Week 10 - SOC 202 - notes for SOC 202 PDF

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Week 10 - SOC 202, Popular Culture, W2019

Media, Gender and Masculinities ➔ Natalie Portman's character has monetary power, but her power depends on him (Clide) (if he left, he allows it) ➔ She's doing “emotional labour” for him ➔ Men, sex, power ➔ Masculinity, femininity, and power ➔ He demens his wife Hegemonic Masculinity ➔ In simple terms, hegemonic masculinity is represent through: ➔ Dominant definitions of masculinity embedded in social institutions which as the state, education, the family, religion and pop media ➔ Male power as not simply held by individual men but institutionalized in social structures and ideologies that support the gender order in favour of men ➔ For example: the “old boys club” or “boys will be boys” ➔ *Term: emasculating ➔ Justin Trudeau (young “soft boy”, we elected say a “celebrity” rather than a politician, young people elected him) ➔ Masculinity as institutionalized is also open to contestation ➔ As a result, very few men may come to occupy the hegemonic position in terms of power, privilege and opportunity ➔ As men are stratified, men not only are organized hierarchically in relation to women, but also in relation to each other ➔ For example, in terms of privilege, marginalisation, “respect” in the workplace, as well as occupying and avoiding positions of subordination with regards to other men ➔ Traditional masculinity: providing for family, voting for trump was a privilege Judith Butler on HM (1) ➔ Butler draws on Michel Foucault’s challenge to “the doctrine of internalization” ➔ Meaning: this doctrine argues we are formed by internalizing disciplinary structures

➔ Foucault expands this as a “model of inscription” ➔ Meaning: our being complicit to socialized gender constructs while aware of the social punishment or consequences should we shift outside ◆ “What will my friends think if my wife is more powerful, if i have a female boss?” - humiliated, anxiety *Screening: The Wolf of Wall Street ➔ Routine of masculinity ➔ Humiliation of Daniella (shaving head) - dehumanized (dominance, power, does not respect her as an employee) Popular Media and Masculinity ➔ The Media and the Models of Masculinity (Mark Moss, 2011) ➔ Moss provides a historical account of how various models of masculinity are “conditioned, defined, or illustrated by different media” ➔ That is, the model of masculinity mainstream media circulate have an enormous influence on men and boys who mimic the dress, behaviour and mannerisms of key archetypes ➔ For example, a desire to “fit in” or “one of the boys” etc. Media and Masculinity ➔ Moss rationalizes mainstream media as pedagogic (teaching) and states: ➔ “Media is the single most authorative force in conveying opinion and offer a barometer of what is going on” and define the varieties of a masculine experience” ➔ For Moss, various historical periods and events have affected the models of masculinity in the media. For example war, feminism, the economy in the 20th century and 9/11, identity politics, and (in) security in the 21st century ➔ Post WWII and post- Great Depression: social and cultural influences, tv, urbanization, identity politics, marketing ➔ Produced “Rebel”, “slacker” - New meanings to masculinity ➔ “Traditional Manhood” = “High Esteem” (fireman, policeman, soldiers) Part 3: The Body on Display ➔ Selfie - in control of one's representation - reaction against paparazzi or society's view

➔ Takes guts to post a “vulnerable” picture - judgment subjection, a negotiation between herself and outside word ➔ Political stance - when female friends comment on womens picture Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema ➔ As Mulvey argued: ➔ Voyeuristic visual pleasure is produced by looking at another, whereas narcissistic visual pleasure can be derived from self-identification with the figure in the image ➔ Mulvey argues: ➔ (a) both voyeurism and narcissism are gendered ➔ (b) in pop culture, the spector has historically been positioned to identify with the male look as the camera films from the point of view of the male character ➔ Men looking in on women, not so much women looking in on men On Mulvey: Criticism and Limitations ➔ Laura Nussbaum (1995) ➔ (a) Mulvey’s arguments “on gender and the body are complex but objectification need not only and always be regarded as negative” ➔ (b) “Objectification may be a feature of sexual desire without necessarily implying oppression” ➔ (c) For some “without objectification there can be no desire, and without subjectification of that objectification there can be no pleasure” ➔ (d) “central to female interpretations of images of other females is polysemy, identification and self, contextual meanings and connotations ➔ For example, recall Rubin’s idea on sex, deviance, and categorization (Easy A) Mulvey Criticism and Limitations (17) ➔ Nussbaum con’t ➔ Female viewers often seek “a deconstruction of classical visual and narrative codes and seek conventions could allow for an exploration of female subjectivity, gaze, and desire” ➔ Gradually, female filmmakers viewers develop a new framework within popular cinema in which new codes and form a of visual and narrative pleasure are constituted as “through her gaze”

➔ *GIRLS sex scene (men were not seeing sex as they were used to seeing) - not sexy, appealing - awkward, desexualized) ➔ *Screening: Thelma and Louise (1991) - male body on display, womens point of view/gaze, but he’s not violent or fearful (makes him more attractive), more attractive that he’s a criminal, but not violent - reversing male gaze Essay ➔ ➔ ➔ ➔ ➔ ➔ ➔ ➔ ➔ ➔ ➔ ➔ ➔ ➔ ➔ ➔ ➔

Focus on movies theme (what happens IN the movie) Sociology in film, not outside film (no outside world) 3 sources (notes, academic) Academic sources on theme (maybe not on film) Youth, gender and deviance You can mention time period (ex. A film set in 80’s) How theme reflects say racism in America in a purposeful way Can use class material (lecure, date) - not academic sources Don’t spend too much time setting up scene in film Write on entirety of film (1-3 issues) Ladybird: Biopic, - addresses hyperness of 18 year old girl in small town, clever, satirical, ambitious Deviance and youth culture, rich vs poor, masculinity (father loses job, cant send daughter to university) working class anxiety Reasonable paragraph, intro and conclusion Quotes: quote dialogue, know characters name Don't need (ladybird, 2017) if want when quoting film In text citations for academic sources Can be over one page if really needed (5-6)...