality of the world in which he lives. As he attempts to talk to his wife about his concerns she continues in her role as the wife and keeps looking at the cameras adverting various products. Here her “husband” is opening up to her about his concerns and all she can think about is Quakers Oatmeal. There is no denying that our capitalist system has played a role in conditioning us to being frivolous and materialistic but hopefully we are not in the depraved mentality consuming Bateman. Suffices to say that though this film did illustrate some of these concepts dealing with identity in a capitalist world, in all honesty watching that film was 40 minutes of my life I wish I could get back…

Malcolm X and Bordo

In chapter 10 of Susan Bordo’s book “Material Girl” she discusses how our culture has so inculcated within us a discontent with our bodies that we have come to see plastic surgery as a fashion accessory. In constant search for that unobtainable “perfect body” we straighten, curl, tone, nip, and tuck our bodies yet our minds continue to be fertile breeding grounds for discontent. One of the examples she brought up that caught my attention was an argument between a talk show hosts audience about colored contacts. Well the implications of this advertisement stem deeper than it may seem. Essentially the argument being made by host Donahue is that the ad glorifies blue eyes over brown eyes and makes it appear that having blue eyes is the ideal that all should strive for. The majority of the women on the show saw absolutely nothing wrong with the advertisement and thought it ridiculous that such a trivial ad was being blown so greatly out of proportion. Bordo describes how one lone woman took a stand and decried the beauty industry that festers and feeds off of women’s insecurities (which they initiate in the first place). This lone women declared that “we are brainwashed to think blond hair and blue eyes is the most beautiful of all” the women in the crowd responded to her comment with “hostile silence”. The question arises as to what the motivation is that impels us to morph our bodies. Is it truly just a simple choice we make, devoid of meaning and further implications? Or are we being conditioned to chase after an ideal emblazoned upon our brains through the media surrounding us? Bordo goes on further to make the argument that this “disciplining” or women is not equal around the board. There are racial inequalities within the beauty industry and certain groups are targeted. Bordo makes the argument that “Looking at the pursuit of beauty as normalizing discipline, it is clear that not all body-transformations are “the same”…even as we are all normalized to the requirements of appropriate feminine insecurity and preoccupation with appearance, more specific requirements emerge in different cultural and historical contexts, and for different groups.” (1103). Bordo goes on to give the example of Oprah Winfrey who admitted that as a young girl “she desperately longed to have “hair that swings from side to side” Bordo decries how this confession demonstrates “the power of racial as well as gender normalization, normalization not only to “femininity” but to the Caucasian standards of beauty that still dominate on television, in movies, in popular magazines…” (1103). However this is not the case for women alone. While reading the Autobiography of Malcolm X, one of his experience epitomized this racial and gendered bias. Malcolm X details his experience of getting his first conk, this hairstyle was popular during the ‘60’s. Basically African American men would use some sort of chemical relaxer to straighten their hair and then be able to style it. The process was excruciatingly painful and Malcolm X describes how even though he endured intense pain when it was done he stood grinning and admiring his new look. Later Malcolm X would describe this as his “first step toward self-degradation” when I endured all of that pain, literally burning my flesh to have it look like a white man’s hair. I had joined the multitude of Negro men and women in America who are brainwashed into believing that the black people are “inferior”-and white people “superior”—that they will mutilate their God-created bodies to try to look “pretty” by white standards.” (57).  I believe that if Malcolm X were brought into the discussion held during the Donahue show he would have given that audience a run for their money.



http://img2.allvoices.com/thumbs/event/609/480/52533249-body-dysmorphic.jpg

Bordo, Susan. “Material Girl: The Effacement of Postmodern Culture”.

X, Malcolm, and Alex Haley. The Autobiography of Malcolm X. New York: Ballantine, 1992. Print

He-Man Wuman Haters Club

While reading Barkers anthology I found Massey's argument about "gendered space" particulary interesting. The jist of Massey's argument is that "spaces are symbolically gendered and some spaces are marked by the physicla exclusion of particular sexes." (Barker, 377). Upon reading this a comical example from a well known series came to my mind. Hal Roach's series known as "The little Rascals" is a good example of this gendered space and the exclusion of particular sexes. In the 1994 film the opening scene pans in on the He-Man Wuman Haters Club as they take thier comical oath in which they "solemnly swear to be a he-man and hate women and not play with them or talk to them unless I have to. And especially: never fall in love, and if I do may I die slowly and painfully and suffer for hours - or until I scream bloody murder." Albiet extremely adorable this He-man club and oath are an excellent representation of Masseys idea of gendered space.The name of thier club says it all. The young boys that enter into the club house assert that this is their "man cave" and that "wuman"/ girls are not allowed to enter it. This is their own place and they assert that it is thier domain, any prescence of the opposite sex would be considered an infringement upon thier male domain. The club to them is as Massey says the "domain of men, connoting the primary values of toughness (either physically or mentally), hardness, comradeship and reality" (Barker, 377).



We are He-Man Wuman Haters, we feed girls to alligators, our clubhouse burned down mightly low, but we have a plan to make some dough!
-The He-Man Wuman Haters

As i read this section it also brought to mind Tamar Jefers McDonalds discussion about Romcoms and the emphasis on the bachleors lair. The bachelors apartment is depicted as one saturated in all things masculine and epitomizes "manliness". In discussing this idea of an extremely gendered space McDonald uses the film How to lose a guy in 10 Days. She relates how the film "gives a small homage to the importance of the bachlor apartment by highlighting the lair-like qualities of his place and then detailing how Andie maliciously transforms its seductive masculinity by importing frilly fabrics, cuddly toys and cupboards full of femine toiletries and cosmetics." (McDonald, 58). Although quite short this scene demonstrates the reality of gendered space and how it is depicted in the media. The bachelor pad is the man's domain, it is his "He-man woman haters" lair and women are only allowed to enter it when granted permission. Once Andie enters Ben's lair and proceeds to "feminize" his space the audience clearly gets the message that Andie has crossed the line and infringed upon Ben's male domain.

The Ugly side of Beauty

Todays class discussion was very interesting and we discussed an industry that is rather lucrative in the United States. As most of our manufacturing jobs have been outsourced it has become necessary for us to breed some sort of economy within our borders. We have become a nation of consumers and the things we offer the world are our service economy, knowledge economy and beauty industry. Susan Bordo explores a subject that makes for interesting discussion. Essentially she analyzes how in our western society "the pursuit of beauty" has become a "normalizing discipline". The concept of beauty is an elusive one, like big foot many people pursue it thinking they have an idea of what it looks like but in reality not knowing exactly what it is. Bordo explores how in the west the "beauty industry" is anything but beautiful.



www.ehow.com/how_4530933_identify-body-dysmor...

It appears that the main objective of this industry is to breed discontent and insecurity amongst women. I mean how else are you going to create a market for the infinite amounts of products in existence today? Our society has become enamored with the idea that we can recreate ourselves into a sleeker better version. We are bombarded with simulacra that screams at us "You should not be content with how you look, what's wrong with you? This right here is what you should be striving for!" We are pushed on the quest to obtain the "perfect body" at whatever costs and yet it is done so effectively that we do not even know we are being pigeon holed into this vicious cycle. In all reality we believe that we are freely making the choices before us. If someone wants to go under the knife to rearrange thier face it's thier perogative to do so and if you have a problem with that then well, it's none of your business anyway. Bordo points out the irony of a culture that is fed this overwhelming desire to "fix" themselves and achieve perfection and yet we do it so blindly and willingly. We think we have more freedom then ever and can assert that freedom over our own bodies by nipping and tucking and pursuing our perfect body. When in reality that pursuit and that perfect body are being dictated to us constantly. As Bordo phrases it "We are surrounded by homogenizing and normalizing images- images whose content is far from arbitrary, but instead suffused with the dominace of gendered, racial, class, and other cultural iconography". Bordo drives home the point that we have become so inured to the messages that we are constatnly bombarded witht that we actually believe with great conviction that the choices we make to look a certain way and follow a certain trend are not pushed upon us but self inflicted. Those in the beauty industry do not have to convince us that we are not good enough the way we were born the have already succeded in internalizing that within us. All they have to do is show us the solution, that one product that will take us to the cusp of perfection (or close enough anyway) and we're sold. The ugly truth is that the beauty industry is one that perpetuates and inculcates a dissatisfaction with ones bodily image and as a consumerist nation we buy into it hook, line and sinker. The fact that there is a "booming" industry that encourages and profits off of people's insecurities is utterly repulsive and infuriating!

Body Dismorhpia is an illness perpetuated by our "plastic" society

 www.ehow.com/how_4531197_treat-body-dysmorphi...



 

What is Body Dysmorphic Disorder? "BDD is “vastly underrecognized and vastly underdiagnosed,” stresses Dr. Phillips. The DSM-IV defines BDD as a preoccupation (not better accounted for by another mental disorder) with an imagined or slight defect in appearance causing clinically significant distress or impairment in functioning (often social and occupational)." quoted from

www.psychweekly.com/



Bordo, Susan. Material Girl: The Effacements of Postmodern Culture.

"Our Disciplines Discipline us"

The title of this weeks blog is a phrase spoken by our Professor some time ago while discussing Michel Foucoults' "System of Objects". We discussed how as humans we create various disciplines such as psychology, biology, and an infinite list of -ology's in order to maintain order in society. We use these disciplines to categorize one another as normative and non-normative. It ties into Sir Francis Bacons' theory that "Knowledge is Power" except in a more sinister way. Those who realize that knowledge is power have created and perpetuated these disciplines to have that power over everyone else by establishing the norms that society must adhere to. These discourses are employed to maintian order and with them we monitor each other through power relations because we have been taught to internalize what is right and wrong (Professor Wexler). I noted this theme as we watched the documentary about the eccentric Slavoj Zizek. One of the quotes that stuck out the most was when he said "We feel free because we lack the very language to articulate our own unfreedom". I think this quote encapsulates Foulcouts argument that our ideologies and disciplines trap us in a mindset in  which we genuinely believe that we are free when in reality we are simply playing the game invented by those in power.

http://www.google.com/



Sula Group Project

Today in class our group did a presentation on the novel Sula by Toni Morrison. It was an interesting novel that lent itself to the analysis of binaries. After our initial group meeting we decided to meet again and the best means to do that turned out to be through a chat. We decided to focus on the binaries present in the novel and chose to analyze the relationships between:

1)     The Valley and the Bottom

2)     Nel and Sula

3)     The Traditional and Non-traditional gender roles in Medallion

4)     Medallion before and after Sula

Because there were eight of us in the group it worked out well and we paired off according to binaries. Ashly and I worked on the binary represented in Nel and Sula’s relationship. I came up with a few questions to pose to the class about their friendship. I was especially interested in the reason why Sula and Nel’s relationship fractured. From the very beginning Sula and Nel shared a relationship that was eerily close. They seemed to be one person but as they got older their relationship was no longer the same. One could say that Sula and Nel shared a solidarity as women, but when Nel “separated” herself from Sula by marrying Jude that solidarity was broken. I looked at this question through Simon de Beauvoir’s point of view and saw how the institution of marriage and the ideologies of monogamy were what led to the fracture of Nel and Sula’s relationship. As Simon de Beauvoir stated the reason that Nel and Sula no longer share that unity as women is because ““The bond that unites (women) to her oppressors is not comparable to any other. Male and female stand opposed within a primordial Mitsein and woman has not broken it. The couple is a fundamental unity with its two halves riveted together, and the cleavage of society along the line of sex is impossible.” (The Second Sex). The reason that Nel and Sula can no longer enjoy their solidarity as women is because Nel is biologically linked to Jude through their children. After Jude leaves her she mourns the loss because to her Jude was the one who knew her. I did write a few more questions in case my initial question didn’t work out among them were:

Question: According Beauvoir men define women in relation to themselves and in their eyes women are just sexual beings. If this is the case then why is there such a difference between the way the community sees Nel and Sula?

Question: Nel’s identity is wrapped up in being a wife she and Jude are “one” using this quote how does Sula define herself? How does this make her radical?  Is she anti essentialist? (Barker 217)

Overall I think our group worked very well together and everyone put in an effort to make it work ou,t and in the end it did =)